Z4MC: Baseline Dyno Runs

[pal]

Did a few runs on a Dynojet 424x today and got some baseline runs on my 2007 Z4 M Coupe. The car has about 12, 700 miles on it.

Conditions: 90 degrees F, 30 in-Hg, 25-29% Humidity
Correction: STD correction

Dynojets are easy to use and provide consistent results from one to the next since they are intertial dynos. There is almost no calibration required and the only thing is to pull a good RPM signal- usually pulled off of a wire on the coilpack for cylinder 1.

Here is a link to the YouTube Video- IMHO, the car sounds awesome at WOT.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Pt1nfZP7A

Here are a couple of the plots -

Run 1: Normal Mode, K&N Panel Filter, RPI Scoop
Run 2: Sport Mode, K&N Panel Filter, RPI Scoop

http://images36.fotki.com/v1295/photos/1/1128101/6601344/PalMCoupe_Normal1_Sport2-vi.jpg

Run 1: Normal Mode, K&N Panel Filter, RPI Scoop
Run 3: Normal, Stock Filter, RPI Scoop

http://images40.fotki.com/v1262/photos/1/1128101/6601344/PalMCoupe_KNFilter1_Stock3-vi.jpg

I did not get a change to pull out the scoop, but my guess is that the scoop is worth 3-4 whp give or take. What surprised me was that the K&N Panel filter did not net any gains whatsoever so I am back to running a stock filter which is not a bad thing anyways.

Here she is all strapped to the dyno :) My friend was able to log the throttle settings and MAF g/s values so once he sends me those, I'll put them up as well.

http://images37.fotki.com/v1237/photos/1/1128101/6601344/IMG_2198-vi.jpg

[brave1heart]

Do you have the raw, unadjusted numbers?

CAI and after-market filters don't have a big impact on the dyno numbers but their effect may be more noticeable at speed.

[pal]

Do you have the raw, unadjusted numbers?

CAI and after-market filters don't have a big impact on the dyno numbers but their effect may be more noticeable at speed.

I have the DRF files and can apply any correction ... the raw/uncorrected numbers yield around 280-281 whp and the plot is identical.

I still think that if an intake can flow more air and the DME can adapt to it, then it should register something on a dyno even if it is a 2-3 whp gain. In this case, a K&N panel filter made practically nothing. Infact the stock filter makes more torque (and hp) upto 5000 rpms- granted its not much, but its more.

[Dammmittt]

Was there a fan on the dyno? If not the scoop and the filter aren't going to do much for you.

[pal]

Was there a fan on the dyno? If not the scoop and the filter aren't going to do much for you.

We had 3 fans mostly for cooling the radiator, but it should be sending some flow in I would think.

http://images38.fotki.com/v1281/photos/1/1128101/6601344/IMG_2194-vi.jpg

[Zuzax]

So no shenanigans were needed to dyno the car? No hood pins, emissions mode, dyno mode, or clearing codes with a GT1?

[Palantirion@BMS]

So no shenanigans were needed to dyno the car? No hood pins, emissions mode, dyno mode, or clearing codes with a GT1?
-No, no shenanigans are needed.

But I am a little worried about where the straps are located in the picture. The rear ones look like they may have been wrapped around the rear end links. These can be bent easily and should never be used to strap the car down. Also, it wouldn't hurt to slip rags between the straps and the front wheels, if you care about the wheels' finish. And you really shouldn't wrap around a single spoke when you can wrap around the barrel of the wheel, lest it stress the spoke.

[Ron Stygar]

-No, no shenanigans are needed.

But I am a little worried about where the straps are located in the picture. The rear ones look like they may have been wrapped around the rear end links. These can be bent easily and should never be used to strap the car down. Also, it wouldn't hurt to slip rags between the straps and the front wheels, if you care about the wheels' finish. And you really shouldn't wrap around a single spoke when you can wrap around the barrel of the wheel, lest it stress the spoke.

I noticed that too.

[pal]

-No, no shenanigans are needed.

But I am a little worried about where the straps are located in the picture. The rear ones look like they may have been wrapped around the rear end links. These can be bent easily and should never be used to strap the car down. Also, it wouldn't hurt to slip rags between the straps and the front wheels, if you care about the wheels' finish. And you really shouldn't wrap around a single spoke when you can wrap around the barrel of the wheel, lest it stress the spoke.

No shenanigans needed. The Brake, DSC and ABS lights were on for a couple of minutes on the drive home and them went off. This is probably because the rear wheels were spinning while the fronts were not on the dyno. I did turn DSC off for the runs.

I believe they tied the rear straps around the control arms. The fronts, I did check the straps for roughness and it looked fine ... will check the wheels tonight for scrapes etc. I did have a coat of WheelWax on the rims so hopefully that helped. Good points for next time.

[pal]

Now I am wondering how to get an honest 15 whp w/o reprogramming the ECU. 300 whp is a nice round number ... thoughts?

[Vodka G]

Now I am wondering how to get an honest 15 whp w/o reprogramming the ECU. 300 whp is a nice round number ... thoughts?

from what i've seen, it looks like the scoop and ECU should give you close to that.....this particular dyno run did not show that much of a gain...probably due to the lack of airflow IMO

i am also shooting for 300whp and my next step is the ECU upgrade and then maybe doing a pulley kit

[ROM3N]

Now I am wondering how to get an honest 15 whp w/o reprogramming the ECU. 300 whp is a nice round number ... thoughts?

Headers might get you close. But for the cost Software is a better bang for the buck.

[pal]

Headers might get you close. But for the cost Software is a better bang for the buck.

Headers are too much $$; plus I dont want to muck with a SES/CEL light and O2 sensor relocation etc. I was thinking hi-flow secondary cats might do the trick ... just muffler cans and an X-pipe dont seem to do much for added power (per the EC project car).

The other thing to note is that there is no drop in power or airflow at the 7900 rpm cut-off. This makes me think that the intake side (airbox, plenum, trumpets, throttles) are capable of flowing more air. Maybe it makes more sense to shoot for a fatter power band (like Palantirion) rather than peak numbers ... the low to mid range on the car can def do with some added torque/hp.

My friend dyno'd his VW R32 (3.2L VR6 with Schrick 268/264 cams, GIAC cam chip, VFlow CAI, Milltek hi-flow cats and a Techtonics/Borla exhaust). Below are the overlays of our runs. Clearly, his car is making more torque below 4000 rpms (the stock intake manifold on that motor is a 2 stage one- long torque runners for the bottom that switch at around 4000 rpm to hi-flow runners), but runs out of steam at 6500. It would be nice to get the S54 bottom end to sort of match that or better it ...

http://images41.fotki.com/v1267/photos/1/1128101/6601344/BillR32_PalMCoupe_STD-vi.jpg

I want to wait on ECU programming for another year or so while I get comfortable with doing most maintenance on the car myself as this is my first non-VAG "real" car.

[pal]

Some more information. Per logging done by the VAG-COM tool in OBD II mode (sampling rate is lower than in native VAG mode), below are some observations -

(1) Max MAF reading was around 242.6 g/s at around 7600-7800 rpms
(2) Coolant Temps stayed around the 86-92 deg C mark - I was happy that the cooling system is quite efficient in our cars.
(3) Throttle Position- the max we saw was 74.9%. This is curious as I was expecting 100% or close at WOT.