Modding Begins on the BMW M5 Project

The modding is underway for our Project M5 and we have started with the triple threat. Keeping this car simple, reliable, and powerful, we went with the 3 basics to start: intake, exhaust, ecu flash. Our first upgrade was to give the Powerchip ECU Flash a try. We received the OBDII loader from Powerchip which allows us to connect to our car via a laptop. Once we read out the ECU stock file, Powerchip then sends us our new tuned program. This process took about 30 mins from read out to receive and load. The OBDII flasher was very easy to use and Powerchip was on standby to help get this done. As soon as we loaded the flash to the car, we strapped it down to the dyno. Like most BMW cars, the M5 is weirded out by the site of rolling without moving. Once we turned her on to M Mode, we put the power down on our Mustang Dyno. The file was designed for 91 octane and when we asked about a custom tune for the catback and intake we were installing after, we were told there was no need as the Powerchip ECU flash will adjust. With an ambient air temp of about 85F and to allow the car to dyno the hood was closed reducing airflow to the intake system, the car gained 11rwhp and 10ft/lbs of torque to the wheels. 2 things to note… we use 91 octane which requires a more conservative map, airflow to the intakes, and air temperature was higher then it was weeks ago. Generally when adding a ECU flash to any normally aspirated car, this is about what we expect, especially the M cars which are very high strong. The overall improvement of the cars driveability is noticed across the ENTIRE curve since the power was added that way. Check out the dyno below:

Our next mod was the K&N cold air intake kit. Historically the M cars have well developed intake systems. The BMW MAF sensor is very sensitive and sometimes tripped from the addition of an intake. We wanted to test out this K&N system which has sold quite well since its release 3 years ago. The installation of the intake is very straight forward and K&N’s provided installation instructions helps a ton. The installation took only about an hour. We put the car on the dyno right away but were not happy with the results. Each time we ran the car on the dyno, it would actually gain power. But after running it 3 consecutive times, the car would lose power because of the engine being hot. What we decided is that the car would need to be driven so the ECU could learn the intakes changes to the Air/Fuel mixture. A Redyno will be done shortly after we baseline the exhaust below with the stock air intake…. We did take a short video as seen below so you can hear the incredible sound the engine makes with the K&N unit. You can also view several installation pictures on our Gallery Here.

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIMoidTK8Y4[/tube]

Our final mod is the new Valvetronic Agency Power catback exhaust system. This exhaust is similar to the ones we did for the BMW M6 and Nissan GTR. The exhaust is all stainless steel which features a quiet and race mode that remotely changes an actuator after the muffler. Unlike the M6, we decided not to install the headers since this is a daily driver. The exhaust system will add a more aggressive tone when under throttle yet drive comfortably when cruising without any substantial droning issues. The exhaust system will be dynoed next along with a short video so stay tuned to this thread here!