3.0i mod???
 

What mod have you guys done to your 3.0 X? I have been looking around for an chip for the engine or whatever it's on eBay but don't know Wich is the best. please chime in with your experience and what equipment you had installed and what was the difference. If any grammar error sorry in advance I'm in the phone:D

See in my sig - I added the intake because a previous owner sold it and it comes with a dry filter which I like, easier maintenance - I paid $100 for the AFE and no I didn't notice any torques

I got the 4.8iS axle back and besides the better look and smoother sound no crazy hp but it drives smoother

Also added the Shark Injector (software) because it was on Black Friday sale for $100 off so $250 - normally its $350 - smoothed out the throttle band

All in all I love the mods I did and the X drives super smooth, but you aren't getting huge gains either way - if you have the money those are the mods you can do (intake, exhaust, chip) on an NA motor

Engine mod for 3.0 = get a 4.4 or 4.8is. No matter what they claim the chip to do on ebay, I don't believe there is any chip out there that will give you reasonable gains. The 3.0i is a well handling SAV, not a rocket by design.

You can eek out some horses here and there with bolt-ons but you will never hit the bigtime unless you are doing things that require ECU tuning.

3.0 exhaust manifolds look pretty restrictive, and the cats being up high like that was to make ULEV standards as opposed to performance (so I read, makes sense). I'd get rid of those and go to a header and an aftermarket high flow cat.

If you spend anytime on E46 fanatics, you will find there are people over there who plowed the "hotrod a 3.0" ground long ago. You have to do a lot of reading to find that there is not a lot left on the table as far as this engine goes in NA form. Intake, exhaust, ECU tune (either DIY or shark) and you are probably about done...unless you want to really head into crazy territory.

An often overlooked mod on these vehicles is weight reduction. They are fat. Removing weight is like adding power, but cheaper.

Don't even bother, imo this engine on the x5's aren't worth it, not enough torque for how much the truck weighs. Save your money & enjoy higher mpg lol

thanks for the fast reply I am not seeking to put crazy HP on the 3.0 just a little bit I was looking for the name of the chip(SHARK) thanks for that and probably a cold air intake . that's about how much I was looking to doing to it. thanks again for the reply. I will update as soon as I have it ready to go. currently waiting on parts to finish her up.

afe intake looks real nice I'd definitely get it if I had the money. For now I just have a k&n filter

is this the one?
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...ware/?pdk=AQEB

$500 when you include what appears to be a required battery charger. $150 for a battery charger??!! Seriously?

nah you can find one for much cheaper but yea when you reflash ecu's the battery needs to be charged. same idea as installing new os on your phone

You mean the car battery? Much cheaper car battery chargers out there.

So, you could buy a cheaper or different battery charger. An battery charger is needed to maintain good voltage on the car trough the prosses. If the battery charge dies you will have an corrupt file making your DME go crazy and possibly a no start situatuion. The battery charger that I have I think it cost me 120 or so, it's always good to have one handy.

charger

OK. So car battery charger. That would make sense.

$30 for this one: https://www.amazon.com/NOCO-G750-Ult...attery+charger

vs $150 from the shark company. No brainer.

The E53 X5 3.0i shares the same engine with the E46 330i.

Luckily there are a lot more E46 owners that are exploring modding these cars and a lot of their experience is applicable to us 3.0i owners.

Those guys are making Ebay turbo kits work, they are reprogramming the factory Siemens engine management up to FI applications.

Check out E46fanatics.com, they are doing amazing things to these engines there.

Here's a nice guide for bolt on mods, check the forum for the wilder ones.
330i M54 Tuning

you also have to consider the much heavier x5 so mod for mod the x5's will be slower compared to 3 series.

I am interested in that shark reflash though.

While that is true, if you could make 300 crank hp with a 5 speed and the 4.10s in the diffs, it would be swift.

Take out the back seats and the spare, and you could do pretty well.

Exceptions are few and far between that more air in from a cold air intake coupled with less restrictive exhaust will not result in an increase in HP/Torque. The added fun of cold air intake or low restriction exhaust is the sound that comes with it of course. Of the two, the greatest benefit for $$ spent will be lower restriction mufflers. There are additional benefits from other exhaust components but cost goes up quickly so the gain per dollar spent makes a sharp decline.

The best tune for a 3.0 would be one more focused on increase in TQ and a tune could easily be the clear first winner. To maximize the benefits of an airbox and low restrictive exhaust the tune would be for that particular airbox and exhaust combination. IMO a non name brand tune is not the way to go. Reliable tuners spend a lot of research to find the best map. Since the faster you want to go is directly related to how much you want to spend, how much do you want to spend?

but 300whp would be much better :D

Yes. but with a .25 AWD driveline adjustment, you are going to have to make 375 at the crank.

I don't think you can do that unless you put $1000 8.5:1 pistons in there.

And you need to keep the RPMs down under 6k, otherwise you are looking at imminent oil pump nut failure. Harmonics on this motor are apparently not so good above 6 grand.

ESS Tuning Stage 1 Supercharger Kit - 320 HP, or Stage 2 - 345 HP

They don't have superchargers for the M54. At least that I could find. Just ECU tuning software for $695.

There are a few different supercharger kits out there for the m54b30. They will work on yours. They just don't list them for X5s because it's not exactly a big (if any) market.

Interesting. thanks

I Know that the 3.0engine on this X are not the best for the weight ratio.
I was planning an intake exhaust and tuning. That’s about how much I was thinking on spending in the X. on the exhaust I am not going to put BMW specific because they want crazy $$$$$. I was thinking of removing the resonator and putting an X-pipe in its place a changing the muffler with others
:dunno:.

In your case the X pipe will change the sound more than anything else. The performance benefit is extraction but I don't think you could measure the difference on a dyno with the lower restriction exhaust. It won't hurt so if you waited until you did the rest of the mods and didn't like the sound you could add it later. The Xpipe tends to raise the octave and make it sound a little raspy. The tune is the key to getting the most out of your plan. Torque gets you going, horsepower keeps you going. Compare HP/TQ curves of available tunes, I think the best choice for 0-60 improvement will be a tune where torque ramps to peak at the lowest rpms. I think your plan is a good value for the results you will achieve.

Thought I'd chime in.
 

I'm going to be posting some videos and pics in another thread. I have some more filming to do first. My lil' 3.0 sounds pretty mean and might give you some ideas. Definitely pretty quick. I'll let you decide. The one thing I wanted to share right off the bat was a tuned ECU that I purchased off ebay that I absolutely love! I've been running since this spring. (I've shared it privately with other members----- hang tight Tecboy99). I can speak from experience having run the shark injector, as well as the stock tune the 3.0 came with. The tune I am running is a modified BMW Euro 2 tune. The ignition tables are stock (for reliability), but everything else is adjusted. Feels like a different car! Ill send you his link. You have a ton of options, and on top of that, you keep your stock ecu unaltered. Instant swap. No issues/worries with bricking it. You can always re-tune the modifed version to fit your needs. Technically you can flash your own for free, etc, but I wanted a good place to start tinkering. The whole deal costed $175 bucks and in my opinion, is worth it.The seller is awesome, great to work with and will tune it how you want it within reason. Check out the listing for details. I'm running cat-less headers for the last month, and it works even better. I like it better than the shark injector tune. Hate to say it, but seems hotter. Just the butt dyno and opinion here....

BMW E46 E39 M54 Tuned ECU EWS Delete Headers 330 325 530 525 x3 X5 | eBay

Next subject, AFE Intake. Works great, except it still pulls some hot underhood air. I'm about 20 degrees warmer than ambient temp. That said, my headers are adding some heat to the fire. I've been running Dash Command and have been monitoring the Intake temps. I will put the stock airbox in for a day and let you know. I'm going the custom route, to try a few things as well. I've got a pile of mods to do still, but I think I'm doing the custom intake very soon.

Next subject, Exhaust. Losing the rear muffs(do it!) adds some ponies, some mpg gains and depending on what you replace it with, some drone. 2-2.8k is what I'm dealing with. Its not bad, I just notice it more. There are some things to try including a j-pipe or hemhlltzer (spelling?) pipe. I'm also cutting the middle resonator out and putting in a resonated x-pipe. Magnaflow and Jones both make one. The Jones is half the cost and uses ceramic packing and rock wool I believe. I'm running their Areo ceramic packed AR20's as the rear mufflers and they sound great. The Magnaflow straight through 4 inch rounds (4''x 24'' I think?) sound amazing too. I ran that on my previous I6 E53 with and without headers, and sounded great both ways, come to think of it, amazing with headers. I think the magnafows delt better with the drone as they were longer, and were packed with only rock wool. (rock wool has a shorter life compared to ceramic, but acoustics seem different, perhaps better?)

Ton of info and opinions here to digest. I think your expectations and goals are realistic and very easy to reach with not much money which is a bonus.;)Check out e46 fanatics. They have TONS of info! Hopefully I've helped. There most definitely is some marginal power/fun factor left on the table. My E53 6M is a total different animal and I've loved watching the transformation. I could have bought a 4.4 or 4.8, but my 6M for me is something special and unique. I will be going forced induction ultimately at some point, but for now, I'm loving it as it is. Good luck and keep us posted.

GD, been wondering if you would drop by. :)

Thanks for the tip on the ECU! I'd love to get an ECU tuned with all the things daniel_f and group have been doing like new throttle maps, adjusted thermostat opening for cooler running, etc, but I just cant wrap my head around how they do it yet lol! That way sounds like a great way to learn!

Question though, what happens if you want to put in your original ECU? Mileage will be off against the LCM and cluster, you will get a tamper dot right?

Green Dragon//// thanks and I will be waiting for the videos, and the custom filter. It's sounds like you are having a lot of fun.

G3ood,
Sorry for the delayed follow-up. No worries about the tamper light in reverting back to the stock original ecu. No tamper lights, no issues. If you swap gauge clusters without aligning it with the ews, I think you'd get a tamper light. I reached out to the tuner and verified for us. Hope that helps.

Emory, pics are being released late tonight.;)

GD, thanks for the follow up!

Nice things you are doing to these 3.0's, really appreciate you sharing them with us!

Hi guys. Has anyone put a cone filter and housed it inside the existing air box?

I did this on an previous car and was wondering if it's a viable solution to stop sucking in engine heat with the usual cone filter set ups.

I would remove the cone funnel inside the box and replace it with a 90degree elbow silicone hose. Attach the cone to the end of that and cut a hole in the box and feed a cold air feed from one of the front grilles.


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Unfortunately, it is unlikely the result will be anything measurable other than different sound. Be sure the mod does not decrease the volume of air getting to the engine.. FYI--The Dinan cold air system has no ducting to the grill. If improved performance is the goal I would spend time/money on lower restriction exhaust.

AGREED^^

Yup. I was toying around with the idea as I just need to source a cone filter (already have most of the other bits)



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Increasing performance is expensive. My minimal value equation is 1hp per $100 dollars spent. The reason I mentioned modify the exhaust is that on a stock engine the exhaust is always restricting air out. And, exhaust modifications tend to generate a very good value equation.

An engine is a big air pump. Air in, Air out. More air in may need changes to get more air out. Without doing so the mod performance increase can be compromised, even eliminated.

I would call Dinan and talk to them about what you can expect out of their tune, throttle body, transmission softwar and air filter. The package originally included low restriction exhaust. I highly recommend the transmission software even if you don't do anything else. The exhaust is no longer offered but you can make modifications to reduce back pressure. https://www.dinancars.com/products/?...id=1091#page=1

Dinan products are very well designed and thoroughly tested. The stage 3 package resulted in HP at 236 and TQ of 220. TQ gets you going an HP keeps you going. Because the X5 is so heavy Torque gains are most important.They printed the curve. HP gain started at about 3500 rpms and went to 6500 rpm redline. TQ gain started at 2000 rpms, reached max gain at 3000 rpms and doesn't really fall off much the rest of the curve. That's a great curve. Dinan performance documentation is conservative and extremely accurately measured. The reason I am a Dinan fan is you know what the value equation will be. It's a documented package. With a variety of aftermarket mods, even if someone has gone the same path before you and has dyno results, dynos and the many variables associated impact the measurement so much you really won't know your route was a good value equation.