Built S54; comments and suggestions

[TylerBrown]

There are, of course, many ways to skin a cat. People have vastly different opinions and experiences with boosted s54’s. My question is:

What is your experience with a built s54? What would you recommend based on those experiences? Which components have you liked and which components have you disliked?

On a personal level, I’m running a 6466 on e85 with 1100cc injectors. I’m not looking to run more than 650whp and would prefer to keep the compression ratio at 10:1 or above. What are your thoughts on pistons, rods, valve train, headgasket, etc?

[Nicholas1996]

That much power on a stock block is doable. However that doesn’t answer your question. I used JE pistons 11.5:1, Milner rods, king bearings. JE head gasket, arp studs. So far so good and I run 23 psi on a 6266

[TylerBrown]

Is the JE head gasket thicker than OE? How many miles on your setup? Have you Dyno’d it yet?

[Mspir3d]

I’m also running 11.5:1 wiseco pistons, molnar rods and a JE/Athena cut ring head gasket. I left the valve train alone. The ports on the intake were smoother a little. It made 720 whp@ 22psi on the stock internal engine and the rods were still straight when taken apart. After the build I’ve ran it up to almost 30 psi. I agree you should be able to hit 650 whp safely with the 6466 without building the engine.

[TylerBrown]

What’s the thickness of the head gasket?

[Mspir3d]

What’s the thickness of the head gasket?

1.2 mm or .048 in ...and I should say with a good tune you won’t need to build the engine to 650 whp.

https://store.langracing.com/je-cut-ring-head-gasket-for-bmw-e46-s54-engines-87-5mm-bore-0-048-thick/

[Nicholas1996]

Is the JE head gasket thicker than OE? How many miles on your setup? Have you Dyno’d it yet?

Not Dynoed yet. Not that many miles on the motor either. I think about 3k since being built. PA seasons and all, don’t really get to drive it too often.

[TylerBrown]

1.2 mm or .048 in ...and I should say with a good tune you won’t need to build the engine to 650 whp.

https://store.langracing.com/je-cut-ring-head-gasket-for-bmw-e46-s54-engines-87-5mm-bore-0-048-thick/

The car was dyno’d at 630whp on the stock motor. Injector six may have stuck open and flooded cylinder six months after the tune. The engine would crank for a moment and then make a loud “bump” and stop cranking entirely. Right before I initially shut the engine off, there were plumes of white smoke and an extremely rough idle.

The engine may be fine meaning I won’t rebuild it but I’d rather start planning for the worst. I don’t want to rebuild the engine but if I have to, I have to.

Ian from Bend Calibration street tuned and dyno tuned my car so a good tune wasn’t the issue fortunately.

[mleveroni]

I know this tread hasn't seen activity for a bit but I wanted to share my build as well as get an idea for what its limit would be. Built the motor a year ago but have to switch from AEM infinity to pro efi as per the tuner so it still has not run yet. The bottom end is Carrillo rods, 9.5:1 CP pistons (87.25mm), ARP main studs, OEM main bearings, and ACL rod bearings. Top is ARP L19 head studs, OEM head gasket, and supertech valve springs, otherwise just refreshed with OEM parts. Machine shop did valve seals and valve adjustment as well.

I originally planned on keeping the stock motor until I found metal in the oil, which I thought was a bearing. Took everything apart to find out it was aluminum from drilling the turbo drain into the oil pan. Not ideal but probably would have been fine for a while. Since everything was torn apart I decided I might as well build it. So I wanted to have a motor that should be overbuilt for what I am going to put it through. Aside from just being new and stronger, I really wanted to go lower compression since I will mainly be on 93 pump gas. Maybe would do a race fuel tune in the future but E85 is not really an option around me.

In general, it seems like the safe limit for the stock motor on 93 gas is around 10psi. So what I was wondering is how much boost could I run on pump 93 with the lower compression? The turbo is a 6266jb right now but once the car is running I want to go to an BW EFR or at least a 6466 if that is too much fab work.

[Arith2]

You guys are hitting 700 to 800 hp on cast pistons and rods. That's phenomenal.

[Mspir3d]

I don’t have any experience with a lower compression s54 to give a good answer. If you don’t get one here, try bimmerforums if you haven’t already. They have a fairly active and knowledgeable group in their forced induction forum. I did see one for sale recently with similar compression that made almost 800 on pump.

I know this tread hasn't seen activity for a bit but I wanted to share my build as well as get an idea for what its limit would be. Built the motor a year ago but have to switch from AEM infinity to pro efi as per the tuner so it still has not run yet. The bottom end is Carrillo rods, 9.5:1 CP pistons (87.25mm), ARP main studs, OEM main bearings, and ACL rod bearings. Top is ARP L19 head studs, OEM head gasket, and supertech valve springs, otherwise just refreshed with OEM parts. Machine shop did valve seals and valve adjustment as well.

I originally planned on keeping the stock motor until I found metal in the oil, which I thought was a bearing. Took everything apart to find out it was aluminum from drilling the turbo drain into the oil pan. Not ideal but probably would have been fine for a while. Since everything was torn apart I decided I might as well build it. So I wanted to have a motor that should be overbuilt for what I am going to put it through. Aside from just being new and stronger, I really wanted to go lower compression since I will mainly be on 93 pump gas. Maybe would do a race fuel tune in the future but E85 is not really an option around me.

In general, it seems like the safe limit for the stock motor on 93 gas is around 10psi. So what I was wondering is how much boost could I run on pump 93 with the lower compression? The turbo is a 6266jb right now but once the car is running I want to go to an BW EFR or at least a 6466 if that is too much fab work.

[SliM3]

@Mspir3d:
I just received my BW S366 SXE (9180) and the compressor cover looks a lot bigger than most 64-66mm turbos I’ve seen + dealt with.

Did you have any issues mounting your 64 SXE on the SPA mani?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Nicholas1996]

@Mspir3d:
I just received my BW S366 SXE (9180) and the compressor cover looks a lot bigger than most 64-66mm turbos I’ve seen + dealt with.

Did you have any issues mounting your 64 SXE on the SPA mani?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just mounted my sxe369. Had to grind the block a little bit. Tight fit, but its in there. Using a SPA manifold

[SliM3]

I just mounted my sxe369. Had to grind the block a little bit. Tight fit, but its in there. Using a SPA manifold

Awesome, thanks for the reply Nicholas! I can deal with a little grinding.

How are you running your intercooler piping? I really don't like the way most of the kits run them underneath the car + having to hack-up the brace and skid plate. I know there's got to be a better way!

I'll be running H2O/Meth pre & post turbo, with no intercooler.

[Nicholas1996]

Unfortunately under the car. For some odd reason I got more clearance with the Borg Warner than with my 6266. Like I was able to pull the piping up a little. That’s as interesting setup with no intercooler! I hope it works