[bseward]

Just picked up 2016 340 with only 29,000 miles on the clock. Lightly driven and beautifully taken care of with the caveat that 2nd owner did mods, mainly VRSF high flow catted downpipe with MHD stage 2 tune. a few other well done mods, FTP charge pipe, Agency Power Ram intake, Turner oil catch can.
I went to the test drive thinking I wasn't really serious about getting the car, but got totally seduced by the time the test drive was done. My 2 previous BMW's, E36 328 and E39 540 were manual's, and I came to this car thinking I wouldn't like the auto.
Amazing power, with lightening quick throttle response for a turbo, and super fast shifts from the 8 speed auto. Kinda cool that you can go from comfort mode, with smooth power to a somewhat agro Sport+ mode with the flick of switch. So yes, this 8 speed auto is really growing on me.
Ok thats the car, I have some question about the MHD tune and the hardware mods that I couldn't find complete answers to in a weeks worth of searching while waiting for complicated loan payoff transaction( this site has been most helpful!)

First, in the initial drives, yesterday driving home from picking up the car, about a 50 mile trip from Tampa to Sarasota, and today around town, I noticed some slight inconsistencies in the transmission shifts when applying more than moderate throttle, and when slowing down-downshifting. Some of that can attributed to switching between driving modes, comfort and sport and sport+. but even in comfort mode, there were a few harder shifts on occasion.

I couldn't find much info from users with similar setup and stock transmission tune, but assume that the significant increase in torque from stage 2 mod has to affect the trans in some fashion.i know there is tune for trans, but need to understand this setup first.
(One reason is, we found out the car has an extra year left on warranty in what was a surprise to the seller, having bought the car from dealer CPO, understanding the mods may nullify warranty work )

The next question, with the MHD tune and high flow downpipe, if I were to load the stock map back, how would the stock tune respond to the modified hardware?
I did find some users that had downpipe installed without tune, and didn't seem to indicate any issues. I asked the seller that question, and he thought it would not match up well and cause issues. If possible, id like to be able to revert to stock tune to compare trans performance under stock torque dynamics.

Also I am not a big fan of the so called cold air intakes, and am thinking about reinstalling stock, possibly with higher flow filter, but the oil catch can setup leaves no room for stock intake and would have to change that back to stock as well .
I love the fact this car is somewhat of a sleeper, and want to maintain a more understated presence, but with some punch behind it (soft voice, big stick). I appreciate any feedback.

[IMS-340C]

The MHD license is not transferable so maybe you will need the previous owner to remove the MHD software from your ECU.

I ran a catless downpipe on stock MPPSK tune without any issues.

Originally Posted by bseward

The next question, with the MHD tune and high flow downpipe, if I were to load the stock map back, how would the stock tune respond to the modified hardware?
I did find some users that had downpipe installed without tune, and didn't seem to indicate any issues. I asked the seller that question, and he thought it would not match up well and cause issues. If possible, id like to be able to revert to stock tune to compare trans performance under stock torque dynamics.

[pauli18c]

It's pretty common that when you go Stage 2 and higher you should get the XHP trans tune with it to account for the higher torque values and the stock tune cannot handle it and they have to "trick it" with MHD.

Intake, the stock box is actually shown to be better than the agency power intake as it just sucks in hot air from the turbo.

You could buy your own tuning software MHD again or Bootmod3 are the two big names around here and flash it back to stock, but that's no fun. The whole point of getting a downpipe is to be able to flash to stage 2. I would suggest getting the XHP trans tune and see how you like it after that. Most people just flash to stage 3 on XHP right away. There's a whole thread on different settings within the app.

Enjoy, they're fun cars

[bseward]

Originally Posted by IMS-340MP

The MHD license is not transferable so maybe you will need the previous owner to remove the MHD software from your ECU.

I ran a catless downpipe on stock MPPSK tune without any issues.

I will buy MHD license so I can play around with tunes and your experience with bolt-ons seems to confirm that they play nice with stock tune.

[bseward]

Originally Posted by pauli18c

It's pretty common that when you go Stage 2 and higher you should get the XHP trans tune with it to account for the higher torque values and the stock tune cannot handle it and they have to "trick it" with MHD.

Intake, the stock box is actually shown to be better than the agency power intake as it just sucks in hot air from the turbo.

You could buy your own tuning software MHD again or Bootmod3 are the two big names around here and flash it back to stock, but that's no fun. The whole point of getting a downpipe is to be able to flash to stage 2. I would suggest getting the XHP trans tune and see how you like it after that. Most people just flash to stage 3 on XHP right away. There's a whole thread on different settings within the app.

Enjoy, they're fun cars

Yes I did find a some detailed rundowns of XHP trans tune compared to stock on here and on YouTube that confirms some erratic stock trans behavior due to higher torque, which the Xhp tune addresses.

I am sold now on getting MHD license and XHP, to get engine and trans matched up.
I am with you on swapping back to stock intake. I could never see how pulling air from inside the engine compartment (next to exhaust manifold to boot) would be better than from air duct pulling fresh at the front of the car. Intake temp has to suffer with former. I will have to delete the oil catch can to make room for stock setup.

You are right, they are fun cars! I find myself looking for reasons to take it for a spin.

[pauli18c]

Only thing with the stock box is you lose a ton of sound, if not almost all of the noise, from the turbo spooling up. The Agency power intake is LOUD

[bseward]

Originally Posted by pauli18c

Only thing with the stock box is you lose a ton of sound, if not almost all of the noise, from the turbo spooling up. The Agency power intake is LOUD

Yes it is LOUD! But kinda raspy. I was used to the low V8 rumble/grunt in my 540. I do like the turbo spool, but I can live without that.

[pauli18c]

Originally Posted by bseward

Yes it is LOUD! But kinda raspy. I was used to the low V8 rumble/grunt in my 540. I do like the turbo spool, but I can live without that.

Something to look into is the Williams elbow that connects the stock box without the baffle or whatever is in the stock tube

[bseward]

Originally Posted by pauli18c

Something to look into is the Williams elbow that connects the stock box without the baffle or whatever is in the stock tube

Thanks I will check that out

[bseward]

So to restore the stock airbox, I had to remove the catch can mod that was mounted to the Agency Power Ram heat shield. I was surprised when I opened the catch can, to find zero oil, residue or anything for that matter. Looked squeaky clean like the day it was installed (not sure how long it and been in the car as installed by previous owner, but somewhere around 2K miles). The shielded factory hose in fact was clean as well.
Pretty easy to remove the APR intake, except the short flex hose that mates the APR to the stock intake section was not coming off after removing clamps and had to cut it off.
Test Driving the car, no problems, but quieter. Still has nice exhaust note in sport mode when on the throttle, but the turbo spool is gone as was expected. I like the stealth quality in comfort mode, and in some ways enjoy opening the throttle in that mode more, as you feel the torque with shifts coming fast and furious at lover rpm. Power feels nice and linear, but still pushes you back in your seat. Not having driven the car stock tune to compare, but the MHD stage 2, high flow downpipe tune is certainly the fastest car ive ever driven, and to be honest a little scary. But back to the catch can, does the b58 really need one?

[Astute]

Originally Posted by bseward

So to restore the stock airbox, I had to remove the catch can mod that was mounted to the Agency Power Ram heat shield. I was surprised when I opened the catch can, to find zero oil, residue or anything for that matter. Looked squeaky clean like the day it was installed (not sure how long it and been in the car as installed by previous owner, but somewhere around 2K miles). The shielded factory hose in fact was clean as well.
Pretty easy to remove the APR intake, except the short flex hose that mates the APR to the stock intake section was not coming off after removing clamps and had to cut it off.
Test Driving the car, no problems, but quieter. Still has nice exhaust note in sport mode when on the throttle, but the turbo spool is gone as was expected. I like the stealth quality in comfort mode, and in some ways enjoy opening the throttle in that mode more, as you feel the torque with shifts coming fast and furious at lover rpm. Power feels nice and linear, but still pushes you back in your seat. Not having driven the car stock tune to compare, but the MHD stage 2, high flow downpipe tune is certainly the fastest car ive ever driven, and to be honest a little scary. But back to the catch can, does the b58 really need one?

I run the AP intake and haven't really noticed a big difference in IAT's from stock. I don't have a catch can installed, but I've heard mixed reviews on catch cans' effectiveness and fitment. If you like the MHD stage 2 tune with the catted DP and the 8ZF trans, you will love it with the xHP trans tune. I run the BM3 stage 2 E30 tune with xHP, and the ethanol steps it up even more in terms of speed and responsiveness. Definitely recommended, as the B58 loves better fuel.

[Ifellapart]

Originally Posted by bseward

Yes it is LOUD! But kinda raspy. I was used to the low V8 rumble/grunt in my 540. I do like the turbo spool, but I can live without that.

Raspiness is probably due to you having the DP with a stock cat back. I would look into some aftermarket exhausts. From what it sounds like, you like having the choice between being in comfort and being sportier so I would look into valved exhausts units. The MPPSK is a great option but crazy expensive, but it would really add a great tone to your car and get rid of that rasp. It would be crazy loud on sport tho (with the valves opened), since it'd just be a straight piped exhaust at that point.

[Hkilla00]

Originally Posted by bseward

Just picked up 2016 340 with only 29,000 miles on the clock. Lightly driven and beautifully taken care of with the caveat that 2nd owner did mods, mainly VRSF high flow catted downpipe with MHD stage 2 tune. a few other well done mods, FTP charge pipe, Agency Power Ram intake, Turner oil catch can.
I went to the test drive thinking I wasn't really serious about getting the car, but got totally seduced by the time the test drive was done. My 2 previous BMW's, E36 328 and E39 540 were manual's, and I came to this car thinking I wouldn't like the auto.
Amazing power, with lightening quick throttle response for a turbo, and super fast shifts from the 8 speed auto. Kinda cool that you can go from comfort mode, with smooth power to a somewhat agro Sport+ mode with the flick of switch. So yes, this 8 speed auto is really growing on me.
Ok thats the car, I have some question about the MHD tune and the hardware mods that I couldn't find complete answers to in a weeks worth of searching while waiting for complicated loan payoff transaction( this site has been most helpful!)

First, in the initial drives, yesterday driving home from picking up the car, about a 50 mile trip from Tampa to Sarasota, and today around town, I noticed some slight inconsistencies in the transmission shifts when applying more than moderate throttle, and when slowing down-downshifting. Some of that can attributed to switching between driving modes, comfort and sport and sport+. but even in comfort mode, there were a few harder shifts on occasion.

I couldn't find much info from users with similar setup and stock transmission tune, but assume that the significant increase in torque from stage 2 mod has to affect the trans in some fashion.i know there is tune for trans, but need to understand this setup first.
(One reason is, we found out the car has an extra year left on warranty in what was a surprise to the seller, having bought the car from dealer CPO, understanding the mods may nullify warranty work )

The next question, with the MHD tune and high flow downpipe, if I were to load the stock map back, how would the stock tune respond to the modified hardware?
I did find some users that had downpipe installed without tune, and didn't seem to indicate any issues. I asked the seller that question, and he thought it would not match up well and cause issues. If possible, id like to be able to revert to stock tune to compare trans performance under stock torque dynamics.

Also I am not a big fan of the so called cold air intakes, and am thinking about reinstalling stock, possibly with higher flow filter, but the oil catch can setup leaves no room for stock intake and would have to change that back to stock as well .
I love the fact this car is somewhat of a sleeper, and want to maintain a more understated presence, but with some punch behind it (soft voice, big stick). I appreciate any feedback.

Don't forget to change your fluids !!!

[bseward]

Originally Posted by Ifellapart

Raspiness is probably due to you having the DP with a stock cat back. I would look into some aftermarket exhausts. From what it sounds like, you like having the choice between being in comfort and being sportier so I would look into valved exhausts units. The MPPSK is a great option but crazy expensive, but it would really add a great tone to your car and get rid of that rasp. It would be crazy loud on sport tho (with the valves opened), since it'd just be a straight piped exhaust at that point.

Other than missing the turbo spool (that was mighty cool) im good so far with the stock setup. In sport mode it still wails pretty good when revving. Also with the MHD tune im getting burbles on downshift. Maybe down the line when im ready to upgrade turbo and such I will look at upgrading exhaust system.

[bseward]

Originally Posted by Hkilla00

Don't forget to change your fluids !!!

You read my mind. I'm on FCP Euro today looking at oil change kit, the Liquid Moly 5w-40 and possibly trans fluid kit. One thing that tripped me out was not finding a dipstick in the engine bay. Welcome to Gen Alpha cars. Found oil check on Idrive. but what if I want to inspect the oil?, you know rub between your fingers and say, " hey still looks pretty good for 17K miles. :-).


Ive done brake fluid flush on my E39, but not sure what interval for this car. I do know it is necessary to have scan tool to operate the ABS valves like I did for E39 using INPA. what else should I be changing? coolant flush?

[Hkilla00]

Originally Posted by bseward

You read my mind. I'm on FCP Euro today looking at oil change kit, the Liquid Moly 5w-40 and possibly trans fluid kit. One thing that tripped me out was not finding a dipstick in the engine bay. Welcome to Gen Alpha cars. Found oil check on Idrive. but what if I want to inspect the oil?, you know rub between your fingers and say, " hey still looks pretty good for 17K miles. :-).


Ive done brake fluid flush on my E39, but not sure what interval for this car. I do know it is necessary to have scan tool to operate the ABS valves like I did for E39 using INPA. what else should I be changing? coolant flush?

Tranny fluid
Transfer case fluid
Diff fluid

I didn't change my transfer case fluid for so long since my car was bought used and the transfer case was making a grinding noise

[bseward]

Originally Posted by Astute

I run the AP intake and haven't really noticed a big difference in IAT's from stock. I don't have a catch can installed, but I've heard mixed reviews on catch cans' effectiveness and fitment. If you like the MHD stage 2 tune with the catted DP and the 8ZF trans, you will love it with the xHP trans tune. I run the BM3 stage 2 E30 tune with xHP, and the ethanol steps it up even more in terms of speed and responsiveness. Definitely recommended, as the B58 loves better fuel.

Yes the XHP is the next on the list to do. reading the info on that from users here it looks like I can customize shift points in different modes. I would like to be able to be in sport mode chassis wise, but have it shift sooner/lower RPM. Driving around this sleepy town revving to 6500 every shift between lights gets old. I end up going manual in sport to shift earlier, but would be cool to have nice crisp auto shifts around 3400-4000 if thats even possible.
Im new to fueling mods/options but seems to be the next step up, so am researching that. My goal would be to be within the safe upper limit (if thats even known, and safe upper limit sounds like an oxymoron ) of stock turbo. The car is damn fast as it is, and I think handling and trans performance are as important as go power.

[bseward]

Originally Posted by Hkilla00

Tranny fluid
Transfer case fluid
Diff fluid

I didn't change my transfer case fluid for so long since my car was bought used and the transfer case was making a grinding noise

I'm looking all over for my transfer case in my RWD 340

Diff fluid, trans and oil in the next week. I did see the car had brake flush/service at 18K. Im at 31k now.

[pauli18c]

Originally Posted by bseward

I'm looking all over for my transfer case in my RWD 340

Diff fluid, trans and oil in the next week. I did see the car had brake flush/service at 18K. Im at 31k now.

T-case is for awd cars. No t-case on a rwd

[bseward]

Originally Posted by pauli18c

T-case is for awd cars. No t-case on a rwd

Was supposed to be humorous take on "old school car guy bewildered by new car stuff" (new to BMW at least) but yes, I had to think about for a minute.

[Astute]

Originally Posted by bseward

Yes the XHP is the next on the list to do. reading the info on that from users here it looks like I can customize shift points in different modes. I would like to be able to be in sport mode chassis wise, but have it shift sooner/lower RPM. Driving around this sleepy town revving to 6500 every shift between lights gets old. I end up going manual in sport to shift earlier, but would be cool to have nice crisp auto shifts around 3400-4000 if thats even possible.
Im new to fueling mods/options but seems to be the next step up, so am researching that. My goal would be to be within the safe upper limit (if thats even known, and safe upper limit sounds like an oxymoron ) of stock turbo. The car is damn fast as it is, and I think handling and trans performance are as important as go power.

I agree about the handling and transmission performance being equally important as HP. I think you'll really like the xHP tune. It's been pretty great for me. I like having the customizable shift maps.

[Supr3me]

Originally Posted by bseward

Was supposed to be humorous take on "old school car guy bewildered by new car stuff" (new to BMW at least) but yes, I had to think about for a minute.

I chuckled at the joke. Definitely a whoosh for the other guy.