Modifying and improving: "N54B30 Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the BMW N54B30

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the BMW N54B30 engine!"

Forums like the one at TorqueCars are always getting posts requesting information on how to improve the N54B30 from people wanting to know what are the best N54B30 mods that work. So let us look into BMW N54B30 mods and outline the best modifications on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

Car Tuning Tips will examine the options for your N54B30 tuning and point out the optimum upgrades. BMW N54B30 provide a fun base for your project and with carefully chosen modified enhancements like remapping, turbo kits and camshafts you will definitely improve your driving experience.

Just because particular tuning mods are appear in lots of N54B30 projects it doesn't mean its worth having, we shall concentrate on the optimum tuning mods that will give your N54B30 the biggest power gain return for your cash.

Without us subscribing to the popular mentality of 'if it's shiny and makes more noise it must be good' you seem to get in many tuning magazines and on car forums'.

Improving air intake on the N54B30

You need air and fuel for an engine to work. If there is not enough fuel then it will run lean, if there is a lack of air it runs rich losing power which risks damage to the N54B30. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So Forcing air and fuel into the N54B30 engine is the primary aim to any engine modification job.

It is common that there is a limit in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the N54B30 when loads more air is being sucked into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting torque at a much lower level.

Intake manifolds carry the on the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders.

Structure and rate of flow of the Intake can make a large change to fuel delivery on the N54B30.

I usually find headers are improved through an upgrade, although some car makers provide reasonably good headers.

Increasing the N54B30 valve size, doing some port work and head flowing will also improve power, and significantly will permit increasing the power increase on other mods.

N54B30 performance cam tips.

Different N54B30 engines respond better to different camshaft durations than others.

The ECU mapping and fuelling also will say much on the bhp gains you'll get.

Extending exhaust or intake 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 & exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen camshaft profile, so large power band gains are on offer for camshaft upgrades.

NB: Fast road camshafts normally boost the bhp through the rpm band, you may sacrifice a little low end bhp but the higher rpm power will be higher.

Race camshafts, boost the higher 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 on the daily commute.

You should ideally optimize your bhp range to your preferences so for a daily driver stick with a mild fast road N54B30 camshaft

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the N54B30

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 N54B30 parts:

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

Stage 2 N54B30 parts:

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

Stage 3 N54B30 parts:

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

Mapping allows a tuner to release the full potential of all the parts you've done to your N54B30.

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 your results will vary depending on the parts you've applied and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the N54B30

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 N54B30.

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

If an engine is fitted with a turbo tuning parts are going to net you a larger power gain and most turbo engines are made with more solid components.

There are tuning limits for every engine, with some being incredibly solid and some only just able to handle stock power

It is important to find these limits and fit better pistons and crank to survive the power.

There are many drivers spending a loads on turbocharger upgrades on the N54B30 only to suffer the indignity of watching the motor explode just after it's been enthusiastically driven.

Big turbo chargers tend to experience no power at low rpm, and small turbo chargers spool up really quickly but do not have the high rpm bhp gains.

Thanks to progress the world of turbo chargers is always developing and we now see variable vane turbo chargers, where 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 flow into two channels and flow these at differently profiled vanes in the turbo. They also increase the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large torque gains, although more difficult to get working. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the N54B30

When you raise the bhp and torque you will need to uprate to the fuelling.

More bhp and torque needs more fuel. We would recommend you to be generous with your injector capacity.

As a rule of thumb add 20% when buying an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and provides a little spare capacity should the engine need 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 N54B30 performance exhaust upgrades

We'd only recommend you look to boost your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if the current exhaust is creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll find your flow rate is fine 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.

Please dont run with the widest exhaust you can source you'll slow the exhaust 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.

The usual suspects causing problems in your exhaust flow rate are traced to the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a higher flowing sports 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 N54B30

Like most engines an N54B30, 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 N54B30, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned N54B30 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 N54B30 why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about N54B30 tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their N54B30.

We need your help to complete and improve this page, so do give us your feedback in the comments box below.

We want to know your experiences with tuning parts on your N54B30, it helps us improve our tips and keeps us current so please use the comments box to drop a tip.

This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: BMW, engine
You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.

Check out TorqueCars new YouTube channel, and see their awesome new content...