Remap a 220i?

[vexed]

I just bought a 2nd hand 220i Gran tourer- needed a 7 seater, and this seems a reasonably pleasant and fairly inexpensive way to do it.
I believe it has a B48b20 engine. Manual gearbox.
I know that BMW use 4cylinder petrol engines in a few different variants and would be interested to know how physically similar my engine is to other higher powered variants. If it is mechanically strong enough I'd be interested in a gentle remap. Is there a way of confirming which enginge I have with the VIN? Is this engine/bearbox used in higher powered applications as is?
Thanks for the advice in advance!

[E-bmw]

I can't actually answer your question but if you are talking about a 2.0 normally aspirated (non-turbo) petrol engine, any remap will only give a handful of bhp extra & would barely, if at all be noticeable without other mods to make the best of it.

Try putting your car details into "superchips" website, that will give you an idea of what is possible.

[DVandrews]

AFAIK the B48 is turbocharged, its a 4 cylinder version of the stonking B58 so a remap would probably bring some worthwhile gains. I have heard that some versions on the B48 have weaker pistons than others, worth researching a little before you go ahead.

Dave

[vexed]

Thanks. It is a turbo 4 pot. Super chips quote 190hp to 290 which seems very optimistic. I haven't had a car remapped before so I'd be interested to know if the gains can realistically be this good, and if the engine/gearbox can take it! I accept brakes, clutch and consumables would take a hit.

[DVandrews]

I’d say 290 is optimistic, but the basic engine configuration is the same as the 230i/330i/430i which is rated at around 255BHP so that is a more realistic estimate, interestingly Evolve offer a remap to the 330i that adds 55BHP taking it to over 300BHP. The B48 is essentially a 4 pot B58, the B58 maps very well, gains are around 80-90BHP. Having driven a re-mapped 440i (320->410BHP) and a re-mapped 2.0 Audi (200->270BHP) I can testify that they behaved extremely well, but with much improved throttle response and a slug more torque/power just about everywhere. In normal driving they behaved like a stock engine, smooth unfussy delivery and great road manners.

Dave

[mmm-five]

It depends how similar the rest of the engine components are to the other models using the same block.

For example, in the pre-LCI F3x, the same 2.0L N47 diesel delivered different outputs in different models (anywhere from 114--215hp). In some cases it was purely a software change (along with some aero/tyre changes), but in others there were lots of ancillary differences between the higher/lower power/emission models.

Some people assume they can simply re-map the N47 in their 114hp 316d to 320/325d power levels without taking into account there may be other components that are different to release those extra ponies more safely/cleanly (bigger injectors/intercooler, slightly different auto gearbox, HP fuel pump, etc., etc., etc.).

Edited by mmm-five on Sunday 1st January 15:07

[CousinDupree]

Do some searching online. There are plenty of threads out on other forums, with issues with B48 remaps.

Tread carefully.

[Magnum 475]

Be very careful.

Someone on here a couple of years ago did this. He couldn’t understand why BMW wouldn’t honour the warranty for his melted pistons.

The 30i versions run uprated pistons, some sources also claim lower compression but other sources don’t.

30i also has an oil/water heat exchanger in the oil filter housing to regulate oil temperatures more effectively. Sadly this is made of plastic and prone to failing.

Not sure about injectors, they may also be uprated for the 30i version.

[Martyn76]

It would depend on the version of tune your 20i has already, there appears to be many applications for this engine across BMW\MINI, 154hp up to 300hp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_B48