Pushing a 2.5Se passed 200bhp

[Dr. Zed]

As the title says, I'm wondering if anyone has any feedback on getting a 2.5se e85 passed 200bhp.
I'm aware horsepower isn't the end all be all and admittedly a 17 year old car is likely to have lost some horses along the way but more as a project I'd like to see if I can get a 2.5se to 210 or 215.

Any input is appreciated!

 

[enuff_zed]

Well if it's just a numbers exercise for the hell of it, fair enough. But if it's for actual road performance, then I'd think more torque would be a good aiming point. I understand that mapping NA motors doesn't produce much, but it could well give you the little extra oomph you want?
As for BHP, not allowing for losses due to wear etc, to get to 200, that's only another 8 to find isn't it?

 

[Chris_D]

De-cat, forced induction, straight-piped performance exhaust, all costing £1k+ and if you're very lucky, will all give a cumulative 7.9bhp.
yw

 

[Dr. Zed]

Well if it's just a numbers exercise for the hell of it, fair enough. But if it's for actual road performance, then I'd think more torque would be a good aiming point. I understand that mapping NA motors doesn't produce much, but it could well give you the little extra oomph you want?
As for BHP, not allowing for losses due to wear etc, to get to 200, that's only another 8 to find isn't it?

It's more for the numbers to be honest. If I can get that to translate to road performance than great but it's not my main goal. Although speaking of, what are the ways to gain torque then?

As for the 8 bhp gain, I'm not actually sure about this. My car had its engine badge deleted. I was under the impression I had a 2.5se but from what I can gather this is simply a trim and I either have a 2.5i or 2.5si and presumably they have different base bhp figures.

 

[Dr. Zed]

De-cat, forced induction, straight-piped performance exhaust, all costing £1k+ and if you're very lucky, will all give a cumulative 7.9bhp.
yw

That does not seem worth it for that price. I'm happy with the performance as I said, this is purely for me to toy with the idea and a numbers game. If it's going to close me half the price of the car then I won't be doing it, but still always interesting in learning from this forum!

 

[mr.tourette]

well if you have a 2.5si you are already past 200 if your in a 2.5i facelift you are well under and would likely struggle to get it upto 200 as i think they are only 177

Edit..you say you have a 17 year old car so its not a facelift but the regular 2.5i so as you say chasing 8 ish bhp, a quantum remap will give you a few (not many) bhp but a nice little usable lump of extra torque in the midrange

 

[Chris_D]

De-cat, forced induction, straight-piped performance exhaust, all costing £1k+ and if you're very lucky, will all give a cumulative 7.9bhp.
yw

That does not seem worth it for that price. I'm happy with the performance as I said, this is purely for me to toy with the idea and a numbers game. If it's going to close me half the price of the car then I won't be doing it, but still always interesting in learning from this forum!

I was being a little bit facetious.
I have no idea what those mods would give you in bhp increase to be honest but I would suggest that you just enjoy it for what it is.
If you really wanted to gain any significant performance increases you would/should have bought a 3.0i or even an M car.
You could probably even swap in an M54B30 and gearbox for cheaper than those suggested mods.

 

[Dr. Zed]

well if you have a 2.5si you are already past 200 if your in a 2.5i facelift you are well under and would likely struggle to get it upto 200 as i think they are only 177

Edit..you say you have a 17 year old car so its not a facelift but the regular 2.5i so as you say chasing 8 ish bhp, a quantum remap will give you a few (not many) bhp but a nice little usable lump of extra torque in the midrange

It's definitely not a facelift, as you said in your edit. I might try get some oblique lighting on the area where the badge used to be to see if I can see any residue from the engine badge.

A small bhp gain but decent increase in torque then that doesn't seem like a bad route to go down to be honest.
Any recommended places that will do this in the Swindon and surrounding areas?

 

[Dr. Zed]

I was being a little bit facetious.
I have no idea what those mods would give you in bhp increase to be honest but I would suggest that you just enjoy it for what it is.
If you really wanted to gain any significant performance increases you would/should have bought a 3.0i or even an M car.
You could probably even swap in an M54B30 and gearbox for cheaper than those suggested mods.

Ah, my bad. Didn't get that over written message.
An M is definitely out of the question but maybe some day I'll upgrade to a 3.0 Z4!

 

[enuff_zed]

Edit..you say you have a 17 year old car so its not a facelift but the regular 2.5i so as you say chasing 8 ish bhp, a quantum remap will give you a few (not many) bhp but a nice little usable lump of extra torque in the midrange

That was more or less my thinking................

 

[enuff_zed]

It's definitely not a facelift, as you said in your edit. I might try get some oblique lighting on the area where the badge used to be to see if I can see any residue from the engine badge.

My wife's is a 53-plate 2.5i. The badge just says 2.5i, nothing more than that. I may be wrong, but i think there was only that one option with the M54 engine, giving 192BHP (when new)

 

[enuff_zed]

Here you go, straight from the manual:

 

[mr.tourette]

well if you have a 2.5si you are already past 200 if your in a 2.5i facelift you are well under and would likely struggle to get it upto 200 as i think they are only 177

Edit..you say you have a 17 year old car so its not a facelift but the regular 2.5i so as you say chasing 8 ish bhp, a quantum remap will give you a few (not many) bhp but a nice little usable lump of extra torque in the midrange

It's definitely not a facelift, as you said in your edit. I might try get some oblique lighting on the area where the badge used to be to see if I can see any residue from the engine badge.

A small bhp gain but decent increase in torque then that doesn't seem like a bad route to go down to be honest.
Any recommended places that will do this in the Swindon and surrounding areas?

Go on the quantum website and do a search, there are literally hundreds of franchised garages around the country where you can have it done,you won't have to go far for sure..my nearest was 8 miles away with another dozen or more within 20 miles, generally if you book with the garage direct once you find a local one they will do it cheaper than the website quote

 

[Dr. Zed]

Edit..you say you have a 17 year old car so its not a facelift but the regular 2.5i so as you say chasing 8 ish bhp, a quantum remap will give you a few (not many) bhp but a nice little usable lump of extra torque in the midrange

That was more or less my thinking................

Seems that I'm best scrapping this idea then and putting any money I'd spend on bhp gain into torque gain instead so it's actual performance gain and then take any addition to bhp as a nice secondary effect.

 

[Dr. Zed]

My wife's is a 53-plate 2.5i. The badge just says 2.5i, nothing more than that. I may be wrong, but i think there was only that one option with the M54 engine, giving 192BHP (when new)

Mine is a 04 but I don't have a manual unfortunately. It'd be nice if the the mot check site gave this information too.
So seems from everything that's been mentioned here I have a 2.5i then and can't have a lower output 2.5i since they're facelifts and I don't have an si since they were produced only past the age of my car.
Thanks for the info!

 

[Chris_D]

Increasing torque and introducing higher component stress forces in a 17 yr old drivetrain is just asking for trouble imo, especially an automatic.
Just leave it alone, enjoy it for what it is and ignore any suggestions to start tw@tting about with it.

 

[mr.tourette]

Or do as you please with your own car

 

[Sidewaze Samm]

My wife's is a 53-plate 2.5i. The badge just says 2.5i, nothing more than that. I may be wrong, but i think there was only that one option with the M54 engine, giving 192BHP (when new)

Mine is a 04 but I don't have a manual unfortunately. It'd be nice if the the mot check site gave this information too.
So seems from everything that's been mentioned here I have a 2.5i then and can't have a lower output 2.5i since they're facelifts and I don't have an si since they were produced only past the age of my car.
Thanks for the info!

Doesn't the V5 show power output, in kW ?
I'd have to dig mine out to check...

 

[Mister T]

Replace the crank, rods and pistons with the ones from a M54B30 and get the engine remapped.

 

[True-Blue]

N2O... wizards of Nos. .. won’t have much boot space as you’ll need a gas bottle :evil: