Well, as some of you may already know I have been in the process of turning my 335i into a single turbo. If not here is the story.
Over the past year and a half I have been building up a good relationship with John from him installing 2 clutches(lol), valve intake cleaning, suspension work, tuning services, FMIC, charge piping, exhaust and the list can go on. I have been very happy with his services since day one. Always got to my car right away and got it done quick, never had my car longer then it should of been and was available with just a phone call away.
With this good history that we built, I approached him about a couple months ago asking him about doing a custom twin turbo setup for my car. He suggested that a top mount single would be a better route, I was kind of hesitant of this at first. I was use to the stock OEM tiny twins and really enjoyed the response that I had with it, very low end tq and decent power. My last dyno I did pulled 480/520 on his dyno. So after doing some research and pondering that idea… I decided to go that route of a top mount single turbo.
I then started sourcing up some parts for the build:
Here is a quick shot of the PT6466 vs the OEM turbo.
After getting all the parts together, I let John know and he was very responsive and quick on getting my car in his shop, Just days later he told me to drop her off and the madness begins.
Here are some pics of the build progress:
First task was trying to figure out where to place the turbo, so here is a quick fitment pic:
After John found a good spot to work off he started working his mastery fab skills and bang out the manifold, please excuse the pictures. we are using cell phones here, and not an SLR with filters. I find that end results and performance is greater then some fancy pictures.
Except this one:
After the manifold was completed, he then took his 1337 welding skills and moved to the downpipe / wastegate.
Here are some pics of the o2 bungs / spacers… The N54 run’s a dual Labamada system, since the car came stock with twin turbos the OEM o2 sensor placement was post turbo… Like any other car… But the problem with going to a single turbo is that the exhaust gases are mixed and if we were too put them post turbo it will cause the car to run like poop. The solution is to put the o2 sensors PRE turbo.
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Manifold and downpipe are now complete
After the piping was done, he was swift and work hard trough out the night to wrap my car up and get her running. I must say that I am very pleased with the end results. Not to mention time frame. It only took John one month from start to finish to complete this whole project, which to me is a great victory in the 335i community. There is only less then a handfull 335i’s running a single turbo top mount.
I also want to mention that during this process he always kept me in the loop of whats going on with the car, I never had to really worry about it because he let me know what was going on constantly.
The car is now up and running smoothly, currently only on 8psi till we hit the dyno very soon to turn the boost up. Here is a quick video of the car. Please don’t mind the dirt…
Again I give a huge thank you to John Donovan for getting this project done with a quick turn around time and great final product. For any one who needs any sort of custom fab work done and or tuning take it to Donovan. He won’t dick you around nor take his sweet time to finish your work.