Mods to do?

[Asthenia]

Hey guys, I have bought an E30 316i recently and was wondering what I could do to it to give it a bit more power.

Preferably better acceleration.

Being an 1989 car and quite the mileage the car would have lost a lot of it's power.

What would of went for it to lose this power? worn cams? worn pistons?

If so what could I do to bring it to life again.

Any ideas?

Cheers

[Jim320i]

A Good service is the first thing you want to be cracking on with. Make sure all the hoses have no leaks etc, getting it running perfect before trying to improve it performance wise. Unless of course it has been fully serviced and is running perfect?

[Asthenia]

I think it's recently had one, but tbh I may go over the whole lot to and give it a thorough clean up just to be sure.

But after this has been done, what do you think would be good for it?

Any good exhaust systems?

worth changing the cams? (considering the current ones would have wear on the lobes by now)

Inlet Manifold & Exhaust Manifold?

[Jim320i]

To be honest, i'm unsure with the 4 cylinder engines what can be done as never tried to tinker with one yet. I got one but its a sitting project waiting to start next year.

Whether you could chip it, i'm unsure but might be worth messaging 'Speedtouch' on here to see if he knows of owt about for a chip?

I'm sure someone else will be able to give you upgrade advise shortly though.

[Asthenia]

Yeah that's also a good idea, thanks for the advice Jim.

I'll hang on and see what other members think

[chu346]

What make you think the engine has lost any power? Camshafts and lifters wear on these engines but won't cause too much of a loss of power, and if it is that worn to cause power loss it will be making alot of noise. If you've got worn pistons, scrap the engine.

Been in your position 10 years ago, I bought a very nice 316i and wanted more power. I put on a k&n filter and added a power boost valve and I would of gained about 1bhp if that. Your other options are to turbo or an engine swap because tuning this engine isn't worth it.

[Motorhole]

If you're on a tight budget, drop in a 318i M40 engine, it's a plug and play swap and engines can be picked up for next to nothing! That will give you a few extra horses. Maybe a chip with an M42 tubular exhaust manifold may help a bit. Strip out all unnecessary weight, how far you go is up to you! But if you get to this stage and fit some decent springs & dampers & the wider calipers and vented brake discs up front, you will have a fun, capable car. Aside from that, for these engines, you're looking at forced induction for significant gains and that's big money!

Best value power is an engine swap. Save up! A 2.5 or 2.8 from a later E36 BMW can be made to fit and makes for a very quick car, provided you have a couple of £k to spend on the swap, parts and subsequent brake/suspension upgrades.

[Asthenia]

I must admit, the sound of an M40B18 1.8 engine does sound good. 102hp to 115hb sounds like a better gain to me.

If this is the case I may just get as much use out of the current engine and just improve handling and style.

With the M40B18 1.8 engine I assume you'd need to take the chip the gearbox along with too?

[Asthenia]

Also what about the M44 engine? from the 318IS 1.9? could that be dropped in?

[hongkongfuey]

Hello, where in hants are you?

It depends on age, ncb etc. And how fast or how much cash.

Like said 1.8 with a chip and a good service, easy swap.

M42 318is for more, there is prob a couple for sale on here .

Thing is the more power you put in, you have to think about brakes and front struts. With the 1.8, you can get away without telling insurance, engines look the same
Others wont and will have to declare mods.

[Motorhole]

Going rate for an M40B18 is about £50. I gave mine away for free to whoever was willing to turn up with an engine crane and help me remove it. You need the engine and ECU, everything else is the same, but it is easier to swap with the gearbox attached all as one unit than without. While you have the engine and gearbox out, might aswell change the clutch, check the clutch slave cylinder for leaks and check the engine mounts for wear/tear. It's also easier to do jobs like upgrading power steering rack to E36/Z3/E46 item etc while the engine is out.

You can fit pretty much anything into an E30, the engine bay is big enough, provided you have the skills and cash. People have even dropped in 6-litre Corvette V8s, BMW V12s, Glen is working on an M5 V10 conversion....

I don't know specifics regarding swapping an M42 or an M44 (I THINK M42 might be a plug and play swap too, not sure, but M44 definitely isn't) but folk on here have done it I'm sure someone else will be able to help. Check the M42/M44 bit here!

Remember the basics too - no point upgrading shocks & springs when your bushes are shagged, no point upgrading brakes if you're going to use cheap tyres etc.

[hongkongfuey]

Good points with the brakes and shocks

[Asthenia]

I'm in portsmouth as well hongkongfuey, where in portsmouth?

Cool stuff guys, I'll ponder over all this and try and design a good plan of action for the project.
appreciate the help guys.

I think I may attempt the M40B18 1.8 engine, as I'm only 21 so can't go too mad.

[Motorhole]

Do you have access to a garage mate, at home or otherwise? If so I'd be tempted to keep the 316i as is, slowly bringing back up to date with new bushes, welding were required, uprated shocks and brakes as and when I could afford it. In the meantime, invest in an engine stand and learn how to build an M42 stroker! In 3 years or so you'll have a nice NCB and a hot engine ready to drop into a good handling car

[Asthenia]

Erm my mate is currently working on a garage but it will only be a place to work on car projects unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to store it. But the next property I move to I'm going to look out for a garage.

But yeah good idea, I'll get thinking about it all and start sorting stuff out.

So do you think the 316 should just be done up? no point trying to increase its performance?

[Motorhole]

I'm saying keep the 316i, spend time getting it nice and mint and handling/stopping well and at the same time build a hot M42 engine (hence need for a garage) to put in your 316i once you have a nice NCB built up.

This way you won't waste any money doing stuff twice and you'll end up with quite a special car

You could go the whole hog and build a 2.1-litre stroker

[Asthenia]

Great idea mate! Think I'm gonna do just that

[Asthenia]

So I've come to the decision to work on an engine drop in at some point.

So I'm just going to be improving the handling of my 316.

Is there anything I can do to improve the acceleration?

even slightly quicker response and more pull?

Just thought I'd ask, also does adding an air cone filter actually improve acceleration and response?

[Ilkorin]

How bad is your camshaft? I did a head change on my first 316i and it made a world of difference. If the engine really feels like it's running out of puff (and even limited) at higher rpm, it may be worth thinking about...

Cone air filters don't really work that well on these cars unless you build a good heat shield. However they do sound nice, and I think the placebo effect of having one makes you feel like it's going faster.

[Asthenia]

I'm really not sure, I saw on the service history it stated "Cams are noticeable worn" or partly worn I can't really remember now, but I'm not sure if that's just the general wear of age.

I'm not sure if this is normal too, but the engine taps like the tappets are pinging loudly especially when revving up, other than that it's fine.

I wouldn't mind taking the head off to inspect this, anyone got any advice or instructions for doing this?