[Juice247]

I just installed the Gen 1 B58 flex fuel kit on my 2017 440 GC and had a couple observations that might help make your decision.

1: It is the greatest compliment to a flash tune you could possibly add.
I've been testing and blending my fuel for and E30 tune for the past year or so. It's tough to hit e30 precisely, so I overshoot for e35 to be on the safe side. You can tell when you get it right vs being a bit off. When the mix is off, the idle is rougher, the note is raspier, nothing is as smooth as when you first started your car from the factory. After installing the kit, immediately upon starting the car, it was BUTTERY smooth. The whole ride home, I was just in awe at how perfect the car was running. My current blend ended up at E40 and it is literally factory smooth.

2: The install will NOT take you 5 minutes. That is a lie.
Even the best installer with the precise tools you need will take around 20 minutes or so, and that is whether or not you know how to re-install the rear seats. There is a cable that needs to be routed to the front passenger foot well. To install this on Gen 1 B58 cars, you need to remove the rear bolster and seat bottom. A piece of trim above the bolster, another coming down from the rear seats, another on the passenger front sill, the trim under the glove box, and the trim that covers the FEM module by the right foot. Panel pulling tools are your friend.

3: Do not underestimate how hard it is to get the rear seats back in place.
There is one thing that will help this TREMENDOUSLY, and that is a seat belt extender with a narrow buckle. Two of these will allow you to maneuver the seats into place while pulling the latches up through the bottom. Using the existing seat belts doesn't work well because the buckle has a wide head that catches on the fabric and does not really fit through the hole.



If you're on the fence about whether or not this is worth the $600, it absolutely is. It's a million times safer for the engine. It accounts and adjusts for not only bad blends, but bad fuel. You can read the ethanol level at any time by holding one click down on cruise control and map switch on the fly to get the most power possible while minimizing the risk to your drive train.

Since they don't include the manual and it's buried somewhere in their support site, here's a link so you can be better prepared. It is not the same process as the N55 or S55 videos you'll find on YouTube

https://bootmod3.atlassian.net/plugi...rsion=1&api=v2

The manual references this video for instruction up to the 11 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvYH...iesMotorsports

Now to work on getting my rear seats back in place....

[Juice247]

Ended up fashioning a tool using some sheet aluminum, a dremmel and some twine. Worked wonders. Don't know how anyone ever gets these seats back in without something to guide the latches up the holes.

[SoCalCarGuy]

I just reached under the seat and pushed the buckle through the hole and attached the seat belt, then snapped the seats back in place.

My install took about 30 min including running back and forth to grab tools and + another 5 min to tune.

We have been running flexfuel on our N55 for a few months now, very excited to have it on our B58 as well.

[blacksapphire440i]

*SIGH* Another item to add to the money pit list.........

[smrtypants44]

Interestingly the MHD flex fuel sensor goes in the engine bay in front of the hpfp.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for the review

Im in complete agreement with you regarding the usefulness of this upgrade and the install time

[johnung]

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

Interestingly the MHD flex fuel sensor goes in the engine bay in front of the hpfp.

FYI- Dorch makes a FlexFuel sensor for the B58 that also mounts closer to the HPFP in the engine bay. Dorch actually uses Zeitronix components which means that you can buy a plug-in Zeitronix ethanol dash gauge which I prefer. See photo of mine installed on my dash to the left of my steering wheel.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Juice247

Ended up fashioning a tool using some sheet aluminum, a dremmel and some twine. Worked wonders. Don't know how anyone ever gets these seats back in without something to guide the latches up the holes.

Guys who remove/replace back seats a lot just connect the seat belts and use them to pull the buckle receptacle back up through the holes.

If you find that difficult, a quick method is to use a sock and a tie wrap.

Put the opening of the sock just over the belt receptacle. Then tighten a tie wrap down over the sock, just behind the belt receptacle. Now as you are replacing the seat just push the toe of the sock through the seat belt hole in the seat. As you are getting the seat almost in place just pull on the toe of the sock to guide the receptacle to the hole and pull it through with your fingers. When the seat is installed just cut off the tie-wrap to pull the sock off.

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Juice247

I just installed the Gen 1 B58 flex fuel kit on my 2017 440 GC and had a couple observations that might help make your decision.

1: It is the greatest compliment to a flash tune you could possibly add.
I've been testing and blending my fuel for and E30 tune for the past year or so. It's tough to hit e30 precisely, so I overshoot for e35 to be on the safe side. You can tell when you get it right vs being a bit off. When the mix is off, the idle is rougher, the note is raspier, nothing is as smooth as when you first started your car from the factory. After installing the kit, immediately upon starting the car, it was BUTTERY smooth. The whole ride home, I was just in awe at how perfect the car was running. My current blend ended up at E40 and it is literally factory smooth.

2: The install will NOT take you 5 minutes. That is a lie.
Even the best installer with the precise tools you need will take around 20 minutes or so, and that is whether or not you know how to re-install the rear seats. There is a cable that needs to be routed to the front passenger foot well. To install this on Gen 1 B58 cars, you need to remove the rear bolster and seat bottom. A piece of trim above the bolster, another coming down from the rear seats, another on the passenger front sill, the trim under the glove box, and the trim that covers the FEM module by the right foot. Panel pulling tools are your friend.

3: Do not underestimate how hard it is to get the rear seats back in place.
There is one thing that will help this TREMENDOUSLY, and that is a seat belt extender with a narrow buckle. Two of these will allow you to maneuver the seats into place while pulling the latches up through the bottom. Using the existing seat belts doesn't work well because the buckle has a wide head that catches on the fabric and does not really fit through the hole.



If you're on the fence about whether or not this is worth the $600, it absolutely is. It's a million times safer for the engine. It accounts and adjusts for not only bad blends, but bad fuel. You can read the ethanol level at any time by holding one click down on cruise control and map switch on the fly to get the most power possible while minimizing the risk to your drive train.

Since they don't include the manual and it's buried somewhere in their support site, here's a link so you can be better prepared. It is not the same process as the N55 or S55 videos you'll find on YouTube

https://bootmod3.atlassian.net/plugins/servlet/servicedesk/customer/confluence/shim/download/attachments/2592112641/Gen1%20F-Series%20B58%20B48%20Flex%20Fuel%20Kit%20Install%2 0Instructions.pdf?version=1&modificationDate=16555 02232856&cacheVersion=1&api=v2

The manual references this video for instruction up to the 11 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvYHQIlF1-g&ab_channel=KiesMotorsports

Now to work on getting my rear seats back in place....

Very insightful review. Just wanted to add that to utilize the FlexFuel sensor with Bootmod3, one of the MultiMap tunes must be flashed. The MultiMap tunes have the FlexFuel ability to read the ethanol % coming from the ethanol sensor and then automatically adjust the tune to maximize the performance for whatever percentage of ethanol the engine is receiving.

Remember that the MultiMap tune and the FlexFuel sensor provide this ability. But your car may still require hardware changes depending on whatever MultiMap FlexFuel tune that you try to run. So depending on your chassis and engine model you may need other mods.

For instance to run full E85 on my N55 EWG and to maximize its performance, besides a FlexFuel sensor and BM3 MultiMap tune, I also ended up installing:

Dorch Stage2 HPFP
Precision Raceworks Stage2.5v2 LPFP
MST Turbo Inlet Pipe
MST Inlet (or a free flow aFe filter)
Turbosmart BOV
Larger aftermarket intercooler
xHP Stage3 automatic transmission tune

I really think that E50 is the fueling sweet spot. E50 provides a lot of performance without a ton of additional expense. But to go from E50 to E85 does provide some additional performance, but with much more expense.

It's like Bootmod3 Stage1 is fantastic bang for the buck. Stage2 will get you more power but it will cost a lot more in other requirements. After Stage1, every additional horsepower costs more and more. Hey, but it's an addiction, right?

[B58]

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

Interestingly the MHD flex fuel sensor goes in the engine bay in front of the hpfp.

I have the MHD ECA flex fuel kit. It took longer to remove the cowl and plastic trims. Works great. I tested it on straight pump gas and up to 50% and you see the adjustments in your logs and obviously you feel the power difference. I'll be installing a Pure 800 within the next two week and I'll be getting dialed in on flex fuel. These kits in general really made life easier without always having to worry about blending or finding E to blend.

[Juice247]

Originally Posted by johnung

Guys who remove/replace back seats a lot just connect the seat belts and use them to pull the buckle receptacle back up through the holes.

If you find that difficult, a quick method is to use a sock and a tie wrap.

Put the opening of the sock just over the belt receptacle. Then tighten a tie wrap down over the sock, just behind the belt receptacle. Now as you are replacing the seat just push the toe of the sock through the seat belt hole in the seat. As you are getting the seat almost in place just pull on the toe of the sock to guide the receptacle to the hole and pull it through with your fingers. When the seat is installed just cut off the tie-wrap to pull the sock off.

That's a great one!! Would have been a lot easier then cutting the aluminum....

[johnung]

Originally Posted by Juice247

That's a great one!! Would have been a lot easier then cutting the aluminum....

Yeah, I had thoughts of building all sorts of things to do the job from stuff that I could buy at Home Depot. But I kept pondering until I figured out the simplest way to do the same thing with whatever common items that I had laying around.

[MrFiasco]

Originally Posted by johnung

Very insightful review. Just wanted to add that to utilize the FlexFuel sensor with Bootmod3, one of the MultiMap tunes must be flashed. The MultiMap tunes have the FlexFuel ability to read the ethanol % coming from the ethanol sensor and then automatically adjust the tune to maximize the performance for whatever percentage of ethanol the engine is receiving.

Remember that the MultiMap tune and the FlexFuel sensor provide this ability. But your car may still require hardware changes depending on whatever MultiMap FlexFuel tune that you try to run. So depending on your chassis and engine model you may need other mods.

Hi mate,

So if I was to add the flex fuel sensor and flash Bm3 stage 2+ multi map file. (I do have all the hardware required) the pre selected map slots are as follows.

Map 1. 93
Map 2. E30
Map 3. E50
Map 4. OEM MPPK

It does say it had flex fuel enabled so am I right in thinking if I'm say in map 1 93. Would this be the same as my current stage 2 + 93 but if I was to add in 5lt of E for e.g. to give me around or just over E10 would the tune automatically adjust for this E coming in.

Likewise if i was to add in 30% E to a tank and change to map 2 slot (E30) and I put in 35% by mistake or not enough E28, would it automatically adjust accordingly.

Cheers

[johnung]

Originally Posted by MrFiasco

Hi mate,

So if I was to add the flex fuel sensor and flash Bm3 stage 2+ multi map file. (I do have all the hardware required) the pre selected map slots are as follows.

Map 1. 93
Map 2. E30
Map 3. E50
Map 4. OEM MPPK

It does say it had flex fuel enabled so am I right in thinking if I'm say in map 1 93. Would this be the same as my current stage 2 + 93 but if I was to add in 5lt of E for e.g. to give me around or just over E10 would the tune automatically adjust for this E coming in.

Likewise if i was to add in 30% E to a tank and change to map 2 slot (E30) and I put in 35% by mistake or not enough E28, would it automatically adjust accordingly.

Cheers

Think of the list of Maps #1-#4 as you manually telling the tune the absolute minimum fuel that you intend to put in the tank.

So you don't want to have 93 in the tank and the engine tune set on E50.

It is great to be able to toggle through the map list without reflashing. If I'm driving around with E50-E85 in the tank, I would have it on the E50 map. If I have E75 in the tank, the sensor will read that and the Bootmod3 MultiMap E50 Tune will scale up the performance to take advantage of the E75 fuel.

If I had to fill up and E85 wasn't available then I could fill with 93 Octane and I could toggle down to the 93 Octane Map.

Now my wife doesn't want to have to learn how to flash or toggle to drive the BMW. That's divorce grounds. So I just leave the MultiMap tune set on the 93 Octane setting. I just tell my wife to put E85 in but just use 93 if she's not near an E85 pump.

The MultiMap FlexFuel tune is awesome. If I leave it on the 93 Map then the tune will always scale up to get the best performance out of whatever percentage of ethanol that the sensor reads.

[MTWO]

Thank you for the review. It took me literally 10 minutes as I’ve removed the rear seat before. I like this kit over all others. Just far higher quality part and its all inside the cabin!

[CoolATIGuy]

Originally Posted by johnung

Think of the list of Maps #1-#4 as you manually telling the tune the absolute minimum fuel that you intend to put in the tank.

So you don't want to have 93 in the tank and the engine tune set on E50.

It is great to be able to toggle through the map list without reflashing. If I'm driving around with E50-E85 in the tank, I would have it on the E50 map. If I have E75 in the tank, the sensor will read that and the Bootmod3 MultiMap E50 Tune will scale up the performance to take advantage of the E75 fuel.

If I had to fill up and E85 wasn't available then I could fill with 93 Octane and I could toggle down to the 93 Octane Map.

Now my wife doesn't want to have to learn how to flash or toggle to drive the BMW. That's divorce grounds. So I just leave the MultiMap tune set on the 93 Octane setting. I just tell my wife to put E85 in but just use 93 if she's not near an E85 pump.

The MultiMap FlexFuel tune is awesome. If I leave it on the 93 Map then the tune will always scale up to get the best performance out of whatever percentage of ethanol that the sensor reads.

I just purchased the PTF Flex Fuel kit, but it's not here yet. I thought I understood how it worked, but after reading your explanation, am wondering if maybe I misunderstood..

I was under the impression that with BM3 multimap and the PTF Flex Fuel kit, it would automatically change which map on the multimap the car is running on with no intervention from me, in addition to adjusting the aggressiveness for "fine tuning". Meaning, if I have 93 octane in the tank, it will set itself to the 93 map; then if I then go to the gas station and fill up to e37, it will switch to the e30 map automatically on it's own, AND scale up the aggressiveness on the e30 map some as well to take advantage of it being e37.

But, it sounds like you are saying that it only scales the aggressiveness for the chosen map, but you still have to manually choose which map it goes into? That seems much less convenient. What happens if the map is on e30, and I fill up with just 93 octane - will it not drop the map slot down on it's own to the 93 map on the multimap?

If the multimap is set to 93, and I have 93 in the tank, but then I manually set the multimap to the e30 map (but still has 93 in the tank), what happens? Since the flex fuel kit is constantly checking the ethanol content, will it immediately automatically change the multimap back to the 93 map on its own right away? Or will it not do that because I manually changed the multimap over to the e30 map? Basically asking does the flex fuel kit override any manual changes you make to which map the multimap is on?

[B58 parts]

It takes 2 seconds to push the steering wheel button and change maps. You'll be alright

[CoolATIGuy]

Originally Posted by YuminNuman

It takes 2 seconds to push the steering wheel button and change maps. You'll be alright

Hi YuminNuman!

I do appreciate the reply and the sentiment. However, not only does it not answer the questions with how the kit works, it overlooks other possible scenarios. What if someone is borrowing the car and needs to add fuel - if they are unaware of the E85 mix, and just add straight 93, could that cause an issue if they do not go in and change the map appropriately? Also, what if am running e30, and then go to fill up myself and decide to get 93 - do I need to manually check the reading and manually change to the appropriate map each time? Or can I assume the kit is working with the tune to do that?

From what Kern417’s video mentioned, it sounds as if you can select whatever slot in the multimap, but that if you have the flex fuel kit, it does not matter which one you’ve chosen, the tune will automatically override and adjust as necessary.

I understand your simplistic reply, but it leaves unknowns unanswered in how the kit works.

[MTWO]

Doesn’t matter what map slot you’re in, it auto scales aggressiveness based on ethanol content. That’s the whole point.

[CoolATIGuy]

Originally Posted by MTWO

Doesn’t matter what map slot you’re in, it auto scales aggressiveness based on ethanol content. That’s the whole point.

Thanks! So being in Stage2+ multimap slot 1 (93) with e30 in the tank will do exactly the same as being in Stage2+ multimap slot 3 (e50) with e30 in the tank then? As long as you have the flex fuel kit and running a BM3 multimap, you can map switch on the steering wheel but it literally does nothing in that case?

[CoolATIGuy]

One of the main things that confuses me is that nearly every video showing a flex fuel kit install on the low pressure fuel pump, even the Kies one, then shows them demonstrating how to not only load the multimap tune, but also how to change maps using the wheel. If selecting the map slot makes no difference and does not change anything, I am not sure why everyone keeps pointing that out.

[MTWO]

Your slot is your base map. So when no E is in there it just runs that base map, otherwise it scales up from whatever that slot starts at.