[dleccord]

are there any gains just upgrading the fmic without a tune? I plan on doing fmic and charge pipe first, then tune and downpipe and BMW performance exhaust (after walnut blast and new plugs). I live in sac and the weather these days are 105 average

[sd306]

Keeps intake air temps down to prevent heat soak if you run the stock car hard. My car stock would lose a noticeable amount of power after a few hard pulls.

Your plan sounds great, skip the exhaust and get pure stage 1 instead. I wish I didnt spend $1200 on the exhuast and just got the pure stage 1 first. The catless downpipe will be loud as hell on stock exhaust. Also get the ppk flash for some extra cool sounds

[dleccord]

What other things am I missing for stage 1? I really like the sound of BMW PE so I'm kinda set on it. And I read somewhere the tunes will overwrite the PPK flash

[weehe126]

Do the catless dp first, it might be enough of an exhaust sound upgrade for you. You can find the ppk flash for free on the other forums and it actually adds to the exhaust sound. I am extremely happy with DP/ppk combo. If you get a jb4 it will not overwrite the flash. If you get a flash tune it will overwrite the ppk. You will be fine with CP, DP and IC and the stage 1. If you have no problem spending extra, I would get the stage 2. You will get more power at 17psi on the stage 2 than if you max out the stage 1.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by dleccord

are there any gains just upgrading the fmic without a tune? I plan on doing fmic and charge pipe first, then tune and downpipe and BMW performance exhaust (after walnut blast and new plugs). I live in sac and the weather these days are 105 average

Intercooler will keep your temps under control, even with a stock car your stock FMIC cannot get the job done.

I would still do tune first

[sd306]

Originally Posted by weehe126

Do the catless dp first, it might be enough of an exhaust sound upgrade for you. You can find the ppk flash for free on the other forums and it actually adds to the exhaust sound. I am extremely happy with DP/ppk combo. If you get a jb4 it will not overwrite the flash. If you get a flash tune it will overwrite the ppk. You will be fine with CP, DP and IC and the stage 1. If you have no problem spending extra, I would get the stage 2. You will get more power at 17psi on the stage 2 than if you max out the stage 1.

Stock downpipe - sounds pretty good
catless downpipe - hold shit it's loud
performance exhuast - nice refinement added, but not worth 1200. I should have just bought pure stage 1 or 2 if you have the cash. I installed ps1 myself so it was $895 ps2 would have been around 5K with install and other supporting mods, inlet etc.
ppk - hell yes, downshifts with a light throttle blip sounds so good

PS1 you might need the NGK plugs if you're running a lot of boost and e85. I think I'm going to make a build thread and recommended routes from my experience if I were to do it all again.

[dleccord]

Originally Posted by sd306

Stock downpipe - sounds pretty good
catless downpipe - hold shit it's loud
performance exhuast - nice refinement added, but not worth 1200. I should have just bought pure stage 1 or 2 if you have the cash. I installed ps1 myself so it was $895 ps2 would have been around 5K with install and other supporting mods, inlet etc.
ppk - hell yes, downshifts with a light throttle blip sounds so good

PS1 you might need the NGK plugs if you're running a lot of boost and e85. I think I'm going to make a build thread and recommended routes from my experience if I were to do it all again.

what do you mean pure stage 1? is there a kit that you can link me to? are you talking about the pure turbos company?

[weehe126]

Originally Posted by dleccord

what do you mean pure stage 1? is there a kit that you can link me to? are you talking about the pure turbos company?

Yes, Pure Turbos. They are the only turbo you should consider and the stage 2 can get you to upper 500whp with proper fuel.

[sd306]

Originally Posted by dleccord

what do you mean pure stage 1? is there a kit that you can link me to? are you talking about the pure turbos company?

Yes, sorry. I usually try to spell everything out as I once was like WTF looking through all this. The different "stage" notations make it more confusing too.

JB4 Stage 2, Pure Stage 1 Turbo, Stage 2 LPFP, it gets confusing. Just focus on each component having it's own stage and forget about what "stage" the car is kind of idea.

Here is the link, but again if you can afford the pure stage 2 turbo that's the best route:
http://www.pureturbos.com/store/oem-...o-upgrade.html
http://www.pureturbos.com/store/bmw-...e-stage-2.html
Also with pure stage 2 turbo get the upgraded diverter valve (DV) and inlet pipe.

pure Stage 1 turbo is $895 if you can do it yourself, stage 2 turbo is 5Kish after install and all other parts. Also, when you want to go stage 2 turbo from stage 1 turbo you get all $895 as credit for stage 2 turbo so I won't be losing any money, just time to install!

[sd306]

Another thing, you have the n55 engine right? "TwinPower Turbo" = 1 turbo and not the twin turbo = 2 turbos (n54 engine)

[dleccord]

Originally Posted by sd306

Another thing, you have the n55 engine right? "TwinPower Turbo" = 1 turbo and not the twin turbo = 2 turbos (n54 engine)

yes N55. I'll put the pure stage 2 "turbo" on my radar and start building up my components slowly so i can run map 1/2 on the jb4. where i live we only have 91 gas; not so sure if i want to run meth or e85 just yet. btw thanks for all your posts in this thread. much appreciated!

[sd306]

Originally Posted by dleccord

yes N55. I'll put the pure stage 2 "turbo" on my radar and start building up my components slowly so i can run map 1/2 on the jb4. where i live we only have 91 gas; not so sure if i want to run meth or e85 just yet. btw thanks for all your posts in this thread. much appreciated!

I've been running high amounts of e85 for a year on almost every fill up. If you have access to it, run it. Higher octane =

I've never ran methanol as I got the jb4 this year, but seems that a lot of people end up dumping it or only using it for IAT cooling when they have plenty of fueling. However, I may get it soon for IAT cooling as the ambient temp is hot now and I can feel the power loss. Then half of me tells myself next upgrade is Pure Stage 2 and quit spending cash on anything else. lol. You're welcome.

[sd306]

Some "free" mods you should look into are:

Aplina B3 Transmission Flash (for Automatic Transmission Only)
PPK Flash

Check out this thread that has a prebuilt VM that has many tools already setup:
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1220039

Here is the cable to connect your computer to your car to do the above: http://www.one-stop-electronics.com/...&product_id=16

There are cheaper cables, but I have this one and it works for sure.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Intercooler would help on stock tune and you'd be able to keep your IAT near ambient.

However, when mated with a tune and increased boost you can likely keep similar IAT and get even more power.