The 7 Fastest N54’s in the World: 135i, 335i, 535i Horsepower Records

Even 11 years after the N54 engine was originally debuted, horsepower world records are still being set constantly. We have been waiting for the first 900hp N54, and one company claims to have broken this barrier. Today we are bringing you a post of the 7 fastest N54’s in the world.

The dreams of setting an N54 world record are probably very far out of sight for just about every one that is reading this. Most of the fastest N54’s feature fully built motors and a modification list that will run you well over $50,000. Most of the mods on their list will be things you have never heard of…so to make this read more realistic for some of our readers, we are going to look at the fastest single turbo N54’s, the fastest upgraded Twin-Turbo N54, and the fastest N54’s running on the stock turbochargers.

N54 Engine Modification & Tuning Course

From tuning to bolt-on mods to turbo upgrades and everything in between. Learn how to build a 750whp+ N54.

Module 1: General: Power Limits, Maintenance, Setups by Goal
Module 2: Tuning & Bolt-On Mods
Module 3: Fueling Upgrades
Module 4: Turbocharger Upgrades
Module 5: Supporting Mods

Take Our Course Now

N54 Engine Modification & Tuning Course

From tuning to bolt-on mods to turbo upgrades and everything in between. Learn how to build a 750whp+ N54.

Module 1: General Information: Power Limits, Maintenance, Setups by Power Goal
Module 2: Tuning & Bolt-On Mods
Module 3: Fueling Upgrades
Module 4: Turbocharger Upgrades
Module 5: Supporting Mods

Take Our Course Now

Part 1: The 4 Fastest Single Turbo N54 Builds

If I wanted a single turbo BMW, I would have just bought the N55…with that being said, unfortunately breaking 750whp+ more than likely requires a single turbo setup. The other unfortunate aspect is that single turbo builds are very expensive. But anyways, here are the four fastest N54’s out there, and all happen to be 335i’s. A second thing to note is that they are all manual transmissions. The DCT transmissions just can’t handle the torque that a manual can. If you are shooting for 600whp+ you will want to have a manual.

When I started writing this post, EMP Tuning and their Kraken N54 had the N54 world record with 920WHP…well, within the past month, that record has been beaten! We now have a new world record coming in at 978WHP!

1. Motiv Motorsports – 978WHP + 776TQ – E90 335i

Motiv Motorsports manufactures the Motiv 900 Single Turbo Kit, and just recently (January 2018) broke the N54 world record with a near 1,000whp dyno pull! Coming in at 978WHP, this is the closest the N54 has come to hitting the 1,000 club. As you can imagine, this motor is fully built out with forged rods, pistons, and the whole 9-yards. This run was a boost-only pull, meaning no Nitrous or other power adders! Check out this dyno pull:

2. The Kraken – 920WHP & 865TQ – 2007 335i

I know there has been some issues out there with AJ at EMP Tuning, but there is no doubt that he knows how to build some of the fastest N54’s out there. He currently holds the top two records at his garage in Florida.

Here is a video of their dyno run hitting 919WHP, and a couple highway pulls:

The Kraken Mod List:

3. The Panda – 890WHP + 793TQ – 2008 BMW 335i

The Panda is another single turbo build by EMP-Tuning, runing a WedgePerformance tune, and features a very similar setup to their 920WHP N54 we just featured above. The size of the turbo in this beast will eat your child! Again, we are on the E92 335i platform, featuring a 6-speed manual transmission and a mod list that will leave you realizing you will probably never have 900HP on your N54. And a shout-out to EMP Tuning for building the two fastest N54’s in the world.

And here is the child-eating turbo

The Panda Mod List:

2008 E92 BMW 335i
White with Coral Red Interior

4. 939WHP + 862TQ – 2007 BMW 335i Sedan

This build by Amit P. breaks the current N54 world record from EMP Tuning by 20WHP. Why am I featuring it at #4 instead of #2? Well, to hit these Dyno numbers, Amit used a 125 shot of Nitrous. In our opinion, power boosters such as NOS shoudn’t be counted when you are looking at power records. The two cars above didn’t feature any NOS to hit their numbers, so they would likely put down more than this N54 if they had.

Amit’s car was tuned by Ken Atkinson at WedgePerformance. Ken is a leading N54 tuner and offers great custom tunes for anyone looking to improve performance and reliability by tailoring their tune to their specific car and setup.

Regardless, this is still super impressive. Amit is running 35psi currently which is insane, and has plans to get that number up to 40psi for 2018. His car is a work in progress, and he doesn’t share much information about the build, but here is what we could gather, along with a youtube video of his car breaking the 800whp barrier:

Amit’s 939WHP Mod List:

Engine:
Benson Sleeved block
Wiseco pistons
Carillo Rods
ARP ½ Inch Head Studs
Ported head
Ferrea Valvetrain
Shrick Cams
Modified PCV System with a baffled port in the block to release all PCP

Drivetrain:
Spec Twin Disc Clutch
Aluminum 1 piece Drive shaft
Drive shaft Shop 1000HP Axles
Ford 8.8 Inch Diff with Helical LSD
CAE Shifter with Reverse lockout

Turbo and Power Adders:
AD – Engineering Single turbo kit with Precision 6870 Gen 2 BB Turbo
NX – 125 Shot nitrous kit (DRY)
AD – Engineering 1000HP Stepped Intercooler
Fab Factory – Intake manifold with 750cc Injectors in the port installation
Precision racewerks LS coilset

Boost Management:
Haltech PS 1000 in addition to the stock DME on a MHD Flash (Waiting for Syvecs)

Suspension:
Ground Control Full Race coilover setup with Camber Plates
Entire M3 conversion , every arm ,sway bar nut and bolt has been changed to M3

Wheels:

Daily: Apex Arc 8 with Mickey Thompson Street SS and continentals up front.
Drag: WELD 15×10 and using 275/50/15 MICKEY THOMPSN

Brakes:
Stoptech Big Brake Kit front and Rear with Extended studs
ARP wheel studs​

Part 2: The Fastest Twin-Turbo N54 Build

Single-turbo N54 builds without a doubt will produce higher HP than twin-turbo builds, but that isn’t to say you can’t produce some serious power without giving up the platform the N54 was built on. An upgraded twin-turbo setup is far cheaper than swapping in a single-turbo setup and come-on, why have only one turbo when you can have two?

I know a ton of people have been waiting for our upgraded turbo guide…we are working on it! Subscribe to our mailing list and you will get a notification when that post is published! I promise we only send like one email per month…

1. 847WHP + 726TQ – Vargas Twin-Turbo N54 on 25.4psi

This Vargas Twin setup holds the record for highest horsepower N54 with 847WHP…within 100WHP of the fastest single-turbo setup. Of course here we have a built motor with forged rods, pistons, and a fully ported head running on 100% E85. This setup was running 25.4psi, which is still shy of Vargas turbo’s record of 29.3psi on the same turbo’s.

This car laid down 776WHP on 21.6psi and trapped a world record on the 1/2 mile at 170.49mph with this setup! The owner wanted to run the half mile at 25.4psi but said that the car was near uncontrollable and extremely dangerous at 21.6psi and didn’t want to take the risk.

Fastest N54 Twin-Turbo Mod List:

Closed deck 9.5:1 compression N54 short block, forged rods, forged pistons
Fully Ported head with oversized intake valves, Manley springs, Ti Retainer, Stock cams
VTT GC turbochargers
Custom VTT inlets with 6″ velocity stacks
VTT Double Barrel HPFP system
EOS V2 intake manifold with top PI
ADE 1100WHP FMIC
Custom triple Walbro LPFP set up with Radium Surge tank
MHD tuner tuned by V8BAIT
100% E85

Part 3: The 2 Fastest Stock-Turbo N54’s

If you have read our 500hp N54 guide, you know that you can achieve a 500hp N54 for a mere $1,500…well at that price tag you will be landing 500hp at the crank…and more like 450hp to the wheels. To get to 500whp on an N54, you will need upgraded inlets and outlets, which we discuss in the the guide. Running upgraded inlets and outlets and E85, the N54 stock turbo’s can break this 500whp barrier. Let’s take a look at the world records.

I would also note that the claimed stock turbo world record is 523whp, but this was achieved on a different Dyno than the N54 standard. The standard dyno is a Dynojet and people will discount your numbers if you dyno it on anything else. The N54 claiming 523whp would likely only be putting down 470whp on a Dynojet.

1. 509WHP + 575TQ – E92 335i

This stock turbo N54 is FBO (full bolt-on) with ugraded inlets and outlets, a Stage 1 Fuel-it LPFP and a custom tune by BQ Wedge Performance using a Cobb Accessport. The car was running 24psi of boost. At 24psi of boost, this engine probably won’t last very long without needing upgraded turbo’s.

Here is the dyno run:

2. 500WHP + 540TQ – 2007 335i – Automatic Transmission!

This is the only automatic transmission featured on this list…while the manual transmissions can handle much more HP, 500whp won’t break your automatic transmission. This N54 was running FBO, with inlets and outlets, and 100% E85.

N54 500WHP Mod List:

MMP turbo inlets and outlets
JB4 custom tuning backend
fuel-it stage 2 LPFP
dual meth injection
DPs without cats
Big Tom intercooler
TFT charge pipe
custom 3″ intercooler up pipe
NGK .022″ gapped spark plugs