N55 Turbo Side Intake Progress
- Thread starter Alturiak
- Start date
Nice! Looking forward to your update! Specifically if you see any heat soak issues sucking in air over there.
Sorry @houtan, I haven’t managed to get around to it yet! Apologies! Hopefully I get my engine back in time for Xmas, at which time I can confirm fitment. You’ll definitely need aftermarket oil cooler lines to get it to work.
I have spotted this though, or you could see if Turner would sell their aluminium one from their N54 kit.
@CalvinNismo , thanks. Actually came across those last night. I’m having a hard time spending that much on it though lol. I think I’m going to modify my Stocks snorkel and block off the driver side and cut a hole in the passenger side and see how that goes.
Yeah, they’re quite steep, they look good though! I paid about 35 quid from eBay, but it’ll require some finessing.
Have you asked this nice chap to see if he’ll send you his 3D printed snorkel file?
Edit: He made a mould! Hopefully he shares that!
Have you asked this nice chap to see if he’ll send you his 3D printed snorkel file?
Edit: He made a mould! Hopefully he shares that!
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Thanks. I forgot about that thread. Just sent a message to see if it could be shared.
Sorry! Sent you on a bit of a wild-goose chase there!
The NRW stuff looks so nice, the bonnet is absolute filth.
All good.
Yeah, the NRW stuff is really nice. The big turn off there is they don’t have a phone number so you can only contact them via email. I’ve always had bad luck with companies like that. It seems every time I give a company like that a shot, It never works out and then I vow to never do business with companies where I can’t get a hold of somebody.
I’m willing to get the snorkel but something expensive like the hood would be really hard for me to do. I would probably get it from a business where I can speak to somebody if needed.
I can’t even tell if the NRW snorkel will allow the two factory scoops that direct air from the radiator to the snorkel are used.
That’s why I like the diesel snorkel you found. I know it needs to be trimmed but at least I know how it will fit.
Yeah, the NRW stuff is really nice. The big turn off there is they don’t have a phone number so you can only contact them via email. I’ve always had bad luck with companies like that. It seems every time I give a company like that a shot, It never works out and then I vow to never do business with companies where I can’t get a hold of somebody.
I’m willing to get the snorkel but something expensive like the hood would be really hard for me to do. I would probably get it from a business where I can speak to somebody if needed.
I can’t even tell if the NRW snorkel will allow the two factory scoops that direct air from the radiator to the snorkel are used.
That’s why I like the diesel snorkel you found. I know it needs to be trimmed but at least I know how it will fit.
JPuehl
Corporal
Thought I'd share my current hot side short intake. It still needs work so this is like rev 1. Definitely want to make a heat shield to keep any hot air produced by the coolant expansion tank and need to get air directed to the filter, which needs to be replaced with a larger one. I used the N54 coolant expansion tank to give more room for the filter.
Nice to see someone else using the n54 reservoir like I did, what did you use for the turbo inlet if you don’t mind me asking? And are you mafless?
@Richm240xi is the n54 expansion tank substantially smaller than the n55 one? cause my filter fits but is basically smashed between the tank and body of the car. 1/2 to 1 inch extra clearance would help a lot.
So the n54 reservoir is more of a rectangular shape compared to the n55 reservoir, so it’s longer but not as wide and due to the curve that it has on its side/bottom depending how you look at it, it definitely has what I would say 2 maybe even 3 inches of extra space.
So this is how my setup is sitting at the moment, my pcv valve went out and I started getting the dreaded valve cover cover squealing, so right now I have both my pcv valve and crankcase vent, venting to the atmosphere thanks to the Ross racing kit. I went back to an unmodified maf housing by MRP but decided to play around with a velocity stack on the end of it. Right now I have a turbo guard and water hydro shield on it as a means for filtration and it’s working pretty good lol, I’m still on the stock plastic turbo inlet but I think if I get something like the new pure silicone inlet and remove the top adapter, that bolts to the side of the engine, I can just stick the maf housing right in there and I should have more room for an actual filter. But it’s getting to the point where your spending money trying to play around with the limited space even with the n54 reservoir, that just relocating it completely starts making more sense
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JPuehl
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So I just installed a Pure PS750 and "while I'm in there" did the hot-side intake. I barrowed your idea of using the N54 coolant tank and am waiting for a coolant line to be delivered for a N54 coolant tank. Right now I have a section of 7/8" coolant line coming from the bottom of the coolant tank but it's not as nice as a BMW coolant line that is formed for clearance as it's a little ridged and presses on the turbo outlet a bit. As far as the turbo inlet, I'm using the Pure silicone inlet that uses a machined billet adapter that bolts to the front of the turbo and has a silicone 90* hose. I don't like this setup (as it is right now anyway) as the aluminum adapter only gives you about 3/8"/10mm surface area to clamp the silicone hose to the adapter and as tight as everything is, you really need to be precise when placing and tightening the hose clamp. I'm going to ask Pure if they'll make one that has an additional 1/2"-3/4" on the front. I'm also not a fan of their silicone hose as the ends are the correct id of the adapter/bracket but the hose diameter between the ends is much larger and this causes some fitment challenges. Right now the inlet hose is pressing against the water pump inlet, which is the hose that comes out of the front of the water pump and makes a 90* bend upwards then a 180* bend back down to connect to the bottom of the radiator. The inlet also presses against the smaller coolant line that comes out of the thermostat and goes up to the plastic fitting on the cylinder head. With the Pure inlet pressing against those 2 coolant lines, not only are there 2 hot coolant lines pressed against it but I'm not able to attach the support bracket to the cylinder head that supports the end of the inlet. I bought another 90* silicone hose that has a consistent ID/OD that I'll try that should work a little better. I also plan to try to reroute the coolant lines to give more room for the inlet.
Yes I am MAFless. @houtan , @Stokes and I figured out how to do this in October (I think it was) and have been MAFless since with no issues.
Niceee, I was looking at the pure turbo silicone inlet, good to know about the fitment issues though. Another company that makes a silicone turbo inlet that’s slightly smaller is do88. If you google do88 n55 turbo inlet you’ll see it. It looks like there’s is the same concept as pure but maybe a 2.5 inch diameter and then opens up at the top of L where the flange bolts on to the cylinder head to 3 inches. Maybe you can give that one a try instead. It also comes with a top half silicone inlet as it looks like it was meant to work with the stock intake (not that we’d be using it anyway). So as far as the mafless tune, is that something that can be applied to any regular tune? Or are the tunes you guys have completely custom to your cars? It would be cool if it can be used as an option setting through MHD down the line if you understand what I mean. Like optioning the car for different coils etc.
Check out midnight Motorsports for their inlet, they make the aluminum inlet for the shuenk n55+ turbo. it's 3" through the elbow until necking down at the turbo junction. I got the one for the sheunk turbo because I like the polished better than black, and I'll be chopping the turbo side off anyway to fit my larger turbo. Here are pics of it compared to the vrsf inlet.
Edit: I guess I can't comment on interference with plumbing of the coolant lined since I haven't installed it yet, but it's another option to consider.
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JPuehl
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For going MAFless, anyone can do it that does their own tunes or uses a tuner that will "listen" to what the customer wants in their tune. MHD provided a feature where you can give it a list of codes to "ignore", so basically you add the 4 or 5 codes that come up when you unplug your MAF and you now are MAFless. You will however need to increase your WGDCs to maintain the same boost levels as with the MAF. I have a 16# 92 octane tune I created as my winter/wet/cold weather DD tune and it was right on target. Once we figured out what needed to be done for MAFless that same tune was now below target. In the end, I added about 30% to my compressor base table to bring the boost back on target. I noticed that the requested MAF was less, most likely due to not having an actual MAF reference, so every table that uses requested MAF is affected. Bumping up the base table was all that I ended up doing. Now yesterday I went out with the PS750 and the hot-side intake using the same MAFless tune I had worked out with the PS2 and took my first log and now boost is above target. This is probably caused by either the shorter/larger intake and/or the larger turbo (PS2 vs PS750). The next dry day I plan to try the base table from the MAF tune and see how close it is, and adjust as necessary. Once I get the 16# tune adjusted, I'll need to find some dry kinda warm climate so I can work on a 23,24,25,26# tune. I know the PS2 can do 23# but I should be able to get 26# out of the PS750.
Thank you for the info, I’ll definitely get a custom tune then once I upgrade the turbo, wish you guys were local to me, I’d pay to have it done now haha
JPuehl
Corporal
I do like the radius of that shinny metal inlet but I bought an 90* 3" silicone hose that has a consistent OD/IN throughout the length. I plan to try that but if I still have issues I'll look into the shuenk inlet. I'd need to cut the turbo end as when you order PS750 with the silicone inlet, the opening for the inlet on the turbo is larger to accommodate the adapter. No problem as I would just need a short section of straight hose to connect the 2 pieces. I might be able to fit an aluminum 90* bend online somewhere to make my own inlet.
