Tuning the BMW M60

"All you need to know about performance parts and tuning the BMW M60 engine!"

Carref prides itself on providing the latest tips and guides to your modification project.

The BMW M60 are popular tuning projects and with a few sensible motorsport upgrades like ECU maps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will noticeably improve your driving pleasure.

This pages aim is look at M60 tuning and point out the ultimate modifications for your car.

We rely on our visitors to pass on tips and tell us about their projects and what worked on their car, and this article is the culmination of the feedback we have received. First let us look at the history and specs of this engine and then consider which tuning modifications work best on it.

History of the Engine

This was a DOHC NASP and the first v8 BMW produced.

It was quite light for a V8 thanks mainly to the aluminium used in the block and head.

The ECU was the Bosch Motronic 3.3.

M60B30

215 bhp at 5800 rpm 290 N⋅m (214 lbft) at 4500 rpm

• 1992–1995 E34 530i
• 1992–1994 E32 730i
• 1994–1996 E38 730i

M60B40

282 bhp at 5800 rpm 400 N⋅m (295 lbft) at 4500 rpm

• 1993–1995 E34 540i
• 1992–1994 E32 740i
• 1994–1996 E38 740i
• 1992–1996 E31 840i

Tuning the BMW M60 and best M60 performance parts.

What are the most effective M60 modifications

When talking about the best ultimate for your M60 engine, we are going to focus on the parts that give the best power gain for you money.

The cam profile plays a big part in the engines power output so cam upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake & exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen cam profile, so large bhp gains are on offer for cam upgrades.

Fast road camshafts normally bump the torque throughout the rpm band, you may lose a little bottom end torque but the high end rpm power will be better.

Motorsport and race camshafts, bump the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Competition cam won't do well if driving in heavy traffic.

You should ideally optimize your bhp range to your driving style so for a car used daily stick with a fast road M60 cam

Each engine responds better to mild camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The map and injectors and fuel pump also will say much on the torque gains you'll hit.

Altering valve durations can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

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Modifying to Stage 1:

 Drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Intake headers, Sports exhaust manifold, Fast road camshaft, Panel air filters.

Modifying to Stage 2:

 induction kit, Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, Ported and polished head, high flow fuel injectors, fuel pump upgrades.

Modifying to Stage 3:

 Competition cam, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Twin charging conversions, Engine balancing & blueprinting, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression.

ECU flashing allows a tuner to release the full potential of all the mods you've done to your M60.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but power output will differs on the mods you've carried out and the condition of your engine.

It is the main goal to any engine tuning task to feed air and fuel into the M60 engine

Intake manifold take the air during the suck phase from the air cleaner and allow it to be sucked into the engine cylinders.

Design and flow rate of the Intake manifold can make a large improvement to fuel mixing and power on the M60.

Most intake are crying out for an upgrade, although some OEM provide well optimised intake.

Fitting big valve kits, doing some port matching and head flowing will also improve torque, and significantly will make space for an improved torque increase on other mods.

Which turbo upgrades are best?

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your M60

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes significant power gains.

However most engines have weakspots

It is important to find these limitations and upgrade to better quality components to utilize the power.

You'll commonly see there's a limit in the air flow sensor MAP/MAF/AFM on these engines when a lot more air is being sucked into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited power at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp gains, although more difficult to setup. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Fuelling

You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so will have to look at the fuelling when you start going beyond 20% of a torque increase.Don't forget to be generous with your injectors flow rate.

The rule of thumb is to add 20% when fitting an injector, helps cope with injector deterioration and allows a little spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

Choosing the right performance exhaust

One of the most common mistakes and problems we see in tuning projects is usually down to the exhaust, or rather a poorly chosen exhaust for your engine.

You should look to boost your exhaust if your current exhaust is actually causing a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you should find that your flow rate is good even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow through the engine but do not go too wide or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be traced to the catalysts installed, so adding a freer flowing performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the M60

The M60 engines are generally reliable and solid as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.

Regular oil changes are vital on the M60, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.

For more information on Tuning your M60 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

Please help us improve these tips by sending us your feedback in the comments box below.

We love to hear what our visitors have got up to and which parts work best for them on each model of car. Comments are used to improve the accuracy of these M60 articles which are continually updated.

This article was written by Waynne Smith on TorqueCars, and I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under BMW. You can leave a response below or join TorqueCars forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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