Buildjournal B-Spec Tune Review? / Megan Headers

[Arith2]

This almost sounds like you are making a joke but I think you are serious?

I would expect no less. Would you buy a tune, (or any product for that matter) where the company does not stand by it and eats their own dogfood?

I see what you mean now about how I said that. Tone gets lost in text because it would've made perfect to you if I said it in person. I wasn't joking about it and I really wouldn't buy a product someone isn't going to use themselves. That's one reason I typed this. Buildjournal isn't the end all, be all, I just wanted a tune that would refine my lack of cats a bit.

For me, I didn't feel the hp increase above 4500rpm but it was there according to number. I also had a 2015 335i to compare to that I knew was making around 330whp. We verified this the day my car blew up He was slightly faster, then after, we were dead even.

[mrgizmo04]

I think our DMEs will take 15 flashes so they also offer a DME 'revirginizing' flash to reset that count.

Glad you are enjoying the tune except their SMG one.

DME can take 30. If you ever get your hands on Martyn's tool, please do NOT use the virginize button, there is a separate button to reset the flash counter. Former will wipe EVERYTHING from your DME and you will need other advanced tools to get the full bin, vin match, etc before you can start the car again.

[TrackRat951]

I just had HTE do a tune on my car, after running the BJ tune for a while (have to look at my records but it's 6 months to a year). The car put out 291 whp with my baseline runs (with BJ tune), and Hassan was able to get me 310 whp. For the price, I wouldn't bother with the BJ tune. HTE and find out what your car can really do. I have Megan headers and a euro section 1.

[TramRam]

I have their tune on a fresh engine rebuild with the Lang lower end kit and Megan racing headers. I'm SMG. This is my first tune on this car so I have no comparison. Since I have SMG, I'll often let it do the shifting but I keep it at shift level 5. No doubt it spools up very quickly which is more the fresh build with headers, but the shift speed is noticeably quicker than stock. My one gripe is that in Auto Shift, it'll short shift in 2nd -3rd & 3rd - 4th when you're whole body subconsciously is EXPECTING to feel the surge as the RPMs run up the tach MUCH more than it does before shifting. THAT to me is a major bummer since it certainly didn't do that on the stock tune. I chose the low level 'burble' to see what it's like but I will be reflashing it to turn that off since I'm not into the 'popping' it gives. It's not the 'burble' I expected. If I manually shift, the short shift obviously doesn't happen so only SMG owners would notice that glitch. If you keep it in manual and romp on it, it'll definitely run very nicely. All told, not bad for the money. Their service is great. They offer free updates to their new flashes once you've bought the 1st tune. I think our DMEs will take 15 flashes so they also offer a DME 'revirginizing' flash to reset that count. They are good people who own, drive & track their E46s. Check their website sometime.

[mrgizmo04]

So apparently buildjournal runs their own tunes.

They trust it enough to run it in their daily drivers.

This almost sounds like you are making a joke but I think you are serious?

I would expect no less. Would you buy a tune, (or any product for that matter) where the company does not stand by it and eats their own dogfood?

[Arith2]

When my engine blew, I shot them a quick email about the tune. In no way do I think contributed but I asked for some verification just on the safe side. This was their response which I think is reasonable:

"From our end - we have checked your tune and it is exactly as it should be. The tune you have is identical to the tune that we have been running on our own personal cars for the last 5+ years with no tune-related issues. Tuning and adjustments wise, we are actually more conservative than other tuners so it isn't likely for the tune to be the actual cause. If anything, the tune could have been a catalyst to an already pre-existing issue on the car you weren't aware of (rod bearings/head gasket) which just sped things up. Peak power at 6500rpms wouldn't make sense as it is supposed to pull all the way to 8100 like ours here: https://thebuildjournal.com/news/b-s...esults-e46-m3/
here: https://thebuildjournal.com/reviews/...lex-commander/ "

So apparently buildjournal runs their own tunes. This is partially why I went with them over other can tunes. That doesn't mean it's the absolute highest horsepower but it's decent. They trust it enough to run it in their daily drivers.

[Zekarus]

i'm running the buildjournal tune for 2000km now. car felt instantly more responsive. but here are some numbers for you. car is an us spec 6mt with euro headers, euro sec1 and stock intake. both runs where within one hour. and these are the best two from multiple runs that where close to each other.

100-200km/h Stock vs. Buildjournal

[Obioban]

TTgivenoFuckS?

I've certainly see that happen more than once

[Tbonem3]

Lots of tunes that are fine on the street can quickly turn into engine failure on track.

TTgivenoFuckS?

[Obioban]

+1 for Paul (http://www.pcstuning.co.uk/) It is pretty encouraging that he tracks the hell out of his tuned M3 and is able to do a 7:43 BTG time on the Ring with it -

100% agreed. Lots of tunes that are fine on the street can quickly turn into engine failure on track. Him tracking (quickly) and tuning many race cars is a huge selling point to me.

[Slideways]

+1 for Paul (http://www.pcstuning.co.uk/) It is pretty encouraging that he tracks the hell out of his tuned M3 and is able to do a 7:43 BTG time on the Ring with it -

[Obioban]

It used to cost like $1k for a tune. Nowadays, at $200-300 whatever it is (plus dyno cost), a custom dyno tune with Hassan or Paul is a no brainer

Yep.

Even among the canned tunes, my impression has been the build journal isn't one of the better ones.

[Tbonem3]

It used to cost like $1k for a tune. Nowadays, at $200-300 whatever it is (plus dyno cost), a custom dyno tune with Hassan or Paul is a no brainer

[M3mike]

Yeah, I guess that's a good point

[Tbonem3]

Different cars react differently to canned tunes.