BMW N63 Tuning...

[Rich@GTBPerformance]

Wow

Great thread guys with lots of detailed information.

Thanks for sharing!

[Maxx2]

X5 50i (N63) Airfilter Removal Guide-

N63 engine


Engine shroud removal
(The plastic panel is just pressed on and connects in (6) places. This cover can be pulled up without any tools. Note: Bottom two fasteners are not shown in the picture, but in the location outlined)



Right Side Airbox


Left Side Airbox


Left Side Cover
(To remove this cover loosen the (4) 13mm plastic bolts. NOTE: these are ¼ turn cam-lock type bolts and do not come out. There is a small arrow on the cover which lines up with a small arrow on the bolt head which indicates when the bolt is locked. Absolutely no force is required to loosen and tighten these bolts.)



Right Side Cover
(Same as left side cover)



Cabin Air Filter Box
(After removing the left side cover the cabin air filter box will be exposed. To remove the cover loosen the (3) 13mm plastic bolts. Note: these are the exact same as the cover which was just removed and only require ¼ turn to loosen. Then disconnect sensor and remove the cabin air box cover with attached filters.)



Cabin Air Filters


Cabin Air Filter Box
(with cover removed)



Left Side Divider Panel
(This panel must be removed to get access to airbox screws beneath it)



Left Side Divider Panel removal
(Remove the (3) T-25 Torx screws)



Left Side Divider Panel removal (Continued)
Remove the (2) 10mm bolts and then remove the plastic push fastener by pulling the center pin until it pops out and then push out the plastic clip which is left behind)



Left Side Divider Panel removed


Right Side Divider Panel removal
(Remove the (3) T-25 Torx screws shown below and release clip holding wire)



Right Side Divider Panel removal (Continued)
(Remove the (2) 10mm bolts and then remove the plastic push fastener by pulling the center pin until it pops out and then push out the plastic clip which is left behind)



Both divider panels removed


Strut Brace Removal
(Loosen up the (4) 15mm bolts and remove both strut braces.)



Engine bay stripped down and finally revealing all airbox screws


Removal of rubber couplers
(Loosen up the (4) 6mm worm screw clamps and slide the rubber couplers towards the front of the engine until they clear the edge of the airbox cover)



Disconnect MAF sensors



Remove airbox covers
(Loosen all T25 torx screws holding airbox covers on and remove from airboxes to expose air filters)



Right Side Air filter


Left Side Air filter


Right Side Air filter removed from airbox




Air filter detail


Summary
BMW really doesn’t expect these to be serviced very often as they are buried down low and most of the screws are inaccessible without removing all kinds of stuff. Looking at the components of the intake path it is very clear that there are all kinds of restrictions and the engine would benefit massively from a better intake system. Unfortunately, I was hoping to free up a few horses by removing the charcoal filters, but to my surprise there are no charcoal filters in there. The pictures from the F10 550i airboxes show them in there, but for some reason BMW decided not to include them on the X5 50i.

[TahoeM3]

Great write-up, thanks for all of the detail! It's unbelievable to me that they made it so difficult to access the air filters. I have never heard of any other car where you have to take off divider panels and strut braces just to change the air filter. Hopefully Dinan or some other tuner can come up with something to do away with that ridiculous setup.

[TahoeM3]

Interesting about the charcoal filters, by the way. There is a separate post from an X6 50i owner who removed the charcoal filters on his and noticed some improvement. It's odd to me that the X5 would be the only model not to have them.

[Maxx2]

Originally Posted by TahoeM3

Great write-up, thanks for all of the detail! It's unbelievable to me that they made it so difficult to access the air filters. I have never heard of any other car where you have to take off divider panels and strut braces just to change the air filter. Hopefully Dinan or some other tuner can come up with something to do away with that ridiculous setup.

Agree. Never had to disassemble so much just to get to the airfilters... I am going to get more information on the X5M intake system and see if it can be adapted onto the N63.

Originally Posted by TahoeM3

Interesting about the charcoal filters, by the way. There is a separate post from an X6 50i owner who removed the charcoal filters on his and noticed some improvement. It's odd to me that the X5 would be the only model not to have them.

That post is what pushed me to tear into the airboxes yesterday... You can imagine the disappointment when I opened them up and there wasn't anything in there.

Hopefully this guide will be useful for some and it wasn't a complete waste of my time!!

[Omar@VelosDesignwerks]

Great information there Max, thanks for sharing.

[X6Vancouver]

Originally Posted by Maxx2

Agree. Never had to disassemble so much just to get to the airfilters... I am going to get more information on the X5M intake system and see if it can be adapted onto the N63.




That post is what pushed me to tear into the airboxes yesterday... You can imagine the disappointment when I opened them up and there wasn't anything in there.

Hopefully this guide will be useful for some and it wasn't a complete waste of my time!!

I just did the process ( PITA ) and the Charcoal filters are underneath the top covers of the airbox.....hopefully you didn't miss them by not flipping it over

[TahoeM3]

Originally Posted by X6Vancouver

I just did the process ( PITA ) and the Charcoal filters are underneath the top covers of the airbox.....hopefully you didn't miss them by not flipping it over

Have you noticed any difference with them removed?

[Maxx2]

Originally Posted by X6Vancouver

I just did the process ( PITA ) and the Charcoal filters are underneath the top covers of the airbox.....hopefully you didn't miss them by not flipping it over

I am 100% sure they are not on my car. Don't know why the X6 has them and the X5 does not, but they are not in there. I still have the charcoal filters from my E60 M5 and know exactly what they should look like.

I agree that it is a major PITA to access these filters... Hopefully the guide I posted saved you some time and grief!

[X6Vancouver]

Originally Posted by TahoeM3

Have you noticed any difference with them removed?

I Just put everything back together and only started it up to check if there were any error messages. So far so good, and sounds a bit deeper IMO.

Originally Posted by Maxx2

I am 100% sure they are not on my car. Don't know why the X6 has them and the X5 does not, but they are not in there. I still have the charcoal filters from my E60 M5 and know exactly what they should look like.

I agree that it is a major PITA to access these filters... Hopefully the guide I posted saved you some time and grief!

Yeah your post was a big help...thanks for the detailed pics. It was nice to clean everything that you cant reach with the pieces in place. I also air hose blew out the cabin filters and air filters just for fun while they were out.

[X6Vancouver]

Went for a ride last night.... the exhaust sounds a little more aggressive, and it seems like there is less push on the gas peddle needed. especially at very low speeds. A couple friends listened to me revv it up and give 3/4 throttle driving off to about 60km/h. Feedback from both guys was


I also have a pic of both filters removed if any of you would like to see what they look like......

[TahoeM3]

Seems like you'd have more intake sound than exhaust...perhaps it's how you are perceiving it. I'm glad to hear there's a difference. Is your stock or tuned? I think it will be more likely to make a noticeable difference in power on a tuned car, because the stock tuning limits adaptation from what I understand. Either way, that stock intake is very restrictive, so everything helps!

[X6Vancouver]

Originally Posted by TahoeM3

Seems like you'd have more intake sound than exhaust...perhaps it's how you are perceiving it. I'm glad to hear there's a difference. Is your stock or tuned? I think it will be more likely to make a noticeable difference in power on a tuned car, because the stock tuning limits adaptation from what I understand. Either way, that stock intake is very restrictive, so everything helps!

Yeah im definetly noticing a difference....your right more so in the intake sound. But as a non tuned engine something as simple as taking those things out, its exciting and fun seeing\hearing a diff. Not trying to say its anything performance altering... Just exciting for me until i await the Dinan CAI. Hopefully its not too expensive..

[TahoeM3]

Yeah the intake should make a big difference.

Another area on the N63 that could make a big difference is the blowoff valve. The X5M uses different valves, giving that signature "coo" sound when you let off the gas. The blowoff valves on the N63 may not be designed to handle high boost and may be another reason why the power drops off as the revs climb. If we could retrofit the blowoff valves from the X5M, I'd imagine we'd see some gains.

The next step is downpipes, and I suspect Dinan has something in the works for their stage 5 kit.

[leonelhpfm3]

Originally Posted by TahoeM3

Great write-up, thanks for all of the detail! It's unbelievable to me that they made it so difficult to access the air filters. I have never heard of any other car where you have to take off divider panels and strut braces just to change the air filter. Hopefully Dinan or some other tuner can come up with something to do away with that ridiculous setup.

+2

I was thinking the EXACT same thing as I read through this thread

thanks so much to everyone who contributed.

[chrisnyc]

Originally Posted by X6Vancouver

Yeah im definetly noticing a difference....your right more so in the intake sound. But as a non tuned engine something as simple as taking those things out, its exciting and fun seeing\hearing a diff. Not trying to say its anything performance altering... Just exciting for me until i await the Dinan CAI. Hopefully its not too expensive..

K&N filters - is it worth spending time & $$?
Folks,

complete newbie here; i just bought my 2011 x5 50i two days ago;
the car is amazing, however the exhaust note is week;(

i was thinking to do of what i usually do [with other cars]: replace the air filters with K&N and disconnect the batter to reset the computer settings..


that seems to be weirdly odd for the x5 as the filters are hidden;
is it worth it?
is it that easy as i think it is?

i found that the K&N has the filters available for sale.., below is the link
http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...x?prod=33-2449

i'd rather get the dinan kit, but is still not yet available..

thanks,
chris

[TahoeM3]

Originally Posted by chrisnyc

K&N filters - is it worth spending time & $$?
Folks,

complete newbie here; i just bought my 2011 x5 50i two days ago;
the car is amazing, however the exhaust note is week;(

i was thinking to do of what i usually do [with other cars]: replace the air filters with K&N and disconnect the batter to reset the computer settings..


that seems to be weirdly odd for the x5 as the filters are hidden;
is it worth it?
is it that easy as i think it is?

i found that the K&N has the filters available for sale.., below is the link
http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...x?prod=33-2449

i'd rather get the dinan kit, but is still not yet available..

thanks,
chris

There still isnt a K&N filter available for the 50i. I doubt it will ever happen due to how difficult it is to access the filters. And while changing filters won't improve the exhaust note of course, a full intake should give more intake and turbo sound. And yes, the Dinan kit still isn't out. By the time it comes out, I may have a different vehicle.

By the way, the reason the exhaust note of the 50i is quieter than say the 4.8i is the turbos...it's actually much worse on the X5M due to different turbo setup. Thats the price we pay for all that torque. At least on the 50i there is some burble at idle.

[Die Wolfe]

Aren't there concerns about heat soaking when using drop in K&N air filters? I have an X5M and was concerned about this...

[mrmomo313]

Originally Posted by Die Wolfe

Aren't there concerns about heat soaking when using drop in K&N air filters? I have an X5M and was concerned about this...

I've heard about this also, wondering if its true. I don't think its even worth changing the air filters since the only thing that could improve marginally is throttle response

[philooo]

any news from dinan about the air box for the N63 engine ?

[fazman]

Why can't they just remove all of that airbox and piping to the turbo and just get a couple cone filters plus a silicone coupling hose directly onto the turbo???