[myfirst]

Car: 2006 330i Sedan - Steptronic

I got the Powerbox in the mail Saturday and installed on Sunday. In a summary, the Powerbox is definately worth the price. Now the details.

Install
The install was fairly easy. It took me a total of 1.5 hours as I was being very careful and also had low lighting (did this around 7pm in the garage with only a single light on). On the beginning pages of instructions, it asked to remove the clip of the driver side sensor, which my 330i had none, only on the passenger side. As I followed the instructions, everything was pretty easy until I got to the part where I remove the left large connector to the ECU. First, I couldn't figure out which connector it was.

All the connectors looked large. It was only after a while I realized the big silver box in the middle was what the instructions were referencing. Then I couldn't figure out which side was left. They both looked big. Facing the car from the front bumper is what left meant. After removing the connector, you'll have to make sure the slider is pulled all the way out before lifting up on the connector. To do this, I had to lift the entire silver ECU out of the tray about 2 inches to clear the wires. Then the slider pulled all the way, and I was able to pull the connector strait up.

From there, it was pretty easy until the instructions said to connect the car wire to the female powerbox pin. Isn't female the one with the hole? I connected the car wires to the long pins and connected the holes to the ECU. Maybe I was looking at it wrong but this turned out to be correct. After that, the other side was cake. I turned the car on and revved it couple times with no CEL light. Put the car back together and took it out for a ride, WHOA!

Driving Impressions
The first thing I noticed was how sensitive the throttle was. A calm push that usually made the car shift around 2k RPM sent the RPMS flying around 3500 before shifts in D. After letting the car warm up, I went to a private road and let it rip. The throttle response is instant and feels like full power at half the throttle. It pulls harder and the engine sounds louder (is that possible?). Just to make sure I wasn't imagining anything, I had my wife (she has no clue what I did to the car, I told her I wanted to surprise her). She immediately commented on how much the car seemed to "surge" her against the seat harder than normal.

I've driven the car to and from work for the last couple days and my combined mileage went from around 24.5mpg to around 22.5mpg. Most likely that is due to the aggresive throttle remapping which makes me accelerate faster than normal. I've since reset the PBX to setting #2 for 60% throttle remapping with full performance tuning. I like this combo as it gives me fine tune throttle control with all the performance it can give. I carpool with a co-worker and he commented that the car feels more aggresive when I am passing people on the way to work. He has no clue I put this on either so it isn't in my head.

All in all, this was a great investment. My gut tells me I have around 5-10% more power than before and at 60% throttle remapping, it is a perfect balance between performance, sensitivity and relaxed driving.

One month update
I have kept the mapping on #2 for this entire time. My foot adjusted to the throttle response after the first week driving. I mostly just commute to work and back with my car driving 40 miles round trip. It got really cold and snowy so I had to take it really easy. After a week of snow, I filled up my car and calculated my gas mileage at 28.3MPG!!! What? I got a total of 242 miles out of exactly 8.549 gallons in that 1 week worth of snow driving. I thought the PBX would kill mileage but feathering the throttle at takeoff gave me more MPG than feathering without it. My in-dash MPG was reset when I installed the PBX and it is sitting at a comfy 25.0 MPG reading over a distance of little over 1,000 miles.

When the snow cleared, I had the chance to open her up again. One thing I've definitely noticed is how there is a "push" feeling when I kick it down to 3rd to pass a car, and it shifts to 4th from redline. Before, it was a solid feel of acceleration regardless of gear changes but now I feel a push on gear change from a redline.

Finally, my car intervenes with DSC much more than before. When accelerating out of a turn, I could pull out at around 4k RPM without pissing anything off. Now, as soon as 3k RPM hits, the dash DSC light blinks on and the power drops off slightly to bring the tail back in control. Hmmm.

[bernjee82]

congrats! it is awesome worth the trouble to install it!

[FCP Euro]

Thanks for your review on this. Sounds like it was well worth the effort.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Thanks for posting your impressions on the 330 This should help all the guys with the 330i/xi wondering how this works on their cars.

Mike

[ellipsis212]

Originally Posted by myfirst

Isn't female the one with the hole?

[Lagger1]

Glad to see you like it However, has anyone install this on a 330 manual? And percieve an improvement? Trying to gauge the benfit of improved throttle response vs. mashing my right foot.

And to verify, this is not a specific 330 tune, correct? Basically the original 328 tune re-labeled as the "325/328/330" just because it 'works'

[SV Concepts III]

Very nice, nothing but positive comments about this kit!

[bren335i]

Originally Posted by Lagger1

Glad to see you like it However, has anyone install this on a 330 manual? And percieve an improvement? Trying to gauge the benfit of improved throttle response vs. mashing my right foot.

And to verify, this is not a specific 330 tune, correct? Basically the original 328 tune re-labeled as the "325/328/330" just because it 'works'

Simple, doesn't matter what engine because its not tuning anything.

It biases a fuel signal and leans the fuel out a bit on the stock map, no timing control, no ecu control. And then amplifies/multiplies the stock drive by wire signal as much as possible to make you think you are going fast. Which is the incorrect way of doing it, as all the torque targets and DBW factory mapping is less then desirable to start with. However, it's simple and effective to your market - hence why it works.

a sprint booster and an ebay resistor .99 mod.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by bren335i

Simple, doesn't matter what engine because its not tuning anything.

It biases a fuel signal and leans the fuel out a bit on the stock map, no timing control, no ecu control. And then amplifies/multiplies the stock drive by wire signal as much as possible to make you think you are going fast. Which is the incorrect way of doing it, as all the torque targets and DBW factory mapping is less then desirable to start with. However, it's simple and effective to your market - hence why it works.

a sprint booster and an ebay resistor .99 mod.

That isn't how it works at all. Check out the dynos. More power with a much RICHER air/fuel ratio. Timing is also advanced 1-2 degrees over stock. It uses a PIC micro-controller running 8,000,000 transactions per second similar to the JB3.



Mike

[mike-y]

yes, I can confirm that the AFR is richer with the tune (as shown on the dyno). It gets much closer to the desired ~13.5:1 that a lot of tuners shoot for at WOT. The tune "works" on all 3 models (325/328/330) because it doesn't replace the fuel and timing maps, it adds to them. It just so happens that the factory tuning on all three models is similar with respect to AFR and timing, so the BMX works on all 3.

and since the 330i already has better response than the 325 and 328, using map 2 with 60% throttle mapping makes perfect sense.

sure, sprint booster would give you better throttle response over stock, but it's not adjustable, doesn't add a tune, and costs about the same money as the BMS. The BMS sounds like a clear winner to me, especially when you consider you will be able to download and update the BMS with new and improved tunes (like with the JB3).

[BigZ88]

any actual dynos on a 330?

[DV]

Originally Posted by BigZ88

any actual dynos on a 330?

+1

[BigZ88]

hey...if someone gives me one I'll get dynos done and post em up for everyone! My car is 100% stock so it will be a perfect baseline!

[zuluZero]

Originally Posted by BigZ88

any actual dynos on a 330?

+1

[kookieshk]

People have told me that it add 8-10/hp and torque. Is that true? +1 on the dyno

thanks in advance!

[jch8479]

Ok guys I need your help. With these mixed reviews I am confused. I want added performance via chip or tune. What do you suggest? I have a 2006 330i, I just ordered a Meisterchaft exhaust but want the instant 30+/40+ hp from a chip or tune.

[bsamoul]

Originally Posted by jch8479

Ok guys I need your help. With these mixed reviews I am confused. I want added performance via chip or tune. What do you suggest? I have a 2006 330i, I just ordered a Meisterchaft exhaust but want the instant 30+/40+ hp from a chip or tune.

dude you will never get that.

[jch8479]

Ok? I guess some people are just telling "white lies". What do you suggest for tunes or chips?

[mike-y]

Originally Posted by jch8479

Ok? I guess some people are just telling "white lies". What do you suggest for tunes or chips?

you are confusing chips on turbocharged vehicles for chips that go on naturally aspirated vehicles like the 325/328/330. Turbo cars get big gains with chips because they increase boost pressure supplied by the turbos. This is simply not possible on cars without forced induction. Typical gains for our cars with a chip is 8-10 hp.

[jch8479]

Oh ok.... I am thinking about purchasing one of these "powerboxes". Do you have any tune suggestions? I am completly in the dark other than the bit of research I have done over the last couple of days.

[kookieshk]

can someone explain what maps are? i saw in a different post that there are 7 maps...do you select which one you want when you install it? or do these maps change while you drive?

[lcs]

Originally Posted by jch8479

Oh ok.... I am thinking about purchasing one of these "powerboxes". Do you have any tune suggestions? I am completly in the dark other than the bit of research I have done over the last couple of days.

BMS Powerbox is your answer. That is the tune/chip whatever you call it.