Turbo upgrade.

[andzP135]

Hey guys.

I recently just popped my turbo on my 135 N55. I'm out of Motorplan cause of my modifications.

So I have decided to go for a GT 30 71 R.

Can I please have your opinions on this turbo upgrade. Im hoping to make 300 Kw's on the wheels with 95 octane.

Feedback appreciated �

[MilehighM3]

I think you will have a very hard time tuning the car. The stock turbo has the bypass valve built into the housing and without it the car will not be happy. Even if you can make a custom manifold to fit your turbo of choice. That's the reason no one has touched the N55 in terms of turbo upgrades, yet.

[135Pats]

Originally Posted by Bmw135er

I think you will have a very hard time tuning the car. The stock turbo has the bypass valve built into the housing and without it the car will not be happy. Even if you can make a custom manifold to fit your turbo of choice. That's the reason no one has touched the N55 in terms of turbo upgrades, yet.

+1 this could be a complicated task, n55 has proven to be a somewhat tricky platform to power mod, esp if were talking an outright turbo swap. Good luck with everything, i think youd be the first person ive seen who successfully upgraded the snail on an n55 so far.

[ParkNuts]

I'm crossing my fingers on the new M3 market leaking over to the other N55 cars. Maybe there will be a way to get their manifold + turbos or even an aftermarket solution will develop with some time.

[Freon]

There are really no plug-n-play options. If you want to do this you'll have to blaze your own trail. If you are posting here asking about it this most likely means you need to find an experienced shop and write them a big check to get this done. All we can do is speculate about what sort of problems you may find along the way. My only warning would be to wish you luck on finding a shop that has put a turbo swap on either an N54 or N55 successfully.

Finding the right tuning solution may be just as difficult and expensive as building the manifold, plumbing, etc. Expect to run across lots of issues during the build and have your car out of commission for months.

[Rodzilla]

"Good Luck"- Bad guy from the movie: Taken

[EAS]

No idea how your gonna do it but please send pics!!!

Max

[EAS]

No idea how your gonna do it but please send pics!!!

Max

[MaDoNiOn]

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=735448

Take a look at that thread with the 600whp on single turbo it might give you an idea.

[Clovef]

How about looking at upgrading the stock turbo. See if it can be potted or if a bigger wheel could be fitted or something. You won't get to 600 HP doing it but you could probably break 400 at the wheels and it will be way easier and cheaper.

[andzP135]

Originally Posted by Clovef

How about looking at upgrading the stock turbo. See if it can be potted or if a bigger wheel could be fitted or something. You won't get to 600 HP doing it but you could probably break 400 at the wheels and it will be way easier and cheaper.

I had made my internals bigger. My car made 281kw's at the wheels. I'm hoping for 340+ with the bigger turbo.

[ParkNuts]

You made your internals bigger? Can you describe that? Clip the impeller?

[andzP135]

Originally Posted by ParkNuts

You made your internals bigger? Can you describe that? Clip the impeller?

Im not 100% sure but i know they machined my turbo and put a bigger wheel. 3mm bigger.. i gained 25kw's on the wheels

[ParkNuts]

Interesting. Would love to see this documented. Is it more laggy? Do you have a dyno?

[Freon]

Machining out the compressor cover and putting in a larger wheel is a common upgrade. It may just be a TD04 compressor wheel. Upgrading the compressor alone a small amount can probably yield a bit more power, but without a more thorough upgrade it will be limited by the existing turbine. Making the compressor wheel bigger increases inertia in the wheel, increasing lag. I'd guess it is a slight change overall. A bit more power, a bit more lag. I would be wary of anyone performing only a compressor upgrade and drastically increasing its size. 3mm is probably fine.

RB Turbo upgrade is similar, but they also replace the turbine wheel and some of the center section and wastegate parts. It's a more thorough upgrade, but comes with a pretty heft pricetag as well.

On turbo cars you pretty much universally have to trade more power for more lag and higher RPM boost threshold. Nature of the beast. Higher quality and more modern designs, plus a good match of compressor and turbine to the engine help give the best overall trade off, but don't expect miracles. I know in the Subaru community if you were to believe all the claims of "more power but less lag" by now you'd expect a 800hp capable turbo that had no lag and boosted at 1350rpm on a 2L engine by now. It just ain't gunna happen.

Since the turbos on the N54 and N55 are not bolt on and are welded straight to the manifolds, and due to the lack of space in the engine bay it is more difficult to upgrade them. I think that's why you don't see many upgrade options and why options like the RB turbos are so expensive.

Hopefully we'll see some bolt on Garrett GT twin scroll kits some day... I'd love to swap out for a single GT3071R or GT3076R on my car.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by ParkNuts

I'm crossing my fingers on the new M3 market leaking over to the other N55 cars. Maybe there will be a way to get their manifold + turbos or even an aftermarket solution will develop with some time.

+1. I heard last week that BMW is even calling the new M3 F80 engine the: S55, since it is based off of the N55 valvetronic!



PS: OP I would post this question over on the e90post.com I think Shiv has already done a signle turbo conversion. But I think that was on a N54. ?

[alexmtl_135i]

Yup, n54. I haven't seen any n55 reconversions yet

[ParkNuts]

The N54 has a different exhaust manifold bolt pattern I believe, which is why the N54 twins can't be swapped to the N55. That's also why the single turbo setups for the N54 won't work for the N55.

[Ænema]

Originally Posted by Freon

Machining out the compressor cover and putting in a larger wheel is a common upgrade. It may just be a TD04 compressor wheel. Upgrading the compressor alone a small amount can probably yield a bit more power, but without a more thorough upgrade it will be limited by the existing turbine. Making the compressor wheel bigger increases inertia in the wheel, increasing lag. I'd guess it is a slight change overall. A bit more power, a bit more lag. I would be wary of anyone performing only a compressor upgrade and drastically increasing its size. 3mm is probably fine.

RB Turbo upgrade is similar, but they also replace the turbine wheel and some of the center section and wastegate parts. It's a more thorough upgrade, but comes with a pretty heft pricetag as well.

On turbo cars you pretty much universally have to trade more power for more lag and higher RPM boost threshold. Nature of the beast. Higher quality and more modern designs, plus a good match of compressor and turbine to the engine help give the best overall trade off, but don't expect miracles. I know in the Subaru community if you were to believe all the claims of "more power but less lag" by now you'd expect a 800hp capable turbo that had no lag and boosted at 1350rpm on a 2L engine by now. It just ain't gunna happen.

Since the turbos on the N54 and N55 are not bolt on and are welded straight to the manifolds, and due to the lack of space in the engine bay it is more difficult to upgrade them. I think that's why you don't see many upgrade options and why options like the RB turbos are so expensive.

Hopefully we'll see some bolt on Garrett GT twin scroll kits some day... I'd love to swap out for a single GT3071R or GT3076R on my car.

For the N54 the TD04 compressor upgrade isn't really showing any benefits. However, replacing the impellor and compressor have shown dramatic increases(ASR, RB and VTT stage 2s.)

VTT is developing a stage 3 which is twin GT28Xs.