heinzboehmer's 2002 Topaz 6MT Coupe

[jet_dogg]

Will be interesting to see if that high rpm dip is resolved when it's all said and done.

[heinzboehmer]

Will be interesting to see if that high rpm dip is resolved when it's all said and done.

Agreed. I think I feel it pulling linearly all the way to redline now, as opposed to how it "asymptoted" between 7 and 8k rpm before.

But, I could totally just be making it up because I'm hopeful that fixing the EGT wire and disabling cat protection resolved the dip in power. Dyno will tell for sure though.

[Poowill]

Great build journal and documentation throughout! Love all the geeky wiring and electrical work

[Tbonem3]

294whp with only an airbox/tune is incredible. Assume 270whp stock. You'd expect the airbox to only really improve things if you've got cams and/or headers to give a need for more air. In fact, some airboxes have lost people power, but that could be down to the tuner as well.

I think you'll be around 325-330whp with SSV1s, airbox, dyno tune. Have you done pulleys/fan delete? Doesn't improve crank power, but WHP by like 8 points.

[heinzboehmer]

Great build journal and documentation throughout! Love all the geeky wiring and electrical work

Thank you! The electrical work is a lot of fun to do. Love messing around to make it as tidy as possible.

294whp with only an airbox/tune is incredible. Assume 270whp stock. You'd expect the airbox to only really improve things if you've got cams and/or headers to give a need for more air. In fact, some airboxes have lost people power, but that could be down to the tuner as well.

I think you'll be around 325-330whp with SSV1s, airbox, dyno tune. Have you done pulleys/fan delete? Doesn't improve crank power, but WHP by like 8 points.

Yeah I was pretty pleased with 294 whp. And that was on a canned tune too! Paul knows what he's doing.

Hoping to be around 330 whp with the headers and dyno tune too. Excited to see what the car will put down now.

I don't run the mechanical fan, just the aux, as it really isn't necessary with the weather up here. Haven't done pulleys, but I've been thinking about throwing some on recently. They're cheap and will let me get rid of that stupid plastic PS pulley.

[Casa de Mesa]

I've come back to this build a couple times and don't think I've posted (I'm not subscribed). Allow me to say what many other have said. Really nice build, heinz. Attention to detail is at the top. Well done.

[heinzboehmer]

I've come back to this build a couple times and don't think I've posted (I'm not subscribed). Allow me to say what many other have said. Really nice build, heinz. Attention to detail is at the top. Well done.

Thank you! It's been a lot of work, but definitely worth it.

[heinzboehmer]

Copying this over from the dyno thread:

Stock:

269 max WHP, 230 max WTQ

CSL airbox and PCS canned tune:

294 max WHP, 245 max WTQ

Once again on the dyno. This time with SSV1s and Paul doing remote dyno tuning.

Updated setup:

• 129082 mi
• US spec pre-facelift M3
• Karbonius full carbon intake with carbon snorkel
• Kassel MAP
• Stock CSL IAT location and sensor
• HP converted MSS54
• SSV1s and SS oversized section 1 with HJS cats
• Stock section 2 and 3
• All engine maintenance done
  • Rod bearings replaced ~16k mi ago
  • VANOS done ~16k mi ago, passes VANOS test with no issues
  • Engine retimed ~5k mi ago
  • Valve adjustment done ~5k mi ago
  • New front and rear TPSs ~1500 mi ago
  • New precat O2 sensors ~500 mi ago
• No mechanical fan, just aux
• Rogue engineering water pump and power steering pulleys
• Dynoed at Sonoma racetrack so altitude is ~sea level
• 75ºF ambient temp
• 50% humidity
• Running Shell V-Power 91 octane

Dyno graph comparing the fully stock run to the CSL/SSV1/PCS dyno run:


315 max WHP, 252 max WTQ

Gained 46 whp/25 wtq and both the power curve and AFRs are looking much better than they did stock.

I didn't realize the dyno had been set to STD correction (pretty sure it was set to SAE the previous times I was there), so I left thinking the car made 323 whp. It was honestly a bit disappointing to come home and see 315 whp when I loaded up the dyno runs. Oh well, I'm not really trying to set any records and the car feels awesome, so I'm satisfied. Plus, it's not like 315 whp means the car is slow. Maybe I'll do cams someday, but for now, I think my power chasing has come to an end.

And just because I can, here's the same run with STD correction. Goes to show how little absolute numbers actually mean:

[D-O]

Looking good, sir.

I am finally getting around to installing the Supersprint exhaust. I have the headers in and I want to deal with the rear O2 wiring before I go any further. Was it worth the effort to remove the entire harness from the car to perform the modifications? Any other tips?

Thanks,
Jesse

[heinzboehmer]

Looking good, sir.

I am finally getting around to installing the Supersprint exhaust. I have the headers in and I want to deal with the rear O2 wiring before I go any further. Was it worth the effort to remove the entire harness from the car to perform the modifications?

Thanks,
Jesse

Yeah I think so. Took maybe 10 min to get it out (and 10 min to put it back in), but made my life way easier when pulling wires through the conduit. If you're going to be cutting the conduit, then it might not be worth removing it, as the cutting seems like it would be pretty easy to do with the harness still in the car.

[D-O]

Thanks. Seems well worth it if it will come out that quickly.

Maybe a dumb question, but does the EGT sensor need to go down in section 1, or should it go in the header?

[Slideways]

Thanks. Seems well worth it if it will come out that quickly.

Maybe a dumb question, but does the EGT sensor need to go down in section 1, or should it go in the header?

On the Euro setup, BMW placed it in the section 1 to have it closer to the cats.

[heinzboehmer]

^ this

There's a bung for it on the supersprint headers, but it makes sense to have it as close to the cats as possible.

[heinzboehmer]

Haven't been keeping up with updates here, so this will be long, but it's time to get back up to speed.

Aug 2021

Replaced the oil separator in my engine because it was looking pretty disgusting and cleaned the associated parts:





Then took the old one apart and made this thread with my findings: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...aning-interval

While I was there, I did some cleaning up of the valve cover, as it too was looking disgusting. Probably just a lot of previous owners and myself saying "eh I'll clean it next time I'm in here".

Before:



Closeup of one of the really bad areas (the sensor with the torn boot got replaced when I did headers):



And after:



Much nicer!

Since I was cleaning up the engine bay, I also fixed a wire in the DME area that had previously been used as a source of power for angel eyes. Cut, resoldered, applied adhesive lined heat shrink (for water ingress protection) and then covered that with some red heat shrink (which unfortunately made it look pretty lumpy) to sort of match the original wire color.





Shortly afterwards, I drove down to LA and back. Of course the car started having issues about an hour into the drive down. It started to feel like it had an intermittent misfire, but after scanning codes, it turned out to be a failing throttle position sensor. The fault only presented itself if the sensor itself started getting hot, so as long as I wasn't in stop and go traffic or going up a steep hill, it was fine. With this in mind, I just decided to continue with the plans. Made it all the way there and back no problem!

Upon returning, I ordered both engine bay TPSs and replaced them. Front one was surprisingly hard to get off. I ended up grabbing a philips bit with a pair of vice grips and wedging a 3/8" extension between the bit and the engine hoist point so that the bit wouldn't slip.



BMW, why not just make these hex head bolts? Managed to not strip the head of the bolts, but probably a good idea to order new bolts if changing this part out.

Thought this was funny. Sensors were so old, they said made in West Germany! New sensors just said made in Germany, although the spacing is still the same, so the W was probably just ground off on the die.



Oh and the BMW logo is blatantly ground off the OE parts again lol

[heinzboehmer]

Sep 2021

Decided that the idle air hole in the bottom of my Karbonius airbox was doing nothing, so I started looking for ways to cover it. I emailed Karbonius to ask if they had any suggestions and they offered to 3D print me a bespoke piece that would just snap in! And they sent it to me for free! I really do like that company a lot.

Anyway, here's what they sent over:




I took off the unfiltered section to put it on, as I didn't want to break any of the tabs. But even after being super careful, I still managed to break a couple:




Guess the printing layers made it easy for the shearing to occur.

No worries though, grabbed a heat gun, melted the plastic on the tab and cap slightly and stuck them back together:



I then went over the tabs with some of the epoxy I had left over from my VinceBar install to give them a little more strength:



Here you can see why the tabs originally sheared, fit is quite tight:



My fix worked though and the cap actually seals quite well:





All in all, pretty satisfied with it. Couple more revisions on the tabs could make this pretty much perfect out of the box.


After that, I decided to open up my VANOS solenoid and do my own version of the Beisan fix (mostly because I can't help but mess with everything).

Found some solder joints that didn't look that great:



Documented the process with a short DIY here: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/m...-solenoid-pack

And ready to go back in:




I then swapped out my rear shock mounts. Originally changed them out when I did my RACP plates, but found that they had failed. First time around, I used some Bimmerworld mounts because the design was supposedly superior to stock, but this time I went with OE Lemforder. Stupid cheap and they didn't fail during the 100k mi they were on the car for.

Pic of how the Bimmerworld mounts failed: