MENUTuning the BMW N53
"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the BMW N53 engine!"
The BMW N53 provide a fun base for your project and with a few sensible modified mods like remaps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will improve your driving fun.
This pages aim is outline options for your N53 tuning and provide tips on the ultimate modifications.
The ultimate N53 modifications on an engine are in our opinion the ones that give the best power gain for you spend.
We won't be swayed by popular N53 modifications, they need to be cost effective.
Altering your N53 camshaft will make a dramatic difference to the engine engines power. Choosing a higher performance camshaft profile raises the engines power accordingly.
NB: Fast road cams usually increase the performance throughout the rev range, you could drop a little low down power but the higher rpm power will improve.
Race cams, increase the higher rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.
A Motorsport and race camshaft will just annoy you whilst on the daily commute.
You should ideally match your bhp range to your typical driving style so for a typical daily driver stick with a shorter duration N53 camshaft
Different N53 engines respond better to mild cam durations check your engine on a rolling road.
The map and injectors and fuel pump also will make differences on the torque gains you'll get.
Altering valve durations can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.
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Guide to the best M53 tuning mods & Upgrades
- ECU Map Tuning & Remaps
Some cars may require a piggyback ECU's or aftermarket ECU's to change the OEM map, but remapping is the most vital step of your tuning project to fully maximise your mods. Expect 10-20% on NASP engines and 30-40% on turbocharged units.
- Strengthen Your Engine
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.
- Mods that Remove a Restriction
A restricted intake or exhaust will have an impact on your performance, so use a better flowing air filter/induction kit and better flowing exhaust (sports cats where legal are a good option) whenever your tuning creates a flow restriction. Turbo engines also benefit from intercooler upgrades as these resist heat soak for longer periods of time.
- Mods that Improve Fuelling
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, a fuel pump and injector upgrade are usual mods, but also in many cases the fuel regulator will need improvement.
- Mods to Provide better Airflow
Increasing the air supply is just as essential as improving fuelling, we suggest you look at head mods (flowing and porting, 5 angle valve jobs), fit bigger valves, fast road cams and forced induction upgrades (adding a better flowing turbo) to improve air intake.
Stage 1 modifications: Fast road camshaft, Sports exhaust manifold, Intake headers, Panel air filters, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Drilled & smoothed airbox.
Stage 2 modifications: induction kit, Ported and polished head, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, fuel pump upgrades, high flow fuel injectors, Fast road cam.
Stage 3 modifications: Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Twin charging conversions, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Competition cam, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger).
ECU mapping helps to establish the full potential of all the tuning mods you've fitted to your N53.
It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but figures achieved will differs on the tuning mods you've carried out and the condition of your engine.
Shoving more fuel and air into the N53 engine is the aim to any engine upgrade project.
Air Intake manifolds flow the air from the air filter and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.
Structure and flow characteristics of the Headers can make a big effect on to fuel atomisation on the N53.
We often see headers are begging for aftermarket tuning parts, although a few manufacturers provide reasonably good headers.
Increasing the N53 valve size, getting N53 port enlargement and head flowing will also increase bhp and torque, the fantastic side effect is it will give you increasing the bhp and torque increase on other parts.
Turbo upgrades
NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your N53
The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes massive power gains.
If your motor is fitted with a turbo parts are giving better power gains and you'll see that turbo charged engines are built using many forged and stronger components.
However you'll find engines have weakspots
See where you'll find these limits and upgrade to better pistons and crank to utilize the power.
We see many guys spending a a stack of money on turbocharger upgrades on the N53 only to experience the motor explode just after it's been completed.
Bigger turbos often experience a bottom end lag, and little turbos spool up quickly but won't have the high rpm bhp gains.
Thankfully the range of turbo chargers is always moving on and we are seeing variable vane turbo chargers, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.
Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and push these at differently designed vanes in the turbo. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.
It is common that there is a limitation in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on the N53 when loads more air is being pulled into the engine.
We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited power at a much lower level.
Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although harder to setup. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.
Fuelling upgrades and mods
You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will need to increase the fuelling when you start extending past 20% of a bhp increase.
It makes sense to be generous with your injector capacity.
As a rule of thumb add 20% to the flow rate when fitting an injector, this accounts for injector deterioration and affords a little spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.
We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.
Exhaust upgrades and mods
You should look to replace your exhaust if the current exhaust is actually creating a flow problem.
On most factory exhausts you'll find your flow rate is still good even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.
Do not go with the widest exhaust you can source you'll slow the exhaust 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.
Common exhaust restrictions are in the filters installed, so adding a freer flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.
History of the Engine
There were two versions of the N53 N53B25 & N53B30
N53B25
- 188 bhp at 6,100 rpm 173 lbft at 3,500-5,000 rpm
- 2006-2010 E60/E61 523i
N53B30
- 201 bhp at 6,100 rpm 199 lbft at 1,500-4,250 rpm
- 215 bhp at 6,100 rpm 199 lbft at 2,400-4,200 rpm
- 255 bhp at 6,600 rpm 229 lbft at 2,600-5,000 rpm
- 268 bhp at 6,700 rpm 236 lbft at 2,750-3,000 rpm
- 2009-2011 F10/F11 523i
- 2007-2011 E90/E91/E92/E93 325i
- 2006-2010 E60/E61 525i
- 2009-2011 F10/F11 528i
- 2007-2010 E60/E61 530i
- 2007-2010 E63 630i
- 2007-2013 E90/E91/E92/E93 330i
- 2011-2013 F10 530i
Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the N53
The N53 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.
Regular oil changes are vital on the N53, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.
High pressure fuel pump issues have been noted, as these used the same pump as the N54
For more information on Tuning your N53 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our 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 like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which mods were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our N53 guides and tips are kept up to date.
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