Tuning my BMW 320d M Sport E90 E91 E92 E93

320d (184bhp, stock) max speed run: 152.25 mph 245 km/h

2012-04-27T15:56:00.002+01:00

152.25 mph (245 km/h)

Not bad for a stock E9x 4 cylinder 2.0 litre diesel!

I wonder what top speed a tuned car would have? Post your answers!

Cool arty E92 film

2012-04-18T23:14:00.000+01:00

Love this little movie, shows all the best bits of the E92.

Clutch Delay Valve - The hidden enemy in your BMW

2012-01-23T21:53:00.001+00:00

As the summer months came to an end I noticed the car juddered when pulling away. Going by previous experience I put this down to oil on the clutch, but after doing some digging I found that my car was fitted with a Clutch Delay Valve (CDV) which had partly failed. A very common ailment.

For those who are unaware, the CDV slows the clutch engagement by restricting the flow of clutch fluid, which helps make pulling away and gear changes smoother. This sounds great to most people but it makes the clutch feel numb and removes control from the driver, not to mention wearing out the clutch quicker.

Luckily I came across a great website which describes the modification and how it can be done at home for free (I opted to buy a new valve for £6 from BMW). In essence the modification removes the inside of the valve opening a bigger hole to allow the free flow of fluids.
http://www.billswebspace.com/BMWCDVMod.htm

The result, no more judder and I can actually feel the clutch now! I am once again a happy man.

Good bye 177bhp, hello 227bhp and 470NM!

2012-01-23T00:22:00.000+00:00

So after a long search I settled on a full remap with 2x rolling road runs (before and after) from AmD in Essex (UK). Their website promises +60bhp and +125NM, I got +50bhp and the full 125NM, so in total my car stands at 227bhp and a massive 470NM! Not far from a 330d of the same age.

I have to say the difference is astounding, accelerating now pins me in to my seat and over taking becomes easier and safer. The chassis, as you would expect, takes the extra power with ease.

Economy has improved slightly too by 2-3mpg, not quite sure how that has happened but I am happy with it. I mostly drive around the streets of London and get on average 37.5mpg (measured over several thousand miles), that's in stop-start heavy traffic which rarely gets above 20mph.

Downsides? Well, yes of course there are some, but nothing too bad.
Essentially when manufacturers build their cars, they include a safety margin in the engine that allows drivers to go beyond the recommended service schedule (within reason!) and not cause damage. Remapping removes this margin and you must service your car on time.

So all things considered, I would recommend anyone looking to remap their car to actually go ahead and do it. It has made me grin from ear to ear each time I drive!

Next on the list, a Quaife limited slip differential, performance air filter and a modified clutch delay valve.

Remap or plug-in tuning box?

2011-05-10T21:04:00.002+01:00

After browsing a few forums today another idea jumped in to my head, a tuning box. A great idea which gives more power (circa 211 - 226BHP) and can be easily unplugged if I want to return to the standard engine tuning state. Opinions on the other hand seem to be divided, half the people love them and the others hate them.

So what causes such a divide in opinion? It seems the tuning boxes simply fool the ECU by way of altering the sensor inputs, namely boost and fuel rail pressure before they reach the ECU itself. Not great for the fuel pump or the turbo one could say.

On the plus side, if you lease a car and want to up the power, you can buy a unit and use it without anyone knowing. As mentioned before, you can remove it for servicing and warranty work just by unplugging it. To show just how quick and easy this process is check out this video:

At the end of the lease you can sell the device on to someone else and claw some money back. For me however, I own my car and thus fully responsible for maintenance and repairs so I won't be buying one. However here is a list of companies I found during my travels over the internet if a tuning box is you cup of tea:

http://www.tuningbox.com/
http://www.diesel-performance.co.uk/
http://www.ptronic.com/

Searching for an ECU remapper

2011-05-09T20:10:00.000+01:00

I started searching for remaps a couple of weeks after buying the car and had a few quotes from independant mappers ranging from £250 to £350, all of which seemed to offer around 210BHP, a 33BHP gain. Not bad I thought, however...

None of these offered a rolling road remap which prove any claimed gains and help fine tune for optimal power and economy, so I had a quick call to DMS (http://www.dmsautomotive.com/) who quoted 215BHP for £1200! Far too much for just 5BHP extra.

I'm sure there is a better deal out there so the search continues.

320d Vs 335d

2011-05-08T23:23:00.001+01:00

So, one sunny in April 2011 my story begins.

After much searching for my perfect car (an E92 335d M Sport), I decided to change my goal to a much slower 320d. Why you ask? Well the 335d has a one of the best deisel engines in the world, a 3.0L twin-turbo diesel engine, which to the non-geeks reading is 286BHP and after a simple ECU remap this can be easily raised to 340-350BHP and 700NM of torque.

The trouble is that constantly increasing cost of fuel, which I'd like to add is spiralling madly out of control here in the UK, coupled with a crazy road tax system means this car is at best a huge drain on resources for me around 40MPG on a run and just 20 in town (these are real life figures), keeping in mind that diesel is at present £1.45 a litre and tax would be £245 a year.

On the flip side, the 320d is £95 a year to tax and returns 60MPG on a run and 40MPG in town, which is rather good and in return I get 177BHP. Okay, that is a full 109BHP less than the car orgianlly wanted but I knew this could be improved upon and I could still save money on running costs.

Roughly, at 10,000 miles a year the 335d would cost in fuel £1647.96 and the 320d £1098.64, a £549.32 saving. Factor in the £150 tax saving and the grand total is an £699.32 a year. Not bad at all.
(http://www.fuel-economy.co.uk/calc.shtml)

I set about looking for a car, firsty I looking at BMW dealerships, not a good idea as they were overpriced at the best of times and very average spec cars with minimal options. Then I looked at Autotrader which proved very useful, the first car I saw was a Sapphire Black 320d M Sport coupe at a small dealership in Oxfordshire. This car was perfect in every way, and I mean perfect. Cream leather interior, BMW Professional audio system with DAB and heated seats amongst others. Most importantly though it had a full BMW service history.
(www.j-v-s.co.uk)

Here was the advert:
"2 Doors, Manual, Coupe, Diesel, 48,000 miles, SAPPHIRE BLACK. JUST 1 OWNER FROM NEW WITH FULL BMW SERVICE HISTORY,4 NEW BRIDGESTONE RUN FLAT TYRES FITTED. SPECIFICATION INCLUDES: CREAM DAKOTA LEATHER, HEATED FRONT SEATS, DAB DIGITAL RADIO WITH SPEAKER UPRGRADE, POPLAR WOOD TRIM, XENON HEADLAMPS, M SPORT BODY STYLING 18" ALLOYS. THIS CAR IS IN OUTSTANDING CONDITION AND IS JUST 95 PER YEAR TO TAX! WITH 177BHP AND 50MPG+ IT IS THE IDEAL COMBINATION"

I called the dealer immideately and was very supprised by the service, not some pushy salesman but instead a well spoken and attentive gentleman who actually knew what he was talking about. I booked a test drive for the following weekend and counted down the days until I could get behind the wheel. Anyway, the car drove amazingly well, the front end was some much more willing to turn than the 335d and steering had more feel, but as you would expect the lack of power was very apparent.

Remembering that there are methods of tuning to improve that power output, I went ahead and bought the car. Thankfully the dealer was very patientent when my bank decilened the transaction twice and when my son decided to take the dealer's lunch. In order: 1 apple, 1 bannana, 1 pear, a sandwich and a bottle of water. I say take, he gave him the food after stealing the apple of the desk without us seeing.

After all the problems with the bank, the money was finally transfered and I took the keys to the BMW there and then. I drove somewhere in the region of 1000 miles that weekend, I was happy with the car to put it mildly.

Stay tuned folks.