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      09-26-2019, 12:34 PM   #12
The HACK
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Drives: 2006 MZ4C, 2021 Tesla Model 3
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CSL cams were never installed in other production variants of BMWs using the S54 that I am aware of.

The CSL has a different intake, intake plenum, cam, exhaust header and and routing, and TUNE. There's always been some confusion as to how much the euro S54 makes, and it stems from the 343HP rating being DIN and the U.S. 333HP rating being SAE.

Here's the real "math." The Euro spec S54 on the E46 M3 has one less set of CATs and a different exhaust header design, and it actually makes closer to 338 compared to the 333 as claimed for U.S. emission equipped cars. Swapping in those headers and cats gain you about 5 HP. 338 SAE hp is 343 DIN hp, due to the difference in how big German horses are vs American horses (I'm not kidding. DIN to SAE conversion is 1.0139 : 1. Apparently German horses are smaller than 'Murcan horses).

The S54 in the Z4 M actually makes 330 (3 hp down due to shorter exhaust routing) and by 2006 EU/ROTW emissions regulation has caught up with US/CARB, and there's no header and CAT differences in Z4 Ms made for U.S. and ROTW. All Z4 M S54s were rated at 330HP because of the shorter exhaust routing (don't know why a shorter exhaust results in 3 less horses but whatever).

I believe the 360HP of the CSL is DIN as well, as I've seen the SAE powers quoted as 355, which is 360/1.0139. Regardless, a 20 HP gain from cams, intake, exhaust, tune means the S54 is about as high strung as it is, and that there's very little power to be squeezed out from the engine. I suspect that "rumor" about baffles in the intake and what not is just that, rumor and unsubstantiated, as the 20 HP bump in the CSL is more inline with what a mild CAM upgrade would get you (along with a tune). So the stock airbox isn't nearly as restricted as some of us believe, although the CSL style boxes sound good AND looks good, and a few members that have installed them here on this forum have been able to show some legit gains from going to that particular style air box.

But, as we all know, ricer math isn't cumulative. Just because an airbox adds 10 HP, and a cam adds 15, and an exhaust header adds 5, doesn't mean that all three together should net you 30HP since all three affects different parts of the rev band.
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