E70 mods and assorted question thread

[JoeyBimX5din]

So being so new to BMW, these cars are modified differently, and run differently then what I have been exposed to being a mostly American vehicle wrench-er and owner.

First thing, with the e70s, do they have a lower bar radiator cap for these trucks? I know some of the other BMW's it makes sense to drop to a 1.2bar cap, as that tends to keep the cooling system from grenading itself.

Second thing, tuning, I think it would be between ESS and JB4, looks like the price point is right around $800, what is the good power to money ratio tuning options for the 50i trucks? I am leaning towards JB4 because they strike me as something with a bit more customization, though I am sure ESS is pretty good to. I may not tune at all for a while, this truck is PLENTY fast enough stock for me, but I know me, Ill get the itch for more soon.

thanks guys

[-c-]

Originally Posted by JoeyBimX5din

So being so new to BMW, these cars are modified differently, and run differently then what I have been exposed to being a mostly American vehicle wrench-er and owner.

First thing, with the e70s, do they have a lower bar radiator cap for these trucks? I know some of the other BMW's it makes sense to drop to a 1.2bar cap, as that tends to keep the cooling system from grenading itself.

Second thing, tuning, I think it would be between ESS and JB4, looks like the price point is right around $800, what is the good power to money ratio tuning options for the 50i trucks? I am leaning towards JB4 because they strike me as something with a bit more customization, though I am sure ESS is pretty good to. I may not tune at all for a while, this truck is PLENTY fast enough stock for me, but I know me, Ill get the itch for more soon.

thanks guys

Well for the end of this month Dinan is running a half off sale for Their ECU software. It can be installed at any dealer that installers Dinan.


May also be a good option for you and at half the price it's a steal.

[azm3]

The ESS tune is incredible, transforms the 50i in to a beast. I went to the dealer a few weeks ago for service and returned the software to stock for a few days. It felt so sluggish and non responsive it was killing me.

I also replaced the stock cats/downpipes with a set of de-catted and ceramic coated stock downpipes last week and it transformed the truck again.

No more turbo lag and incredibly awesome sounding noises from the turbos and exhaust note now. I was considering doing something to get a deeper exhaust note and this did it. Lots of pops and crackles also :-)

I was going to apply the same treatment (de-catting and ceramic coat) to the sock pipes I pulled out and will be selling them for about $400 in the next few weeks if you are interested...

Only thing I have found with the ESS tune, is that when I wrap out the top of 4th gear with the A/C on, I get an error the the MAF is not reading enough air. I replaced the air filters with the drop-in's from http://n63intake.com and it fixed the issue 80% of the time (when I go up a steep freeway on-ramp with the pedal to the floor in high temperatures, I still get the error sometimes).

[JoeyBimX5din]

Originally Posted by -c-

Well for the end of this month Dinan is running a half off sale for Their ECU software. It can be installed at any dealer that installers Dinan.


May also be a good option for you and at half the price it's a steal.

there is no reason to pay a 700$ premium other then the name, for software. $1500 at half off still doesn't settle well with me vs $800 I am seeing for others who seem to be making more power. Thanks for inputting though, I just won't go that way, if I can save money with others, unless there is an unseen advantage Dinan offers vs the other tunes I mentioned?

[JoeyBimX5din]

Originally Posted by azm3

The ESS tune is incredible, transforms the 50i in to a beast. I went to the dealer a few weeks ago for service and returned the software to stock for a few days. It felt so sluggish and non responsive it was killing me.

I also replaced the stock cats/downpipes with a set of de-catted and ceramic coated stock downpipes last week and it transformed the truck again.

No more turbo lag and incredibly awesome sounding noises from the turbos and exhaust note now. I was considering doing something to get a deeper exhaust note and this did it. Lots of pops and crackles also :-)

I was going to apply the same treatment (de-catting and ceramic coat) to the sock pipes I pulled out and will be selling them for about $400 in the next few weeks if you are interested...

Only thing I have found with the ESS tune, is that when I wrap out the top of 4th gear with the A/C on, I get an error the the MAF is not reading enough air. I replaced the air filters with the drop-in's from http://n63intake.com and it fixed the issue 80% of the time (when I go up a steep freeway on-ramp with the pedal to the floor in high temperatures, I still get the error sometimes).

And ESS will not change anything in the tune because of this? I would like some JB4 feedback, I have heard some good things about ESS, but they are not without hiccups. I don't think I can blame them though, I don't think there is a huge market for n63 tuning work, so they may not have a ton of R&D time.

So you just gutted your stock cats? You just bought a set of stockers and modded them? Or does a company offer this product?