Bmw 320D Swirl Flap Blanking

[mriyazh]

Hi. Guys I bought a bmw 320d 2002 facelift with m47n engine which has run around 1k miles on the clock. I wanted to see whether the previous owner did the swirl flap blanking which he has not done yet.

I want to know has any one done that on there cars does it affect the performance or economy..

and where can I get it done and how much will it cost. Thanks in advance

[mriyazh]

Hi. Guys I bought a bmw 320d 2002 facelift with m47n engine which has run around 1k miles on the clock. I wanted to see whether the previous owner did the swirl flap blanking which he has not done yet.

I want to know has any one done that on there cars does it affect the performance or economy..

and where can I get it done and how much will it cost. Thanks in advance

[Watchman]

Hi. Guys I bought a bmw 320d 2002 facelift with m47n engine which has run around 1k miles on the clock. I wanted to see whether the previous owner did the swirl flap blanking which he has not done yet.

I want to know has any one done that on there cars does it affect the performance or economy..

and where can I get it done and how much will it cost. Thanks in advance

1k? do you mean 100,000km?

[mriyazh]

Ya 100,000miles

[mriyazh]

Has anyone have done the swirl flap blanking on there cars.

[mriyazh]

Hi. Guys I bought a bmw 320d 2002 facelift with m47n engine which has run around 100k miles on the clock. I wanted to see whether the previous owner did the swirl flap blanking which he has not done yet.

I want to know has any one done that on there cars does it affect the performance or economy..

and where can I get it done and how much will it cost. Thanks in advance

[Davy]

Please stop opening multiple threads on the same topic.

[The Don]

All topics merged into one. Please do not do this again!

I had this done on my car when I first bought it. There are a couple of ways of doing it. In mine I think what they did was break the flap out from the stem so that from the outside it looks like it still has swirl flaps but internally there isn't.

You can also buy specially machined blanking plates which will replace the swirl flaps. PMW Ltd and BMW Land sell them and they cost about £20.

Swirl flaps were introduced to improve low end torque and fuel economy so you will notice a slight decrease in both. In my car average fuel economy dropped from 45mpg to around 40, and low end grunt is a bit less as well. Some of this you can overcome with a remap of the ECU, but I have not bothered with that, because the changes are not significant enough to warrant it in my case (its a weekend car).

Swapping them in is a simple job, and can even be DIY.

If the flaps break and fall into the combustion chamber it could be a very expensive repair so best have this looked at quickly. The later cars had the flap stem sizes increases, so they are less likely to break, but there are still reports of failures. Not sure if any have failed in SL.

The other way to get around this is to replace the intake manifold for which BMW will give you a 3 year warranty, and should they fail BMW will replace the engine. Its a fairly costly way to ensure peace of mind

[mriyazh]

Thanx Don for the advice. I'll get it done. Sorry for opening multiple threads. My bad.

[chiller]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="mriyazh" data-cid="278845" data-time="1434928221"><p>

Hi. Guys I bought a bmw 320d 2002 facelift with m47n engine which has run around 100k miles on the clock. I wanted to see whether the previous owner did the swirl flap blanking which he has not done yet.<br />

I want to know has any one done that on there cars does it affect the performance or economy..<br />

and where can I get it done and how much will it cost. Thanks in advance</p></blockquote>

[chiller]

Congrats on your buy. The true facelift e46 diesel is pretty rare here.. If its a manual tranny u ve got yourself a pretty nice ride there! The extra power and refinement is very welcome compared to the little aging pre-facelift 320d.

Since these were not permit cars they came with higher trim levels too.

I ve heard of the swirl flap issue..the power drop is not supposed to be that significant.. so i guess the benefit of blanking the swirl flaps outweights the cons.

Anyway keep us updated on new improvements and enjoy your ride.

[pug306xsi]

Do post some pictures

[mriyazh]

Thanks guys. I have ordered the blanks from eBay, Waiting to get it and do a DIY. Chiller you mentioned that these original facelift e46 diesels are rare here, how rare r they. I also didn't come across many when I was searching for one. Most were only face lifted on the outside. I have driven a prefacelift one before(my brother's), to tell u da truth this is a totally different car. More power more torque much refined engine. And lot more options than the basic permit ones.. I would love to share some pics with u 'll but don't know how to upload them on the forum.. btw anybody knows of any 6 forward e46 in the country..

[Rukster]

The facelift diesels are rare compared to the prefacelift diesels. However, petrols are rarer in both variants. Yeah I know one car that was a 6 forward, think it was a individual spec as well.. use to be a friend's. Unless I am wrong, I believe most were 5 speed manuals.

[chiller]

Theres only a handful of diesels. Facelift diesels are rarer than the petrols..probably because there were no permits issued during that time so people had to settle for the petrols due to high diesel tax.

Btw is your one a 'bmw individual'? there were a couple of custom ordered ones..so you might ve got luckier!

[Rukster]

I dont own a diesel. I have two e46 petrols - an m-sport and a 6 cylinder 2.2 ltr 320i Both are preface lifts. The 320 is a individual spec

[mriyazh]

Yes. Mine is a bmw individual. It's a 320d original m sport fully loaded, I think it's the only facelift e46 diesel individual in the country, as I know.? If I am wrong pls correct..

[Rukster]

Nope. there is a black which a friend owned.. 6 fwrd manual individual spec 320d...

[pug306xsi]

Hi did you buy the HL one which came up recently ?

[madmax]

Yes. Mine is a bmw individual. It's a 320d original m sport fully loaded, I think it's the only facelift e46 diesel individual in the country, as I know. If I am wrong pls correct..

There was a bright yellow or green colored individual facelift. Used to be owned by the owners of a baby store in Kirulapona.

[The Don]

What is an individual spec? A car you have gone to the main dealer, selected your combination of options and waited for delivery?

Isn't that how most cars are sold in SL (as in few dealers seem to have vehicles to sell ex stock)

[mriyazh]

No Don. Bmw individual is very exclusive.. it's not like other makes. bmw gives the customer the choice of few exclusive paint colours and interior materials, which is not available at dealership bmw's. If you have an iPad there s a free app called "bmw individual" in app store check it out you will understand wt I am trying to say..

[Rukster]

Agree. The Indicvidual cars have exclusive colours and options too... for example I had a BMW E36 - 318 individual few years back, it was a ruby black, had a grey interior, with anthracite headliner and OBC as standard... sadly its in a sad state now...

You can have a completely bespoke individual car with lots of added goodies that are normally not offered with cars that are sold at dealerships/agents

[madmax]

Infact a BMW Individual car is still ordered through the dealership. But the options offered are different to the common options, and comes at a very steep price. On the newer cars the exclusive paint colors are a $5000 option.

Edited July 15, 2015 by madmax