So who has the most highly modified CSL?

[_Nathan_]

20k euro and 20 hour warranty.

[Yanto]

Pm DuncanR.....

He's ok once you know him

[Mike R]

That doesn't sound very proper to me. The cost doesn't seem out of the way, but the life expectancy does. What on earth do you do to them to make them so fragile? Surely with the correct parts (crank, rods, pistons), they can produce the power for longer? We can get 800bhp out of a 2.2 litre for £25k and warrant it for longer :P.

[alexk]

Once more the S54 engine tuning saga

The P54 engine by BMW Motorsport (~80k euro just for the engine) produces 390-400hp and is the racing version of the S54.
The reliability of course is the one of a racing engine.
I don't understand how someone can match these numbers without drastic changes and relevant cost of course (Nathan said 20k euro for non-BMW upgrade I suppose ?).

My personal opinion is that the last thing a road/track CSL needs is engine work.

[northernjim]

I think the essence of a csl is not the power of the engine, but its balance and grip, so if your heart is set on modifying a csl- then I think best plan would be to remove as much weight, as well as a few choice mods....


but seeing as your track car is the crazy escort, you could get a stroker kit for your/another e90 ~530bhp is doable I think? That is a car I would like to see on track

[alexk]

Originally Posted by Mike Rainbird

the engine tuning route (cams, porting, headers and full system combined with a remap).

I reckon you would get at best +10HP.
It would cost more than 6k EUR... which is not good value for money

[_Nathan_]

I wrote a wrote a long reply but lost it as phone logged out of forum.

20k engine was a highly regarded European engine builder, made 420 on MoTeC and had 20 hour warranty, not to say it would automatically explode at 20 hours.

Take p54 as benchmark and work backwards towards road use friendly but I agree with the guys above, the engine is the wrong place to start on these cars, just a hiding to nothing, even with 420bhp it'd still be slow in a straight line relative to the turbo stuff.

I am hoping for 370 from my engine on MoTeC m190 fwiw.

[Mike R]

Originally Posted by northernjim

I think the essence of a csl is not the power of the engine, but its balance and grip, so if your heart is set on modifying a csl- then I think best plan would be to remove as much weight, as well as a few choice mods....


but seeing as your track car is the crazy escort, you could get a stroker kit for your/another e90 ~530bhp is doable I think? That is a car I would like to see on track

The E90 is a barge - a nice engine in what effectively is a 3 series that is almost the size and weight of an E39 M5. It's an everyday car, not a proper M car IMO. BMW lost their way after the E46, which is a reasonable compromise of size, power and weight (and just raw enough to feel a bit special).

So the basic gist is that everyone is debunking the normal tuning methods and basically the CSL engine can't be improved ?

[shimmy]

There is plenty of room for stickers on it......pM neilM for more details.


Nismo, Rays, etc all fit nicely just in front of the rear wheel arch.

Also when the aluminium aftermarket fuel regulator blows off the OeM steel threaded connector and the car turns into a fireball, BMW Monidal recovery will likely be very sympathetic.

[Mike R]

One thing the CSL doesn't need is anything doing to it's exterior. No stickers or aftermaeket wheels. The ONLY thing I can think of wanting to do is perhaps the bigger rear OE wheels on the front as well (for track use) and that is it.

Obviously at the moment, all I'm hearing from are those that haven't touched their engines - I really want to hear from those that have .