Cheapest way to get low end torque

[BUSTaMOVE]

cheapest way to get some low end torque

[007ben]

Chips
Cams
Trans

[BUSTaMOVE]

how hard and how expensive are cams to install

[TECH]

Differential gear ratio.

[bimmerfan620]

it's kind of a pain in the ass to change out the cams. i haven't done them in a bmw before but I have in a few other cars I own and they're never any fun as you have to reset the timing and it's just plain out time consuming.

[Autotechnica]

I say close ratio differential. Cams actually won't give you more low end torque. If anything they will reduce low end torque and increase high end HP. Plus this is never cheap.

It's stupid to get cams which give you more low end torque. You must make sure you know what your doing. Getting low duration cams will increase your low end torque. However, it will completely destroy your high end. It'll feel like driving an SUV, all low end, no high end.

The most cost effective way to "feel" like you have more torque (not low end) is to play with your gearing (differential). The RPM's will rise quicker so that you'll get to peak power outputs sooner, you don't gain low end torque.

Bryan

[dutchbmw]

Go for a K&N air intake filter and a sport header such as the pic below.... My feeling says that other tuningparts could damage your engine..... in other words, the lifetime of the engine becomes shorter through more load on it, be subject to wear...

The device i have is save your money and buy a M3, now or over a couple of months/years!

[bimmer_boy]

M3's that year don't even have much torque. If you want torque wait till the 530d deisel comes out. 370lbs of torque at only 2,000 rpm's!

[nick_g_evans]

Originally posted by Autotechnica@Mar 28 2004, 11:27 PM
I say close ratio differential. Cams actually won't give you more low end torque. If anything they will reduce low end torque and increase high end HP. Plus this is never cheap.

It's stupid to get cams which give you more low end torque. You must make sure you know what your doing. Getting low duration cams will increase your low end torque. However, it will completely destroy your high end. It'll feel like driving an SUV, all low end, no high end.

The most cost effective way to "feel" like you have more torque (not low end) is to play with your gearing (differential). The RPM's will rise quicker so that you'll get to peak power outputs sooner, you don't gain low end torque.

Bryan

Listen to this guy. He's one of the only guys in here who knows what he's talking about.

[thekid]

The problem with messing with the gears is that you can destroy the driveablility of the car. You can't mess with just first and second you have to do all of the gears. Findin 5 gears that are going to work well together is going to be tough. You might as well do a transmission swap. If you go messing with the gears you could end up in a car where you are always going to have to be switching gears, and the powerband might not line up well with higher gears. For example, in 4th you might have to rev to 5k before you could shift into 5th just because if you shift before then you'll be too low in the rpms for the gear ratio for 5th. I would think long and hard before trying to do this. Buying "racing gears" or a set of gears someone has put together that they know will give you better acceleration for you car is not going to be cheap, and finding stock ones that will work better will also be very hard and involve you taking apart your transmission trying a set, then tearing it apart again as you change one or two trying to find a set that work well.

[Fox]

a small block 350.

$400

[Autotechnica]

There is no "easy" way to gain low end torque. Changing your gear ratios by swapping differentials from other E36's is probably is easiest, least complicated way to feel like you have more low end torque.

There is no simple solution, and if there were no comprimise, any car company would have done something a long time ago. Torque is perhaps the most difficult thing to increase on any car. I think A LOT of you still need to read up on the differences between Torque and Horse Power, they are NOT the same and Torque is always more important than HP. Also, note the keyword. He asked for "LOW" end torque. Torque is a really complex thing to understand. So if you really want to find out, take some time and read about it. Quite honestly, if you don't know what Torque is, I can't explain it to you.

Back to the close ratio diff. If you do a lot of highway driving and don't mind the higher revs, try a differential from the "automatic" transmission of the same model of your car. I believe my 318 was using a 3.45 manual. I swapped to a 4.44 from the auto 318 into my '92. My '94 is still using the stock non LSD diff (ewwww). The power was amazing. I could leave each corner with the wheels spinning in 2nd gear, I could chrip my tires in 3rd gear. However, none of that matters. What matters is that I had a rev limited top speed of 180km/h and a highway cruising RPM of 4500RPM at 115km/h. The 4.44 I used on my 318 is perhaps the most extreme differential and was actually classifed by Quaife as a "racing" differential. Oops, I should have put more research into that before I installed it. At any rate, talk to fellow Auto-xer's and find out what diffs they are running. You'll find that it's very common for people to swap differentials to increase acceleration. You don't want gears that are too short, you have to pin-point exactly where you think the gears are too long, too short, etc. I found the 318's gears to be much too long. It took much too long to reach higher RPMs, and even then it took a while to reach redline. Shortening the gears on the 318 was a smart decision, I just wish I had a 6th gear.

I can tell you were looking for an easy $100 bolt-on solution, but that's not going to happen.

And if you're serious about power and performance, I'd suggest gutting some interior parts. It's free and increasing your power to weight ratio is perhaps the most cost-effective improvement you can do, both acceleration and handling wise.

Increasing low end torque at the expensive of top end HP generally benefits automatic transmission vechicles.

No offense to anyone, but some of you have absolutely no clue what you are talking about.

Bryan

[thekid]

opps I was talking about changing the transmission gearing. A diff would definatly be what I would reccomend. While not cheap, they improve how you put down the power and depending on how else they are built can actually put more power down sooner. However, this does not increase your overall torque. Do a swap to gain more torque, or look into a super charger.

[bimmer_boy]

Yall gettin' a bit overtight

[Autotechnica]

Originally posted by bimmer_boy@Apr 3 2004, 04:54 AM
Yall gettin' a bit overtight

Never hurts to know what you're talking about before you post :wink