E30 Zone

So. Sorted the power steering issues and the sucking inlet manifold and annoying whistling! So it seems to be running well now and as a result my mind is turning to things performance related.

I would like to get a bit more oomph/performance out the current lump (325i Mtech2).

I don't want an engine swap. I am looking for ideas that can be implemented reasonably easily.

Anyone with any good experiences of...........

Cheers,
Jim

Get it running as it was when it left the factory. After that it gets very expensive.

Well, thats kinda what I was thinking.

If I'm honest I was thinking of sending the injectors off for cleaning, and putting a better panel filter in the existing air box.

I was just wondering if there was anything that anyone has done, that although seemingly simple or more maintenance related rather than tuning, has made a discernible difference.

Lots of people go for a chip. There's several advertised here. Not gone for one yet but having spent a reasonable amount of money on servicing then I'd hope that mine was running as well as it's going to. A mild one for a 325 is said to increase the mpg and make the car more driveable.

Interested to know what people's experience is with them.

Ive done up a number of Defender TD5's and they respond really well to re-chipping. Same sort of thing your talking about. Making it more driveable round town and motorway cruising as well as improving mpg rather than the out and out power chip.

once you get the engine factory fresh money is needed in large amounts, panel filter and a decent exhaust will aid the engine but not if the engine doesnt know there installed. so you would need to fork out for a re-map. far better spending the money on a professional suspension set up, an lsd if u dont already have one and some descent bushes. your car will be faster around bends hence youll see a greater performance increase than adding parts to the engine. to get real hp gains cost big money, thats why people just bolt a bigger lump in. throttle response can be quickend by sorting the inlet but to do a proper job costs more than its worth and makes town driving fairly jolty.

get a mild chip in there mate, does the world of good. would've beleive the difference it makes

there is so much more to be had than the typical mild (id even call it weak) alpina B3 chip that seems to be very popular. i bought one and had a look at the maps and it really doesnt do much for a standard-ish M20. the B3 had a cam and god knows what else as well as being stroked so the B3 tune runs very little ignition advance, believe it or not actually runs less than a standard M20 tune in some areas.

i wouldnt bother with a panel filter tbh.. the cheapy motorfactor paper filters do just fine. ive got my 325i mapped to the hilt and its only got a handful of mods and it absolutely flies comared to how it ran with the standard chip.

mods are a 64mm TB, lumenition ignition coil electric fan conversion and M30 AFM (ECU tuned to work with it, wont run right without tuning). but saying that it still had a night and day difference before the electric fan and M30 AFM. if u want a decent real world gain on the cheap get a properly tuned chip and replace the original rubber air feed peice on the front of the airbox with a 3 inch flexible air feed and route it to just in below/behind the front headlights (as close to the grill as it can go) and open up the back of the slats in the little triangular portion of the front grill between the dipped and full beam lights on that side. will feel like a different engine even with only those 2 things...