BMW 535i Turbo
I am a very big fan of the classic BMW E34. This site has information on my 1988 BMW 535i converted to a turbocharged monster. The car sits on genuine Alpina 17" rims measuring a big 9.5" on the rear and 8.5" on front. It has Zender sideskirts and a front clip from Europe hiding a massive custom intercooler. Suspension is full Bilstein with lowered springs and front brakes are massive 850i rotors clamped by Brembo 4 piston callipers from a Porsche 928S4. As fas as speed and performance goes, I have never been in anything that throws you forward like this car does in 3rd gear when the boost rolls on, and I have had some pretty fast cars in the past. This car can break away some very sticky fat rear tires in 3rd gear.
My goal with this car is to have an ultimate GT while maintaining the qualities of the E34. The car was already converted to a turbo some years ago as explained in the Zoom magazine article. When I bought it in 2006, I decided to upgrade / make good a number of problem areas as described in the links below.
ENGINE WORK including Autronic conversion
G290/5 ALPINA BI-TURBO GEARBOX CONVERSION
CLUTCH AND RELEASE BEARING CONVERSION
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Pre upgrade performance:
A dyno pull before starting the upgrade work in the links above is shown here, 349rwkw is 470rwhp at 21psi. This is on a dynodynamics dyno in shootout mode so can be considered as conservative as you can get (the dynodynamics is called the 'heartbreaker' for a reason!). On other dyno's it would show a significantly more. Basically, the motor makes around 600-650hp depending on how you apply driveline losses to rear wheel power. As you can see, the tune on the Haltech is not that bad at the fat end but the AFR is all over the place at the light end. AFR plots do not convey drivability either, which I must admit was crap with the Haltech.
The boost curve can be seen starting at 22psi and falling to 21psi.
The Thumbnail above is some processing of the HP data from the dyno pull showing torque output, which is well into the 500ft.lb at the rear wheels or over 600ft.lb at the motor at around 4,000rpm - some serious grunt! Horsepower at the motor is close to 600bhp at below 6000rpm, after which it falls off. This is probably due to the relatively small GT30R turbo and 2 valve head. Turbo uses a 1.00 A/R turbine housing and .7 A/R compressor housing. It could really use a GT35 for big top end power but who needs more power that this?
Post upgrade performance:
Current tune with the modifications detailed in the links above sees 24psi to the red line with boost controlled by Autronic, with switchable boost maps. Autronic SM4 and R500 CDI see to management and ignition duty and it now runs the enhanced IC outlet end tank and revised intake manifold design using a massive single throttle body, as described in the links above. AFRs are superbly controlled with the Autronic and drivability is significantly improved, as well as control over fans, A/C etc.
The Traction control is superb and when set up properly with Launch, the car will get off the line using lunch, hit a predetermined speed and then start being controlled with traction. This allows proper slippage during take off and then the proper amount of slippage as the speed builds. I do not use launch on the street and have only done it enough times to set the system up properly.
I would expect to see no less than 500rwhp on the dynodynamics now.