Modding uprating the BMW B47 tuning engine!

Tuning guide "B47 tuning Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the BMW B47 tuning

"Comprehensive guide to performance parts and tuning the BMW B47 tuning engine!"

TorqueCars often are getting posts requesting information on how to improve the B47 tuning from people inquiring about getting more power from the B47 tuning and wanting to know what are the things tuners recommend when it comes to B47 tuning modifications. So let us look into BMW B47 tuning parts and outline the best upgrades on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

Let us review and look at B47 tuning tuning and highlight the best modifications for your car. BMW B47 tuning offer good returns when tuned and with a few sensible modifications like a remap, turbo kits and camshafts you will noticeably maximise your driving experience.

The best B47 tuning parts on an engine are sensibly the ones that give the biggest return for your money.

We won't be swayed by popular B47 tuning parts, they need to be cost effective.

B47 tuning induction kits

Improving air intake on the B47 tuning

You need fuel and air for an engine to work. If there is a lack of fuel then it will run lean, if there is insufficient air it runs rich losing power which risks damage to the B47 tuning. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Pulling more air and fuel into each cylinder is the primary aim to any engine performance tuning project.

It is common that there is a limit in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the B47 tuning when considerably more air is being sucked into the engine.

You'll see that 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor sapped bhp at a much lower level.

Intake headers take the on the suck phase from the air filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Shape and rate of flow of the Plenum can make a big difference to to fuel delivery on the B47 tuning.

We often see intake headers are in desperate need of an upgrade, although some car makers provide well optimised intake headers.

Big valve conversions on the B47 tuning, doing a bit of port matching and head flowing will also boost performance, the fantastic side effect is it will make space for a greater performance increase on other parts.

B47 tuning performance cam tips.

Some B47 tuning engines respond better to different cam durations so view each engine as unique.

The map and fuel pump and injectors also will make differences on the bhp gains you'll get.

Longer valve durations can alter the bhp band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

The camshaft profile plays a big part in the engines power output so camshaft upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake and exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen camshaft profile, so large engines power gains are on offer for camshaft upgrades.

NB: Fast road cams tend to push up the torque over the rpm band, you may sacrifice a little bottom end bhp but the high end rpm power will be lifted.

Competition cams, push up the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Competition camshaft won't do well if in heavy traffic.

You should ideally optimize your power band to your usage of the car so for a daily driver stick with a mild fast road B47 tuning camshaft

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the B47 tuning

Before we break the best tuning upgrades down into stages of tune, let's list the most effective tuning upgrades for you.

  1. Suspension Upgrades - always improve your cars handling
  2. Brake Upgrades - Even before adding power improve those brakes
  3. Intake - make sure the intake is not restricted, use filters and intake upgrades to improve this
  4. Exhaust - as with 3 ensure there is not restriction in the exhaust, cats are the usual bottleneck
  5. Tunes - remapping, piggyback ECU's and aftermarket ECU's can all make decent gains
  6. Fuelling - when you've increased power you'll need to match this with more fuel
  7. Turbo upgrades - Improving the intake with a large turbo and better flowing intercooler will be the biggest power gain you'll see (but one of the most complex).

This video guide to tuning cars is a great starting point to work from in your project.

Stage 1 B47 tuning parts:

Panel air filters, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Fast road camshaft, Sports exhaust manifold, Intake headers, Drilled & smoothed airbox.

Stage 2 B47 tuning parts:

Fast road cam, fuel pump upgrades, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head, induction kit, high flow fuel injectors.

Tuning tips and articles Engine tuning Transmission tuning Care care Intake & exhaust mods Improve handling Forums

Stage 3 B47 tuning parts:

Twin charging conversions, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Competition cam, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves).

The B47 tuning engines make great tuning projects and we're pleased to see that there are increasing numbers of parts and tuning parts around.

Remapping should help to fully realize the full potential of all the mods you've done to your B47 tuning.

You will typically expect to see gains of approximately 20-30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but power output may differs on the mods you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the B47 tuning

To get a turbo working on a NASP engine there is a lot involved, from lowering compression ratio to improved fuel supply and mapping, so we have found a great guide to helpavoid the common pitfalls or end up with an unfinished project because you were not told what you were getting into by doing this on the B47 tuning.

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes superb power gains.

If your car has a turbocharger upgrades are going to make more power and most turbo charged engines use more solid components.

However you'll find engines have weakspots

It is important to find these restrictions and upgrade to stronger pistons, crank and engine components to survive the power.

We've seen people spending a loads of money on turbo upgrades on the B47 tuning only to suffer the indignity of watching the engine block throw a rod when it's used on the roads.

Larger upgraded turbochargers tend to experience low end lag, and low capacity turbochargers spool up really quickly but don't have the peak rpm engines power gains.

We are pleased that the selection of turbo chargers is always increasing and we are seeing variable vane turbo chargers, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbo charger. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large bhp gains, although harder to install. We have this article covering twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the B47 tuning

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to ramp up the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a performance hike. We would recommend you to over specify your injector capacity.

As a rule of thumb add 20% when specifying an injector, which takes into account injector deterioration and gives you some spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

Don't forget that different fuel grades will usually require different settings, a high octane fuel will burn more efficiently than lower octane fuel for example. A car will trim fuel supply to keep within the ideal air fuel mix but at the extreme ends you may need to adjust your injector capacity, or the mapping or you'll get flat spots and potential lean or rich fuel issues..

Recommended B47 tuning performance exhaust upgrades

You only need to to upgrade your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if the current exhaust is creating a restriction.

On most factory exhausts you should find that your flow rate is good even on modest power gains, but on a serious tuning project with a big boost in power you will certainly need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Do not go with the widest exhaust you can buy you'll slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best for power gains are usually between one and a half to two and half inches. Your exhaust design, the bend angles and construction are what have more effect on flow rates than your pipe width to a certain extent. So the exhaust design is a big factor.

Usual exhaust restrictions can be located the catalysts installed, so adding a faster flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Catalyst removal (NB:catalysts reduce harmful engine emissions) is illegal in most countries and regions.

Faults issues and things to look out for on the B47 tuning

Like most engines an B47 tuning, should have few issues if it gets properly serviced and looked after.

We cannot stress enough the need for oil changes with the correct grade of oil on the B47 tuning, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned B47 tuning this is more important than ever and close attention should be paid to your maintenance schedule.

If you are interested in learning more or getting impartial tuning advice for your B47 tuning why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about B47 tuning tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their B47 tuning.

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