[Fundguy1]

Thanks for reading. My turbos are shot. Cats also. I've been toying around with fixing her up or buying new. After pricing and shopping I've decided to fix and maintain. I have an '08 E93 335i with manual trans and 200,000 miles. Not a typo. Mostly highway. Clutch and rest of the car are in perfect condition. I looked at factory replacement turbos and saw that for $1,000-$2,000 more I could go with some aftermarket ones and make some decent power improvements. I plan on going with some catless downpipes. Budget is about $5,000. My questions are:
1. Which brand. I don't want to start a post war but I don't know enough about them. I've looked at RB, Vargas, and ASR. All seem to have their promoters and detractors. I'm looking for north of 450 rwhp on 93 pump gas no meth or e85. It needs to be street able and reliable.
2. Catless downpipe recommendations?
3. Any other mods I need to do that I need or that would give me more hp cost effectively? Intake? Exhaust? Hpfp bullet? Etc.

Thanks for all your feedback. I am located close enough to ASR they could do the work or I have a local BMW speed shop who can also do it.

[Allen@MOTIV]

450whp is the upper end of what can be expected on 93 octane. This means you'll be pushing the turbos pretty hard to get there and can lead to a reduction in reliability. With a $5K budget i'd recommend reducing power goals a little and shooting more for a little over 400whp.

I'm not getting into a hardware debate over which option to pick... but Dzenno has been pushing Tony's latest stage 2s VERY hard for a while now with no issues.

[derryck]

As the above post states...it would be tough to hit 450+ RWHP on just 93 octane on stock framed turbos. I have RBs and I'm sure the Vargas Stage 2s are similar and you'll pick up power all across the power band and hold beyond 6K where the OEMs start running out of steam. Also $5K is pretty tight if you plan on getting DPs at the same time. I would highly recommend you stay away from ASR...google them and it won't take look to find enough horror stories that you won't want to risk it. As far as catless DPs I think they're all pretty similar and VRSFs seem to be good 'bang for your buck' unless you can find a deal for some used ones. I assume you're running some sort of tune already and how about upgraded FMIC?

[spxxx]

Also, your clutch is going to slip at some point above 450-500 wtq

Look into the 550i clutch upgrade for $375ish on ECS

Hope you can wrench yourself w/ that budget & goals.

[Fundguy1]

Thx so far for the inputs. The guys doing the work say 12-16 hours at. $125 an hour. $2000 on the upper end. Then $2799 for Vargas stage 2, $3,000'for RB. I'm in the ballpark. They said they'd include the catless dps for free install cause they were there anyway. VRSF was the dps I was looking at. I know 450 is pushing it but I'm only looking for the car to last 100,000 max more miles with mostly highway so dialing it up is ok.

Do the kits include a tune and if they don't who seems to be doing the best custom tunes for aftermarket turbos?
Thx again.

[derryck]

Tuning is a separate issue and you'll probably want to research that a bit. I'm currently using just the Procede Rev. 3 and I'm very happy with it but I have a COBB AP V3 and will be stacking with a back end flash. If you haven't upgraded your charge pipe and FMIC those should be done especially if you're in South FL. If you're stock you should probably count on some additional costs as the additional boost/power will most likely expose some items like injectors, coils, etc. My RBs were a little over $3300 and I sent in cores ahead of time but I did the upgraded thrust and PCV at the same time. If you're on a stock suspension with 200K on it and go with RBs or VTT Stage 2s you will most likely find your suspension to be a bit sloppy also. Realistically I don't see any way you can do it for $5K if you're basically stock now.

[Fundguy1]

Ok thx. Suspension is tight unbelievably. I have new wheels and tires on order. If I need more it's ok. I saw the upgraded thrust but no description so I don't know what it is. PVC is stock but has about 20k on it. If it's needed I'll get an RB. Which charge pipes and FMIC should I look at?

[derryck]

I have the AA CP and BOV and the AA RACE FMIC and I've been extremely happy with them but again I think they're all pretty close in quality and fitment and it's hard to beat VRSF given their price. Watch the classifieds for stuff you know you're going to need. Your suspension might feel tight at 280ish RWHP but it will be a different story at 400+RWHP. I'm not trying to dissuade you in any way just wouldn't recommend going into this with real tight budget constraints especially if it's your only car. My car was already FBO and only had about 45K miles on it and I had to replace 2 coils after the install of the RBs.

[Fundguy1]

I was running a JB3 before turbos blew and no suspension probs. Still does a nice 4 wheel drift. Budget isn't a problem. Just figured I'd start there and I don't want to put too much into a 200,000 car. Just hoping to run with the new vettes and M4s. Next year the new replacement car will be substantially faster. Thanks for the heads up.

[derryck]

Cool...it'll be a different car and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[Fundguy1]

Easier still benchmark I want to get to is crack into the high 3s for 0-60 and high 11s for quarter.

[Fundguy1]

The goal car for next year is possibly a 2015 Z06 depending on pricing.

[DuDai]

I've been looking lots into this too. Initially I was going to go rbs, but lately seeing Vargas turbos pushed so hard has been catching my eye. And I was always happy that they got the better wastegates. I'm just wondering about all the extra options you can buy with the vargas turbos as to which ones are worth the extra coin among all the available upgrades.

[Fundguy1]

One more newbie question, what's FBO stand for? Does that mean full bolt on?

[RIDERDIE]

Full Bolt on. Fmic, dps, cai, tune, exhaust, and maybe meth. Not sure if bov or dv's really matter.

[sirdaft1]

200k miles, eh OP? Impressive sir.

[derryck]

The stock CP won't hold up with the increased boot and stock diverter valves won't cut it either. An aftermarket CP is a must.

[Pr335bob]

De your stock turbos lasted 200k miles? That is amazing. Any maintenance tips you want to share?

[CannonFodder]

200K! Nice!

[Fundguy1]

Originally Posted by Pr335bob

De your stock turbos lasted 200k miles? That is amazing. Any maintenance tips you want to share?

Wish they did. They lasted 120k but then crashed. I lost job for 2 yrs but now I've had one for a year and a half so I've been able to catch up. The next priority is the car. It's my office. When I'm working I drive 50k a year. The actual turbos seem intact but the waste gates are shot for sure.

[Fundguy1]

Originally Posted by derryck

The stock CP won't hold up with the increased boot and stock diverter valves won't cut it either. An aftermarket CP is a must.

Thx for the heads up. Any problem waiting till they fail before replacing?

[Fundguy1]

Can anyone please tell me the additional power I can expect with the various mods?
1 Stock turbos
2 Stock turbos with programmer
3 Stage one hybrid with programming
4 Stage one hybrid FBO with programming
5 Stage two hybrid with programming
6 Stage two hybrid FBO with programming

Trying to find my sweet spot for filling my need for speed and need to not crush the bank on a 200,000 mile car that won't be around on a year or two. I also want so see if going FBO or bigger turbos makes a bigger impact. I may go bigger without FBO and add that stuff later or go smaller with FBO and be done with it.

My guess is below. Trying to see if I'm way off the Mark or close.
Rwhp. Flywheel
1 255 300
2 320 375
3 360 425
4 400 465
5 400 465
6 425 495

Thx