Originally Posted by bigfish

DWB,

Thanks for the update. What did the gears, plus install run? Did you have to exchange your stock gears or did you keep them?

I have Dinan working on my 03 4.6is S3, they are reducing the SC pulley wheel diameter to increase boost. They were very reluctant to do this. They say that the engine is strong enough to handle approx 1 to 1.5lbs of additional boost. However the weakest link seems to be the transmission. They believe with the additional HP and torque the tranny with be the first victim.

I should have my car back next week, I will keep you posted on gains. My next mods will be an inter-cooler (technically it's an methanol and water after-cooler) and boost gauge.

This past summer I went to a event held by Los Angeles Chapter of BMWCCA at California Speedway in Fontana. It was two day clinic that gave equal parts of classroom driving instruction and track time. Each participant was paired with an SCCA driving instructor and we got to take our vehicles out and drive them right to the edge. When the DSC is off and the tires are hot, you can get the X5 to allot more then I thought. You are connected to the in-car instructor via a two way radio in your helmet (really cool) they are constantly giving you input, feedback and instruction. These guys and one girl really know what a car can do!

I talked my instructor into taking me in his car for a few hot laps, I was holding onto the harness the whole time, repeating shit, shit, shit as we went down from the banked turn on to the apron at 130mph and that was at least 50mph faster then we had gone in the X. It was worth every penny and I am planning on doing it again this year!

I was one of two X5's in a total of around 90 other cars, mostly M3's & M5's also a couple of P-cars (GT3 R's). It was a good time, the other X5 had suspension problems and had to retire at the end of the first day. But we earned a little respect from the M drivers over the weekend.

Long story short (to late for that) I hooked up with a couple of guys who custom fabricated their own inter-coolers and were running boost gauges. I am going to work them and also another local shop to see what we can come up with for the supercharged X5!


Bigfish