E30 Zone

Does anyone have any idea's about a conversion, I'm thinking of chipping my 86 320i but chippeduk told me I can't chip the older system?????

Cheers folks.

hi there- give Ant a shout (just send him a private message)

the Zone do their own chips, and as far as i'm aware they are about the best you can get Ԛ£55 is what it'll skin you

Ant will tell you if its possible to chip your car without a conversion

good luck

320Touring

what's his login?

ant

surprising, really

now, now jimbob, play nice!

nice response though!

yeah tommo320i its ant-he's the resident chip guru round here

good luck and let me know what the outcome is!

320Touring

Chipped UK is correct - you cannot chip the old LE Jetronic ECU because it is an analoge system and not digital. Because Motronic combines fuelling with ignition control, a rechip will increase the fuelling and advance the timing here and there and because they ran so lean to cope with a catalyst (even if YUK cars didn't have one), a rechip will give the engine the fuel it really wants. If you could alter the ECU on yours, all you would achieve is to put more petrol in.
The old cars like this were not designed to run with a catalyst so they have enough fuel as it is.
The best thing you can do with a 320i is to modify the inlet manifold to take a 325i throttle body and increase the fuel pressure a bit.

my 320 is an -87 but with cat. being that old should mean it's jetronic but how can I tell for sure? Tommo: think we are in the same boat, mate :]

I'm no mechanic martin so i have no idea, I'm only going on what I'm told, I'm thinking now a sports exhaust with some K&N bits ought to do the trick!

K&N filter and sports exhaust - waste of time. The first thing you need to do is fit a 325i throttle body so you can get a decent amount of air in. These engines were strangled to 120 odd bhp by BMW so that it would comply with German insurance regulations.
A throttle body will cost about a fiver/tenner from a scrapyard. Buy a new gasket from BMW (about 40p) and use a dremmel to open up the manifold using the gasket as a template. Stuff an old rag into the manifold to catch swarf. Use either a 325i rubber bellows or heat the old 320i one up with boiling water to stretch it onto the bigger throttle body.

To raise the fuel pressure, take off the fuel pressure regulator which is at the front of the fuel rail by the inlet manifold - it's a small metal cannister with a vacuum hose on the top. Stcik it in the vice between two 19 mm sockets and give it a squeeze of about 3mm. This puts the internal spring under more pressure and raises the fuel pressure, forcing more fuel through the injectors. It's crude and a proper adjustable regulator is best.

This will give you about 10 bhp - you'll really notice it.

A 1987 320i with a catalyst will be Motronic, even a chrome bumper car. Motronic cars have the distributor cap on the front of the head. LE Jetronic cars have the distributor down by the alternator.

The other problem with the old 320i is the distributor itself. It's got vacuum advance and retard (advance only on autos) and just blocking off the retard pipe can help. These distributors have a habit of seizing. take the cap off and see if the rotor arm can be turned - it should turn and spring back when released. If it doesn't, you have to pull the rotor arm off and spray WD40 into the top of the shaft, remove the felt pad first though. Then use a pair of Mole grips to get it moving, using loads of WD40. When these thing seize, a 320i is as flat as a witch's tits.

seaman: thanks.

just found out my car was actually built in -86. it's got a cat but I'm not sure it's original. the car is stored now during the winter so I can't check it for a while. is it at all possible that an -86 320i would be motronic?

sorry for bumping this up but I'm hoping to get clear with this before I'm off to australia (very soon!)

easiest way to find out is to pull the ECU,

motronic/jetronic is written on the casing.

ASAIK its a jetronic car

bollox, probably is.

ant: cheers, hoping it is motronic. would love one of them chips.