Technical Hydra Performance 135 Leichtbau State of the Art Thread

[Hydra Performance]

I know its been a while since my last update, but the 3.91 215K E53 X5 diff did not fit as-is, turns out the front diff mounts were 35mm too far forward which means that it could not be physically installed on an E8x/E9x rear subframe. So I bit the bullet and ordered a shim kit from Mfactory to install the 3.91 R&P onto my existing carrier - install was pretty straightforward and I ended up with a good contact pattern and 0.006" of backlash, right in the middle of Mfactory's recommended spec. I also machined the backside of the ring gear to remove rotating mass, and ended up shaving 0.35kg without weakening it at all. I could have sworn that I took pics documenting the process, but I can't seem to find them anywhere... :/
I then decided to further complicate my life by installing a 1M transmission (13kg lighter + the best shift feel I have ever experienced) along with an M4 CF driveshaft. Transmission install was pretty straightforward as it is a PnP proposition provided you use the matching shifter parts, the M4 driveshaft - on the other hand - was anything but. Required a LOT of careful measurements as well as cutting both ends as neither bolt on, so I had to use the front guibo/yoke off an N54 driveshaft and the rear CV joint off an E53 driveshaft. I'm proud to say that the end result came out looking factory...

Before:

After:

On the car (finally!) :

And finally, some gratuitous rear-end shots thrown in:

And finally, GS6-45BZ & GS6-53BZ side by side:
PS - Don't ask about the hammer

 

[mikeseli]

Omar continues to raise the bar. Good work, can’t wait to see what it does on the dyno and on the tracks.

 

[Nugs]

I thought the 1M box was weaker?

 

[Hydra Performance]

Thank you for your kind words @mikeseli, believe me when I say I can't wait either, especially since motorsports season is little over a month away...
@Nugs, the 45BZ is indeed weaker, factory rated @ 500Nm in 1M form as opposed to 600Nm for the 53BZ boxes. I'm not too worried about it since I won't be launching the car hard on slicks (simply no traction...) , plus I happen to have a spare lying around

 

[Hydra Performance]

All done finally and washed after long last!
And now for some eye candy, credit to my man Xavier for the pretty photos...

 

[Rileyg]

All done finally and washed after long last!
And now for some eye candy, credit to my man Xavier for the pretty photos...

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Looking forward to the results from this build!

 

[iminhell1]

Going way back to the dual vs beehive valve spring:

I really wish there was more usage of the spintron. It seems to answer all questions better than, 'boy I hope this works out'.

 

[Hydra Performance]

So, a lot has happened since my last update. Was driving back home on the eve of Wed the 13th, when my Acer Racing titanium wheel studs snapped on my right rear, mid-bend, leaving me on 3 wheels. Luckily I was only doing 60kph at the time, otherwise I probably wouldn't be here right now. I was also extremely fortunate to escape with very little damage to the car, and only had to replace 3 minor plastic parts around the wheel well, and was back on the road the following Saturday. Dust shield got pretty banged up obviously, and I wore through ~1mm off the bottom of the upright but that is of no concern. Note that the studs only had 350km or so of use, and were torqued via a torque wrench to 100Nm. After this happened and I got the car on the lift, I deliberately overtorqued another stud and it snapped clean off with relatively little effort. Seems to me that their threads are cut not rolled + their metallurgy is poor so please avoid them at all costs. I emailed them right after this happened and have yet to hear back from them would you believe, oh and did I mention they are based in Los Angeles? You'd never guess their products would be so shoddy by looking at their website... (link below)


https://www.acerracing.com/ball_bearings/BMW_E36_Titanium_Studs_75mm-1855-128.html

 

[Rileyg]

Sorry to hear about the studs man. Glad you came away unscathed.

 

[KevinC39]

Damn that sucks but thanks for the heads up. I've been asking around and looking at studs for spring when the snow wheels come off. Still unsure what to go with at this point.

 

[fmorelli]

Did you speak with the manufacturer? One would think, in business this long, this kind of thing would be a nightmare and not common - they would not be selling them.

In gross terms titanium is strong than steel for the same weight. But if you produce a fixed sized item, like that stud, the volume is the same, and I believe the titanium is actually not as strong as steel. That's a generality. The alloy of titanium, grade of steel (probably Grade 10 on the lug nut?) ... anyway curious to here what feedback you get from them.

Glad it was at low speed, you were not hurt, and your car saw minimal damage!

Filippo

 

[fmorelli]

Just read their "about" page. I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them, experience-wise, in our context. Bicycles, skateboards, and fishing reels ... sure .

https://www.acerracing.com/pages/About_Us.html

Then some Internet digging: https://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1356233 (and there are other such threads)

And interestingly enough, more back of the napkin but prices from some other vendors are nearly 3x more than what these guys charge ... which is also a bit suspect.

Filippo

 

[ShocknAwe]

Glad you're ok and that the car isnt KO'd Omar!!!

Filippo:

Titanium is stronger than steel by weight. The Ti studs weigh far less, and are subsequently weaker despite allegedly superior materials. If there is any scoring, galling, or cutting made for the threads or during install it will dangerously damage the part and further weaken it. Failure is typically spontaneous and catastrophic, as described above.

Anyone using titanium in load bearing applications should switch to steel. Immediately.

 

[Asbjorn]

Glad to hear you are okay, and the car wasn't totalled. Loosing such a special car due to something like this would have been unbearable.

 

[Hydra Performance]

Gents,
FWIW certain Ferraris - I forget which - leave the factory with Titanium wheel BOLTS, which is what encouraged me to go that route in the first place. Granted there is a HUGE difference in retail price, but still Titanium isn't (or shouldn't be) as expensive as people make it out to be.

@fmorelli , like I said, I never heard back from them which is odd considering communication was swift before I placed the order.

Anyway, enough about them, now on to the good stuff. Car is both massively quick and supremely torquey, I can see 15psi @2900rpm if I choose to (bad for traction). Limit of traction currently appears to be ~9psi in 2nd, ~14psi in 3rd, and 18psi in 4th, although I suspect this will improve a bit as the weather gets warmer, and it goes without saying that I need to bring on the boost gradually to avoid all hell breaking loose - as opposed to tuning for best spool. Other remarks of note are that I am able to run a fair bit more timing than you would expect on straight 98RON, in fact my engine "sings", and by all accounts sounds great when heard from the outside. But the most noteworthy observation is that my fuel trim scalars are ~25% higher than any other (regular) N54 I've tuned running the same turbos on gasoline. What this means in layman's terms is that my N53 head + Schrick cam combination is swallowing 25% more air - at a given boost - than a regular N54. Sounds too good to be true I know, but this goes some way to explain why traction is so abysmal on this thing even at the relatively low boost pressures I am running. Logs/dynos/dragy runs/drive-by vids to follow, but to be perfectly honest I'm still not totally comfortable driving this thing, it scares me...

 

[Bnks334]

Gents,
FWIW certain Ferraris - I forget which - leave the factory with Titanium wheel BOLTS, which is what encouraged me to go that route in the first place. Granted there is a HUGE difference in retail price, but still Titanium isn't (or shouldn't be) as expensive as people make it out to be.

@fmorelli , like I said, I never heard back from them which is odd considering communication was swift before I placed the order.

Anyway, enough about them, now on to the good stuff. Car is both massively quick and supremely torquey, I can see 15psi @2900rpm if I choose to (bad for traction). Limit of traction currently appears to be ~9psi in 2nd, ~14psi in 3rd, and 18psi in 4th, although I suspect this will improve a bit as the weather gets warmer, and it goes without saying that I need to bring on the boost gradually to avoid all hell breaking loose - as opposed to tuning for best spool. Other remarks of note are that I am able to run a fair bit more timing than you would expect on straight 98RON, in fact my engine "sings", and by all accounts sounds great when heard from the outside. But the most noteworthy observation is that my fuel trim scalars are ~25% higher than any other (regular) N54 I've tuned running the same turbos on gasoline. What this means in layman's terms is that my N53 head + Schrick cam combination is swallowing 25 more air - pound for pound - than a regular N54. Sounds too good to be true I know, but this goes some way to explaining why traction is so abysmal on this thing even at the relatively low boost pressures I am running. Logs/dynos/dragy runs/drive-by vids to follow, but to be perfectly honest I'm still not totally comfortable driving this thing, it scares me...

Time to give up on the street tires and driving in cold weather

 

[mikeseli]

I would ask the manufacturer if the threads were rolled or machined. They should be rolled for wheel stud application.

 

[Rob09msport]

Install is set for 2nd wk March I just need to coordinate tuning on dyno with Omar or justin v8bait . Justin was tuning and is great but Omar I'm sure knows his products I just don't know how many hrs I should schedule?

 

[R.G.]

Nightmare situation. I've run a set of motorsport hardware studs w Volk lugs for years without issue. Glad it wasn't more dramatic.

That heatshield looks perfect. If / when I'm planning on working on something in that area will be grabbing it.

 

[fmorelli]

Hey guys - I bought a Hydra Performance intake, hoping it would fit my E89 Z4. I really like the solution but it only clears the E8x / E9x hood. Bummer but I had to try it. I have it up for sale for anyone interested: https://bmw.spoolstreet.com/threads/hydra-performance-high-flow-intake.4789/

Filippo