Here we go…P65 engine Swap lives!

[NRBRNG]

First, some background and context;

I, like many here, have been able to gain from and at times contribute to this amazing community who love our E9X V8 platform.

The journey with this car has been amazing; from euro delivery in 2009 to now. Over the last 10+ years the evolution of the car into a dedicated track and race-ready mule has been a blast.
Up until now, that meant primarily focusing on safety (including pilot training), weight saving, handling, stopping and the usual thirst for sound while all the time trying to eke out any small power and delivery gains…Sounds familiar right?
Just to be clear, this car was no slouch weighing about 3300 with driver/fuel and my last dyno pull showed respectable 392 HP (catless Akra, Mike Benvo/BPM tune, CF DS, 3.65 FD)

As I mentioned, this forum community has been a great platform for education, inspiration and multiple trailblazing projects. I had the realization that put simply, more power was now needed to keep my learning curve (and attention) going.

I know I’m not alone when we see what the likes of what Green Eggs/Auto Talent and Bert at BE has going along with what Syt Shadow has done. Love it!

Given that my car needed preventative bearings done anyway, the initial project plan was to pull the engine and do LT headers, 292 cams (maintaining Vanos), Intake, custom exhaust, race gas and tune.
Then, the stroker thinking came up and I started to consider this. I reached out to Carbahn to get options. As part of those discussions, I was clear I wanted the higher duration cams- e.g 292, and was still planning on the intake/LT headers etc. Steve Dinan then called me with an alternative interesting option, given what I was looking for.
Dinan was asked to support BMW Motorsport through their GT3 program which ran the P65 engine in the Z4 GT3. As such, Dinan built a few P65’s with the BMW Motorsport block and head with his internals. As it happens, the BMW MS engines were so reliable, none of the teams needed a new engine.
As we all know, the P65 in its various forms has a sound to die for so here I am adding to my car lunacy and giving it a go. As part of this, and the fact that we are doing something quite different- and possibly unique, Steve is in full support and insisted he do the final tuning and dyno tuning. He may even have another P65 waiting for you if you contact him

So, what I can share on the engine:

BMW MS P65 Block (Nikasil) and head, cross plane crank, 4.5l, no Vanos, mechanical lifters with radius cups, dry sump.
We are tuning this on the stock MSS60 ECU which will take some work. Depending on intake, headers, and exhaust type Steve reckons anywhere from 575-625 at the crank based on its initial bench dyno run. I am running race gas with an adapted intake mated to the Karbonius plenum, Bimmerworld LT headers and a custom Titanium exhaust. When we do the math for RWP, I think we’ll be fine…
My car is also a DCT. Given that this is not a massive torque engine, we are hopeful that we will have no unsolvable issues. Most likely, we may have to play around with some of the torque tables and parameters in both the ECU and DCT GCU. (We had to do this to the GCU when I switched to the 3.62 final drive, but Mike Benvo at BPM got us solved back then). Time will tell.

We primed the car and fired it up with a starter file that took care of emmision errors, stock oil sensors etc and cycled all fluids, checked AFR, checked for leaks etc. All good so far!

Massive thanks to AR Autoservice in Portland, Oregon for their great work and creativity in seeing this project through and also to Steve Dinan and Carbahn for making this come to life.

Other notable upgrades ‘while we were in there’…
Dry sump with Daily pump, custom lines (many Da$h 16 AN fittings), Peterson tank with internal warming element.
Custom oil/water intercooler, fan, lines and brackets
Custom Ti exhaust from AR Motorsports with Burns Race mufflers.
Geoff Steele Racing intake, adapted
MCS shocks rebuilt
AP Racing Radical brakes
Core4Motorsports press in studs/hubs
AIM Dash and sequenced start up procedure; prime, ignition, start.
Race alternator
Porsche Cup car electric power steering
Added the Slon DCT pan with my Do88 cooler maintained.

Just had the car corner balanced and aligned; 3225 with driver and fuel. Very happy- this puts it right at about 3000 dry- about 90 pounds lighter than before.

I am under no elusion that this is going to have to be a focused transition for me based on the amount of pre track prep/ priming/data points to take care of and above all me relearning how the car puts power down, braking points, throttle application etc… I can’t wait!

For now, like the rest of us I am hunkered down and waiting to travel to California to drop the car with Steve and of course for track season to start up for us all soon!
Enjoy the photos and video if it works I’ll post more as we go. Not sure why the images rotated..
You can also keep up to date on instagram (nrbrng)

(I will be posting up some great take off parts soon- including Do88 coolers and my full Akra GT4 catless pipe with CF tips)

a couple of short easy drive off/by videos as we tested shifting:

[///Mobbin]

What an awesome build, thanks for sharing! Subscribed.

[Lienrocs]

Do you know what kind of longevity to expect out of the engine? Sick build. The videos are gonna keep all of us going during lockdown!

[Helmsman]

Yeah, looking forward to the videos!!!

[OG Shark]

Well you hinted at something pretty awesome & unique in the works - guess you weren't kidding!!!!

Absolutely awesome!

[SYT_Shadow]

So impressive! What an incredibly cool build! This is probably the most epic thing anyone can do with a M3!!

I heard they had some P65s around, I wish my car were a full track car so I could do the dry sump as well!

Just wait until your hear the Karbonius airbox with high lift cams, the sound is to die for.


I am also converting my 4.6L to solid lifters, more to come on that

[Kelse92]

That is an amazing build! Saw the video on Instagram earlier this week and fell in love. Congratulations and can't wait to see more!

['ringmeister]

wow, just wow...thanks for sharing and keep the updates coming!

[BP709]

Fantastic build! 🤘🏻

[s0ldats]

yesssssssss finally

[GORDON.M3]

good lord that thing sounds so good... needed some of this content during this COVID19 madness to relax my mind and soul.

[roastbeef]

pretty sweet. keep us updated!

[mapster37]

bad ass! keep us posted

[NRBRNG]

Added a couple of short drive off/by videos.

Thanks for all the positive comments! Enjoy your modding and updates as we all wait patiently for things to open up again.

[M3ANMACHINE]

sub'd

[Bimmer Barney]

What front fenders are those and do they fit an e90M

[roastbeef]

Originally Posted by Bimmer Barney

What front fenders are those and do they fit an e90M

Flossman fenders. I've never seen them on an e90.

[aus]

Sick build.
What's the custom oil/water intercooler?
.

[dfwashere]

Amazing build my guy. Thanks for sharing!

[Richbot]

[luckyse7en]

Wow sick build! I can speak for the quality work the guys at AR do. They always take good care of my car.

Hope to see your build around some local events.

[W///]

One of the coolest things I've seen around here! Way to revive M3post from what seems to be slow traffic!