320i BRAKE CONVERSION AND ENGINE MODS

[desikuti]

JUST bought a low mileage unmolested 320i SE on a G plate I want to know what would be required to give some stopping power-- another words I was thinking about putting e36 brakes on it, so i get five stud too!!WHAT DO I NEED????

The engine makes a lowly 130bhp as standard however the later e36 and e39 make 170bhp on the same 6 pot HOW???? im aiming for 200bhp in total with appropriate filters and stainless exhaust etc..... but to honest and realistic 180bhp would be great!!!

[kidsinister]

Everybody here is about to tell you to "drop a 325 lump in."

All together now...

Alec

[Guest]

well im in the same boat ,had my 320i chipped ,power boost valve ,eco valve ,plus green power flow filter ,had it up to bout 130 mph ,and that was it ,im now planning to drop a 325i engine in ,that should keep me satisfyed ,so drop a 325i lump in it

[BadDave]

Everybody here is about to tell you to "drop a 325 lump in."

All together now...

Alec

You could always go that little bit further and fit the 3.5 M30 motor.
Working on a big brake conversion at the mo
Would need a minimum of 16" wheels tho

[E30Adam]

JUST bought a low mileage unmolested 320i SE on a G plate I want to know what would be required to give some stopping power-- another words I was thinking about putting e36 brakes on it, so i get five stud too!!WHAT DO I NEED????

The engine makes a lowly 130bhp as standard however the later e36 and e39 make 170bhp on the same 6 pot HOW???? im aiming for 200bhp in total with appropriate filters and stainless exhaust etc..... but to honest and realistic 180bhp would be great!!!

Just to put you in perspective here... a 320 will NEVER make 200bhp or even 180bhp without thousands and thousands spent on it. It's hard enough to get a 2.5 to top 200bhp.

Also E36 brake conversions are a pretty big job and in my opinion, poinless unless there are a specific wheel design that you wanted thats not available in 4 stud. For the same price you could get a big brake upgrade which will give you far more stopping power than stock E36 brakes.

[Jos]

Everybody here is about to tell you to "drop a 325 lump in."

All together now...

Alec

You could always go that little bit further and fit the 3.5 M30 motor.
Working on a big brake conversion at the mo
Would need a minimum of 16" wheels tho

Yup, I am doing an M30 drop into my E30. Generation 2 Engine, so 218bhp stock, should make 235bhp with boltons (Air Filter, Exhaust etc)

Regarding brakes (as far as I know, still reading on this)

Fronts: any e36 hub will do, they all fit the wishbones on the E30.

Rears: Not sure about this one, you have discs at the moment, but the rear of the e36 is totally different to the e30. I don't know if the hubs are the same, I suspect they are not as the hub carrier is attached to the trailing arm. If that is the case then your options are rear trailing arms from an e30 M3 or from a Z3 Roadster. These are direct bolton replacements for your existing arms. I have no idea what else you should get with them. My choice would be to lift calipers, hubs, driveshafts and arms off a scrapyard one then uprate from there.

Also seen it mentioned that if you uprate the brakes you should change your master cylinder to the one from the e32 7-series

Don't take this as gospel, I am looking at exactly the same thing at the moment, except I have drums on the rear to get rid of. Any more info would be great!

[BadDave]

Also seen it mentioned that if you uprate the brakes you should change your master cylinder to the one from the e32 7-series

The actual one is from the 750i
This is also good upgrade for an E30 M3.
It does give a harder pedal tho
M3 master cylinder would be a good option as well
Standard m/cylinder is dia 19mm approx
M3 /cylinder is dia 23.5mm approx(think its 23.84)
750i m/cylinder is dia 25.5mm approx(think its 25.4)
You only need to upgrade the M/cylinder if you are using larger calipers(20% above std)
HTH

[Toby_Unna]

the later e36 and e39 make 170bhp on the same 6 pot HOW????

not the same engine, they're 24v heads in e36 onward

same block maybe but different everything else.