E89 BMW Z4 20i ECU remap @evolve to 255bhp & 350ft/lb!

A

Acid_Monkey

Member
Hi all - new member here!

Had been searching high and low online - and it appears that nobody has yet remapped there 20i for some reason, so I thought I would share the results here. I believe my car is the first in the uk to have an ECU remap and wanted to share the results with you all!

Yes it is possible to have your 20i remapped to the same power (slightly higher) than the 28i (engines and drivetrain are identical in both cars!) - big thanks to the team at Evolve Automotive in Luton, who spent the best part of two days developing the map and dyno testing the car - good news is that's it been done now, so will be a lot quicker for anyone else!

Interestingly the car only put out 177.8bhp in standard guise, so was actually slightly underpowered according to BMW factory spec's.

The car has been completely transformed gaining around 150ft/lb torque and almost 80bhp - I'll post the dyno printouts once I've edited out my number plate ;)

Feels like I'm driving a completely different car, and in sport mode the car turns into a rocket - this is how the Z should feel like!

Any questions and I'll be happy to answer - cost me £599 and is definitely worth it!!!

Dyno results here: (can't upload images to this forum?)

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg576/acidmonkey1/Evolve/IMG_5245.jpg

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg576/acidmonkey1/Evolve/IMG_5189.jpg
 
Any difference in sound, I am coming from Civic Type R and the lack of engine sound is one drawback I have found?
 
No discernible difference in sound to be honest - I know what you mean though - I've come from an unhinged John Cooper Works Clubman that sounded mental.

Z4 sounds alright - not tame, but nothing to shout about. I think Supersprint make an exhaust system, but I'd rather not go down the route of getting an aftermarket exhaust that would drone and sound tacky.
 
I think you'll find the people haven't been doing such mods whilst the cars are still in warranty. We are now getting out of the initial 3 years since the 4 cylinders made it into the E89 so maybe more people have or are looking to do this. However given the fact your insurance company will charge you an absolute arm and a leg for an increase like that, it puts people off.

For me of you wanted the Z4 to feel like how it does now then you should have bought a different version. BMW introduced these to get people into the E89 whilst they worried about road tax and fuel consumption costs of such a car. It was built in that guise for a purpose and most people will be more than happy with it but good to know that there are options out there and they work.

I suppose you won't know of any issues until you've run the car a bit more. So when the car needs coding or a software update at the dealers, do you know how that effects all their work?
 
Acid_Monkey said:
Hi all - new member here!

Had been searching high and low online - and it appears that nobody has yet remapped there 20i for some reason, so I thought I would share the results here. I believe my car is the first in the uk to have an ECU remap and wanted to share the results with you all!

Yes it is possible to have your 20i remapped to the same power (slightly higher) than the 28i (engines and drivetrain are identical in both cars!) - big thanks to the team at Evolve Automotive in Luton, who spent the best part of two days developing the map and dyno testing the car - good news is that's it been done now, so will be a lot quicker for anyone else!

Interestingly the car only put out 177.8bhp in standard guise, so was actually slightly underpowered according to BMW factory spec's.

The car has been completely transformed gaining around 150ft/lb torque and almost 80bhp - I'll post the dyno printouts once I've edited out my number plate ;)

Feels like I'm driving a completely different car, and in sport mode the car turns into a rocket - this is how the Z should feel like!

Any questions and I'll be happy to answer - cost me £599 and is definitely worth it!!!

Dyno results here: (can't upload images to this forum?)

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg576/acidmonkey1/Evolve/IMG_5245.jpg

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg576/acidmonkey1/Evolve/IMG_5189.jpg
Click to expand...

WOW!!

Enclosed is an 28I for comparison

14532302347_183a0297ad_k.jpg
 
Angie4m said:
I think you'll find the people haven't been doing such mods whilst the cars are still in warranty. We are now getting out of the initial 3 years since the 4 cylinders made it into the E89 so maybe more people have or are looking to do this. However given the fact your insurance company will charge you an absolute arm and a leg for an increase like that, it puts people off.

For me of you wanted the Z4 to feel like how it does now then you should have bought a different version. BMW introduced these to get people into the E89 whilst they worried about road tax and fuel consumption costs of such a car. It was built in that guise for a purpose and most people will be more than happy with it but good to know that there are options out there and they work.

I suppose you won't know of any issues until you've run the car a bit more. So when the car needs coding or a software update at the dealers, do you know how that effects all their work?
Click to expand...

Ok - the only difference between the factory 20i and the 28i is a remap and slightly bigger brakes - apart from that they are identical mechanically. It's cheaper for BMW to run one assembly line that build the engines for 18i, 20i and 28i and all they do is detune/restrict them for the cheaper models. All variants of the four cylinder N20 run the same mpg and co2 emmisions - have a look at BMW's technical spec for each model on their own website.

You'll notice the car has been tuned to more or less the same output as the 28i - by very reputable BMW specialist tuners, so nothing insane at all, and I've saved myself the huge difference in price difference between the 20i and 28i - not to mention the 28i well specced is pretty rare.

Have a look at realoem and you'll realise both cars run the same clutch, pistons, crank and gearbox etc. it's a fallacy that they would fail early as someone else has mentioned as they are all running within the BMW operating parameters.
 
Twin Turbo said:
Acid_Monkey said:
Hi all - new member here!

Had been searching high and low online - and it appears that nobody has yet remapped there 20i for some reason, so I thought I would share the results here. I believe my car is the first in the uk to have an ECU remap and wanted to share the results with you all!

Yes it is possible to have your 20i remapped to the same power (slightly higher) than the 28i (engines and drivetrain are identical in both cars!) - big thanks to the team at Evolve Automotive in Luton, who spent the best part of two days developing the map and dyno testing the car - good news is that's it been done now, so will be a lot quicker for anyone else!

Interestingly the car only put out 177.8bhp in standard guise, so was actually slightly underpowered according to BMW factory spec's.

The car has been completely transformed gaining around 150ft/lb torque and almost 80bhp - I'll post the dyno printouts once I've edited out my number plate ;)

Feels like I'm driving a completely different car, and in sport mode the car turns into a rocket - this is how the Z should feel like!

Any questions and I'll be happy to answer - cost me £599 and is definitely worth it!!!

Dyno results here: (can't upload images to this forum?)

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg576/acidmonkey1/Evolve/IMG_5245.jpg

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg576/acidmonkey1/Evolve/IMG_5189.jpg
Click to expand...

WOW!!

Enclosed is an 28I for comparison

14532302347_183a0297ad_k.jpg
Click to expand...


Interesting what's been achieved on the 28i - we've got similar peak torque figures - however your actually down on HP in the higher rpm range than the stock dyno figures... :?
 
It would be interesting to know the difference in cost between buying 28i and buying 20i + cost of re map + increase in insurance as modified car.

My guess is doing the remap will probably won't be any cheaper when you add the costs.
 
flybobbie said:
Or when the economy clutch gives up!
Click to expand...

My car is running the 8 speed auto (ZF8HP) which is rated to handle up to 500nm torque - in the auto box's case your statement is nonsense ;) Not sure about the manual box though - I've not looked it up.
 
Acid_Monkey said:
Interesting what's been achieved on the 28i - we've got similar peak torque figures - however your actually down on HP in the higher rpm range than the stock dyno figures... :?
Click to expand...

My guess would be inadequate cooling on the Dyno and therefore heat-soak of the intercooler(s).

Great gains though it has to be said. Is the Turbo the same? Its very rare for the same turbo to be used for such a lower (stock) powered car!
 
It's hard to believe but the twin-scroll turbo and all engine/gearbox components and spec are identical. I think the factory 28i runs a higher turbo pressure/mapping than the 20i to achieve those gains.

Have a look at http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/select - the engine, gearbox, diff etc are all identical if you open two windows for each car side by side.

Must have been cheaper for BMW to use one production line for all the four cylinder Z4's.

I'm not sure what BMW where thinking with this one - even the sales guy at the showroom said they were identical and "unofficially" mentioned remapping at DMS when we were having a chat - I just went with Evolve as I'd heard more about them in the BMW magazines and forums.

It's probably why 28i's are quite hard to come by when BMW charged £4k just for a different engine map.
 
while current offers close the price gap now, I didn't have any desire to pay the premium over a 2.0 when I got mine a couple of years back for a remap. Fair enough if you're getting more cylinders or extra kit. Given the that the 2.0 has more standard kit over the 1.8 for around £1500 list price, it seemed a bit of a rip off to pay around £4k for a different map and bigger brakes.
 
I remember reading this a while back re N20 and tuning,

http://www.germanboost.com/content.php?3651-BMW-2-0-liter-four-cylinder-N20-turbo-motor-already-having-issues-Head-cracks-under-stress-above-331-pound-feet-of-torque

Whether true or not, who knows.

Tim.
 
I am planning in taking my car to different rolling road - as the car does not feel that its falling off an cliff when driving, and the first time I took it there they used the wrong settings.
 
Now that dyno reading looks good. I happen to own a 20i and don't live a million miles from Luton. Mind you I only have the feeble manual gearbox and really should not want to upgrade my car because BMW didn't build it that way. Any more updates on results? :thumbsup:
 
Dr z4 00 said:
Now that dyno reading looks good. I happen to own a 20i and don't live a million miles from Luton. Mind you I only have the feeble manual gearbox and really should not want to upgrade my car because BMW didn't build it that way. Any more updates on results? :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Well you'll be glad to hear that the 20i and 28i both have the same getrag gs6-17bg manual gearbox, as well as the same clutch, differential and driveshaft parts, so tuning to at least the power output of the 28i should bear no mechanical consequences. (http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/partxref?id=LL32-EUR-10-2012-E89-BMW-Z4_20i&mg=23&sg=05&diagId=23_1187&q=23007633990&series=E89)

Results - the car feels like it's had an engine transplant, there's almost no comparison - I barely have a need to ever go over 2k rpm, engine pulls like a train! Fuel consumption is slightly better - again due to being able to keep engine rpm lower than previous.

The best way to describe it is this - It feels as if before the ECU remap the engine was full of thick treacle and now it's been set free. :driving:
 
I can believe you don't need to rev it when it's producing 350lb/ft torque ane 160 horses at 2.5k. Very impressive, would seem rude not to!
 
Dr z4 00 said:
I can believe you don't need to rev it when it's producing 350lb/ft torque ane 160 horses at 2.5k. Very impressive, would seem rude not to!
Click to expand...

This is true but I live in London - and there's a lot of traffic :D

I've just ordered a bluetooth OBD2 reader that will connect to the "torque" app on the google playstore - really functional diagnostics app - I'll try and get a 0-60 time reading off of it over the weekend :driving: Wonder how close it'll get to the 35's...
 
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