E60 525d to 530d - tuning potential

[Breeze1]

Hello everyone,

To put it simply, I'd like to get an E60 535d, and found one, but pre-LCI, relatively high mileage (260 000 KM / 160 000 miles) especially for a car that seems to have lived a rough life, based on the state of its interior, both side mirrors damaged and not replaced, etc. It's cheap, but we all know what that means...

On the other hand, there is a one owner, manual (I'd have preferred an auto for this car but oh well...), well maintained LCI 525d with 80 000 miles for sale.

The thing is, being currently the owner of a mildly tuned E46 328i with circa 220hp, I would like my next car to improve on the power / torque levels, especially given the added weight. But then again reliability is paramount, so I'm not going to risk buying the 535d. The obvious answer would be "wait until you find a proper 535d", but where I live clean, well maintained, low mileage E60's are not a dime a dozen, especially the 535's.

So I'm considering getting the 525d and tuning it myself, remap included (I have remapped my E46), to at least 530d+ levels.

Based on my research, both cars share the same engine blocks, but the 530d haslarger valves, different turbo, and intercooler. The turbo and intercooler i can deal with, but not the valves. Can anyone confirm that they are indeed different on LCI models?

More broadly speaking, what power/torque levels can be safely reached on a stock engine, gearbox, shafts, diffs? I have seen ads online for 260HP/600nm stage 1 remaps. Given that I'm willing to delete the EGR and DPF, what power levels could I then reach ?

Thanks.

[Breeze1]

Replying to my own question I guess, but I did find an interesting writing about the differences between different kinds of M57's : https://www.darksidedevelopments.co....mw-m57-engine/

It doesn't mention valves, but at least the injectors and compression ratios are different.