bmw performance mods!

Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:14 pm

Hello, I have an e30 325i 4 door, and am about to buy a 325i 2 door. I want to know if there is any sort of engine swaps or modifications that are relatively easy to change and will give large amounts of power? As I have owned a slightly modified (air filter, ss exhaust) 325i for about a year now and find it just to not have enough initial torque? I want some serious power, something to make me concentrate when driving! Any ideas?

Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:31 pm

I want some serious power, something to make me concentrate when driving! Any ideas?

firstly welcome

if you want serious power fit a 'M' power lump

Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:33 pm

and if u need help Glenn is your man

hero and genius

answering your question, personally is depends on your budget

you could go 2.7 route
2.8 route
modify your m20
drop in an m30

the posibilites are endless

i say s38 lump personnally

u got a rough budget?

Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:34 pm

the m20 is very hadr to get power out of, 2.7 is the route to go if you wanna go above 200bhp or swap for an m30 or one of the 's' engines

Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:04 pm

Welcome!

A highly tuned M20 can be a very useful. The good thing about the m20 is it gives up most of its power before 6000 rpm and a majoroty of torque is available very low down the rev range if you have a 2.7.

As proven by car owned by Karan, Jimbob and the Alpina C2 I take care of - they make extremely quick cars.

However this route is expensive as it requires an engine rebuild.

The m30 3.5 Route is bar far the best economical way of getting big torque and power. You can then modify that to around 250 bhp.

The other route is turbo charging which will give monstrous amounts of refined power. Its not easy but there is no engine removal required. The work involves more fabircation and lots of mapping.

There is loads of info on this site if you use the search facility.

Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:11 pm

I know that this has been answered probably numerous times on this site but I'm a newbie and so... I'll ask again! Is that the 535i engine? how easy is that going to be to fit into a e30? apparently I will need a custom prop? any other custom parts? I'm in Portsmouth, anyone around hampshire who can do the work to an acceptable level? I probably got a couple of grand to do it all in?

Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:20 pm

couple of grand would do an s14 conversion would it not guys?

525i = m30 yeah

m5 engine = s38

Tue Oct 18, 2005 10:42 am

How about this....http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-2-7-TURBO ... dZViewItem

Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:16 pm

318-is wrote: 525i = m30 yeah

i think the 525 engine was an m30 too, but the 535 engine is the one were talking bout, fairly cheap to do and good power/torque.

Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:23 pm

the earlier 525 lumps on E34's were M20 too, then they went the 24 valve route as in the E36

Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:30 pm

u could always just say f u k it and put a sr20det nissan 200 turbo lump in or a cossie lump lol if u want extreme power and low weight!! its all about just wat u want to get from the car at the end of the day!! as everyone will say the e30 is a never ending car u can play with aslong as u look after it i know ive had 12 now lol 2 of which are Hartge cars! pick the best option that u can budget and enjoy the project romes not built in a day lol thats one i struggle with at times reason why i say lol

O and welcome to the Zone!!

Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:49 pm

Hi Louismonk, just a welcome from another Portsmouth zoner. There's a guy in Havant called Justin who specialises in E30s and has lots of recommendations from people on the zone. I think he trades as something like ETK, Ian (Hartge) will pass on his contact details or Bharat who even drives down from London to have work done! Haven't used him myself yet as I still get my work done by Bexley's in London. Hope this helps.

Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:57 pm

Danstable wrote:How about this....http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-2-7-TURBO ... dZViewItem

Linky no worky !

Taylor.

Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:10 pm

Taylor325i wrote:
Danstable wrote:How about this....http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-2-7-TURBO ... dZViewItem

Linky no worky !

Taylor.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-2-7-TURBO ... dZViewItem

Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:12 pm

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-2-7-TURBO ... dZViewItem
Working now?

Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:20 pm

garyp_E30_325i wrote:http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BMW-E30-2-7-TURBO ... dZViewItem
Working now?

Yes works fine now - cheers!

Taylor.

Tue Oct 18, 2005 6:27 pm

woohoo 400+ bhp = seriously quick E30. (if claim is genuine) - don't know that much about turboing yet.

Taylor.

Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:43 pm

Don't get carried away with that ebay ad, if you look closely, you get the engine, manifold and thats it, no turbo, no IC, no engine management, no charge pipes, etc etc.

I think the m30 engine would be the one to go for, custom mounts, custom prop and different rad i think are the main things. Obviously go for the 3.5 rather than the 3.0.

Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:44 pm

you know that e30 I was talking about... well its an '89 325i without a cat. Anyway, I drive it pretty hard... errr... all the time, and today I was just approaching the redline and it just went BANG and I heard a noise a lot like a dump valve! anyway, I presume I have broken the timing chain. Any ideas? and what engine should I put in now just for simplicity untill I get my new car? just a standard 325 lump? Or maybe something easy but a little more interesting? Seems a great excuse to me!!!