Man. this is too funny...
Instead of soaking up the knowledge that is being graciously offered by Sal, some of you guys are attacking the man like he's some sort of nut case for suggesting that Methanol Injection is NOT exactly the greatest idea for tuning a forced induction BMW engine.
Seriously, it's an all too predictable pattern here guys. The moment someone says that methanol isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, some of you get all bent out of shape. Why? Because a few tuners in socal swears by it. I honestly think that has a lot to do with it. As I have repeatedly stated over and over again, a properly engineered forced induction supercharger or turbocharger
DOES NOT REQUIRE THE USE OF METHANOL to make additional power
or to reduce IAT's. (to delay the onset of detonation) For some reason, you guys are fixated on Methanol as the go to solution for these two purposes. The problem with that mindset, os that Methanol is not a free and easy "fix" at all.
In fact, Methanol only complicates the tuning for the guy writing the forced induction software, and if a Methanol pump or nozzle fails at high boost...bye bye engine. (fact)
It's a
crutch that only adds unnecessary risk, and it lowers the overall chances of having a reliable trouble-free forced induction kit. (generally speaking)
More elaborate FI systems will tend to have more 'issues' with reliability over time. The FI kit manufacturer doesn't want that customer service hassle after the sale, and neither does the customer. A smart tuner/shop owner is very careful about what they will build for their customers. If you leave the build construction
entirely up to the customer, you're asking for big trouble. Not only is that very time consuming (which will actually end up COSTING you money in the long run), but the potential back-end customer service headaches are simply not worth it at the end of the day. (not even close)
Believe it or not, sometimes the best answer to "Can you build this for me?" ...is
NO. (well...if you're smart)
But then again, that would require someone who can actually articulate a viable reason WHY they won't build some elaborate setup that requires additional hardware, wiring, and tuning...because is not really necessary. (or that it might potentially CAUSE a problem later on if anything malfunctions)
Apparently, many of the people who are auguring with Sal, have never seen a highly-engineered BMW forced induction production kit before.
And while we're discussing tuning, I doubt that many of you truly understand that it's possible to build a low-boost BMW supercharger kit WITHOUT an intercooler.
The key word in that statement is
low boost for anyone who isn't paying attention...
For the S65 engine, 4-5 psi of boost adds about 70 deg F to the ambient air temps coming into the motor.
By contrast...9-10 psi of boost adds about 140 deg F to the ambient air temps coming into the motor.
That's a HUGE difference in regards to tuning, so your FI intercooling methodology must adapt to this basic truth.
The
average Air-to-air or water-to-air intercooling setup (on a BMW N54, S54, or S65) FI car approx. 60% efficient in mild weather conditions. (70 deg F /w/ less than 50% humidity) That means the intercooler will reduce the charged air temps by 60%.
Using simple math, an E9x M3 running 4-5 psi of boost
and no cooling system on a 75 deg F day will have an IAT of approx. 140-150 deg F. Which is still in the safe zone (tuning wise) by a comfortable margin.
On the other hand...a 9-10 psi car
with an intercooling system on a 75 deg F day will have IAT's of approx. 130-140 deg F. (after subtracting the effective intercooling heat reduction)
Anyone who says running no intercooling on a E9x M3 supercharger is dangerous on low boost...also needs to say its dangerous to run 9-10 psi of boost on a car
with intercooling, as the IAT's are only about 10-20 deg F apart in reality. Compressing air molecules creates heat, and the more boost pressure that you cram into the engine...the more heat you are going to create. (which then needs to be neutralized)
The funny part that most BMW enthusiast don't seem to understand is this...
On some intercooling systems that are designed and packaged with an FI kit, (where no measurable IAT data was complied during R&D or the prototype testing phase), there is no definitive way to gauge how efficient the intercooler system actually is, so in theory, you could actually have the exact same IAT's on a higher 9 psi kit...
and a low 4.5 psi kit.
If the cooling system on the high-boost car has a lower efficiency rating of say 50%, this is not only possible, it a very likely
Most people have no clue how efficient their cooling system is, because only a few FI providers even bother to actually
test them in extreme conditions. A responsible FI provider will do extensive testing on the efficiency of their intercooling system, and they will record the results. That data will be used later on to fine tune the car. (since the efficiency of the FI intercooling system is not a complete 'mystery')
The heat reduction factor of any commercially viable FI kit should always be known upfront. That keeps the FI provider from wondering if their intercooler will be up to the task when the supercharger or turbocharger is experiencing extreme loads and high ambient air temps.
Doing your homework ahead of time, will also eliminate the need to implement unnecessary add-ons like Water/Methanol (to cool the IAT's), due to concerns about the efficiency of the intercooling method used, or the safety of the ECU tuning.
If everything was designed and tested thoroughly, there is absolutely no need to pile on additional engine intake cooling devices to keep the engine safe. The engine should remain safe under all operating conditions the day the kit is released for sale to the general public. Period.
The only time Water/Methanol should be used on a FI kit, is when the hardware package has not been properly engineered to maximize the available airflow, or the intercooling method fails to reduce the IAT's to manageable level for aggressive driving conditions. If no one is sure how effective the intercooling system will perform (in a very predictable manner), or the effective air flow is not as close to 100% for each application, then performance will suffer and a variety of overheating issues will crop up when the bar is raised.
FYI: The
stock OEM cooling system on a stock 500hp 5.4-liter Mercedes E55 AMG is approx. 60% efficient on a 75 deg day. It runs IAT's in the 130 deg F range.
Just because a car has a cooling system doesn't mean its doing a great job. An undersized/poorly designed heat exchanger can greatly impact your intake charge cooling temps. I think most people just assume because it has SOME type of cooling, that it must be working really well....so and there is nothing to worry about right?
WRONG ANSWER.
The reason Sammyrusso never had any side effects from his cooling system failure (when he partially ripped his bumer off), is because his IAT's never reached the breaking point. (where his his intake air temps never surpassed the point where his car could not adapt) The threshold for high IAT's (where the S65 engine can no longer make any more power) with low-boost supercharged applications boost is approx. 220 deg F.
When Sammyrusso was tracking his car, it was ~60 deg F day
plus an additional 70 deg F temps from the 5psi compressed airflow from the Vortech blower.
His motor was seeing about 130 deg F temps. After driving the car around the track for a while, he may have lost 15-20 HP because his intercooling system not working, but he was still never anywhere close to reaching the point where the car would have any issues.
How do I know this?
Because by his own account, Sammy's car never went into limp mode with the obligatory "Reduced Power" warning. (as it's designed to do) The M3 will shut down when the car is pushed too hard, for too long, in extreme conditions.
To wrap up...
Just because Sal's professional opinion doesn't 'jive' with your own pre-disposition on the use of Methanol, doesn't give you guys the right to demand an explanation that
YOU will accept. Sal doesn't have to prove anything to you guys. He's a BMW tuner, and guess what...you're not.
If you want to talk to Sal
on his level, here is my suggestion for anyone who wants to argue with him about Methanol (or BMW ECU tuning)...
a) Go back to college and get a degree in Software Engineering.
b) Apprentice under a well-known industry recognized Software Engineer that writes BMW ECU software for a living (
at least 3-5 years), so that you can appreciate the complexities of what you can and cannot do with modern BMW ECU's.
c) Open your own BMW tuning shop, where you can
build and tune any BMW car under the sun.
d) Come back here and resume your conversation with Sal...
THEN you can tell him how wrong he is about Methanol and tuning...
Any takers?