[g20beam]

Originally Posted by sqwinny

Glad you are happy and found a tuner you like. It’s not a bad looking log at all. Only concern I have is you aren’t reving to 7000rpm as that’s where this im500 turbo historically makes the most power.
Good luck !

I have the IM450, but yes I didn’t rev to 7000rpm because currently I’m only able to log in M, I have the S mode coded out with xHP as the M track module I installed on the car interferes with the S gear display. It’s fine as it is, I don’t usually rev up to 7 anyway.

Thanks for the response btw, very lengthy and adds more insight to those that are curious on this upgrade. I don’t think the price is crazy or anything, and the quality of the turbo is definitely there.

Not for one second do I doubt Chinese production quality in recent years, I think the negative stigma surrounding Chinese produced products is definitely over-exaggerated. Their production quality and quality control is definitely impressive as of late. The support from IPOS can be better but no business and brand are 10/10, there are definitely shortcomings. I’m just here to try and provide a unbiased review. I’ve said what needed to be said based on my experience with my purchase, and that’s all there is to it.

[SRHosein]

Originally Posted by sqwinny

Response in bold above to clear some things up from a neutral standpoint. Yes I am tuned by Navardi and have worked with him for years with prototyping parts and tunes and things, but these are the facts and is a subjective response. Cheers.

edit- fixed some spelling and grammar.

Please stop calling my name into your (Navardi Tuned Boys / IPOS) rivalry with LCP. I have nothing to do with that.

Let me address your comments when it comes to my car. There is some debate around when you go with a bigger turbo, if the electric motor actually adds anything. Most well-known tuners I have communicated with believe the electric motor is mainly used at lower rpm ranges, once you go with a bigger turbo and start pushing, they think it adds actual load.

Please stop making up numbers about my car, there are videos online which shows exactly what it made with the BBT and nitrous as well as a stock baseline. A 125hp shot of nitrous dyno was never showed.

I did 499whp with BBT on e40 mix with around 30psi boost (NO NITROUS). This was without PI. The turbo is rated by BBT to flow 50 lbs/min. This is pretty much aligned with what BBT made on his regular b48 non-hybrid with ethanol. Which shows that the Electric Motor does not add anything. When I added a 50hp wet shot of nitrous, the car made 561whp as it was limited on fuel. With additional fuel (PI), this turbo can make around 34psi. At 20psi on very low grade fuel 91 octane, this turbo makes 390whp on a 330e.

Another factor, look at the BBT size. Its equivalent to a g25-550 similar to IM450 but slightly bigger. The AR housing and manifold is larger, hence should have less restrictions. IM450 I believe did 470-480whp on a B48TU engine (a more efficient engine). BBT is laggier as it’s a single scroll design.
BBT is much more complex and requires modifications to install as you can see from my videos online.

Here is another piece of data for you which shows the electric motor adds nothing: LCP did 505whp with their China version of IM500 without PI and around same ethanol content I did with BBT on 330e hybrid at 499whp. Both aligned to maxing out the DI system at around same power level.

Turbo kit prices:
BBT 600 kit - $3650 (I actually paid $3,054.10 a couple years ago for my kit which was on a sale which came with the BOV)
IM500 - $3150+ depending on options
IM450 - $2650+ depending on options.
China IM500 - $1600 you can get the same sized IM500 turbo which is manufactured in China g25-660 sized. The LCP guys from China just made 505whp on this turbo.

The smaller IM450 (G25-550) is slightly lower priced.
These hybrid turbos have been out for quite some time.
The smaller hybrid turbos spool faster.

With stock turbo, stock engine low grade pump gas and meth, I did 100-200 time of 10.98s and 1/4mile time of 12.83s (full weight with methanol kit).

With BBT e40, I did a 100-200 time of 8.04s and a 1/4mile time of 11.91s with full weight+ (nitrous kit, meth kit, did some custom work in trunk for fitment which adds some weight).
NOTE: I NEVER timed the car using nitrous.

I have seen another 330e with IM450 doing 100-200 time of 9.65s and a 1/4mile time of 12.71s. I have no other data on what boost but heard it makes around 350+whp.

Currently my car is on a top mount turbo kit that I developed and it makes 550whp hitting some new limitations even with PI - this is with only boost & fuel adjustments, no timing, no valve timing, not a completed tune. Could have made more but already planned to upgrade the other component.

Based on the rating of the turbo and how much it makes on 6 cylinders, this contributes to the electric motor not adding any power on top and possibly creating additional load.

Everyone is unique, trying new things, sharing information, helping out each other is what makes a great community.

[kontol babi]

Originally Posted by g20beam

Hello all! Haven't really posted at all for a while now on here but it's long overdue for an update on my car. I have been driving a prod. 02/2019 day 0 delivery G20 330i xDrive for almost 4 years now.

The car has approx. 120,000kms on it currently. Since 110,000kms, or ~4 months ago, I purchased and installed the IPOS Motorsports IM450 turbocharger upgrade on my 330i, and since then have been dialing in the custom tuning aspect with a couple of tuners (Will get more into that later), and finally after months of adjustments, the car is running how it is supposed to after struggling with some serious issues over the last few months.

I will be breaking down the review into several sections and it will be long, but I will try to keep it as concise as possible.

The majority of this post will be a review of my experience with upgrading the turbocharger on this car, as well as clearing up some of the drama that has been circulating some Facebook groups recently regarding these turbos. Under no circumstance am I going to bash anyone in this post, I will try to be as neutral as I can and shed light on what the experience may be like for some of you that plan to go this route for the B48.

Purchase & Installation

I was approached by a fellow G20 owner I've known on Instagram for a little while back in December 2022, which referred me to IPOS at the time, telling me that they are looking for testers for their newly developed turbos. After receiving a worthy discount on the IM450 turbo upgrade, through thorough consideration, I decided to go for this option as it was advertised by IPOS as a simple plug & play, all parts included for straightforward, easy installation. Little did I know at the time that it would be a rather painful process later on. After the turbo arrived sometime in February, I was able to book with my mechanic to finally install the turbo sometime in March. IPOS had all the parts ready for me, or so I thought, and I did not think there was much more to it.. Until the day of the installation.

The turbo was in no way shape or form a direct plug & play, if anything there was a lot my mechanic and I needed to sort out to get the turbo on the car.

Problems after problems came up. Part of the exhaust manifold that mounts onto the engine needed to be cut in order to fit as it was designed for gen1 B48's, not B48TU. There is also a difference in the turbo gasket that was included between gen1 and TU, which I had to purchase myself. The OEM oil and coolant lines had a very hard time fitting onto the new turbo, as the compressor housing was much bigger than OEM, which had clearance issues. This required me to source and find new AN4 oil and coolant lines within a very short time frame that would work with the car, thus leaving me stranded for more than I initially prepared for while waiting for parts to come in.

Another problem was the turbo intake inlet was of poor quality and is prone to bending due to high temp. The owner said they would send me a new one since May which I have been waiting for to this very day, and still have not received.

It was a major inconvenience for both me and my mechanic. The only thing I was glad about was that the support from IPOS was instant, the owner did a good job of supporting us through all the issues and giving us potential solutions. However, the false advertising was the part that I was most frustrated with as it was supposed to be a simple plug & play but turned out to be a DIY, figure-it-out-along-the-way install process. In this aspect, I would say it was definitely not a plug & play process, it is more similar to that of the BigBoost turbo upgrade, with lots of figuring out in the process of installation.

In conclusion, despite the issues with the installation, my mechanic and I were able to complete the installation and from a mechanical standpoint, the car is running properly to this day with no issues thus far.

As far as sound goes, I did not opt for any compressor housing mods, there is no T51R or compressor holes. It is very, very loud for my standards. I paired this turbo with the armaspeed alloy intake and the sounds this car makes, it's borderline on how much I can handle for a daily driver.

Tuning

While looking for options and considering a number of different tuners to figure out the custom tune for the car, it was heavily emphasized to me both through my personal research and IPOS that Navardi Tuned would be without a doubt, my one & only option to complete the process with this turbo upgrade. I was told that Navardi has tuned various G20's before me, and I should have a worry-free process tuning with him.

As such, I decided it was best to go with them for the tune. Little did I know.. This also turned out to be a huge mistake. I initially did not want to mention and throw names but lately, there has been a lot of misinformation out there coming from Navardi as he only shares the cars and customers that he is able to tune successfully, but never did he share with anyone or admits to the Facebook groups on the cars that he has failed to tune and resolve. I have gone through over 10-20+ revisions and logs with Harry over at Navardi, and each time since the 2nd revision, the logs and tunes have had serious problems. I have triple-checked the mechanical aspect and there are definitely no issues there. So it had to have been the tune. From torque limitations to insane amounts of timing corrections even under only 18psi of boost, this problem has plagued my car for months since April until recently. I will share here the logs with you below, see for yourself.

The time it took for the tuner to get back to me was also insane, sometimes I would not get a response back for days while going through these issues, and I would not get another revision for days to a week at a time. It took forever, and even past the 10th revision, the only option I had was to take my tuning elsewhere as they kept insisting that it was a mechanical issue, or there is a software limitation somewhere which is causing the issue. I was definitely not letting my car take any more of the abuse in timing correction over timing corrections.. Any more of that and perhaps the engine would start running into serious issues. Enough is enough.

So I looked for other options, and a couple of other fellow G20 owners recommended me to LCP Tuning about a month ago. Within this short month, after 6-7 very smooth revisions, the car is finally driving how it should without issues. Making power and very smooth at the same time. Amazing support from them, I received map revisions instantly, not having to wait more than 15-20 minutes. I could go log and stop somewhere, send over the log and be up and running with the next revision within 20 minutes. All in all there is not much to say here besides the fact that I was now making power and tuned properly without major issues. It was a huge success with LCP. Highly recommended. Logs of his tunes are also shared below, the difference is night and day.

Conclusion

There were so many problems with this upgrade that I simply did not have the time to even come on here to write a review sooner, and after a few months of struggling, now it finally runs how it should. Do I recommend the turbo upgrade? Definitely, if all the issues I ran into are rounded out for new buyers, if all the parts included actually help make the install a breeze. Do I recommend Navardi Tuned which was recommended to me by IPOS? Definitely not. My car was abused more than 10-20 times 3rd gear 2000rpm to redline, and it still was not running properly. They simply cannot tune B48TU. He does not know how to get past the 10D000 torque limitation active fault code, and the torque limiter itself. Other tuners can get it done instantly and blow past it, they simply cannot.

When others bring this to light, the tuner simply refuses to acknowledge any of this, and can only defend himself with many excuses. I like to believe that everyone should back all of their work, regardless if it was successful or not. It would feel much better if he admitted that due to his lack of knowledge of the new B48TU platform and differences in ECU with gen1 B48, he was unable to get past these issues and seek help from others so he can improve it. But from my end, it just felt like he had no idea what he was doing. None of his revisions fixed this issue I experienced.

All in all, if you're in to do this turbo upgrade from IPOS, I would brace for and be prepared for problems to come up whilst installing the upgrade and while tuning it. It is definitely not as easy as they say. Don't be fooled!

So far the car is driving fast and although I cannot say how much power it is making, it is definitely much quicker than with the OEM turbo on Stage 2 OTS. The way the power is delivered is phenomenal. LCP really did an outstanding job with this tune, and not much can be said about it. It is simply so much fun to drive this car. I will share more down the line if there are other problems or updates.

Again, I did not want to bash anyone in this review, I am simply sharing my experience. I am not angry or frustrated as I've moved past it, the car is running perfectly now and that is all I care for. But I have to clear up the misinformation and false advertising out there, not everything the brand owners and tuners tell you is always true. There is simply not enough information and buyers out there to share this information. I want to do what I can to give this information to anyone else interested in making this purchase.

I will answer any and all questions, thanks to everyone for reading through this review!

PS - Images 1,2 are Navardi's. Images 3,4 are from LCP.

have a very similar problems like you , when this so called best 4 cyl bmw tuners simply not able to deliver his tune i mean if this so called "best 4cyl tuner" tune's simply much slower than ots maps yet your ots map's log is pretty much perfect you know something's wrong with this guy as so called "the best tuner" he simply blame on something that's not even related at all , jump to other tuner that he called as "do not care about 4 cyl bmw" ended up to be my best experience and decision and realy a life changing for my N20 engine (i'm curently the most powerful N20 on my country) . so glad that someone speak up about this nonsense by him . hope you enjoy your car and your tune by lcp if i ever have b48 i deff will go to lcp thank you so much for this thread mate , hope this thread helps the community alot , b48 is just simply a beast compared to n20

it's just make me went insane how could a custom tune run way much slower and more "conservative" and much worse than an ots map when my log on ots map both on 98 and e30 simply just ran perfect without any slight of timing correction , throttle closure ,knock , etc

how could other tuner that he called "do not care about 4cyl bmw" simply tune much better than him?
here's some dyno numbers to throw
note:
this is a crank measured dyno based on my own car:
stock tune:200hp/290nm (320i , fbo)
98 ots bm3 stg2 : 290hp / 400nm
E30 ots bm3 stg2 : 330hp / 440nm
navardi tuned 98 : 270hp / 360nm (lol , not only the number is very bad the driving experience was very shit as well , the fact that i need 50% of throttle input just to keep up with 60mph highway is ridiculous , car felt slugish AF even stock tune felt much more responsive than his tune , you realy need to wot in order to realese that shitty 270hp lmaooo)
e30 navardi tuned: idk i just gave up midway LMAO , we had 10 revision without any improvement and as OP said and experienced , i dont want to blow up my engine by doin way too much pull with a very shit tune without any improvement from the previous revison it seems that he got confused by software limitation or other things but he refuse to acknowledge his confusion
other tuner custom tune on 98 : 320hp / 445nm (5 revisions)
other tuner custom tune on E50 350hp/490nm ( 6 revisions)
the closest n20's power on this dyno in my country is like 340 hp / 470nm
i know that every dyno is difference and measuring numbers in a different way but all of this ran was done on the exact same dyno

so be careful out there i believe some might have a good experience with navardi but for me it's always been terrible for both 98 / E mix tuned

big shout out to harry/navardi to create this bmw wiki but i hope they can make their customers service better as i need to wait almost 1 week betwen revision ,tuning wise idk , maybe i just have a bad luck with him
again i don't want to bash him as others might have a very nice experience with him
this is just my personal experience
the rest is up to readers to decide

[kontol babi]

Originally Posted by SRHosein

Please stop calling my name into your (Navardi Tuned Boys / IPOS) rivalry with LCP. I have nothing to do with that.

Let me address your comments when it comes to my car. There is some debate around when you go with a bigger turbo, if the electric motor actually adds anything. Most well-known tuners I have communicated with believe the electric motor is mainly used at lower rpm ranges, once you go with a bigger turbo and start pushing, they think it adds actual load.

Please stop making up numbers about my car, there are videos online which shows exactly what it made with the BBT and nitrous as well as a stock baseline. A 125hp shot of nitrous dyno was never showed.

I did 499whp with BBT on e40 mix with around 30psi boost (NO NITROUS). This was without PI. The turbo is rated by BBT to flow 50 lbs/min. This is pretty much aligned with what BBT made on his regular b48 non-hybrid with ethanol. Which shows that the Electric Motor does not add anything. When I added a 50hp wet shot of nitrous, the car made 561whp as it was limited on fuel. With additional fuel (PI), this turbo can make around 34psi. At 20psi on very low grade fuel 91 octane, this turbo makes 390whp on a 330e.

Another factor, look at the BBT size. Its equivalent to a g25-550 similar to IM450 but slightly bigger. The AR housing and manifold is larger, hence should have less restrictions. IM450 I believe did 470-480whp on a B48TU engine (a more efficient engine). BBT is laggier as it’s a single scroll design.
BBT is much more complex and requires modifications to install as you can see from my videos online.

Here is another piece of data for you which shows the electric motor adds nothing: LCP did 505whp with their China version of IM500 without PI and around same ethanol content I did with BBT on 330e hybrid at 499whp. Both aligned to maxing out the DI system at around same power level.

Turbo kit prices:
BBT 600 kit - $3650 (I actually paid $3,054.10 a couple years ago for my kit which was on a sale which came with the BOV)
IM500 - $3150+ depending on options
IM450 - $2650+ depending on options.
China IM500 - $1600 you can get the same sized IM500 turbo which is manufactured in China g25-660 sized. The LCP guys from China just made 505whp on this turbo.

The smaller IM450 (G25-550) is slightly lower priced.
These hybrid turbos have been out for quite some time.
The smaller hybrid turbos spool faster.

With stock turbo, stock engine low grade pump gas and meth, I did 100-200 time of 10.98s and 1/4mile time of 12.83s (full weight with methanol kit).

With BBT e40, I did a 100-200 time of 8.04s and a 1/4mile time of 11.91s with full weight+ (nitrous kit, meth kit, did some custom work in trunk for fitment which adds some weight).

I have seen another 330e with IM450 doing 100-200 time of 9.65s and a 1/4mile time of 12.71s. I have no other data on what boost but heard it makes around 350+whp.

Currently my car is on a top mount turbo kit that I developed and it makes 550whp hitting some new limitations even with PI - this is with only boost & fuel adjustments, no timing, no valve timing, not a completed tune. Could have made more but already planned to upgrade the other component.

Based on the rating of the turbo and how much it makes on 6 cylinders, this contributes to the electric motor not adding any power on top and possibly creating additional load.

Everyone is unique, trying new things, sharing information, helping out each other is what makes a great community.

this squin dude is very easy to point a finger and calling out names for free , lack of respect to other names as well, even mention other respectful tuners and called him as a "shit tuner" glad that you said "Please stop calling my name into your (Navardi Tuned Boys / IPOS) rivalry with LCP. I have nothing to do with that"
in the begining otherwise he will kept taking other name to this issue

cool build btw , huge respect to you

[NICKY_9]

I have also had issues with Navardi tuned and IPOS motorsports. their Attitude is terrible and part quality is shit. They have trouble accepting that they made a mistake and rather defer the blame on you.

I have a thread in the n20 forum about it and they make every excuse in the world rather than just making it right.

Then he has his influencers posting trying to also defend him saying nonsense.

[sqwinny]

Originally Posted by blackman_n20

i have seen this sqwinny guy before he says something very racist about black people in south africa , please be aware guys we shouldn't give any chance for a racist person please report his account he has doing this for so many time regarding racism toward black people

I am a person of color 😂😂😂 get a Hobby Andre.

[kontol babi]

aight gon make anotha one

[kontol babi]

Originally Posted by 330i_B48

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with IPOS and Navardi tuned.

1st off the IPOS turbos are made in China which is replicating what others have done with a hybrid style turbo using a g25-550 or g25-660 internals. You can get the identical turbo for $1600 USD - Speedtune, GT500 turbo, HDP550 and numerous other companies from China. Speedtune have dyno charts showing 445whp and others around that for a hybrid turbo (g25-660 version).

Competition is good but brand bashing to sell your own products are very poor qualities. Both IPOS and Navardi bashes all the turbo kits and tuners to sell their own products. The China turbos made 445+whp and IPOS nor Navardi made these with their turbos as yet.

They insulted LCP and LCP replied with the facts that they bashed China products and now they selling the same China turbos and products for a mark up (double the price). LCP also included logs of what they did VS Navardi which you can clearly see LCP being the better tuner.

Navardi is known by many as the "goto" b48,n20 tuner but the reality is many of their fans/customers don't know better. Even a n20 customer posted a log from Navardi claiming its good but it had tons of throttle closure and overboost. This goes to show how much people support crap and don't know any better.

On the discord they also have numerous people complain about the turbo manifold fitment from IPOS. Yet they don't disclose all the details.

yeah his tune sucks , they're being the goto because of their internet trolls keep promoting their tune and muting critics towards them

[kontol babi]

Originally Posted by g20beam

For anyone interested, this is my previous revision from LCP, it is not the current one on my vehicle at the moment. Did a full pull from 3rd @2000rpm to 5th. The tune is very, very smooth.

Take a look at the timing corrections, the boost targets, the knock sensor all throughout, the load..

Running on ~100RON or 97+ Octane with the help of Boostane:

https://bootmod3.net/log?id=64c08e85d10b43d99c9ab4d3

It is some very impressive stuff. All the other logs are somewhat like this.

that's some beautiful logs great tune there by lcp . long live lcp! when i got my hand on b48tu lcp deffo my goto tuner

[JataJata]

Curious If you can run im450 with the stock tune to complete drive cycle to pass the smog test. I'm living in Cali hellhole. Cannot escape the eventual smog test. I'm not quite worried about the visual inspection as the im450 looks pretty stock and will be mounted deep in the engine bay. The only concern would be the ecu tune test.

[minicooper31]

Hello

My name is Didier, I live in France, I ordered an IM450 at the end delivery date is February and the deadline is the end of April but I also placed orders with other suppliers (valve kit and ATI pulley) that I had delivered to him to have a single shipment...
For the moment I have to say that communication is rather complicated, the delay to our email exchanges is very long...

[mike@x-ph.com]

Originally Posted by minicooper31

Hello

My name is Didier, I live in France, I ordered an IM450 at the end delivery date is February and the deadline is the end of April but I also placed orders with other suppliers (valve kit and ATI pulley) that I had delivered to him to have a single shipment...
For the moment I have to say that communication is rather complicated, the delay to our email exchanges is very long...

Thank you for sharing, I'm biased of course, but I recommend you get parts from trusted vendors instead of manufacturers directly.

Manufacturers are best at making high-quality parts, that's where most of their time and effort is spent.
Vendors like us put all their time and effort into perfecting the customer experience.

[minicooper31]

Hello

Thanks for your message, I've received all the parts for the cylinder head, bought directly from Supertech, as well as the ATI pulley, the turbo is missing.
The 200 cell catalytic converter is really nice, I can't wait
The engine is waiting patiently, I'll give you the power bench and hope that we'll be able to exceed 390 hp.

[minicooper31]

[minicooper31]

Hello

As the motor is dismantled, it's a good opportunity to install a differential too

[minicooper31]

I have a question for the community.
Concerning the injection part, with IM450 do I have to change the pump or the original injectors?

[g20beam]

Originally Posted by minicooper31

I have a question for the community.
Concerning the injection part, with IM450 do I have to change the pump or the original injectors?

Pump as in high pressure fuel pump (HPFP)?

If yes, then you would want to upgrade to M340i HPFP, would help the tuning aspect drastically.

OEM injectors are good. Which model and year do you own?

[minicooper31]

Originally Posted by g20beam

Pump as in high pressure fuel pump (HPFP)?

If yes, then you would want to upgrade to M340i HPFP, would help the tuning aspect drastically.

OEM injectors are good. Which model and year do you own?

Thank you for your reply
I'm talking about the high-pressure pump.
I own a mini cooper S F56 2014 with the B48A20 engine.

[g20beam]

Originally Posted by minicooper31

Thank you for your reply
I'm talking about the high-pressure pump.
I own a mini cooper S F56 2014 with the B48A20 engine.

Upgrade it with B48TU HPFP

[helmet91]

Originally Posted by g20beam

Pump as in high pressure fuel pump (HPFP)?

If yes, then you would want to upgrade to M340i HPFP, would help the tuning aspect drastically.

OEM injectors are good. Which model and year do you own?

RealOEM lists HPFP 13518631642 as the only pump for 320i through the M340i.

Running that number also shows a Bosch version for the B58 equipped Supra.

[minicooper31]

Hello
Thank you for your answers I will buy the pump .
The project is quite important because apart from the motor the outside part will also accommodate a complete jcw kit from 2021.
Concerning the chassis, it is entirely made of powerflex. There's a large-section stabilizer bar (25mm and 27mm) and a bilstein pss16 kit.
The tires are semi-slick.
Braking will also be reviewed.
a bigger master cylinder, aviation hoses and, above all, grooved discs, Hawks rear pads and ferrodo circuit front pads.
We've installed the differential.
The line will be a 3" and the catalytic converter will be a 200-cell (the one pictured).
We will also install a pulley for the ATI crankshaft.
I hope the power will be over 390 hp.
I'll take pictures of the cylinder head.
I'm happy to share with you.
In France, there is little preparation because the laws are quite strict.

[minicooper31]

I'd like to apologize for my English.
I use a translator, I think there must be some words or phrases that are not necessarily right.