tuning a 325e

[vodomagoo]

they say 150 but it is actualy like 140ish, u lose all the mild high mpg software that was originaly in there, i get like 18 mpg usualy and 20mpg if im lucky. bimmersteven i know i will now use periods and more spaces to seperate thoughts

[Digitalwave]

Do they actually say 150 HP or do they say 25 HP increase? Cause that increase is lower in the rev range, not peak increase.

[5keta]

Originally posted by E30 Stu
lol. Well, the '84-'86 E30's are something I would never drive/modify....but, they are good cars. Sure, they don't have a lot of "ooomph", but, they are fun.

BimmerSteven will argue all day long about how the early chassis is supreme.

To each his own.

I have both versions, a high revving 323i euro and a 5000rpm eta engined 325. The eta will flat SMOKE my 323i off the line, even though the US car weighs 500lbs more and has a 2:93 diff. Only at very high speeds does the 323i catch up. My 323i has a drop in K&N and full euro exhaust with no cats. It is 500 lbs lighter and has the sport Getrag tranny with a 3:46 lsd. The eta? BONE STOCK. Not even a chip, although I am puchasing a JC next week, which the extra 20+ hp will allow the eta to outrun the 323i completely. With a 3:64 rear, the fat torque of the eta will be even more fun. No Oomph? You might want take another drive in a properly tuned eta.
My 323i euro will run with a US 325i in almost a dead heat, even though the US car has more hp. The difference in hp is small, 17 hp stock difference, and my lighter weight and sport gearing more than makes up. The venerable eta engined cars may not be favored, but that just means parts and spares are less expensive.

[Dave 325i]

dyno chart - 1986 325 with Jim C chip.

[E30 Stu]

Bottom line here. Chips will add some power. However, like I said, the ETA motor is NOT a high performance motor. My 318is with a 3.73 diff (definately slower than the 4.10) outruns my brother Johns (sorry John, but ya know it's true) '87 325e with a 3.25LS.

The ONLY WAY to go with an M20 is a 2.8L or 3.0 (or 3.1) Stroker kit with high compression and a hot Schrick cam.

IMO, stock M20's, 2.5 or 2.7, do not make for a really hot setup, unless you put a 2.5 in a early model 2002. Hot, stroker m20's ARE the only way to go for E30 cars. We know this.

Sure, making 125hp at the wheels is nice with a chip and such, however, we prefer seeing M20's that will lay 215 to the wheels and an INCREDIBLE amount of torque.

We build the E30/M20 cars that have no problem running down E36 M3's.

[BimmerSteven]

Originally posted by E30 Stu
We build the E30/M20 cars that have no problem running down E36 M3's.

Nice.

'Round here, we drive E30/M20s and have no problem running down E36 M3s. And that's without any hot stroker...

[E30 Stu]

Originally posted by BimmerSteven


Nice.

'Round here, we drive E30/M20s and have no problem running down E36 M3s. And that's without any hot stroker...

haha, we know how you drive Steve.

However, I'm talking about straight line acceleration

[uberpanzer]

Stuart, you're ALSO talking about an ideal set-up for street/strip. All the guy was asking for was a LITTLE advice on what to do to get a tiny bit more power out of the car. Next thing you know this turns into the typical "You need THIS engine swap, not THAT monster motor" debate.

Bottom line here is that with the car he's talking about he can get a few more hp and some more power out of it with a few little things. Thanks Dave for posting the dyno chart proving the extra whp across the board. And like I said before, a well designed heat shield/intake combo would work wonders too, but you might have to build it yourself. There are a few people out there that make them for the E30 cars, but you gotta find them (wasn't there someone on DTM doing this too?). If you don't want to go THAT route, there's always the K&N in-box replacement filter too. Not as much airflow, but also a lot less hassle.

And since it HAS been brought up now, a good diff would work better than most power parts. Only draw back is the reduction of mpg and top speed, if you go VERY extreme. Mariano has a 3.75 (I think) in his 325e, which does make it pretty quick. But he also can't go too far over 125 now....rev limited. It really sucks taching out a E30.....where's that 6 spd when you need it?

[E30 Stu]

Originally posted by uberpanzer
Stuart, you're ALSO talking about an ideal set-up for street/strip. All the guy was asking for was a LITTLE advice on what to do to get a tiny bit more power out of the car. Next thing you know this turns into the typical "You need THIS engine swap, not THAT monster motor" debate.

Bottom line here is that with the car he's talking about he can get a few more hp and some more power out of it with a few little things. Thanks Dave for posting the dyno chart proving the extra whp across the board. And like I said before, a well designed heat shield/intake combo would work wonders too, but you might have to build it yourself. There are a few people out there that make them for the E30 cars, but you gotta find them (wasn't there someone on DTM doing this too?). If you don't want to go THAT route, there's always the K&N in-box replacement filter too. Not as much airflow, but also a lot less hassle.

And since it HAS been brought up now, a good diff would work better than most power parts. Only draw back is the reduction of mpg and top speed, if you go VERY extreme. Mariano has a 3.75 (I think) in his 325e, which does make it pretty quick. But he also can't go too far over 125 now....rev limited. It really sucks taching out a E30.....where's that 6 spd when you need it?

A well built intake setup will yield about 2hp. That brings our ETA up to around 123hp. A nice muffler won't do squat since the bottleneck in the E exhaust system is NOT the muffler, it's the entire rear 2->1 section.

The E motor is obsolete. A COMPLETE 25i engine/drivetrain should be swapped. We're talking about spending $800 here. This isn't bad considering the gains you'd get over spending $500 on a chip, intake, and full exhaust.

[uberpanzer]

$800 for parts.....MAYBE. What about labor? Does his dad have a shop?

The point here is that his motor is not BAD!!! It isn't going to hurt to add these bits. It WILL help. He already has exhaust, the chip will be around $250 and the intake CAN be a K&N with a home built shield, $80 max. So for less than $400 he gets more power, across the board, and doesn't have to pull the motor.


READ THE POST!!!! SIMPLE QUESTION ABOUT SIMPLE MODS!!!!

If that isn't enough power for him, then yes, swapping out for an i motor might be a better alternative to going with cams. But that's also why I said that it is then an investment.

The eta motor isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It doesn't rev high, has different internals which aren't the best for pure track applications, but it STILL has gobs of torque, and is already in this car! He's asking about modding THIS engine...give him some advice on THIS engine, or don't post on the thread!

BTW, if the M20B25 motors are so good Stu, why don't YOU have one in your car?

[Dave 325i]

Alright boys, let's stop the hatin' The man drives an M3 anyways! Maybe Ronin got some ideas on what to do with the eta once modding the M3 gets dull and wants to hit the old school.

However, I do have a question for Stu

Hot, stroker m20's ARE the only way to go for E30 cars. We know this.

Does this mean a hot stroked M20 is preferable to the M50 conversion?

[E30 Stu]

Originally posted by Dave 325i
Alright boys, let's stop the hatin' The man drives an M3 anyways! Maybe Ronin got some ideas on what to do with the eta once modding the M3 gets dull and wants to hit the old school.

However, I do have a question for Stu



Does this mean a hot stroked M20 is preferable to the M50 conversion?

No. M20's and M50's are 2 different worlds.

[PbZep]

I know its kind of an old thread, but with rising gas prices, I thought this would be a good first car for my little brother to learn to drive in. 30-35 MPG is great, it handles like... well, like a BMW... but the power IS lacking.

I happened to notice some disbelief in the power of an upgrade as simple as a $200 chip... till I realized that this inline-6 is purposely de-tuned for economy. Yea, its biggest power gains come at 4500 RPM, but in this low-revving car with diesel-like torque, 4.5K is almost redlining anyways.

We all agree that Dinan is the gold standard, right? Well, here.

Dinan Cars - Performance Engine Chip

The section titled, "Pictures/Videos" has HP comparisons before and after their chip.

I DO have a question related though... I've always been a gear-head and would love a few cheap (lets not forget, its his first car) ways to increase the BMW's performance. I already have a full tune-up, replacement sport springs/dampers, and Dinan's own adjustable anti-roll bar and camber plate picked out (as well as a fresh set of sticky rubber, new brake lines and pads) for his xmas present in the hopes that we can go auto-crossing this coming summer together.

Sorry about rambling, but my question is... Besides a freer-flowing drop-in filter, the chip, iridium plugs and nice plug wires, where can a guy find a bit more HP on a budget for this car? Keep in mind that while I may READ every auto mag that exists, my actual hands-on experience is moderate at best... and merely knowing which mods work in this model is one thing, and even logical, I don't know which companies to turn to that I can count on.

Oh, and hey guys! I'm new here. Nice to meet all of you.

[Potenza]

Originally Posted by PbZep

I know its kind of an old thread, but with rising gas prices, I thought this would be a good first car for my little brother to learn to drive in. 30-35 MPG is great, it handles like... well, like a BMW... but the power IS lacking.

I happened to notice some disbelief in the power of an upgrade as simple as a $200 chip... till I realized that this inline-6 is purposely de-tuned for economy. Yea, its biggest power gains come at 4500 RPM, but in this low-revving car with diesel-like torque, 4.5K is almost redlining anyways.

We all agree that Dinan is the gold standard, right? Well, here.

Dinan Cars - Performance Engine Chip

The section titled, "Pictures/Videos" has HP comparisons before and after their chip.

I DO have a question related though... I've always been a gear-head and would love a few cheap (lets not forget, its his first car) ways to increase the BMW's performance. I already have a full tune-up, replacement sport springs/dampers, and Dinan's own adjustable anti-roll bar and camber plate picked out (as well as a fresh set of sticky rubber, new brake lines and pads) for his xmas present in the hopes that we can go auto-crossing this coming summer together.

Sorry about rambling, but my question is... Besides a freer-flowing drop-in filter, the chip, iridium plugs and nice plug wires, where can a guy find a bit more HP on a budget for this car? Keep in mind that while I may READ every auto mag that exists, my actual hands-on experience is moderate at best... and merely knowing which mods work in this model is one thing, and even logical, I don't know which companies to turn to that I can count on.

Oh, and hey guys! I'm new here. Nice to meet all of you.

Chip - The status quo for M20 chips are ones tuned by Mark D'sylva or Jim Conforti. You can google those two names to find the products. Search the for sale section on the E30 forums and you can find them used for a lot cheaper. I got a Jim C chip with ECU for $125. Dinan would be fine too, but I'd rather have one of the above. You can find copies on Ebay all day long too, but it can be a bit of a crap shoot.

Plugs - stick with copper plugs of OEM spec.

The biggest performance gain you can do to an ETA is change the rear diff ratio. 3.46 is the best. Don't go any higher than that.

Exhaust can help too. Generally a 3.46 LSD, ECU Chip and 325i exhaust are the only things you want to do to an ETA, anything else is just a waste of money.

And personally I would just stick with a fresh OEM air filter.

[Golden325eta]

I know ebay chips are underrated but these 2 look more decent than any other ebay chips.. ideas/thought?

20 hp Chip ! BMW E30 325 325e E28 528e CHIP 027 ecu | eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-325e-528...item2319181b83