E30 Zone

thinking of adding a little extra bhp on my 325i se.

what do you guys recommend , K&N induction kit ? or K&n air filter ?

k and n panel filter that fits in your air box

You won't gain anything noticeable by changing the air filter arrangements on an M20, (or the exhaust)!

standard is best, a freeflow panel filter would help

If you want an induction kit a full inclosed induction such as BCM (is that right?). Otherwise a K&N 57i (or similar) with a homemade (or if you can find one) heatshield. This wont add any more power to an M20 but will give it a bit more of a roar and ever so slight difference in the throttle response.

They're only worth it if you want one, they wont give you more BHP. And it does help with a slightly more freeflowing exhaust. But this gives more of a distinctive roar than any power gains.

Theres many ways of looking for a little bit more bhp. If you save up a bit more maybe a lightweight flywheel (look in the group buy section so a good deal!) but that'll set you back roughly 240/260 i think, but will help putting the power down signifigantly.

Other than that theres plenty of ways to get a simple few bhp out of your car. Often a damn good service and fix up some old parts and new grease in the differential will make a noticable difference!

What about a new ECU? They were available on here werent they?

koool, i think you meant bmc quite abit on ebay £130+

how much are these ecu chips ? how will that ecu chip increase bhp to the 325i ?

how much gain would i get from an ecu chip on a 325i se?

dinan chip on e30 on youtube pretty sick i think !!!!



that dinan chip various from £200+ thats madd and goes up to 7 on the rev meter , check there comments. the ecus that are selling on this forum will they do that aswell make it go all the way to 7 on the rev meter ?


what about turbos looolz. is it worth and safe to have it on a 325i se coz ive seen on youtube and boy they go fast and can hardly control it !!!

you can get specific made heat shileds and id recommend a apexi power intake system
apexi

http://www.temple-tuning.co.uk/index.as ... intake.jpg

heat shield

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-318-325-E30-A ... 240%3A1318


the apexi intake is the best reviewed and best flowing and best filtration on the market even better then the k57i

the heat shield ive seen fitted and is very snug and does reduce intake temps, a mate used his obc temp senser for the intake senser and did drop 30 degree over it not there and was a massive 50 degree lower with the shield fitted and the main beam removed!! and does infact create a forced or rammed effect, i know you have to be going some stupid speed to get more air over forced etc but the air entering the area closed off will be more than the engine can suck in, plus with it fitted and the light removed make a nice induction roar!!

i highly recommend both items

and no i have no relationship to the sellers of these items!!

The chips on here are pretty similar to all chips made iirc. But i'm not entirely sure. I know they're supposed to increase bhp a tiny bit. Make the throttle more responsive and can help the petrol economy as well. I think they're around £80 but look in the traders and group buy sections in the forum.

You won't gain anything noticeable by changing the air filter arrangements on an M20, (or the exhaust)!

not strickly true! the exhaust creates a better flow by extracting the gases and having a aftermarket afm and then a cold air feed inclosed induction kit WILL give better results over standard!

what do you guys think of evolve chip ? any good , what price should i be paying for a send hand one ?

how easy are these chips to fit, will i need to do any soldering ? any diy instructions to insert chips in e30s ?



thanks.

zimmer-320i wrote:

You won't gain anything noticeable by changing the air filter arrangements on an M20, (or the exhaust)!

not strickly true! the exhaust creates a better flow by extracting the gases and having a aftermarket afm and then a cold air feed inclosed induction kit WILL give better results over standard!

Yeah Brian, do you not know anything about these cars?

If the OEM parts are in good condition they will be everything that an otherwise standard car could possibly need. Changing the AFM for something else is an entirely different procedure.

has anyone tried the hottuning enclosed induction kits for 40 quid, there the same as the bmc ones

k13 wrote:what do you guys think of evolve chip ? any good , what price should i be paying for a send hand one ?

how easy are these chips to fit, will i need to do any soldering ? any diy instructions to insert chips in e30s ?



thanks.

I don't know about the 2.5, but the Evolve chip didn't do a thing for my 2.0. No soldering required, just pull out and (carefully) push in.

guys im going to go for the K&n induction kit including the k&n heatsheild reason is ive had a kn induction kit put on my previous mk1 clio and it did give it some lil bhp to be fair so cos of experience im going to go for that...unless anyone can think of a better suggestion ?

i cant find the apexi kit for the e30 325i.

It's a BMW, not a Renault.

Therefore it's over-engineered from the factory (as was the case with E30s), not built to the lowest price possible.

Fitting an aftermarket air filter arrangement won't do diddly squat (although the K&N panel may improve things very slightly) when fitted to an otherwise pretty standard E30. A mild chip will help responsiveness and economy. Aftermarket exhausts on the whole will just make it a bit noisier without improving anything else by any noticeable increase, although a hot-tuning manifold should be an improvement on the OEM RHD setup.

If you want to feel like you're going faster without actually doing so, a 57i combined with a cheap large bore exhaust will make quite nice but rather loud noises.

Best bet would be a panel filter and a chip from speedtouch on here.

I used to work for BMW and the cars that came in with induction kits ran worse and lost the umpf.

Most of the PBMW race cars run a pannel filter in the origional housing and run some ducting from the front valance to channel in cold air.

The only real reason I can see for an aftermarket one is to reduce weight or increase the noise if thats your thing.

i still go for the two items i sugested above, which infact is in some ways the same as a oem air box only bigger and more air flow, if you go to the heat shield link you will see its completly enclosed, and apexi is alot better then k&n

Black_Potato wrote:Most of the PBMW race cars run a pannel filter in the origional housing and run some ducting from the front valance to channel in cold air.

The only real reason I can see for an aftermarket one is to reduce weight or increase the noise if thats your thing.

arnt they ment to be standard cars though with no mods to the engine

What they said ↑↑↑

Unless your car is in the state of tune where it is starving of air at high rev's then you don't a induction kit. You will just lose some torque low down in the rev's.

i wouldnt waste my money on one i would just buy a genuine bmw paper filter it will do the best job out the lot

town325i wrote: a genuine bmw paper filter ... will do the best job out the lot

More accurately, it will actually filter the air, which most of the others won't, and will flow as well as makes no difference as the best of them.

go for the k&n helped alot in my 318i and my (old)mk2 1.8 gti golf and even a 1.6 ztec escort i had gave it more power in the low end and gave very good fuel return. i have always found that sum thing stock was built as cheap as possible to lower production cost (study business). as you said you had a k&n before and it helped then go for it again.

sati wrote:go for the k&n helped alot in my 318i and my (old)mk2 1.8 gti golf and even a 1.6 ztec escort i had gave it more power in the low end and gave very good fuel return. i have always found that sum thing stock was built as cheap as possible to lower production cost (study business). as you said you had a k&n before and it helped then go for it again.

As cheap as possible? This is a BMW we're on about. Surely K&N follow this same principle too?

To be honest though, I've had a K&N panel for my car ever since I had it, so I can't comment on the difference it's made.

sati wrote:go for the k&n helped alot in my 318i and my (old)mk2 1.8 gti golf and even a 1.6 ztec escort i had gave it more power in the low end and gave very good fuel return. i have always found that sum thing stock was built as cheap as possible to lower production cost (study business). as you said you had a k&n before and it helped then go for it again.

meaning though you studied business you should know that a company add's alot of bullshit to the box to make it look like it does something when acctualy it might not its all hype and only tested on crap cars that it can make a difference on

go for the k&n helped alot in my 318i and my (old)mk2 1.8 gti golf and even a 1.6 ztec escort i had gave it more power in the low end and gave very good fuel return. i have always found that sum thing stock was built as cheap as possible to lower production cost (study business). as you said you had a k&n before and it helped then go for it again.

maybe in every other walk of life but in the bmw world no expence was spared and cost wasnt an issue to get the best in every way possible. allegedly.

town325i wrote:

Black_Potato wrote:Most of the PBMW race cars run a pannel filter in the origional housing and run some ducting from the front valance to channel in cold air.

The only real reason I can see for an aftermarket one is to reduce weight or increase the noise if thats your thing.

arnt they ment to be standard cars though with no mods to the engine

Standard engines but beyond the Air mass sensor its free so you can run any induction system you want.

sati wrote:go for the k&n helped alot in my 318i

The only way a K&N would do ANYTHING for a 318i is if the previous filter had been there almost since the car was built!!
325's use the same filter as a 318, and if aftermarket stuff does nothing significant for a 325, it's certainly not going to do anything for a little 4 pot.

The Golf and especially the Ford comparisons are not relevant - these are mass produced, accountant engineered cars, built to totaly different design criteria than BMW's.

meaning though you studied business you should know that a company add's alot of bullshit to the box to make it look like it does something when acctualy it might not its all hype and only tested on crap cars that it can make a difference on

well said!!!! but what direct marketing dosnt sell itself telling bullshit and false claims by using the worse type of prduct to stand its test agaisnt!!!

Brianmoooore wrote: The Golf and especially the Ford comparisons are not relevant - these are mass produced, accountant engineered cars, built to totaly different design criteria than BMW's.

Mass produced? There was over a million E30s built. If they weren't built to a tight budget there would be in no way that many.

But the engineering side i agree on. Anyway, induction kits and a full exhaust (bar the manifold) make a difference, but neither good or bad. The give slightly more throttle response and noise, and at high revvs overkill on air in the car causing more combustion and more petrol (only very slightly tho). Standard panels give the engine just what they need.

I'm talking about enclosed induction tho (open ones are pretty rubbish) and the air travels up the ducting and gets slightly forced into the engine (whereas an airbox allow air to flow in and circulate and only whats needed is sucked in). This causes the revv rate to change slightly. As if you've added 0.5/1 BHP tiny (really tiny) bit like forced induction.

Probably rushed the explanation.

If you're looking at spending £130 on an induction kit, call me first. I've got some old bogroll and three magic beans that you can have for £50....
That would still leave you enough cash for some brand new OEM spec 325i vented front disks and pads from Motormech.