Advanced Fuel Dynamics Proflex Commander Z4M S54

[WeekendWarriorz]

https://www.advancedfueldynamics.com...mw-e85-z4m-s54

Am I seeing things correctly? Is that a Z4m pumping in full e85 with flex fuel capabilities? Yes it is!

So I got in contact recently with Advanced Fuel Dynamics, for those of you who may remember I was running one of these on my Z4M two years ago before I ended up selling the car in a quest for more power. After picking up another Z4m this is the first and only modification that I'll be doing for a long time power wise.

For the technical aspects, my car is a 2006 Z4m roadster, 53k miles and bone stock down to the air filter. The car is on stock software. There is no tuning necessary to run this kit! An ethanol sensor is placed into the factory fuel line before the fuel rail and reads ethanol content, which is attached to a harness that connects to the ProFlex Commander and the injectors. There is also the Bluetooth and app which tells you how much e85 is in your tank.

Some of you may be wondering, is the factory fuel system able to run e85? The answer is yes. The stock fuel pump and injectors are capable of running e85 on any N/A platform. Injectors are the same as the e46, fuel pumps are slightly different but the stock pump is not an issue for N/A applications. For supercharged vehicles the injectors that come in the ESS/VF kits are sufficient enough, but an in tank fuel pump upgrade is needed if you want to run full e85.

Another common question: If you already have a tune can I still use this?
Answer: Yes. My previous Z4m was running this kit itself, I eventually added a VF engineering Hex tune and ran full e85 with it.
Or: do I need a tune?
The answer is no. You don't not need to tune your car to use the ProFlex Commander, I'm currently running no tune. The unit will map fueling for any blend of e85/gasoline you want to put in there. If you already have a tune that's awesome, adding this will create even more power! See the link below for dyno results.

This is a review with dyno results by a local company called buildjournal with their e46 m3:

https://thebuildjournal.com/reviews/...-dyno-results/

https://thebuildjournal.com/reviews/...lex-commander/

I highly recommend reading this and understanding the benefits that this system has to offer, as there's a lot to explain. Also a google search you'll find e46 m3's, and e92 M3s both N/A and supercharged running this kit with great results.

Installation is also very easy. It takes about 30 minutes to install this and the only tools required is a 10mm wrench to unplug your battery and 3/4 socket to unscrew the engine ground bolt to plug the ground onto it. I have recorded an unboxing and will post an installation video in the following weeks.

I'm going to be finishing up some testing, trying to see where there can be fitment changes, as the kit differs from the e46 m3 model. As well as getting performance data with GPS and quarter mile times once I get some free time. After sending all of this over to the guys at AFD, they'll be producing kits for the Z4m shortly!

If anyone has any questions please feel free to PM me, I will answer everything with the best of my ability. Don't hesitate to give AFD a call as well to ask questions, as they're very knowledgeable guys and awesome to work with. If anyone local to SoCal would like to see the car in action PM me, I'm more than happy to meet up with anyone!

Some photos:

[WeekendWarriorz]

Reserved, will update this with racing videos, Vbox GPS data, and dyno.

UNBOXING & INSTALL:

Additional pictures:

[Vanne]

Would love to get this, however they charge an arm and a leg here for E85.. lol
44 gal = 1800 ead, that's about 600 US.. lol
guess they are trying to protect their black gold here..

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by Vanne

Would love to get this, however they charge an arm and a leg here for E85.. lol
44 gal = 1800 ead, that's about 600 US.. lol
guess they are trying to protect their black gold here..

It's awesome for track days/hot temperatures, if you do multiple track days a year I would consider it for special events! My oil temp was noticeably cooler racing in the canyon back in June 2017 in 104*F temps.

[RossBMWZseries]

Glad to know you’re back in a Z4M, and black sapphire again lol. I think I still follow you on IG, I’ll be looking forward to the videos. I’m interested in running this kit but I’ve read too many horror stories about ethanol, that’s why I never did it

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by RossBMWZseries

Glad to know you're back in a Z4M, and black sapphire again lol. I think I still follow you on IG, I'll be looking forward to the videos. I'm interested in running this kit but I've read too many horror stories about ethanol, that's why I never did it

There's nothing wrong with running e85, most people who have issues with it aren't running a dialed in tune, as well as not taking in that there's variance in the ethanol blends at the pump, which this kit does and maps fueling for any blend you put! I put 14,000 hard miles on my old car running full e85 every day. I didn't run pump gas once in it after installing the kit because the s54 feels so much slower on 91 octane. Stock fuel system is e85 capable just like the e92 m3! PM or Dm me if you have any questions!

[Michael9218]

Sounds too good to be true...

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by Michael9218

Sounds too good to be true...

How so?

[Vanne]

Looking at moving back to Oz... sometime..., if I do, ill def add this to my garage.

[WeekendWarriorz]

Put this together, this is from my old Z4M roadster running the kit. Mods where the exact same in both videos the only difference is the first one I did not have the AFD kit, second video I had the kit on the car with around e60 in the tank if I recall correctly. That's a 991 Porsche 911 Carrera S with PDK. 400+hp car.

[pokeybritches]

If I'm reading this right, the kit consists of a flex fuel sensor, processor + bluetooth transmitter, fuel lines, and wiring harness. The processor uses the flex fuel sensor to monitor the amount of E85 in the tank, and then increases or decreases the injector pulsewidth to maintain proper AFR. The kit is reliant on the knock sensor feedback and stock ECU to retard timing for lesser levels of E85, and a tune is required to advance timing beyond factory settings to achieve full benefit of E85. Is this correct?

Standalone ECU's usually blend two (or more) tables based on a flex fuel sensor's feedback. The first table is E85, so max injector pulsewidth and max timing advance. The second is either E50 or pump (depending on how the car will be used). The standalone ECU will actively interpolate between the two tables for flex fuel readings between the two tables.

So, a standalone ECU will provide optimal spark advance based on the flex fuel reading (with knock sensor feedback acting as a backup, for closed loop operation), while this kit will provide it solely based on knock sensor feedback. Can you confirm this?

My concerns would be first, there is a huge timing spread between MBT on E85 versus pump, and the requested spark advance would cause serious detonation if the knock sensors had a malfunction. The difference between 91 and 93 octane, versus 91 and 104/E85, is pretty large. My second concern is that fuel quality isn't constantly monitored by the stock ECU. Most OEM ECU's only check it right after startup or the cat warmup is complete, and maybe periodically after that (depends on the manufacturer, and I haven't looked at this for BMW in a while). The ECU essentially says "oh, you've got 93 octane fuel" and then targets the 93 octane table, fine tuning with knock sensor feedback. If one were to vary the ethanol content widely between tanks, it may not be picked up by the stock ECU, and either you won't get full benefit of E85, or the ECU will be constantly advancing timing until it detects the onset of detonation (then retarding it, then attempting to advance again... kinda risky IMHO). Lastly, you really need a dyno tune on C85 (commercial E85 that's exactly 85% ethanol) to take full advantage of flex fuel. Turbo cars often encounter MBT before knock when running E85, and a naturally aspirated car is even more likely to encounter MBT prior to knock, so a dyno tune is critical.

Otherwise, I can see it being a great product if you don't need it to be overly robust, and you fuel at the same location where ethanol content doesn't vary widely. If I were going to the track, I would ONLY run full commercial C85.

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

If I'm reading this right, the kit consists of a flex fuel sensor, processor + bluetooth transmitter, fuel lines, and wiring harness. The processor uses the flex fuel sensor to monitor the amount of E85 in the tank, and then increases or decreases the injector pulsewidth to maintain proper AFR. The kit is reliant on the knock sensor feedback and stock ECU to retard timing for lesser levels of E85, and a tune is required to advance timing beyond factory settings to achieve full benefit of E85. Is this correct?

Standalone ECU's usually blend two (or more) tables based on a flex fuel sensor's feedback. The first table is E85, so max injector pulsewidth and max timing advance. The second is either E50 or pump (depending on how the car will be used). The standalone ECU will actively interpolate between the two tables for flex fuel readings between the two tables.

So, a standalone ECU will provide optimal spark advance based on the flex fuel reading (with knock sensor feedback acting as a backup, for closed loop operation), while this kit will provide it solely based on knock sensor feedback. Can you confirm this?

My concerns would be first, there is a huge timing spread between MBT on E85 versus pump, and the requested spark advance would cause serious detonation if the knock sensors had a malfunction. The difference between 91 and 93 octane, versus 91 and 104/E85, is pretty large. My second concern is that fuel quality isn't constantly monitored by the stock ECU. Most OEM ECU's only check it right after startup or the cat warmup is complete, and maybe periodically after that (depends on the manufacturer, and I haven't looked at this for BMW in a while). The ECU essentially says "oh, you've got 93 octane fuel" and then targets the 93 octane table, fine tuning with knock sensor feedback. If one were to vary the ethanol content widely between tanks, it may not be picked up by the stock ECU, and either you won't get full benefit of E85, or the ECU will be constantly advancing timing until it detects the onset of detonation (then retarding it, then attempting to advance again... kinda risky IMHO). Lastly, you really need a dyno tune on C85 (commercial E85 that's exactly 85% ethanol) to take full advantage of flex fuel. Turbo cars often encounter MBT before knock when running E85, and a naturally aspirated car is even more likely to encounter MBT prior to knock, so a dyno tune is critical.

Otherwise, I can see it being a great product if you don't need it to be overly robust, and you fuel at the same location where ethanol content doesn't vary widely. If I were going to the track, I would ONLY run full commercial C85.

Let me clear a few things up there may be a slight misunderstanding. This kit does not alter or change any timing or knock in any way. That's the ecu's job to do. It runs the timing target of the stock tune or whatever tune you flash, wether it be a custom map or a OTS map or even the stock map. The stock knock protection is into play. The kit increases injector pulse and adds more fuel based off ANY ethonal (e85) content in the tank. Regular e85 from the pump is fine, c85 isn't really needed the kit will adjust to anything. So basically in my scenario or any scenario, you're using this kit to maximize the stock timing that the ecu has or the timing targets that the tune you're tuning has. That's all. Where you gain most of the power is ethanol and it's cooling benefits which make more power as well. There's no damage that can be done, because you're still running the same timing target as stock (in my case) or whatever tune you have that's suited for pump gas. It will automatically adjust. The kit isn't even attached to the ecu in any way. It only intercepts the fuel line which places the ethanol sensor in stream of the fuel and is attached to the injectors. As well as being grounded for power by the engine ground bolt on the left side.

[WeekendWarriorz]

@pokeybritches here's a good forum discussion, may be worth reading to get a full understanding. On page 4, the owner Ryan explains a lot of thing with Q & A!

https://www.m3post.com/forums/showth...725&page=4

If you have any specific questions feel free to DM me or shoot me a Instagram DM @1sikbmr

[pokeybritches]

Thanks for the reply! To clear things up - I can see the kit adding a bit of a safety margin and a bit of power at the expense of more fuel, should you run a pump gas tune. If your base tune's timing isn't advanced, then you won't be taking full advantage of the E85. You will certainly get some advantages from running E85 as the ECU can advance timing to a certain degree, but some will be lost.

I see the kit's merits if you keep a conservative base tune- and by "conservative" I mean you can run slightly more aggressive timing than stock. I can see it being a good buy for track guys and those that only have access to lower quality fuel (like California 91).

However, the maximum benefits of E85 are beyond this kit, simply because there's no way to adjust timing based on ethanol content. The only way to get maximum benefits from E85 would be to get a C85 tune on the dyno, and only run 85% ethanol. I was pointing out that this method is the only way to take full advantage of E85, and it's not really safe to do this.

Theoretically you could get a dyno tune on E50 and run this kit for significantly more power, as long as you only filled the car with pump E85 (which varies between 50% and 85% ethanol). But, you'd be limited to not running pump gas. I might be interested in doing this in the future though

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

Thanks for the reply! To clear things up - I can see the kit adding a bit of a safety margin and a bit of power at the expense of more fuel, should you run a pump gas tune. If your base tune's timing isn't advanced, then you won't be taking full advantage of the E85. You will certainly get some advantages from running E85 as the ECU can advance timing to a certain degree, but some will be lost.

I see the kit's merits if you keep a conservative base tune- and by "conservative" I mean you can run slightly more aggressive timing than stock. I can see it being a good buy for track guys and those that only have access to lower quality fuel (like California 91).

However, the maximum benefits of E85 are beyond this kit, simply because there's no way to adjust timing based on ethanol content. The only way to get maximum benefits from E85 would be to get a C85 tune on the dyno, and only run 85% ethanol. I was pointing out that this method is the only way to take full advantage of E85, and it's not really safe to do this.

Theoretically you could get a dyno tune on E50 and run this kit for significantly more power, as long as you only filled the car with pump E85 (which varies between 50% and 85% ethanol). But, you'd be limited to not running pump gas. I might be interested in doing this in the future though

This kit should only be used with a pump gas tune. It's the only true flex fuel solution. The reason being you can run your 91/93octane OTS or custom tune on pump gas and use any blend of e85 and not have to tune for it. Using this kit with an e85 tune will cause bad misfires and blow your motor.

You either use this kit with a pump gas tune or stock ecu software and enjoy the flex fuel capabilities, or you get a e85 tune only and if you want to run pump gas you will have to reflash the dme. I'm not new to this, I did this 2 years ago and paired my car with a VF engineering Alpha N tune. The car was a rocket.

This kit is used a lot of the E9x M3 platform which I'm greatly knowledgeable in. They're doing the same thing on every platform that the kit is running on, just changing the fueling via injector pulse. Running a custom e85 tune in my opinion is pointless and a waste of money imo. There's little to no benefits from the added stress and higher timing targets. On the e92 m3 the most power I've seen being extracted on a FBO N/A motor with e85 is using a Gintani pump gas tune and flex fuel kit. If you look at RKtunes custom e85 tunes and Gintani e85 tunes you can see they're barely touching 400whp. Most are in the 390s. I've seen the AFD get over 400whp consistently (406whp on e65 fuel) and that's running a pump gas tuning with lower timing targets. My buddy who works closely with gintani had his FBO e92 M3 custom tuned by them on ignite e98 fuel with locked timing, with the added locked timing and MUCH greater stress they made 5whp more.

AFD+pump tune= lower safer timing targets and more power. Just my .02 cents from experience! If you don't have a tune or already have a tune, just grab a kit and go! You do not need to worry about changing software. There is a member here with a VF blower who just picked up this kit. For supercharged cars you will need an upgraded in tank fuel pump. I'm going to be using this kit with my car and will be installing either a VF blower/ESS kit soon. I appreciate the great discussion. I would love to work together with everyone to push our Z4m's to a new limit and greater development on N/A and supercharged builds!

[pokeybritches]

A true E85 tune on an FI car makes a massive difference over a pump gas tune. Almost every FI car is knock limited, especially the high compression NA engines that have added aftermarket FI.

I would caution that you need to verify your injector duty cycle before moving to E85. I can say for a fact that a VT2-500 kit cannot run E85 without upsizing the injectors. I've heard ESS increased the size of their injectors on the VT2-525 kits they sell now, but I haven't personally confirmed. If you're looking to adapt this kit to a non-M, the VF kit on the 3.0i will run out of injector too. So... verify the injector duty cycle. Plenty of OBD apps are able to data log injector duty cycle.

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

A true E85 tune on an FI car makes a massive difference over a pump gas tune. Almost every FI car is knock limited, especially the high compression NA engines that have added aftermarket FI.

I would caution that you need to verify your injector duty cycle before moving to E85. I can say for a fact that a VT2-500 kit cannot run E85 without upsizing the injectors. I've heard ESS increased the size of their injectors on the VT2-525 kits they sell now, but I haven't personally confirmed. If you're looking to adapt this kit to a non-M, the VF kit on the 3.0i will run out of injector too. So... verify the injector duty cycle. Plenty of OBD apps are able to data log injector duty cycle.

VT2-525 injector is confirmed to run full e85 @ 8psi. An e46 m3 in my area made 550whp with 525 kit and AFD on the injectors provided in ESS Kit, he did have an in tank fuel pump installed.

I do totally agree with what you're saying in respect to e85 an FI, as I had my previous 135i tuned for full e85. But with the complicity of this MSS70 and sensitivity with FI applications this will provide something that's easier and the only flex fuel capability on the market at the moment, along with being reliable, safe, and has support from awesome guys over at AFD.

[WeekendWarriorz]

Updated 2nd post with unboxing and installation video!

[Michael9218]

So the only cons to this are the increase in fuel consumption of @25% due to the lower energy density of E85 compared to 93 octane E10 and for track use finding reliable E85 at or near the track?

The first con isn't a big deal as I'm only using less than half of a tank per session, but a quick check of my regular tracks doesn't look promising for availability.

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by Michael9218

So the only cons to this are the increase in fuel consumption of @25% due to the lower energy density of E85 compared to 93 octane E10 and for track use finding reliable E85 at or near the track?

The first con isn't a big deal as I'm only using less than half of a tank per session, but a quick check of my regular tracks doesn't look promising for availability.

The only "con" is the decreased fuel mileage. I was daily driving 2 years ago on full e85 and am right now. After calculating costs it's much cheaper for me to run full e85 as it's $2.49 (in the winter) and $2.20 (summer) per gallon compared to 91oct that's $3.50+. I get about 16mpg on full e85 in SoCal traffic. The % of ethanol at the pump doesn't matter, but most pumps will be around e75-e85, this will map fuel for any blend of ethanol.

[pokeybritches]

Originally Posted by WeekendWarriorz

Updated 2nd post with unboxing and installation video!

Great video! Install looks straightforward. Any idea if this would work on a non-M M54B30?

[WeekendWarriorz]

Originally Posted by pokeybritches

Great video! Install looks straightforward. Any idea if this would work on a non-M M54B30?

https://www.advancedfueldynamics.com...and-330ci-m54/

Here you go! They have already made one for the M54, if the fuel lines are the same then you can directly purchase this. You can PM me and I can confirm for you, as I'm familiar with the fuel line sizes on the 330i m54. Or you can contact AFD and they can help you out! On a N/A setup this gained 14whp, with your supercharged application I would except around 25-30+whp and additional torque.