Technical Apr 2020 update: Maintaining a 600awhp 335xi Pure Stage 2 - Long term- CAR FOR SALE NOW!!

[Bavkingn54]

@zmon1300 what did you end up planning for your transmission? I have an 09 335xi like you with rb stage 2s and meth so my tq comes on so early. Started out with losing my 5th gear and then I added bimmerlife coils and I lost 2nd gear due to the harsh tq curve with the new coils. I live in mass so my cars going away for winter and I'm going to do propulsive dynamics clutches and a zip kit and new tq converter along with a trans cooler over the winter. I cant wait. My trans has been a bad deal from the start haha.

 

[zmon1300]

@zmon1300 what did you end up planning for your transmission? I have an 09 335xi like you with rb stage 2s and meth so my tq comes on so early. Started out with losing my 5th gear and then I added bimmerlife coils and I lost 2nd gear due to the harsh tq curve with the new coils. I live in mass so my cars going away for winter and I'm going to do propulsive dynamics clutches and a zip kit and new tq converter along with a trans cooler over the winter. I cant wait. My trans has been a bad deal from the start haha.

Hey man,
I just have a zip kit and fresh gaskets and pan and fluid for my trans. Also got a metal mechatronic adapter too. Just trying to keep it simple.

Good luck
Z

 

[Torgus]

Forgive my ignorance but does anyone have a proven solution for the Autos? I thought the answer was 6MT or DCT swap if you want to hold high HP? I thought the AT 'upgrades' would only buy you a limited amount of time until they slip again.

 

[zmon1300]

Forgive my ignorance but does anyone have a proven solution for the Autos? I thought the answer was 6MT or DCT swap if you want to hold high HP? I thought the AT 'upgrades' would only buy you a limited amount of time until they slip again.

Hey Torgus,

Well there are a few different options out there in my perspective. 1st option would be to go 6MT swap and get a upgraded clutch. But I don't have the patience for that lol. 2nd would be to do DCT swap with upgraded clutches but that's way out of my budget. (~10k). 3rd would be get the PD trans which is close to 5k IIRC. But I've read a few threads about failures and issues with the shop that PD recommended to get everything done. I wanna say it was EuroTrans? Or something along the name of that. Last option is yes, refresh stock trans and add a zip kit, d4 fluid and a good cooler. My stock trans mission held 50k miles of abuse at 450-600awhp. I literally flashed the Alpina flash the day I bought my car and then xHP when it was in their beta phase.
I know eventually if I go for more power I'm going to need a permanent solution but for 600awhp, a stock unit with a few upgrades *should* be okay.

Z

 

[zmon1300]

But yes. Stock unit will only hold up for x amount of time. Eventually it'll slip based on your driving habits.

 

[shushikiary]

Well you could always put a truck auto in it like we've seen a few people do. Power glide anyone? Turbo 400? lol

 

[zmon1300]

Well you could always put a truck auto in it like we've seen a few people do. Power glide anyone? Turbo 400? lol

Also true. I wonder how daily-able they are? There just isn't that much info on the th400 or power glide experience on the forums or fb groups. Wish there was a detailed thread about these transmission options. I know I will be posting every single detail about my trans pre and post install of zip kit etc.

Z

 

[shushikiary]

From having driven old el camino's and the like with turbo 400's swapped into them on 350's, I don't like the way they shift, it always feels late and kind of harsh to me. So they don't feel great, but with a bump shifter so you can control exactly when they shift (it basically becomes a manual with no clutch, but remember they shift much slower, so you have to learn when to bump it so you don't hit rev limit if you're flooring it), I bet it would be perfectly fine. I'd bet you get way worse gas mileage if you care about that.

 

[matreyia]

Also true. I wonder how daily-able they are? There just isn't that much info on the th400 or power glide experience on the forums or fb groups. Wish there was a detailed thread about these transmission options. I know I will be posting every single detail about my trans pre and post install of zip kit etc.

Z

To this day xHP has not worked to my satisfaction on my tuned car and PD transmission. They said they would do a custom tune only TCU, but after I sent them logs they simply wrote back and said "sorry, use your stock flash". And I have bought every module they sell except for the stage 4 track race module. So basically it is useless for my car. PD stock flash runs smooth no.matter if it is normal or WOT. Not so with xHP.

I cannot recommend them for tuned cars. Stock power or milder tuned may work fine but not apeshit tunes.
I reckon you had not much better luck with them?

 

[SeanCon]

Nice build! Very similar to mine. I'm hoping to get a custom tune and run e85 soon as well. Reached out to Wedge Performance since it seems like you had a great experience with them. Thanks for sharing

 

[zmon1300]

To this day xHP has not worked to my satisfaction on my tuned car and PD transmission. They said they would do a custom tune only TCU, but after I sent them logs they simply wrote back and said "sorry, use your stock flash". And I have bought every module they sell except for the stage 4 track race module. So basically it is useless for my car. PD stock flash runs smooth no.matter if it is normal or WOT. Not so with xHP.

I cannot recommend them for tuned cars. Stock power or milder tuned may work fine but not apeshit tunes.
I reckon you had not much better luck with them?

Hey dude,

Yeah I had a weird experience with xHP. I flashed their stg3 map when it was kinda new. I think it was like v1.3 or something like that and car shifted almost instantly. It was pretty sick until a week later I was sitting in a drive thru line and noticed trans Temps reach over 200 degrees. I tried to get out of the line but that wasn't possible and Temps reached 230-240 before I could move and cool the Trans down. Then a few days later, I was in Mexico with a few friends and got the gear symbol on my dash. Pulled over, scanned codes from xHP and it said gear monitoring 4-5 or something similar. Ever since then, on full load it'll pop out of 5th and go back to 4th or skip to 6th. I contacted xHP several times regarding this issue but it didn't lead anywhere unfortunately. I guess it comes with the territory ‍ seems like more people have issues with them than just me. I'm hoping this new semi built trans will last me a bit.

Good luck
Z

 

[matreyia]

Hey dude,

Yeah I had a weird experience with xHP. I flashed their stg3 map when it was kinda new. I think it was like v1.3 or something like that and car shifted almost instantly. It was pretty sick until a week later I was sitting in a drive thru line and noticed trans Temps reach over 200 degrees. I tried to get out of the line but that wasn't possible and Temps reached 230-240 before I could move and cool the Trans down. Then a few days later, I was in Mexico with a few friends and got the gear symbol on my dash. Pulled over, scanned codes from xHP and it said gear monitoring 4-5 or something similar. Ever since then, on full load it'll pop out of 5th and go back to 4th or skip to 6th. I contacted xHP several times regarding this issue but it didn't lead anywhere unfortunately. I guess it comes with the territory ‍ seems like more people have issues with them than just me. I'm hoping this new semi built trans will last me a bit.

Good luck
Z

4th to 5th gear issue...basically is the E drum bushing gone bad.

 

[Bavkingn54]

4th to 5th gear issue...basically is the E drum bushing gone bad.

So @matreyia I'm about to endeveaur into building a trans with PD clutches. Would you say it is not worth it? Has justin worked with you to try and resolve the issues? @zmonn1300 like @matreyia said the popping from 5th into 4th is from the bushing on the e drum going bad. It is also used as a seal and as it wears it bleeds of pressure and cause the pressure to drop. It's a transmission issue not a tuning issue. And as of doing the zip kit that will help shift quality but it still will not help the clutch slippage or the e drum bushing issue (4-5 misshift)

 

[matreyia]

So @matreyia I'm about to endeveaur into building a trans with PD clutches. Would you say it is not worth it? Has justin worked with you to try and resolve the issues? @zmonn1300 like @matreyia said the popping from 5th into 4th is from the bushing on the e drum going bad. It is also used as a seal and as it wears it bleeds of pressure and cause the pressure to drop. It's a transmission issue not a tuning issue. And as of doing the zip kit that will help shift quality but it still will not help the clutch slippage or the e drum bushing issue (4-5 misshift)

PD clutches and bushings are superior to anything else I know of currently. So long as you stand there and see for yourself the work is being done correctly and completely right before your eyes. Do not let any shop get away with merely telling they did it. Once the trans is installed, you cannot verify anything until it begins to behave strangely...then the blame game begins. Nobody is interested in solving the problems, only pointing fingers.

Sonnax kit will smooth out shifts but not affect slippage...that is the bushing and clutch issue. Valvebodies are very robust in reality. And so are clutch packs ... bushings are the weak point of the zf.

Concerning Jason, he is a good guy, but he isn't able to financially rectify the bullshit that the eurotrans shop did when they failed to install proper components in the first place. In regards to xHP not working with PD units correctly, that is not an issue that PD should or is responsible for. The PD software works as intended, it is xHP that is the problem. And Jason did warn initially that he was not responsible if xHP is installed.

 

[zmon1300]

December 10th update:


This is will be kind of a part 2 update of the november post. As you guys know, I replaced all my pullies and tensioners along with a new belt because the car is nearing 100k miles and I heard some belt squeak. So we replaced everything and car sounded just fine. I got busy with school so we just let the car sit for about a week and then when I came back to pick it up, we started the car and heard an awful sound coming from the tensioner. FML. Well, I ordered a BMW oem tensioner from ECS tuning and that came in a few days. I installed it, and it did nothing. Still was hearing that very obnoxious sound from the tensioner. So then I went to my local BMW dealer and picked up a new belt. Installed the new belt and boom sound was gone. PHEW! I got a little worried. Got that taken care of quickly...Onto my current troubles now. So I installed the new BMP PI with the 750cc bosch injectors and everything went well. The oil cooler asked for about 1.5 qts more of oil and I filled that up and checked in the iDrive system multiple times to make sure all was okay. Its been ranging from 10-20 degrees here in Chicagoland so I really did not want to do a log in this weather to confirm the PI injectors have fixed my high rpm stutter issue. Well today was the day we find out if the PI really was causing this weird stutter that did not throw any codes at all. Its about 35 degrees and I tried to do a 3rd gear pull and it still was stuttering as I was getting into boost. N54 life is getting annoying now haha. Luckily, I logged this stuttering issue and will post a screenshot here to get some thoughts from you tuning gurus on this forum. I also emailed Ken (my tuner) and waiting for his reply. Other than that, car runs awesome with the new oil cooler, just need to fix up a few small things like the following:

Need new engine cover (mine is cracked now) -- if anyone has one for sale, please PM me
PR n54 wires. I have the N55 ones currently since robert did not have the n54 ones in stock when I needed them lol
Weld a few brackets for the trans cooler and install that


Also, I am looking for an experienced trans shop in the chicagoland area who is willing to install a zipkit for me. If anyone knows a shop with this type of expertise please PM me.


Attached is a picture of my log and I notice that the LPFP is kinda low, STFT trims are all whacked. AFRs are in the low 12s and Rail pressure is above 3k and no corrections. Im stumped. HELP ME! lol



Hopefully we can get this figured out fairly easily

Thanks
Z


@doublespaces can you help me fix my images in my previous post because they are all rotated 90 degrees for some reason? PM please and thank you

 

[fmorelli]

Best BMW mechanic I know is in Chicago - Ben Thongsai B&D Import Car Repair.

Filippo

 

[doublespaces]

@doublespaces can you help me fix my images in my previous post because they are all rotated 90 degrees for some reason? PM please and thank you

Check now. Do you use an iPhone?

 

[zmon1300]

Check now. Do you use an iPhone?

Fixed. thank you. Yes, I use my iPhone for pictures then transfer them to my Mac and upload them here.

 

[shushikiary]

Check your AFR's, based on your STFT's its likely the AFR's are spiking rich, a good indicator that you're not getting a full burn (aka a mild missfire, but not enough to blow a code).

I'd bet you your spark gap is too large if that's the case, or you have a coil going. I'd reduce your spark gap to 20 thousandths if you havent already, also check to make sure that the precision race works plug wires are fully seated on the plugs (I've had issues with that, but if you push down on them good they will seat, you'll feel it).

That or if your AFR is consistently low on that bank its likely you've got a boost leak, I'd be its your intake manifold or PI seals.

 

[zmon1300]

Check your AFR's, based on your STFT's its likely the AFR's are spiking rich, a good indicator that you're not getting a full burn (aka a mild missfire, but not enough to blow a code).

I'd bet you your spark gap is too large if that's the case, or you have a coil going. I'd reduce your spark gap to 20 thousandths if you havent already, also check to make sure that the precision race works plug wires are fully seated on the plugs (I've had issues with that, but if you push down on them good they will seat, you'll feel it).

That or if your AFR is consistently low on that bank its likely you've got a boost leak, I'd be its your intake manifold or PI seals.

My spark plugs are gapped to .02 with PR coils. If I open up the gap, it will misfire soon as I get into boost. I replaced the coil wires a few months ago with all new wires and new 97506 ngk plugs. AFRs are 12.42 and 12.12 for bank 1 and 2 at that exact point in the picture.