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      09-01-2020, 07:22 PM   #1
nothingman
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Exclamation PROJECT BIG TURBO: N55 M2 w/Garrett GTX3584RS turbo looking for 650whp

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PROJECT BIG TURBO: N55 M2 with Garrett GTX3584RS turbo looking for 650whp


My M2 journey started in January 2018 when I walked into a BMW dealership to see a Long Beach Blue example on the showroom floor, and unintentionally ended up leaving with the car. Not my first BMW, but my first turbocharged car. In my youth I had leaned heavy on the JDM import scene which had taken me down the road of importing a Nissan SR20VE VVL: a 200hp normally aspirated motor exclusive to the Asian market while my buddies were importing SR20DET turbocharged motors, turbocharging their Hondas, souping up their DSM's, all while making 2-3x the horsepower of my car. I missed the turbo boat completely.

When the BMW M2 was announced with a turbo inline 6, I knew what it meant: I wasn't going to be able to leave well enough alone. I was about to make up for lost time and do all the things to this car I should have gotten out of my system in my youth. And that's where this story begins.

Within a few months of ownership, I had completed the standard bolt-ons with a Fabspeed sport cat, FTP charge pipes, Wagner comp EVO2 intercooler, and Bootmod3 stage 2 tune to compliment the M Performance (MPE) exhaust which came equipped on the car. These provided a nice bump in power, but not the power I was looking for. So began the search for a turbo upgrade.

After a year of ownership and countless research into turbo options, I took the well traveled path of a Pure Stage 2 gen 3 hybrid turbo upgrade in early 2019. Pure had just released the gen 3 version, which included a new compressor wheel promising to make big power. Coupled with an Extreme XDi-35 high pressure fuel pump, the car made 517whp @22psi on 100 octane race gas on a Dynacom dyno. Only, it didn't. See, the Dynacom is notorious for high HP readings and mine was no exception. I eventually strapped the car on a Dynojet and made 440whp @20psi on 93 octane. With stock M2's averaging 330-335whp, I had gained approximately 100whp with the PS2 and bolt-ons on pump gas. The biggest gain with the PS2 was in the top end, where the car previously fell on its face after 5,500rpm it would now easily run up to the 7,000rpm redline. This level of power would satisfy most, but as I mentioned earlier – I can't leave well enough alone.

Moving to a stage 3 turbo is a big undertaking requiring a lot of careful thought and planning. Going in, I knew I wanted a Borg Warner or Garrett ball bearing turbo for quicker spool and reliability, which eliminated options like Big Boost with their Brazilian manufactured Masterpower turbo. As for N55 bottom mount options, this really only left Speedtech. I began conversations with Jeff at Speedtech while initially leaning towards the Borg Warner EFR8374 turbo. This full frame turbo would have easily done the job, but the housing is huge requiring movement of the stock water pump. It also incorporates an internal wastegate into the housing, which can be good or bad depending on who you ask.

Jeff began steering me towards the Garrett line, which I was initially against until I began more research. The new G-series turbos are simply amazing and are a clean sheet design incorporating cutting edge technology with no shared components from previous turbocharger designs. I focused my sights on the G30-900 and G35-900 turbos, with the primary difference being their spool characteristics. Whereas the G30 spools lower with less top end, the G35 spools a little later with more top end. Unfortunately, this wasn't to be as I learned all of the G-series turbos have a v-band flange and wouldn't fit the Speedtech T-04 flange manifold. In fact, I couldn't find any other N55 bottom mount turbo kit options which included a v-band flange. Back to the drawing board.

Just as I started to lean back towards the Borg Warner EFR series, I came across the Garrett GTX-3584RS gen2 turbo. Like the G-series, this turbo was also a clean sheet design incorporating a new turbine wheel designed to make more power in a mid-sized frame. Better yet, it was available in a 1.06 A/R housing with a T-04 flange. To further reinforce this turbo choice, I learned YouTuber Adam LZ used this same turbo on his stock bottom end N54 engine and made 800hp ~30psi. GTX-3584RS it is.

To provide the additional fuel needed for the stage 3 setup, we added a new high pressure fuel pump (HPFP), low pressure fuel pump (LPFP), and EKP low pressure fuel pump controller. Replacing the stock LPFP in the fuel tank with a Walbro 525 gives us plenty of headroom with the ability to flow 470lph, which is over 50% more than stock and good for ~700hp. The downside of the new LPFP is more electrical current draw, causing the stock EKP fuel controller to potentially overheat and shutdown. To remedy this, we went with the Evolution of Speed (EoS) BPM4 Low Pressure Fuel Pump EKP Controller which provides the added benefit to monitor and adjust the LPFP duty cycle. Finally, we swapped out the XDi-35 high pressure fuel pump in favor of a Dorch stage 2. The Dorch stage 2 pump can flow 75% more than stock and claims the ability to flow up to 650whp on pump gas; and we intend to find the limits of this combination and extract every ounce we can get. For now, we intend to stick to the primary fuel system without adding port injection or secondary injectors.

Selecting a stage 3 turbo without an integrated wastegate or diverter valve means we'll need other options to control boost. We'll be running a Turbosmart Gen5 HyperGate 45mm external wastegate coupled with a Big Bubba 50mm Blow-off valve (BOV). The M2 uses a mass airflow (MAF) sensor to measure the rate of air entering the engine, which can complicate the use of a BOV vented to atmosphere causing a rich condition every time the valve is opened because the DME thinks the air is still within the system. Subsequently, we will be recirculating the vented air back into the intake to keep the MAF happy. This also means none of the cool blowoff noises normally associated with an aftermarket turbo. Since the DME will no longer have control over the wastegate, boost control will be provided by a Turbosmart eBoost2 electronic boost valve controller.

Heat robs power from engines, and proper cooling with a big turbo is a must. One limitation causing heat within the factory turbo is the exhaust manifold port design. The small ports within the stock manifold help increase port velocity and work well on the stock turbo at 15psi of boost, but when you begin tuning the car to 18-20psi and port velocity increases, heat can quickly become a factor. This is exacerbated further with a hybrid turbo when you start pushing 22+psi through the stock manifold. The bigger ports in the Speedtech T-04 manifold are literally 243% larger than stock, resulting in less backpressure and restriction of exhaust gasses going into the new larger turbo and subsequently create less heat.


To help with intake temperatures (IAT's), we will be replacing our Wagner EVO2 Competition intercooler with the new EVO3. The huge tube-and-fin style EVO3 provides a 165% larger frontal area and 223% more volume compared to the stock intercooler. The end tanks have been redesigned using CFD for the best possible internal airflow, while the inlet and outlet has been optimized resulting in less pressure drop than both the stock intercooler and its EVO2 predecessor. We'll see if this all holds true in testing.

One area often overlooked to control heat is a turbo blanket. A properly sized turbo blanket shrouds the turbo, keeping the hot side hot and preventing heat from damaging other parts of the engine. Independent tests have confirmed using a turbo blanket can help your turbo spool 200-300rpm faster as the hotter exhaust gasses help spool the turbine wheel. We will be using a PTP Turbo blanket for our application.

Leaving no stone unturned, we will also be coating the turbo housing, exhaust manifold, downpipe, and wastegate dump tubing with ceramic coating. Having previous experience with SwainTech's White Lightning ceramic coating on our Fabspeed SportCat, this time we will be using Jet Hot Coating's Ultra Extreme 2500 ceramic coating on these parts to provide a thermal barrier, help keep the engine cool and provide corrosion resistance.


With the added heat created in vicinity of the turbo, concerns about stress cracking and metal fatigue become a concern. After ceramic coating, plans call for Cryogenic treatment to further harden the turbo housing and exhaust manifold. We spoke with 300 Below, who explained how the cryogenic process changes the microstructure of metals by subjecting them to super cold temperatures of -300 degrees F. This cold treatment rearranges the crystals within the metal, realigning the atomic structure and relieving stress which results in making the metal more durable. The technique is extremely popular with race teams, so we figured it was good enough for our turbo project.

Our initial power goals are in the 650whp ~25psi range with a wide power band maximizing the full potential of our new fuel pump setup through both 93 octane and E47 ethanol blend. There should be a lot left on the table with the Garrett turbo, so down the road we will probably look into a new intake manifold and secondary fuel injectors.

Installation and tuning will be performed by Kassel Performance on both Bootmod BM3 and MHD platforms (allowing for testing on each) on 93 octane, 100 octane race gas, and E47 ethanol blend. A secondary tune will be completed by Pure Boost for comparison. Pure Boost wrote the MHD OTS (off-the-shelf) maps, and we worked with Pure Boost on our previous Pure Stage 2 tune.

The parts were received back from Jet Hot Coating and 300Below cryogenic treatment and the keys were turned over to Kassel Performance for installation which began on 10/23. We are targeting mid-November for completion.

Stay tuned!


CURRENT ENGINE / DRIVETRAIN:
• Pure Stage 2 turbo gen3
• Pure turbo inlet rev2
• Xtreme-Di XDi35 HPFP
• Fabspeed 200CEL HJS sportcat w/Swaintech White Lightning ceramic coating
• Wagner EVO2 Competition intercooler
• FTP charge pipes
• DV+ Diverter Upgrade

NEW ENGINE / DRIVETRAIN:
Speedtech stage 3 external wastegate turbo kit
• Speedtech downpipe w/Jet Hot Coatings ceramic coating
• Speedtech exhaust manifold w/Jet Hot Coatings ceramic coating & 300 Below Cryogenic treatment
Garrett GTX-3584RS gen2 dual ceramic ball bearing turbo
Turbosmart Limited Edition Gen5 HyperGate 45mm external wastegate
Turbosmart Big Bubba 50mm blow off valve
Turbosmart eBoost2 electronic boost valve controller
Wagner EVO3 Competition intercooler
PTP Turbo blanket
• BMW N20 3.5 bar T-map sensor
BMW M-Performance exhaust
CSF High Performance Radiator

FUEL:
Dorch Stage 2 high pressure fuel pump (HPFP)
Fuel-it! Walbro 525 low pressure fuel pump (LPFP)
Evolution of Speed (EoS) BPM4 low pressure fuel pump EKP controller

TUNING:
• Alternating between both MHD and Bootmod BM3 platforms on custom tunes by Pure Boost and Kassel Performance.

WHEELS/TIRES:
• BMW M-Perf 763M 19" matte black wheels
• Michelin Super Sport stock size tires

SUSPENSION:
Öhlins Road & Track coilovers
BMW M2 Competition carbon fiber strut brace retrofit

OTHER:
Antigravity H7 60Ah lithium battery

COSMETICS:
BMW OEM European front bumper (received but not yet installed)
BMW OEM 2020 M240i Blackline tinted LED taillights
BMW OEM European aspherical wide view mirrors
BMW M-Perf Competition carbon fiber rear view mirrors
• BMW M-Perf carbon fiber diffuser
• BMW M-Perf black side markers
• BMW M-Perf black grill surround
AutoID M2 Competition-style front splitter (received but not yet installed)
Turner Motorports N55 carbon fiber engine cover
Acexxon honeycomb rear reflector inserts
__________________

Last edited by nothingman; 09-20-2021 at 10:49 AM..
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