MENUBMW F22 (2 Series) Tuning
"Thanks for reading this BMW 2 Series tuning guide."
The 2 Series is a good car tuning project to have. The key to 2 Series tuning is doing it right - a lot of money can be wasted if you do it wrong.
We love the 2 series, the chassis, great range of engines, handling and it looks fantastic. There is no surprise the 2 series has been quite popular among our readers and members.
Our aim in 2 Series engine tuning should be to increase peak power and Torque at the top end.
Sadly with smaller engine sizes you are wasting your time spending money on modifications, so if this applies to you get yourself an engine swap then apply the following mods.
Engine tuning mods.
Petrol engines
- 218i 2015– B38A15M0
1.5 L I3 turbo 100 kW (134 hp) 4,500–6,000 rpm (162 lbft) 1,250 rpm - 220i 2014–2016 N20B20
2.0 L I4 turbo 135 kW (181 hp) 5,000–6,250 rpm (199 lbft) 1,250–4,500 rpm - 2016– B48B20
2.0 L I4 turbo (214 lbft) 1,250–4,500 rpm - 228i 2014–2016 N20B20
2.0 L I4 turbo 180 kW (241 hp) 5,000–6,500 rpm (258 lbft) 1,250–4,800 rpm - 230i 2016–2019 B48B20
2.0 L I4 turbo 185 kW (248 hp) 5,200 rpm (258 lbft) 1,450–4,800 rpm - M235i 2014–2016 N55B30O0
3.0 L I6 turbo 240 kW (322 hp) 5,800–6,000 rpm (332 lbft) 1,300–4,500 rpm - M240i 2016– B58B30O0
3.0 L I6 turbo 250 kW (335 hp) 5,500 rpm (369 lbft) 1,520–4,500 rpm - M2 2015–2017 N55B30T0
3.0 L I6 turbo 272 kW (365 hp) 6,500 rpm (343 lbft) 1,450–4,750 rpm - M2 Competition 2018– S55
3.0 L I6 twin turbo 302 kW (405 hp) 5,370–7,200 rpm (406 lbft) 2,350–5,230 rpm
Diesel engines
- 218d 2014–2015 N47D20O1
2.0 L I4 turbo 105 kW (141 hp) 4,000 rpm (236 lbft) 1,750–2,500 rpm - 2015– B47D20
2.0 L I4 turbo 110 kW (148 hp) 4,000 rpm (236 lbft) 1,500–3,000 rpm - 220d 2014–2015 N47D20O1
2.0 L I4 turbo 135 kW (181 hp) 4,000 rpm (280 lbft) 1,750–2,750 rpm - 2015– B47D20
2.0 L I4 turbo 140 kW (188 hp) 4,000 rpm (295 lbft) 1,750–2,500 rpm
225d 2014–2015 N47D20T1
2.0 L I4 twin turbo 160 kW (215 hp) 4,400 rpm (332 lbft) 1,500–2,500 rpm - 2015– B47D20
2.0 L I4 twin turbo 165 kW (221 hp) 4,400 rpm (332 lbft) 1,500–3,000 rpm
This list of the stages and uprated parts are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you wish to go in your tuning project before you get going.
Getting the right motorsport modifications for your planned usage of the car is a time and money saver. Stage 3 motor sport mods just won't work well on the road hard to control in slow traffic.
Please watch TorqueCars Video tutorial on car tuning. And be sure to subscribe and support our new channel.
Guide to the Best Tuning Mods & Upgrades
- Mods that Remove a Restriction
If the intake or exhaust are restricted in any way this will have an impact on your cars performance, so use an induction kit/filter upgrade and better flowing exhaust whenever your tuning creates a flow restriction.
- Mods that Improve Handling
Braking, Suspension and general alignment of the suspension components is vital for any tuning project even before you start increasing power.
- Fit Stronger Parts
Tuned cars will show up weaknesses, typically in the turbochargers, clutch and internal engine components. Whilst most engines can cope with mild tuning mods, TorqueCars recommend that you upgrade the internal components before these weak spots manifest themselves.
- ECU Tunes & Remapping
While some cars can be easily remapped, others may require piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's but this is the most vital step of your tuning project as it fully releases the power from all of your mods and upgrades. Expect 10-20% on NASP engines and 30-40% on turbocharged units.
- More Power Needs More Fuel & Air
Every tuning project will aim to increase the air supply, but fuel supply is just as vital and will need to match the air the engine can utilise. Fuel to Air ratio is vital so upgrade the fuel pump & injectors. Also you can look to perform head mods (flowing and porting), bigger valves, fast road cams and forced induction upgrades to improve fuel.
Stages of Tune
Stage 1 mods: Lighter flywheel, Alloy wheels, Remap, Panel air filter, Sports exhaust, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm).
Stage 2 mods: high flow fuel injector, Ported and polished head, Power/Sport clutch, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam.
Stage 3 mods: Engine balancing, Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Competition cam, Sports gearbox.
You really need to keep as much low end power as possible and aim to achieve a long power band across the rev range rather than a narrow top end power spike.
In this article we shall give an overview and introduction to the best modifications for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance part.One of the biggest mechanical sports upgrades you can do on your NASP engine is to fit a fast road cam .
It maximises the intake and exhaust durations and pushes up the power if done right. Ideally you'd add other mods and finish up with a reflashed ECU. We'd also caution you not to go with a motor sports profile cam as this upsets the engines idling and general town driving characteristics.
Don't forget to uprate the fuelling when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty.
Most power losses, and erratic idling after modifications are done can usually be traced to fuelling or timing issues.Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine.
If you are increasing your fuelling with bigger injectors you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it.
Intake and Exhaust Tuning.
The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Please note that WE DO NOT FIND IMPROVEMENTS WITH INDUCTION KITS, unless you have tuned your car with over 30 percent more power and are finding that the standard air intake has become a restriction.
Derestricting the air flow into the engine is the primary part of tuning so get a freer flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound sporty but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not add noticeable power and often rob you of power on most cars.
Do not go with the largest exhaust you can find this will slow up the exhaust flow rate - the best for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.
Polishing and porting the head will allow you to maximise your air/fuel charge. Leave this to a professional though with a proper flow bench and machine tools A good triple plate fast road sports clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never make false economies or ask a standard OEM clutch to cope. The best mods we recommend for your 2 Series are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspension.
Turbo engines are just crying out to be Remapped. You will see massive power gains on most modern turbocharged cars including diesels making a remap one of the most cost effective and massive modifications for your money.The most significant power gains for NASP engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is often cheaper to add a supercharger than it is to install a turbo. It is more challenging to map a turbo as the boost increases exponentially with revs.
It is simpler to map a supercharger because the boost is correlating to engine speed on a linear curve. Alternatively you could perhaps add water injection to cut down knock.
Handling/Suspension upgrades
Improving the handling for many tuners first priority in your 2 Series tuning project.
Fully adjustable suspension allows you to fine tune the handling of you 2 Series substantially improving your drive.
Drop the car by as much as 23mm - 38 mm and fit modified stiffer dampers, bigger drops will need other modifications in most instances.
Alloy wheel upgrades.
The benefits of alloy wheels include lowering your unsprung weight and better brake cooling. Pay attention to your choice of tyres (tyres) for your car, a good directional tread pattern tyre can really enhance your cars handling. We'd like to point out although they can look cool on the 2 Series big alloys will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this to the change in your effective final drive ratio.
Although some people have gone larger than this we would restrict ourselves to a 18 inch rim size as the maximum.
There is a more updated version of this BMW 2 Series Tuning article on TorqueCars.com.
For more information on Tuning your car please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss 2 Series options in more detail with our 2 Series owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased BMW tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
We need your help improving this article, so please send us your feedback in the comments box below and pass on any tips, points or facts we have wrong or have not covered.
We really do love seeing our visitors car projects and which mods work best for them, this site is very much a community effort, and we remind our visitors of our non profit non commercial approach to running this site.
All of your comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually revised, tweaked and updated.
Please Check out my YouTube channel, we're regularly adding new content...
Click to accept YouTube Cookies & Play.Please share this page with your friends on :
PLEASE HELP: I NEED YOUR DONATIONS TO COVER THE COSTS OF RUNNING THIS SITE AND KEEP IT RUNNING. I do not charge you to access this website and it saves most TorqueCars readers $100's each year - but we are NON PROFIT and not even covering our costs. To keep us running PLEASE Donate here
If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.
Feedback - What do You Think?
Please use our forums if you wish to ask a tuning question, and please note we do not sell parts or services, we are just an online magazine.
Help us improve, leave a suggestion or tip
Please watch this video and subscribe to my YouTube channel.