03-12-2020, 05:37 PM | #1 |
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JB4 on G20 330i First impressions
I just installed my JB4 today. I had a JB+ all this while and I was satisfied with it. But the itch for a faster car, or something comparable to my B9 A4, kept nagging me. I scoured various forums for used units since a new one ends up being a wee bit expensive for me. Another thing that held me back was the complicated (to me) install (the complicated part being the routing of the OBD2 cable for the CANbus operation).
I struck gold a few days ago and managed to snag a slightly used unit for a good deal. The seller ovox0 turned out to be a nice guy who answered all my questions. I didn’t even have to open it up to install the JB connect kit since he had already done it. And most importantly, he shipped it out real fast and it reached me in 2 days flat. Uninstalling the JB+ took all of 10 seconds. Literally. I was worried about breaking the TMAP sensor clip since I already broke the MAP sensor clip when I first tried to install the JB+. Luckily, the second I removed the lock, the clip popped right off without me even having to apply any force. I was surprised at how easy it was. Installing the two wires from the piggy back as another ten second affair (Just make sure to clip the TMAP sensor wire in properly since I hadn’t and even drove around with it unplugged. The car kept throwing a CEL (absolute manifold pressure low) and I thought it was probably a faulty unit or something until I rechecked the connections and found out that the TMAP clip had become completely undone. The location of the sensor made it difficult for me to properly clip it in but once that was done, all was well again and no CELs). For the OBD2 cable, I went the easy route and installed it through the door jamb and into the hood instead of poking through the firewall. The upside is it takes less than a minute to do it. Downside is that the wire is visible when the door is open but I don’t care. It works. It’s easy to install and uninstall the entire unit in a minute or less. That’s all that matters to me. I used the JB4 mobile app to go to map 2 directly since I had read that map 1 was only slightly better than a JB+ and it was also for 91 octane fuel. I made sure there were no errors and stuff and backed out of the garage gingerly. Drove out of the community and floored it on an empty stretch of road. The only thing that came out of my mouth was wow! My wife was with me and I had warned her. She also let out a gasp as the car accelerated. We both looked at each other and she said “Well yes. That thing definitely works”. I did not expect to find a noticeable difference between the JB+ and JB4 and boy, was I wrong. The car pulls much harder now. And this is without even driving much except for the engine to warm up. I couldn’t drive much but whatever little I drove, I loved. It was like driving a whole new car again. And she feels as fast as my B9 A4 was! Maybe even a wee bit more The JB+ had a noticeable boost once the turbo spooled up. The lag felt exaggerated. With the JB4, the turbo spooling up feels even better. The lag before the turbo spools up doesn’t feel bad at all. It is definitely smoother than the JB+. The car also doesn’t feel like it runs out of steam at higher rpms. So was it worth it? Absolutely. It’s worth every penny (or cent) I paid for it. I’m so glad I decided to get the JB4. I’ll post more once I get some more seat time in the car. Alone.
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03-12-2020, 09:20 PM | #4 |
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I can do videos. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be able to do the obdlink app readings because I’ll have to remove the obd connector of the jb4 (to plug in the obdlink lx) which makes it default to map 1 instead of map 2 which I’m running with it plugged in. Map 1 is similar to JB4. Map 2 feels much better than map 1.
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03-12-2020, 10:05 PM | #5 | |
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03-12-2020, 10:45 PM | #6 | |
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From JB+ to JB4, the difference is definitely noticeable. Maybe not as much as say stock to JB+. But it is still there. If you are, like me, looking at a bump in power but don’t plan on going crazy with the car, like say, meth or E85 blends or FBO and stuff, and want VFM, JB+ is the way to go. For $$, it’s hard to beat. I got the JB4 for exactly what I was looking to pay for a used unit and it worked out for me. But if I had to pay full price (including cost of the connect kit & cost of the JB4 mobile app (thats $30 extra over the $140 for the connect kit), I definitely would not have gotten it. I mean. $699 for a piggyback with Bluetooth is a little too much. Install of the obd cable is easy if you don’t want to poke the firewall and don’t mind the cable being visible when the door is fully opened. If you look at the door jamb with the door wide open and with the hood open, you can easily find the route to guide the cable. The problem with the pics I posted is the orientation, which is probably why you’re confused. The first pic is a photo of the door jamb with the cable visible (when the door is open). Rotate the pic clockwise by 90deg for the correct orientation. The second pic is from the outside of the car, with the hood open, near the windshield and the door. Rotate the pic anti-clockwise by 90deg for the correct orientation. The third pic is from the drivers side part of the hood, showing the cable routed in. Trust me. If I can guide it that way, anyone can. I’m one of the least mechanically inclined people on this planet and I could do it without a problem. You’ll have no trouble at all
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03-12-2020, 11:33 PM | #7 |
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This is great, congratulations man! Glad that you have awakened the true potential of the car
How does it sound though? Any different at start up or when you’re on the road? You don’t have an exhaust setup but maybe it’s time to think about it.. Maybe resonator delete? Would definitely bring out the burbles way more... I’m contemplating getting my mufflers reinstalled and then removing my resonator.. And then I’m gonna put in my DP and call it a day for the exhaust setup. But yeah, real interested how it sounds with JB4.. because with BM3 this thing does not sound like any of the other inline 4’s or even the N20, it sounds really good for a 4 banger IMO |
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03-12-2020, 11:38 PM | #8 |
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Honestly all I can say about the sound of the B48/B46 is good, the aggression of it, the tone of it, the burbles and crackles, I think it’s all really good. However, it will never compare to the sound of a 6cyl like the B58, reason being the 4cyl will always lack the depth of where the sound is coming from.. There is an endless void behind the sound of a 6cyl that is just inexistent in the B48
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03-13-2020, 12:22 AM | #9 | ||
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Regarding the exhaust note. I’m not sure if it’s a mental thing or not but it does sound a wee bit better. For the first time today, I heard my exhaust make gunshot like crackles while downshifting to high rpms and while it didn’t sound crazy like the MP gunshot burble tune for the B58, it sounded nice. Just the right amount for me. And yes. My next mod will be a muffler or res delete. Only thing I’m worried about is drone. I also agree with you regarding the exhaust. Exhaust note in my A4 was zero. Zilch. It was so quiet that it was depressing. That has changed with the 330i. It sounds wonderful for a 4 pot. I know people who have exhaust mods on their A4s and it sounds only as good as the stock exhaust on the 330i. The pops, crackles and burbles are all music to my ears. I love it so much that when I’m alone, I turn off the music and put it in sport plus and have some fun
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03-13-2020, 02:12 AM | #10 | ||
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03-13-2020, 08:31 AM | #11 |
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Nothing I believe. I just prefer changing stuff via my phone since I don’t use my computer much. Even my Racechip had the ultimate connect which was via an app on my phone. If you don’t mind using your computer, then you don’t need the connect kit and app and you can save $170 and just pay for the cable instead.
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03-17-2020, 09:08 PM | #12 |
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I got a speedometer recording of the JB+ and JB4 on map 2. Surprisingly, they’re both exactly the same :| IDK why my butt dyno felt a difference. But I’ll do a couple more runs later and even change to map 1 and see if there’s any difference.
Am I disappointed? Well not exactly. Like I mentioned, my butt dyno could notice the change. So could my wife. Another thing is, I finally got launch control to activate today. JB4 run was done on launch control whereas JB+ was brake boosting to over 3000 rpms. I’ll try the old method and see if there’s a difference. Also, I had driven the car for over an hour before trying LC. I went WOT a bit and drove hard for almost the entire hour. So there probably was some heat soak and stuff? No idea. But I’ll be doing another run in a few days hopefully. I use the JB4 mobile app. According to the app, my car has a maximum boost of 27.3psi recorded by the app Not sure if that’s an error or not. I noticed it yesterday during a WOT run. And the same thing today too. I need to post on the other forum and find out what’s happening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr7xFCQQms
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03-18-2020, 11:07 AM | #14 | |
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And I also didn’t notice that it didn’t go till the redline in S mode. It does in manual mode since the car doesn’t upshift automatically and you have to upshift. Also, throttle pedal was to floor, past the kick down button. So it’s the car shifting and not me.
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03-18-2020, 11:35 AM | #15 | |
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03-18-2020, 11:42 AM | #16 | |
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Also, my peak values of boost are - 27.3, 28.1 and 28.4 Thank god the app saves the peak values and you can see it. I’ve posted in the n54tech forum. Let’s see what they say.
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03-18-2020, 11:53 AM | #17 | |
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I would be petrified if this was my engine |
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03-18-2020, 12:16 PM | #18 |
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That’s the issue. My car feels perfectly normal to drive. Sounds fine to my ears too. Will it knock when it’s idling? Other than microphones and stuff in the engine, how do I know if it is knocking or not?
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03-18-2020, 01:15 PM | #19 | |
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No, you will not get knock or DET while idling, it will be when the car is under load / boost, etc. This is the scary thing, without an experienced tuner looking through many logs under different conditions, and possibly a knock microphone strategically placed on the engine block, no one can know what kind of real damage is being done to the engine until poof, one day it fails and then you are screwed. I am not trying to scare anyone, but again, if that boost is accurate - 28 psi, I can't imagine that not having serious negative engine implications. |
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03-18-2020, 04:11 PM | #20 | |
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My car definitely feels normal to my ears. Feels the same when I drive too. No difference. Even when WOT, the car behaves normally. I’ll update when I hear back from the BMS people regarding my posts and what they have to say.
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03-18-2020, 05:42 PM | #21 |
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If you are really consistently hitting 27-28 psi boost and this stock engine is just find and dandy, not dumping more fuel, not pulling timing, not knocking and detonating, then this is one of the greatest mass produced engines every produced in the history of automobiles. My guess is this is also a less than 1% chance.
27-28 psi of boost at this compression, on a mass produced engine, with stock internals, running on 98 RON would be like finding the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. |
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03-18-2020, 07:33 PM | #22 | |
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