performance

hanse21 · Post by **hanse21** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 12:48 am

what would be the first move to make to get a bit more power out of a 320i?

e21-Mark · Post by **e21-Mark** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:14 am

Drop an e30 2.5 in instead. You'll spend loads on the 4 pot and still be nowhere near a cheap 2.5.

E21meister · Post by **E21meister** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 1:40 am

Lets hold our M20 horses a sec

; has it got a 4 or 6-pot in it?

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Sun Jan 23, 2011 2:26 pm

nitrous oxide...

hanse21 · Post by **hanse21** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:57 am

ah its got the m10 four cylinder with a carb conversion that is a bit shitty. ive removed the big rear muffler at the back so it only has a hot dog in the middle.

e21-Mark · Post by **e21-Mark** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 11:49 am

You could fit a Weber, big valve head and 4 branch and get somewhere in the region of 120 - 130 bhp. I guess that little lot would set you back about £300 - 350 plus a bit of labour. OR.....

2.5 m20 is 170+ bhp straight out the box and you could probably get everything you need for under £300. You'll have way more power, fuel injection and a lovely 6 pot noise.

nas80 · Post by **nas80** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 1:49 pm

Mark, you make it sound so easy, but having lived through this pain i can off the top of my head list the following which will need to be done if you are starting off with a e21 that has a 4 pot.

You will need to fit / upgrade the following.

taking the old stuff out. Wiring, brakes, radiator, suspension, front subframe, finding a good engine (they are old!), exhaust, new clutch assembly, dash clocks, throttle cable, extra fuel line and maybe at the same time you will want to clean / paint your engine bay, and you will want to probably a rear disk conversion. In fact while you have the suspension off its pointless not changing all the bushings for nice polyurathane ones. etc etc.

Then when you have got a measly 170hp after a while you will be like "this is rubbish" and end up going m50b25 or a 2.7 m20. Same goes when you spend like a couple of grand getting 150hp from the m10. lol

getting power is not cheap either way unless you are handy with the spanners / time and money, more crucially getting the actual parts you will need! not trying to put a dampener on it but you need to really put the work in, on these cars to get them to move quick enough.

E21meister · Post by **E21meister** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 2:29 pm

e21-Mark wrote:You could fit a Weber, big valve head and 4 branch and get somewhere in the region of 120 - 130 bhp. I guess that little lot would set you back about £300 - 350 plus a bit of labour. OR.....

2.5 m20 is 170+ bhp straight out the box and you could probably get everything you need for under £300. You'll have way more power, fuel injection and a lovely 6 pot noise.

Or a Rover V8; all aluminium, lighter than an M20, fits with no bulkhead mods, if you have a 323i, then all of the running gear is up to the job, cheap to get a P38A 3.9 lump with 200bhp and Motronic.
I know someone who's planning to put a Rover lump in a 1980 323i. Gives me ideas, too. Small block Ford 302ci out of a 90's Mustang 5.0 been done in the UK too - if only I could find the Facebook link where I saw the pics.

rob0r · Post by **rob0r** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 3:49 pm

I really don't like the idea of Rover V8s in E21s, they just seem a bit backwards to me. If you're doing a V8 I think BMW V8 or Lexus V8 are the way to go. The main problems with V8s are finding manual gearboxes and exhaust manifolds, if you're going to all the trouble of a V8 I would make it a better one than a RV8. An M50B25 is nearly down a litre on displacement and just as powerful. A M52B28 from an E36 328i is 210bhp+ with the inlet manifold from the M50B25, and aluminium block. M50/M52 and even S50s could be classified as bolt in swaps if you used a 323i E21 subframe.

Out of the box thinking, I'd love to try tuning an M51 diesel engine and throwing it in an E21. Also the Japanese turbo engines such as CA18DET, SR20DET, RB20/25DET would make a good choice.

If I had an M10'd E21 and wasn't after too much hassle, I'd put an M30B35 onto the back of the M10 gearbox and be done with it.

E21meister · Post by **E21meister** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:08 pm

wiz0r wrote:if you're going to all the trouble of a V8 I would make it a better one than a RV8.

Depends if you find a TVR Griffith 500 in a scrappy. If you want a four-banger, how about a Zetec? Several hundred MKI/MKII Escort owners can't be wrong...

nas80 · Post by **nas80** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 4:36 pm

lol like how the guy asks about his m10 n now we got him to think about doin major work to his e21. he will be like "wtf!"

e21-Mark · Post by **e21-Mark** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 5:29 pm

I've got a spare m30 3.5 you can buy mate?

DC · Post by DC » Mon Jan 24, 2011 7:26 pm

hanse21 wrote:what would be the first move to make to get a bit more power out of a 320i?

turbo is easy way to get some more horses

drjim · Post by **drjim** » Mon Jan 24, 2011 9:22 pm

I have concluded that if you have an M10 engined car, DC is correct in that a turbo is the way to go. Manifold, turbo, piping, some sort of inlet/throttle body injectors and management = 2-300bhp without doing too much messing around with pistons etc.

E21meister · Post by **E21meister** » Tue Jan 25, 2011 6:52 pm

nas80 wrote:lol like how the guy asks about his m10 n now we got him to think about doin major work to his e21. he will be like "wtf!"

Isn't that how most projects go? How many times have you read in a magazine feature:
"I wos just gonna give it a blowover an a set of wheels but it just spiraled from there..."

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