So we have not 1 but 2 white BMW 116i’s in for Dyno tuning, one going for a Stage 1 remap and the other for Stage 2.

So we start off with the 3 door model going for the Stage 1 and although the 116i run the same engine as the 118 and 120 but detuned, it can have an effect on boost pressure. Standard the cars run from factory 136bhp. After the baseline power run the starting figures for this one was 141.8 BHP and 227 Nm.

After the stage 1 calibration upload we run a base run to see how the turbo is reacting with the map and also ignition timing. From the initial run it produced 201 BHP and 290 Nm.

Back on the Dyno with the modifications to the map and then a further Dyno pull to see what we have achieved now with safe parameters and ignition timing amended.

So after the final run and check, the results are as follows for the Stage 1 3 door 116i.

NVM Stage 1 Power: 214 Bhp

NVM Stage 1 Torque: 301 Nm

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A healthy increase of 73BHP and managing to break the 300 mark in torque and 301 Nm

We then start the same initial process on the 5 door 116i that is going for Stage 2. This one already has an MST intake, GFB diverter valve, full turbo back exhaust and an intercooler.

After the initial base run on standard mapping the car produced 156 BHP and 259 Nm. However with the stock ECU mapping it was over boosting and the throttle body never goes fully open, never going above 40% throttle. Good intake temperatures though at 28 degrees thanks to the upgraded intercooler, and with a stock map it shows we have a good amount of intake cooling.

Once the Stage 2 calibration is uploaded we run a base run targeting 1.1 bar of boost, unfortunately its hitting 1.4 bar, which is not good. This just goes to show that the 2 cars are completely different and have different software, which again reacts differently to changes. Although it has different hardware it is how the ECU is reacting to over boosting. So on this one we are going to have to manually program the waste gate to achieve our desired results.

After putting a torque cap on the ECU so it doesn’t go above model torque, we run it again but it is still over shooting, not sure if the intake is suited for this application.

After dialling the compressor back completely on the turbo as the boost controller is not the best, at 1.2 bar of boost we run it to see how it performs.

We managed to get a full sweep on the Dyno this time around running 1.2 bar of boost and zero timing. We manage to run 217.7 BHP and 314 Nm so it looks good, and we can raise that torque limit as well  to 350 Nm and keep the gearbox happy, bearing in mind this is a 6 speed manual box.

So after altering the calibration with those parameters and increase ignition timing slightly we had another pull and achieve the final figures on this 116i Stage 2.

NVM Stage 2 Power: 228 Bhp

NVM Stage 2 Torque: 355 Nm

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Again an excellent increase of 72 BHP from the base figures and achieving 355 Nm with everything running safely

So a comparison of the 2 cars, obviously the first one had no additional hardware modifications and only running Stage 1, but from the comparison graph you can see the difference from the Stage 2 hardware modification and software calibration.

From the graph you can see at around 2,500 through to 6,000 rpm you have gained around 30-40 bhp and around 40-50 Nm of torque and not just at the peak. So at the top end it may only be a smaller increase of 14 bhp, there is a massive delta gain to be had.

Get in touch with us if this is something your wanting to do with your own car. Just click “Get a Quote” at the top right corner of our website, complete the form and we will be in touch.

PLEASE visit our YouTube channel to see the full VLOG on these 2 vehicles or click on the video below.

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