WANT MORE POWER 320I 83.

[williz]

what can i do to get more power out of my 320i from standard.
all ready got chiped,air filter ,powere boost valve.
cheers...

[pnd]

get rid of the power boost valve and fit a 325 throttle body, k+n filter and 6 branch manifold. 320's can be made to fly but above what I have said it starts to be expensive and most would say just fit a 2.5 engine as the cheapest way to raise power significantly.

[williz]

is the 325 throttle body a straight fit and what will it do cheers mate.

[Steve-E30]

is the 325 throttle body a straight fit and what will it do cheers mate.

Yes , We found that out when a mate of mine found out he had a 320 throttle body on a 325 , Id go with a panel filter rather than a cone filter as well

[williz]

will it increase power overall or make it quicker through the first couple of gears.

[fuzzy]

a great man once said "if your going to fit a 2.5 throttle body best to leave it attached to the 2.5 and fit the whole engine"

[Speedtouch]

How did you chip an '83 320i? They were L-Jetronic (analogue) prior to '88 and the introduction of Motronic...

[williz]

i dont no the guy in the shop said it could be done so i sent it off.

[Speedtouch]

Did you notice a significant power gain afterwards?

I found a cheap & cheerful way to improve my L-Jetronic 320i E30s (I had an '84 and an '87) was to remove the centrifugal rev limiter (spring-loaded earthing contact) in the rotor arm - allowing the engine to rev smoothly to the electronic rev limit built into the ECU (around 6,250 rpm) rather than the brutal cut off in power at around 6,000rpm.

[williz]

your NUTS did it make a differnce tho.
i aint got it back yet.

[swindy]

Get dir og the 320 and drop in the 325 complete. Less hassle.

[Speedtouch]

Yes, made a vast improvement in the driving experience because when 'ragging it', the abrupt cut off in power at the standard 6,000rpm limit is disconcerting, whereas the limiter built into the ECU cuts the power more progressively (it just starts to 'fluff', rather than shorting out the ignition sparks altogether).

[williz]

does that not damage the engine tho.

[Speedtouch]

No, so long as the cambelt is OK. Ragged my 320i's plenty of times with no damage done, even well after 100K miles

[Andyboy]

i dont no the guy in the shop said it could be done so i sent it off.

Then he is either lying or doesn't know any better. It is absolutley IMPOSSIBLE to rechip a 320i LE Jetronic ECU. This is because it's an analogue ECU, not digital. Even if it were humanly possible (and it's not), all you could do is up the fuelling and because these old LE Jet engines aren't Cat prepped the fuelling is pretty spot on anyway.
I would get the ECU back before he 'chips it' and charges you. If he already has, you have been ripped off. How much did they con you for?

The 325i throttle body is not a straight swap. On a later Motronic car it can be made to fit after a fashion but to do it 100% you really need the whole manifold and then fit the 320i injectors. The head also requires the tops of the inlet ports opening out a touch. This mod plus upping the fuel pressure with the FPR should net you 5-10 bhp but you've then got all the differences between the various vacuum take off's on the later TB to think about.

[Jhonno]

was goin to say.. you have been done if he says he can chip your car..

its a 320i at the end of the day.. never gonna be quick, better off spending the £Â£ down the pub

[ed325i]

The 320 engine can be made to rev well but will not make alot of torque.

You can fit the later motronic engine management which can be chipped.
Fit the 325 inlet maifold and T/B as Andy says.
You can get the 2.5 valves fitted in the 2.0L head.
Cam Etc

[snoops]

have you got any pics of your car?

[WerkdE30]

i put a 325 manifold on my 320. i would be amazed if any actual power gain was there if tested on a dyno. but throttle response is improved i also fitted a pod filter which further improved throttle response. but i doubt if any real power gains where achieved. i suppose it revs out a bit smoother so maybe 1 or 2 bhp might have been freed up.

honestly why tune a bmw engine. for the same money spent on building or buying a fast bmw engine you could drop in a nissan or toyota or even chev or ford and blow even high budget bmw powered e30's off the road.

im still very impressed with sum of the work done on the engines around this site.