hello there I am trying to guestimate the logical horsepower i have gained by these slight mods. Wheel HorsePower is what i am looking for, Please feel free to tell me what you think. thanks AFE stage 2 CAI BavAuto Tuner (slight timing, govenor, rev removed, etc.) ATC "traction control" removal Magnaflow cat back
Conservative estimate below. ATC traction control removal isn't going to have any bearing on your horsepower figure. That simply removes the functionality of the traction control. Traction control functionality generally doesn't enter the horsepower picture unless the ATC detects wheelslip. At that point, depending on the type of system you had, the DME will either signal the ABS to brake the slipping wheel or it will temporarily reduce engine power until the wheel slip circumstances are no longer in effect. My estimates are below. Keep in mind these are very conservative estimates. For a more accurate figure, you'd do a lot better to visit a professional horsepower shop and schedule a session on their dynonometer. The CAI (Cold Air Intake). Is it a sealed system? If so, which I assumed it was, stick with the 30 hp figure. If not, then hot air surrounding the engine is entering the system, reducing its effectiveness (warm/hot air isn't as dense as cold air, so your intake is getting less oxygen than with a truly sealed, cold air system). Deduct 10 hp if the CAI isn't sealed. I estimate you're probably getting an extra 30 hp from the upgrades you listed. Again this is a low ball, conservative figure. If you're looking for a number to pin someone down on, again, visit the dyno.
Are you nuts? This isn't some Chevy. A CAI on virtually any BMW built since 1980 is essentially useless, sealed or not. Unless someone wants to cough up some believable dyno figures that say otherwise ...
A CAI can't tell the difference between a BMW or any other kind of engine The same science applies: if it's not a sealed system, hot engine air is entering the system and limiting the effectiveness of the so-called cold-air system. I would add that your arbitrary "1980" cutoff makes no sense either. Whether or not an engine is compatible with a CAI has nothing to do with what year it was manufactured. It either works or it doesnt. I would also add that there are BMW engines that do use aftermarket CAI systems, and its effectiveness depends on the design of the CAI system, not when the engine was manufactured. I might also point out that I made a very lowball, conservative hp figure on this, and didn't assign my 30 hp figure to the CAI system by itself, but to ALL mods, and I also indicated the total for all mods are no more than 20 hp if the CAI is not a sealed system. Most of my estimate applies to the BavAuto program changes to the ECU and to the catback exhaust system. Ignition and timing changes may yield a few hp, but I assigned most of the 20 to 30hp "credit" to the catback exhaust, not to the CAI or to the tuning changes.
What is your 0-60 time before & after the mods ? We can use that to calculate real HP change to the wheels.
Have you seen a stock BMW system built since 1980 that wasn't sealed? It was an arbitrary year choice. It could go back to the '70s, but ISTR my Bavaria's intake wasn't a CAI design - although my '74 2002 was. The point you are missing is that BMW isn't dumb enough to leave free easy horsepower lying on the table. Every BMW intake system built since 1980 is a CAI system. Virtually every purported 'improvement' isn't. It's snake oil. Pure smoke & mirrors. Aftermarket CAIs do nothing on a BMW engine that has no more modifications than a chip. In fact, they are usually counterproductive by drawing warmer air than the BMW intake does. See that white car to the left? Know where the air intake is? Right behind the right side headlights. More sleight of hand marketing to convince you to buy an overpriced exhaust system. Again, do you think BMW isn't smart enough to know how much or how little back pressure their engines need, and to specify an exhaust system that provides it? The flow 'bottleneck' in any BMW engine is in the head. Nothing short of extensive head machine work or a boosted intake (turbo or supercharger) is going to exceed the capacity of the exhaust system. The reason so many people still believe their engines need to 'breathe' is the decades-old practice of manufacturers to build restrictive headers to fit in the space available. However, that ended at BMW about four decades ago. I think your estimate is totally off base and that your 'conservative' estimate is more likely wildly optimistic. The only real performance enhancement here is the chip, and that's not likely to be anywhere near 30 hp.
I have a Dinan intake on my ti that's completely sealed off from the engine, I'd honestly be stunned if it added 5 hp, intakes hardly add any power on an NA car, same goes for exhaust, they just look pretty and sound cool deleting the traction control would have a slight horsepower gain though, since on the E36 the traction control has a vane mounted directly in front of the throttle body to cut power to the engine, even when it's fully open it's a restriction so you maybe got 1-2 hp out of that, high estimate the chip is definitely your biggest gain, you probably got 5-10hp out of that EDIT: I went on bavauto's website and found a dyno graph for the chip: again, intake, exhaust and traction control delete only add a minimal gain, so that graph is probably pretty close to what you're making
I have to agree with all of CR's claims of those mods most likely not adding any power at all. The ONLY way to find out what power you're making is to take it to a dynometer. That'll give you REAL power rating, to the wheels.
Thank you for the responses guys i really do appreciate it. I think i am closly around 205 if anything liek you mentioned very slight increases. I understand that, i am not a honda owner nor do i think it is a race car that i added a few mods now i am unstoppable I was just looking for an estimate to get an idea,Sorry to get a debate going on this. No i have not done any real dyno's nor any 0-60's to see anything, sadly! what i hear is that bmw over estimates the power saying the stock 328is is at about 198tq,199hp etc! but in reality it is more like 180's! and yes it is a closed cai from afe. pretty little box aqround it that closes off once hood is shut.
C.R., My Bavaria, like all E3s, had a sealed cold air intake to the twin air filter assembly. Same with the E9. Both of them connected to the right side headlight area -- high pressure zone on the front of the car. Of course I lost that when I went with triple Weber sidedrafts. The whole time I had that car after I put the Korman engine + sidedrafts on it (10+ years), I always wanted to build a custom plenum with ducted high pressure zone intake. I also looked at buying an Alpina filter assembly for the sidedrafts, but it was hugely expensive. I agree with what you've mentioned regarding "CAI" on most BMWs. On the E39 M5, the dual intake system is so oversized along with the exhaust being sufficiently sized, that when Dinan puts their large cf dual CAI system, plus exhaust, plus s/w tuning, they gain some like 5hp peak (400 versus 405) or just slightly more than a 1% increase. All that crap costs a few thousand dollars. It only makes a bit of sense when you open up the rest of the intake path like they do on the S2 -- larger throttle bodies, matched intake trumpets and 4-2-1 headers, etc.
Never apologize for that. It's what we do ... and this particular subject will get us going almost every time.
Actually, if anything BMW tend to slightly under-rate power figures. As the saying goes, "BMW ponies are strong ponies." Granted that refers to the total package (torque, weight, gearing, etc.) but it's been pretty rare for them to overstate engine ratings.
I see, I take that back then. My apologies. i once thought that (way back when) and some how was turned around on that.
