Ideas - BMW Forum

kandi08 · 02-12-2010, 10:55 AM

Hi Guys
Any free/cheap suggestions to improving my acceleration?
Close to 140 bhp now, but just want a pinch more.
Can i exchange my inlet for one from a 2.5 for example?
Any help with this would be sweet.
Thanks in advance.

DanielBMW · 02-12-2010, 12:17 PM

What have you already done to it?

Torque · 02-12-2010, 06:50 PM

Chip is the only thing that is really worth it unless you plan on spending major money/time working on it to get power out of it.

m20 flywheel/clutch is a good upgrade if you have a dual mass flywheel; cams can be reground, but that's not cheap and it's a lot of work ...

Really, IMO, if you want more power than what you're gonna get with a good chip, you might as well look into swapping your engine for a m50/m52/s50.

edit: as for the intake ... nothing you do will get you power: the real bottleneck/restriction is the barn door air flow meter. That said, BMW got pretty much everything they could out of this motor within reason: it has dual butterfly throttle body, intake manifold with dual runners, factory headers ...

1LOBOSS · 02-13-2010, 01:50 AM

M3 motor

kandi08 · 02-13-2010, 12:45 PM

Thanks for your replys
M3 Would obviously be the choice, but not my wallets.
I was thinking more along the lines of superchip.
What if i take the MAF air flow sensor unit from a 2.5 and the inlet?
Any body know.
Injectors?
Or i am just lost in hope of some extra drifting power?

Torque · 02-13-2010, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kandi08

Thanks for your replys
M3 Would obviously be the choice, but not my wallets.
I was thinking more along the lines of superchip.
What if i take the MAF air flow sensor unit from a 2.5 and the inlet?
Any body know.
Injectors?
Or i am just lost in hope of some extra drifting power?

You can't take a MAF from a m50. It is a hotwire maf and the m42 uses a vane AFM ... they work in completely different ways. There are conversions out there, but they are quite pricey. Look up splitsec.com ... I know they used to make a MAF conversion kit. If you meant a larger AFM from a m20 2.5, that wont work either ... the a/f ratio will be all out of whack.

Really though, if you can't afford a m50, start stripping the car out ... from what I've seen online, there is at least about 250-300 lbs that can be lost. If that's not an option either ... I don't know what to tell you, but it's gonna be pretty hard to drift.

drz · 02-13-2010, 04:06 PM

Does Downing Atlanta still make a supercharger kit for that engine?

Torque · 02-13-2010, 07:32 PM

I don't know if they still do, but honestly, I don't think it's really very cost effective at all ... you spend 4 grand to basically get the same power as a stock M3 when a m50 swap with s50 cams, intake, chip and exhaust will only set you back half that and make the same power ... for the cost of a DA supercharger for a m42, you can probably have a aforementioned m50 swap with a low(ish) boost turbo setup.

drz · 02-14-2010, 12:03 AM

Agreed.

kandi08 · 02-14-2010, 11:19 AM

Thanks guys, i will check it out.
Will keep you posted on what i do next.
Stripping it out a bit sounds pretty cool though.
Thanks