# Stand alone or piggyback? Who's running what?



## chucksrt (Nov 4, 2008)

I am trying to gather as much info as I can before I get to the point where I will need this. I have a 99 540i sport 6speed and I have been doing some minor bolt-ons to pump it up but My goal is to turbo it. I am just wondering who is running a stand alone or even piggyback for that matter? I would rather stick with the factory ECU and have it programmed to work in a boosted app; I know they offer programs for S/C setups where they already have the maps for it. My guess is that the factory ECU can be programmed to accept boost but just may need a good bit of Dyno tuning for the turbo setup. Anyone shed some light on this?


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## JasonSC540ia (Aug 11, 2009)

I would suggest piggy-back. I have had great success with the Greedy E-manage Blue(see my public page albums), but unfortunately its only for 4 and 6's. I was looking for a similar product for my 540 as well. Got the superchager but its only 6psi, and I'v got plans for a custom liquad to air intercooler, and a 12-14 psi pulley. I was searching for piggy-back set-ups for a V-8, but I have'nt had any luck. I just setteled on adding the fuel I need with a couple of additional injectors and controlling them with an HKS AIC. Iv been doing some research on the E-manage ultimate, but cant find any info if it supports V-8's. A SAFC should work to a point:dunno:. Your talking about turbo...so I dont think that would work to well for your application. You've got a lot of work ahead of you. I thought about going that direction myself, but the plumbing/tight space involved with that is outrageous. Im cerious as to what your planing...twins or a large single. Plaese let me know if you find a piggy back system we can use, and Ill do the same. Keep me posted on your set-up/progress also. Let me know if you need any advise/help. Iv got many years of turbo experience.

Also a buddy of mine has told me about the "mega squirt" stand alone system. Iv been doing some research on that as well. I did see an older 3 series running one.:dunno:

Let me know your thoughts:thumbup:.


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## chucksrt (Nov 4, 2008)

Thanks for the reply! I am thinking of a singal turbo depending on placement. I will be getting under the car to look at what space I may have to do a rear mount turbo. I would much rather have the turbo up front near the airbox but if it seems like a lost cause I may just mount 1 or two turbos behind the engine near the trans but truy to stay as close to the headers as I can. My only real dislike for rear mount turbos is that you need a pump to evacuate the oil from the turbo to push it back to the pan. I am going to start doing a lot of research on the Piggyback systems as well as pick the brains of the guys at Powerchips to see if they might be able to custom tune something.

Mega squirt has been around for a while and it's major benifit is it's price!!! It is dirt cheap. but you will need a lot of dyno tuning time. I ran Bigstuff Gen 3 on my Iroc R/T and it was very nice but cost a good bit of $$


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