[Dx11]

I've got a e93 325i, 218bhp, lci (3L, not 2,5) which is basically a 330i but computer limited, but it does have a different intake manifold from the 330i, and that's basically the only hardware difference.

Anyway, it now has 218bhp / 270nm. I've found a tuner that promises 265bhp and 315nm, with software only. It's also not that expensive.

Could this be a bad idea in any way? It has only 90.000km so I think the engine should take it just fine, but can anything go wrong? Because the numbers are very close to a 330i (268 bhp / 320nm) and all that without the better intake manifold. It kind of feels like it's too good to be true.

Opinions? Anyone who did the same maybe?

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by Dx11

I've got a e93 325i, 218bhp, lci (3L, not 2,5) which is basically a 330i but computer limited, but it does have a different intake manifold from the 330i, and that's basically the only hardware difference.

Anyway, it now has 218bhp / 270nm. I've found a tuner that promises 265bhp and 315nm, with software only. It's also not that expensive.

Could this be a bad idea in any way? It has only 90.000km so I think the engine should take it just fine, but can anything go wrong? Because the numbers are very close to a 330i (268 bhp / 320nm) and all that without the better intake manifold. It kind of feels like it's too good to be true.

Opinions? Anyone who did the same maybe?

You need a 3 stage manifold to get the 330i power levels (which is 255hp not 265hp I believe btw).

It’s definitely worth doing but you’ll need to source the manifold. If your tuner says he can get you there without the manifold then I would find a different tuner who doesn’t blow smoke up your a$$.

Of course you can also just download the 330i tune for free and install the manifold yourself for like $400 in parts. This is probably the most popular power mod on this forum and how most are going about it.

[Dx11]

Originally Posted by Biginboca

You need a 3 stage manifold to get the 330i power levels (which is 255hp not 265hp I believe btw). It’s definitely worth doing but you’ll need to source the manifold. If your tuner says he can get you there without the manifold then I would find a different tuner who doesn’t blow smoke up your a$$. You can also just download the 330i tune for feee and install the manifold yourself for like $400 in parts.

Thing is, I can find 5 tuners in the Netherlands, which all say 265bhp is possible with software only. 330i is 268 or 272bhp.

330i tune is not available for free afaik for the n53, only for n54/n55.

I've read multiple sites saying EU 325i N53 is exactly the same as the 330i, software limit locks away 90% of the extra bhp, better manifold only adds another 10%.

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by Dx11

Thing is, I can find 5 tuners in the Netherlands, which all say 265bhp is possible with software only. 330i is 268 or 272bhp.

330i tune is not available for free afaik for the n53, only for n54/n55.

I've read multiple sites saying EU 325i N53 is exactly the same as the 330i, software limit locks away 90% of the extra bhp, better manifold only adds another 10%.

Oh ok, I thought you had n52. In that case ignore what I wrote I have no idea about n53. There aren’t a lot of people on this forum with n53’s but hopefully someone can answer your questions.

[E92William]

N53 has higher compression so you can probably get to 250 ish with just a tune since the n52 seems to be able to do 240 or so with a tune on the stock manifold. Maybe he's not completely bullshitting, you'd have to check some n53 dynos.

Also I'm pretty sure the manifold the n53 uses has similar head mounting points as the n54 so you would ideally want a manifold from a 330 n53 instead of n52. If your car has the disa valves then you already have the manifold, I've seen some guys with 125s n53 that came with the manifold bring it up to 272 with just software on other forums. You fucks got lucky BMW just detuned the damn thing instead of putting a 2.5 in there

[Phil325i]

IMHO there are a lot of extravagant claims out there from N53 'tuners'. But if the price is right and you accept you probably won't get their claimed figures then why not..?

[AUDELA]

Originally Posted by Dx11

I've got a e93 325i, 218bhp, lci (3L, not 2,5) which is basically a 330i but computer limited, but it does have a different intake manifold from the 330i, and that's basically the only hardware difference.

Anyway, it now has 218bhp / 270nm. I've found a tuner that promises 265bhp and 315nm, with software only. It's also not that expensive.

Could this be a bad idea in any way? It has only 90.000km so I think the engine should take it just fine, but can anything go wrong? Because the numbers are very close to a 330i (268 bhp / 320nm) and all that without the better intake manifold. It kind of feels like it's too good to be true.

Opinions? Anyone who did the same maybe?

Hi Dx11 - I've looked into doing the same here in UK. I similarly have the N53 325i 3L.

A company here basically quoted me the following:
Stage 1 Remap £245 + £60 for before and after graphs. Gains of +40bhp.


With the 330 manifold you can expect another +15bhp.

I'd be curious how much they quoted you in Netherlands. And have you gone ahead and done it? If so, pleased with the results?

[BudVlad]

325i N53 297.23 PS, 307 Nm (N54 intake manifold, Supersprint headers).

[Dx11]

Originally Posted by AUDELA

Hi Dx11 - I've looked into doing the same here in UK. I similarly have the N53 325i 3L.

A company here basically quoted me the following:
Stage 1 Remap £245 + £60 for before and after graphs. Gains of +40bhp.


With the 330 manifold you can expect another +15bhp.

I'd be curious how much they quoted you in Netherlands. And have you gone ahead and done it? If so, pleased with the results?

Haven't done it yet, I'm kind of worried about hurting my engine with those massive increases.
There's so many different "tuners" which all do multiple (all) brands, so that's not really a great feeling, but I found one that has a deal now for €275 including dyno, so I'll think I'll go with that, dyno at least shows me I got what I paid for.
Strangely enough thats's for 265bhp / 315nm, but there's also many "tuners" asking for more (up to double) for like 232bhp / 275nm.
So that kind of worries me, because those numbers are so wildly different, will 265bhp even be safe for my engine? If so, why do other tuners only put 232bhp on it?

[Dx11]

Originally Posted by Phil325i

IMHO there are a lot of extravagant claims out there from N53 'tuners'. But if the price is right and you accept you probably won't get their claimed figures then why not..?

Because what if it causes problems with the engine?

[E92William]

Your engine has the same internals as an n52 save for different pistons and head. If 260 ish hp was too much I would have sent a connecting rod through my dashboard or guys like biginboca that rev their cars to 7500rpm daily would have sent one to the moon. The engine can take it just fine don't worry about that.

Just want to make sure the tuner is doing a good job with the tune instead of just adding +2 to every parameter and hoping for more power like some have been shown to do here in the USA.

[Dx11]

Originally Posted by E92William

Just want to make sure the tuner is doing a good job with the tune instead of just adding +2 to every parameter and hoping for more power like some have been shown to do here in the USA.

Yeah that's what I meant, I have no knowledge of tuning, and I have no idea of he will be doing a good job or not..

[BudVlad]

Originally Posted by Dx11

Because what if it causes problems with the engine?

My tune was done November 2018 (297 PS), two years of racing and still going strong.

[Jpm57tt]

Originally Posted by BudVlad

325i N53 297.23 PS, 307 Nm (N54 intake manifold, Supersprint headers).

Attachment 2553027

Hi , l have always wonder why you haven’t rev to 7500rpm ....on this pull seems it would have been over 300 hp ...

[Jpm57tt]

Originally Posted by Dx11

I've got a e93 325i, 218bhp, lci (3L, not 2,5) which is basically a 330i but computer limited, but it does have a different intake manifold from the 330i, and that's basically the only hardware difference.

Anyway, it now has 218bhp / 270nm. I've found a tuner that promises 265bhp and 315nm, with software only. It's also not that expensive.

Could this be a bad idea in any way? It has only 90.000km so I think the engine should take it just fine, but can anything go wrong? Because the numbers are very close to a 330i (268 bhp / 320nm) and all that without the better intake manifold. It kind of feels like it's too good to be true.

Opinions? Anyone who did the same maybe?

Its a typical modification over here , it will give you 250plus hp do it every company have it ...just do a before and after dyno. Regards

[Dx11]

I don't think I'm doing it. Why? Because the best known tuner (mosselman) only promises 250bhp and asks €688 for it, and I've found many, many, tuners asking 200/300 for 262bhp (including dyno, so it will make the number). It seems to good to be true and I don't really trust it. I don't want to ruin my engine/computers. If it's so easy to get such increase, why wouldn't the best known tuner do it like that? Probably because he knows it's not a good idea?

[E92William]

This has been done by tons of people without any engine detriment. If you don't trust the tuner that's fine, go with someone else. The guys at stage fp here in the US can probably build a nice performance tune for it for about the same as the best local tuner. There's charts out there showing 25i 3.0 N53 cars putting down the numbers, it's not some idea of something that might work but something known to work.

[Dx11]

Okay I get that but then why does the best known tuner offer only 250bhp with software (more with 30i intake manifold) and all the unknown cheap tuners offer 262bhp with software only? Wouldn't that suggest 262bhp with software only might be a bad idea?

[E92William]

Might just be they're inflating their numbers or using the 30i with manifold numbers to advertise their mod as they don't actually know what the car does with just software or are not wanting to tell people. I would go for the guy that tells you the real deal

[BudVlad]

Originally Posted by Jpm57tt

Hi , l have always wonder why you haven’t rev to 7500rpm ....on this pull seems it would have been over 300 hp ...

Output started to drop off at 7000 RPM because fuel pump couldn’t deliver enough fuel. Since than I installed high output fuel pump but I haven’t go back to dyno.

[Dx11]

Originally Posted by E92William

Might just be they're inflating their numbers or using the 30i with manifold numbers to advertise their mod as they don't actually know what the car does with just software or are not wanting to tell people. I would go for the guy that tells you the real deal

Mosselman (people in my country say he's the best) promises 250bhp for €688.
Other tuners promise 250+bhp for much cheaper.
I found one that has a deal now, €275 for 262bhp including dyno before and after!

All of this is software only.
I kind of want to do the cheap one with 262bhp, but I wonder, if it's possible, why wouldn't the well known guy (Mosselman) do just that? What if 262bhp software only, is possible, but not good for the engine? And the cheap guy doesn't care?

[PandaNL]

Hi,

A friend of mine also had a E92 325i with N53 and got it to 265 without the intake of a 330i. He did it at ATM chiptuning in the Netherlands. He had 188k on it and never had any issues.

The difference with the intake should be a better build up of power in the low ranges.

I myself want to get a 330i intake for the N53 and was told by Mosselman that it is possible to get and install your own 330i intake and do a stage 1 tune which will be custom tuned for your car.