3.0d mods
 

G'day all,

I have a 2004 x5 3.0d. I like playing with my cars, so for a bit of fun to begin with, I removed the rear mufflers and put quad tips through the knockouts of the rear bar. Sounds good and no droning.

Next I'm doing a CAI, mainly for ease of filter maintenance, but it should lower intake temps and maybe have a bit more turbo noise too! (What a shame;)

The MAF is a bit of an issue though. Being bloody oval and not round is a problem. Does anyone have any experience running these motors MAFLESS?

Also, is there any open source software out there to flash our ECUs and if so, what is it? Is there some guys on here who are tuning via files?

Cheers

Welcome mate, check my build thread for info on ECU tuning.

Keen to see some pics of your mufflers

Tip pic!http://i62.tinypic.com/16m7i9s.jpg

Nice - are they just dummy tips or did you modify the stock mufflers to have an outlet? What did it cost you if you do t mind me asking?

I actually cut the rear mufflers off completely. I' did it myself, so just the $100 for the tips and a bit of pipe I had.

So you've got no mufflers at all?? Wow. Is it loud?


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I can't imagine that it sounds good, IMHO a 6cyl engine, whether it's a an I-6 or a V-6 will never sound as good or like a V-8 no matter what you do to it.

Pretty sweeping statement......I can think of plenty of I-6 engine exhaust notes that will make your balls tingle.....!!




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It's not loud at all. It's actually my wife's daily, so it needs to pass her criteria! It has a noticeable growl when low in revs and accelerating, but then it's not really noticeable.

Being diesel, turbo and with the original cat, I think that keeps the sound in check. I have a pic of the wifey giving it some. I'll YouTube it and link it. Give me a few minutes

I highly doubt it, I'm old school, I grew up on big honking V-8 cars here in the U.S. As a kid all of my uncles and my best friend who lived next door uncles, back in the early 1970's all had big block Chevelle SS's, Plymouth Road Runners, Dodge Chargers, Oldsmobile Cutlass 442's, and so on, nothing like the sound of a V-8 with a dual exhaust. You of all people should agree, seeing as how you guys down under love big block V-8s yourselves, can you say V-8 Supercar Series, Holden Commodore, Holden Ute, and so on...lol!:thumbup:

Here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=...&v=8RWv9qc-5gs

That sounds excellent. So no droning?

I was looking at doing a conversion to install rear cans with dual outlets, but listening to that nice little growl from standstill....

There is only a slight resonance at low revs, like when taking off with about 50% or more throttle, but after that, just a little note. At highway speeds, you can of course notice a difference to stock, but nothing loud at all. I don't notice it at all anymore.

Don't get me wrong, nothing sound sweeter than a cammed up V8 as it rev hunts.....or big V8s on overrun. When the F1 is held in Australia, the V8sc's run as a support category and all the F1 teams are hanging over the pitfall listening to the V8s because the sound so good.....especially now that their cars sound like Dyson Vacc cleaners....

....but I also have plenty of time for sweet inline 6's.....as well as flat plane v12 exotics....if it sounds right it sounds right.

I'll leave this here....

http://youtu.be/K7B_lYa5fO4

That sounds pretty good actually....damn you....one more mod to add to the list!

I6 can sound great too -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wJXsUsX6eo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbZOGgsv718

So, spent the weekend doing a CAI for the 3.0d.
It was WAY more involved than I was hoping.
I was not aware the airbox was moulded as one piece with the tappet cover. The moulding if the airbox also housed the breather cavity. This meant that I had to cut the airbox off and seal up the breather cavity, then tap in a barb fitting to run a hose back to the intake.

I used a K&N Apollo enclosed pod filter. The MAF is also oval, which meant I had to make up an adapter. The pipe from the MAF to the turbo intake is now 3inch, and the way it has worked out has made it nice and easy for maintenance.

Unfortunately whilst making the MAF adapter I dropped the MAF and it is now faulty. I have unplugged it and it's ok to drive at the moment. New MAF for me!
Any tips where to buy them?

Anyways, it's not loud on the intake side, (almost which it was louder!) and looks quite nice. Enjoy.http://i58.tinypic.com/2wlyk9j.jpg

Well done. First time I have seen this done for the e53.

Maybe if you take the shield off the filter you should hear a lot more intake noise. Ultimate would be to make that silicon bend into stainless steel mandrel section, that would also increase intake noise.


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Definately, we ran it with nothing for a listen, very noisey! But awesome noisy! Ha

I also have a 3.0d with free escape and I can assure that sounds fantastic.

id love a set of tips to come out the back but ive seent his done before and the vehicle had black soot all over the rear bumper and tailgate after a couple of weeks abuse. mine doesn't seem to smoke at all and have had others follow me and say theres hardly anything even on full throttle so I may take a look at doing this. any ideas where to get some tasty oval pipes here in the uk? I can get some pipe and weld them on too as I have access to my works workshop

f1pilot, this would be ideal.....I can't find any info on this kit but I want it!

Attachment 65434

I want that air system for my squid.more information please.:wow:

I saw that on this forum. I believe it was a test car for Eibach or something?

My setup is keeping the intake temp entering the turbo at ambient temps.

Took car for a decent drive and came back, grabbed the airbox and it is the coolest thing in the engine bay.

Not sure if it will make any differences, but it definitely does what it's supposed to.

I did the same years ago on my 1970 firebird (currently under restoration) - no mufflers, just dual resonator tips on a 2-1/2" system and was amazed at how loud it "wasn't" during normal driving. But at full throttle with an 850 CFM Quadrajet, you definitely knew it was missing some baffles!

Well if anyone has any info on this intake, send it my way!

SMOKY, you have lowered suspension in diesel?

Soon! I ordered the bilstein b12 kit from Germany. It has taken nearly 2 months to arrive......still not here but hopefully in the next week or so. It's about 40mm lower than standard.


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your diesel has air suspension behind? .the mine if.

Nup, mine has coil springs and shocks on all four corners.


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[QUOTE=SMOKEY53;1024556]Nup, mine has coil springs and shocks on all four corners.


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thanks man, my recess is more complicated.

Yeah I'm sure it does soot it up a bit. Lucky mine is dark green, so it's not too noticeable. I usually wash it once a week too. It might be a different story if it was a white car!

Did a 3inch dump pipe today. Used the 2.5inch original dump and flared it to 3inch.
Put a flange in before the cat and then reduced it back to 2.5inch.

Next stage will be to replace the cat with a muffler and fit a egt/boost gauge.

Here is a progress pic. Sorry I forgot to take a completed pic.
http://i58.tinypic.com/1980b6.jpg

Here's a pic of the intake out of the car.
http://i61.tinypic.com/24dg4lj.jpg

Back to the mods. The 3inch downpipe worked out well so far. It has actually made a difference to the note.

It will be interesting when the new MAF arrives to see what it's like.

Painted the rims with Plasti-Dip. Went from
The original silver to a silver over black. This gives it a dark gunmetal finish, however the more silver metalizer you spray over the black base the more silver it will become.

This is 3 light coats over the black base.

Stock
http://i57.tinypic.com/mu8ntk.jpg

Painted
http://i62.tinypic.com/qs83mx.jpg

I haven't used that metalizer - will have to check your pics out when I get home (they get blocked at work).

I tried plasti-dip on my interior door handles but it hasn't lasted :( Will probably just have to bite the bullet and buy new handles.

If you ever try a Metalizer, just make sure it is silver Metalizer and not Bright aluminium Metalizer! That happened to me and the bright aluminium is a solid colour, not a clear coat Metalizer like the silver.

Wasn't too happy having to redo the wheels with black again!

Did the EGR delete today. Bought an aluminium EGR delete from Lithuania of all places!

Fitted perfectly and came with a new seal.

I drilled out the barb that is normally used to block off the vaccum hose. I will use the barb for a boost gauge.

http://i59.tinypic.com/4hdow3.jpg

http://i59.tinypic.com/2mphq86.jpg

Gee you've done alot in a short time!
Fantastic photos and great info in here. :thumbup:

Have you noticed a difference with the EGR removed?
I've adjusted mine to the minimum via software, but am now considering a complete delete.

Haven't noticed anything straight away.

Since fitting the new MAF, I have tried a few 0-100 times. Straight up it only managed a 10.5sec, then after about 10mins driving it did a 8.8 (about factory time).

One thing I'm not quite getting is that I tried the 0-100 again, first go only did a 10sec, with the throttle flat. Then I tried again with the throttle only held down until the kick down switch (without activating it), it changed gear earlier and did a 8.8 again. (In 27deg C ambient temp too).

So it feels like it is holding gears way too long with the throttle flat.

Does anyone know why it would be doing this?

sport mode or normal? Any change between the two?

Remember that steptronic 'adapts' to your driving style, so if you've been trundling around and then just jump in the car and floor it - it might not shift as aggressively. Where as if you've been getting on it, and then pull over for a 0-100 it may have adopted a more agressive shift pattern. Try doing the transmission shift reset then do a run.

I find that sometimes mine feels like it holds gears too long in Sport mode. I'm not sure if that's anything to do with the ECU flash, but I certainly do get quite a large 'diesel cliff' where it piles on the torque in the first 75% of the rev range, then the wastegate clearly opens up and it just goes flat, then upshifts and the torque hits like a hammer again. Usually this is a sign of a small turbo running beyond it's efficient range of boost. Exhaust wheel isn't large enough. Appranantley that's just the nature of the e53 diesel, the e70 is much more linear up to redline.

There are a lot of those EGR deletes out there, can you send me a link to the one you got?

I tried both modes, the same. In sport manual, if I floor it past the kick down, it just ignores the manual changes (trying to change early).

The transmission "reset" doesn't really reset. It adapts to thinking you have been flooring it.

It's like the gearbox shift points needs re-programming. Not sure if a flash can set those points. Ideally whenever your 100% throttle you could adjust them to shift whenever you want, something like 3500 I'd be guessing, it goes fairly flat after that and holds it till 4500.

Manually shift it in DS and you can see if that theory holds water. :thumbup:

ECU reflash does address shift points (but a plug in 'interceptor' box will not) Mine shifts a lot quicker and smoother after I loaded the tune in.

Hey smokey, does the bluefin change the throttle mapping aswell?

My friend recently put a "pedalbox" on his hilux and it was WAY better to drive. Responsive to throttle changes like how it should be. His car already has a steinbower and exhaust, but adding this and tuning up the throttle it is mow much better.

Update on the car too, since the intake and down pipe, the car now never blows any black smoke. I guess it's asking for more fuel now! I might just have to give it some.

All your breathing mods have obviously leaned it out again. Time for custom tune!


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Did a few cosmetic changes. Powdercoated the rims, fitted gloss black grills, and painted all the black plastic trims. Also blackout the grills in the front. Looks better. Now I need to trouble shoot what I think is an injector on its way out.
http://i58.tinypic.com/2hda4cy.jpg

Hi from Sunny Coast. I have the same colour X5 as yours. I like the quad tips, have you got the details of those? eBay or from a shop? Looks like a much cheaper option than muffler change and I like the exhaust note demonstrated by your wife.

G'day,

I actually grabbed these tips from Supercheap believe it or not! They were about $70 each.

This is a very easy way of doing it. I angled mine outwards slightly, but you could run them straight.

Thanks for the reply. I will explore this option further. Did you need to use the muffler hanging brackets in any way to support your tail pipes?

Yeah I made up some hangars which went into the original muffler ones. I could take a picture 2moro if you like.

Thanks again for the reply. It would be good if you could take a photo or 2. I don't have the facilities nor ability to do it myself, and a photo would be good to show an exhaust shop.