BQ Tuning N54 Intake Conversion

[BQTuning]

Nice job putting this together BQ. Without the couplers this thing will be cherry. My F02 has the holder for the conduits just behind the intake above cylinder 6. I think having that included would make for the cleanest set up. It can be held in place with one screw and connects to the intake tubes via one of those push in grommet things. Helps minimize movement of the tubing as well. Just some food for thought.

Thanks. I have considered doing a one piece for each inlet. I already have the molding with the current model inlets. Once on the car and everything is installed and lined up they can be removed and I can easily make a base composite send it for the CF making and sent back to get for final finish to reduce more cost.

However couple of things came to mind.

When the Engine rigorously moves, depending on the space if there is nothing to allow some flexibility in movement the CF may break/crack or come loose from either the turbo or the Y inlet. There is a Silicone Epoxy Resin blend that can be used for a flexible CF inlet though.

Uninstalling to swap or do turbo upgrades will require removing the entire inlet that will lead to removing the engine cover that supplements the setup of the inlets. The three piece will only require removing the bottom bend to the turbo never having to touch the top-med end. I think perhaps reducing to a two piece would be more ideal for install and uninstall situations of the turbos.

The bump hose and couplers do add weight so the less of them the better. We will see, perhaps a version 2 of CF inlets

All things considered though

 

[PUTC]

This sounds like an awesome upgrade. 2” ID pipes leading to just one big filter that we can custom fab with a snorkel would be a lot of improvement over stock pancake piping. Will have to check some junkyards around here for the cover and airbox. Will definitely be watching this thread. You are the man BQ

 

[BQTuning]

Just an update. Car has been in the shop since last week Thursday. We had an issue with the rear inlet end as it wasn't clearing the wastegate after the 90 degree bend. The ID needed to be reduced after the bend to at least 2" as 2.5" was too big. Not sure if this is just a Z4 thing as the rear turbo for the Z4 is the same as the 1 series. Just got the inlet end parts in yesterday to fix this though.

The front inlet hooked up beautifully no issue.

Was able to also relocate the original coolant tank to the driver side. I wanted everything on the plumbing to be OEM, and was not settling for rerouting the heater return line. Waiting for a heater return exchange adapter to come from German.

The car may come out this week with the plumbing rigged just to get the car running on the road until the plumbing part comes in from Germany.

 

[mikeseli]

Curious to see the results. What airbox are you using?

 

[BQTuning]

Curious to see the results. What airbox are you using?

The 740i/N54 airbox

 

[mikeseli]

Why didn't you use the stock 740i inlets and cut at the turbo attachment end and use a reinforced silicon coupling with clamps to make the connection to the turbos.

 

[BQTuning]

Why didn't you use the stock 740i inlets and cut at the turbo attachment end and use a reinforced silicon coupling with clamps to make the connection to the turbos.

Similar to the stock inlets on the 1,3, Z4, and 5 series they go flat, they were made out of extremely thin plastic, and it would have been merely impossible IMO to cut the end off and attach a silicone coupler, it would not stay attached and you will end up crushing the plastic.

So inlets that can repel heat better, and be proportioned in size for better highflow was needed.

 

[mikeseli]

Similar to the stock inlets on the 1,3, Z4, and 5 series they go flat, they were made out of extremely thin plastic, and it would have been merely impossible IMO to cut the end off and attach a silicone coupler, it would not stay attached and you will end up crushing the plastic.

So inlets that can repel heat better, and be proportioned in size for better highflow was needed.

The stock inlet are not thin, they're more than 1/16" thick, I know this since I had to cut the rear one off in order to remove it so I can install the silicone inlet instead.

 

[BQTuning]

The stock inlet are not thin, they're more than 1/16" thick, I know this since I had to cut the rear one off in order to remove it so I can install the silicone inlet instead.

I made a vid so you can see what Im talking about. I dont have my old stock inlets to compare, but I thought one of the inlet's flat pancake portion had a thinner structure from its end ?

 

[BQTuning]

Car is done with the install of the inlets. OMW down to Miami decided to stop by Eurowerks Automotive to peak under the hood

 

[PUTC]

That is one beautiful looking engine bay!! Very refined vs the two cone filters poking up. Not to say I haven’t been really interested in the relocation setup but this is a head turner. What ever gave you the thought/idea to try this out?

 

[N54QC]

I agree, I like my setup to be clean and subtle, and I think the DCI kind of ruins that. I want to open my hood and have people think it's a stock car.

 

[mikeseli]

Dimitri, very well explained. Those stock 740i/x6 inlets are terrible.

Do you know what is different between the 740i and the x6 air box? They are different p/n for the air box but have the same inlets and Y-pipe p/n..

 

[BQTuning]

That is one beautiful looking engine bay!! Very refined vs the two cone filters poking up. Not to say I haven’t been really interested in the relocation setup but this is a head turner. What ever gave you the thought/idea to try this out?

I pulled up ever single model that carried the N54 and found that the 740i/X6 models that carried the N54 had a totally different intake system and was by far a superior.

 

[BQTuning]

Dimitri, very well explained. Those stock 740i/x6 inlets are terrible.

Do you what is different between the 740i and the x6 air box? They are different p/n for the air box but have the same inlets and Y-pipe p/n..

the only difference is the pre filter mouth to the snorkel.

740i
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=KA43-USA-06-2012-F01-BMW-740i&diagId=13_1293

X6

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=FG43-USA-01-2010-E71-BMW-X6_35iX&diagId=13_1261

 

[Jeffman]

This looks fantastic. Will you be selling a kit and diy?

 

[PUTC]

I’ve been searching for the engine cover and cannot seem to find it anywhere. Mainly just finding our original one. I already know BQ kit will be way above my affordability scale. Unfortunately I’ve had some job issues recently. Im goingvto try and get a few pieces here and there and try to piece a DIY one myself with just Aluminium and silicone. Paint it black for a more stock look.

 

[BQTuning]

This looks fantastic. Will you be selling a kit and diy?

More likely yes for those that are interested. Need to beat these in though to find any flaws or potential flaws

 

[BQTuning]

I’ve been searching for the engine cover and cannot seem to find it anywhere. Mainly just finding our original one. I already know BQ kit will be way above my affordability scale. Unfortunately I’ve had some job issues recently. Im goingvto try and get a few pieces here and there and try to piece a DIY one myself with just Aluminium and silicone. Paint it black for a more stock look.

The 740i engine cover part number is 11127578858

 

[PUTC]

Found it. About 125$ plus shipping. I’m going to try some Pick and pull junk yards too. See if I can get one even cheaper. I hate being broke, lol. But by spring things should be a lot better. Patience is not a virtue of mine though. I love that carbon fiber you did, would love to DIY that!!