Not another BNR S4 build...

I am currently in a standing position while writing this, due to the welts left on my rosy backside— I was publicly humiliated, admonished, and physically punished by our father, who art on Earth, JT, for not contributing to the forum, and instead watching homosexual pornography cinema (minus the sex scenes, of course).

Anyway, I know this will be another boring, bolt-on, hum-drum-turbo-upgrade of a build. Yet, this will be cathartic for me, as I really do love the motherfuck out of this platform.

I bought my 2013 in November of 2017. She had 52k on the clock. It was stocked out, and I did notice tell-tale signs (shiny new bolts on the oem intake, torn heat shielding above the cats, etc). The start up sounded normal—I did read up on the things to look out for, and at the time, wasn't aware that the VVT issue was fixed post 2010— the car drove great, no smoke, no tapping, slapping, knocking. Since I dreamt of owning a speed since 2007, I just had to buy it.




I started right off with the biggest names, for lack of sufficient research/diligence. I bought the Cobb intake/tih/box, for the USD equivalent of having my ear bitten off by Tyson, except it wasn't my ear, but my nutsack. I bought the CS trio of mounts, for the USD equivalent of getting punched in the face by your sister in Fort Drum, on your 12th birthday, and crying, even when your parents showed you the cake they made with a drum set on the top.

 

I bought a Cobb downpipe, which I sat on for probably a year,because I was too pussy to get involved with exhaust work. Finally had a buddy help me—we used his quick jacks, which was awesome. The oem bolts came out with ease, and that's probably because they were taken off/on right before I bought the car. It wasn't horrible, except removing the stock cats. Yeah, it sucked, but it could've been worse. You can see in the photo, I actually bought the downpipe very early, because I also copped the internals ASAP with an Accesport. I do not know if i tossed a perfectly fine set of Autotech internals when I installed those, but there's a very good chance that I did.


I do not recommend the JBR charge pipes, as they don't fit properly. The cold side pipe fit fine, but the other two, not so much.

 

I copped an ETS top mount. Things are now going for $200 more than I paid in 2018. Yikes.

 

Tuned by Justin on 93

And, eventually e30

 

Thought it was time to start putting some paint on this pig's face. LED tail lights, New brakes (centric blanks, EBC yellow), g2 caliper paint, Epsilon+ wing extension, Bayson r front lip, Dash Designs suede cover, Weathertech floormats, etc. Added a Progress 32mm rear sway bar, TB Performance Torque Gusset bar, JBR bushings & brackets, Moog end links.

 

Some time after, I got the JBR short shifter, rain guards for the windows, minor bullshit. Added some Enkei t6r 18x8.5 +38, wrapped in those glorious re71's (caught the same clearance as Frausty.) Like $400 shipped, but they are an odd 235/45 monster truck sized. I was able to take my 25mm spacers off—which made me feel uneasy to begin with—and run a flush fitment with no spacers.

 

This is where the turbo upgrade comes in. I bought a "mounted, run, but not driven" BNR S4v3 for $900. Came with everything it should have. It sat on the shelf in my "garage" for 6 months? Again, a little too pussy to open that can of worms. I kept telling myself I'd do it, but kept putting it off.

Two oil changes ago, I was notified by Blackstone labs that my oil had 3.8% fuel dilution, and the flash point was nearing the red. They said it was probably leaking injectors. So, I bought injectors plus Overspeed seals from Graveyard. Sat on those for 3 months. Pussy. Also, may I remind you that I have a toddler, and time is a lot different than it used to be. So, I was looking for help. Dicked around by a local speed guru, who said they'd install the Damond PCV plate, OCC, and injectors AND clean the intake valves for $450. That never commenced.

Well, I was coming home from work about 2 weeks ago, threw a CEL. Then I noticed that the car had no balls under boost. The CEL was o2 high voltage. I bought another o2 sensor, and it didn't fix the issue. It was definitely hella back pressure. I was convinced that my Cobb cat was clogged. Those pesky leaking injectors were probably the reason I was basically rolling coal under WOT, and why my catted dp clogged.

So, I bought a CPE downpipe to go with the Triton catback. It's a true 3" now, and not tapering to 2.5" like the cobb dp. I got an EBCS, Bosch 3.5 bar, and TIG manifold and throttle body gaskets from Adapted Performance, thanks to recommendations over on the discord.

I started to work. I got that ko4 out in no time.



Getting the BNR in was very easy, as well, except one oem bracket got caught up on the turbo, and it was kind of stuck for like 5 minutes. Once I realised I could pivot the bracket, she fell in place. Pulling up on the turbo with one hand, while trying to start some of the 4 bolts from the manifold with the other was fun. If you want to get shit done, you have to do it yourself, right?


Everything went pretty smoothly, even took a break to have a shot of coolant from underneath. Maybe I'm crazy, but it tasted good, so I had a few more sips.

 

Next up was the injectors, which I couldn't even touch for 5 days due to my wife's and my work schedule. That was a long 5 days. I pecked away at some things with the headlamp, after I put my daughter to bed. Getting the manifold off was relatively painless. The main problem was the... yes, the EGR pipe. I spent 15 minutes rounding off the nut. There's no room for a long 22mm wrench, and not enough leverage with a stubby. So, I drove to the parts store, bought some other tools to see if I could break it free. More wrangling, and rounding. I thought I was fucked.

WELL, nowhere in Corksport's injector seal instructions, or in any forum post across the internet did I read, that... you DON'T have to remove that fucking pipe. The manifold slides right out, with ease, with the pipe still attached. So, a precious hour was wasted over that thing. Don't bother.








I picked and picked at the intake valves. When I finally got the walnut blaster set up, I actually had 3 valves fully sealed, which may or may not be normal? But I did. So, it went pretty smoothly. Really not as bad as I was expecting, and I don't mind the idea of checking on them in 30k miles (even though I did install an OCC). 92k miles on these valves baby!




Painted the intake manifold, because I'm in the Communist state of NY, and I need my EGR and VTCS in order to pass inspection. Otherwise, I'd run the ST or CS manifold.. Ah well. Fuck my cyl 3, amirite?


Did some tidying of the ECU harness. If anybody has a recommendation for a battery box so I can better place the ECU (rather than taped to the fuse box), let me know.

 

Oh, I did do a compression test, and the numbers were the same as they were 2 years ago. 155 across the board. Now, the first time I used a Pittsburgh from HF, but this time my father gave me a brand new Craftsman set. I thought the HF was just reading low because it couldn't hold 180 psi

Buttoned everything back up, flashed my new tune (went with PD this time) and she purred like a kitty. Took her for a test spin, and she had LUNGS. 15psi base map felt slow, but I could feel her breathing like never before. The sense of relief, that I had resolved what I thought could be a blown motor was incredible. My car drives smoother than it ever has. Even with the motor mounts, she's much quieter and smoother from the front side, and the full 3" exhaust sounds fucking incredible from in the car.

Before, I had surging when on and off the throttle while coasting. It was worse at higher rpms (getting off the highway, 2nd gear on the exit curve, and on/off throttle would buck the car.) Cruising in 5th gear at lower rpms, it was still sketchy. I replaced the Corksport RMM with a Damond like 2 months ago because I thought it was blown or something. NOPE. It was my fuel injectors pissing and spraying unevenly.

Heres a little vdyno action from the base map and first revision. The feeling of 18psi to redline is so much wilder than the Ko4 ever felt. I don't really miss the instant torque, either. Well, part of me does, but I also don't mind putting less stress on internals and driveshaft with fucking 400ft/lbs at 3200rpm— in exchange for pants pissing pull all the way to 7k. Yeah, my car spins to 7k now, which is new to me. I tried to get a 4th gear pull to 7k for Will, but I pussed out at 6100. I kinda ran out of room, but I also couldn't believe there was more in the tank. I did rip 3rd gear to 7k, and yeah... This turbo feels amazing.

 

As the tuning process develops, I'll post updates. We should be onto e30 when we wrap the 93 tune. For now, here's a little compilation of how she sounds.

ETS tmic
CPE downpipe/ Triton catback
Corksport 3.5" aluminum intake
XS Power BOV

 

Whalecum