e30 m3 how do i get more power??

[darronwall]

i found a lovely 77k mile car and its turned into my obsession,i absolutely love it ,but i am torn wether to keep it stock or trick it up a bit ,bigger brakes and some how get more power,its bloody quick but compared to my 996 its got no low down grunt
could any of you advise on any of the above and maybe turbocharging?
or should i just keep it stock and enjoy it for what it is, a fantastic little bus that is at its best when you are treating it really hard [like a dirty woman]
i dont want to go too far i want to keep it looking stock but long for a bit more power as when i drive it really hard [elise chasing hard] i feel a bit sorry for the old girl!!
and yes i do love it ,and the keys will have to be prized from my cold dead hands!!!

[belleair302]

E30 M3's are not low down grunt cars, but need to be driven and given some revs to fully enjoy. Keep the car standard, maybe improve the brakes but of you want more go, buy an E36 M3, buy a Caterham or a fast bike. E30's are rare and worth keeping as pure as possible.

[darronwall]

i thought someone would say that, but the thought of an e36 is making me nausious ,maybe i should polish the e30 to death and get rid of my 996 and upgrade to a 996tt instead,but i sure love the old e30

[Playo]

How far do want go / how much do you want to spend?

I'm currently running about 265bhp@flywheel.

This has come via mainly a Carbon Fibre DTM airbox running a piggyback ecu with uprated cams and exhaust. which is a really good figure for a 2.3l! And i'm pretty happy with how well it drives and sounds (heard a CSL??) alot better than When I bought the car when it had just the cams,I'm running STD disks with uprated pads and they hold out fine but if you was after Brembos they are easily available. not had any experiance with an elise so cant comment there.

If you want more than that you could go for a 2.5l Sport Evo block with some forged internals mated to a GrpA head with upto 50mm TB's with the CF airbox and ecu. for this you could get into the 300bhp+ mark BUT it'd cost you more than the price of the car!!

Check out www.board.s14power.com for any info on the above mods

Turbo wise....it has been done a few times in the UK but not by many people.
Them crazy swede's though are known to get upto 900bhp+ out of the S14 engine!

Take a look at some of the 1/4 mile times from some S14 powered E30 M3', Z3's and 2002's here. www.boostjunky.com/qm.html

Hope that helps!

[dan101smith]

How much do you care about keeping it standard? If the answer is not a lot, then you can always stick an S50B32 engine in it - 300bhp+, but you'll upset the handling with the extra weight over the front.

I'd say uprate the suspension and brakes, and even if it isn't the fastest thing in a straight line, you'll be able to out-brake and out-corner everything else.

And you can always keep hold of the stock items to put it back to original if need be.

[houlbt]

Playo is on the money with what he has said, modifiying the S14 lump is extremely rewarding but not especially cheap.... don't do any kind of engine swap, it's a mistake and you will regret it.

[pikeyboy]

houlbt said:

Playo is on the money with what he has said, modifiying the S14 lump is extremely rewarding but not especially cheap.... don't do any kind of engine swap, it's a mistake and you will regret it.

got to agree with this, the beauty of an e30 m3 is in the subtley of the handling. more power is nice for the straights but more cornering speed is even more fun. worth getting a baffled sump so you dont suck in a great gulp of air and toast the bottom end if your planing on track daying it a lot. speak to geoff steel in lincoln they know loads bout E30 M3's, guy called will posts on here abit is from them.

never had any probs with my std brakes when i had one i just had ducting from the fog lights and race pads with euro car parts st'd disks.

Now days i guess some KW suspension with adjustable top mounts etc would transform one of these into an uncatchable thing on track that would make other m3 owners drool. i had bilstiens on mine and BMW 0.5deg top mounts with H an R springs which was a good compromise.

[RLK500]

Most of it's already been said, but here's a couple of things to consider. The S14 never was a grunty engine, it's buzzer that's happy spinning at high revs. However, the eveo2's had bigger cams than standard and in order to recoup some low end torque they fitted cam gear that retarded the exhaust cam. This may be worth considering if you want more torque. Alternatively, forget low end torque, it's for tractors and people towing caravans, slam a couple of schricks in and get it remapped, then enjoy life from 4000 - 8500 rpm.......lovely.....

[MarkM3Evoplus]

As per Playo, I have carbon intake, cams, aftermarket ecu, which are all great, but best mod I've done to make it more grunty low down was to fit a 3.64:1 diff from an E30 325i sport. Doesn't cruise too badly, but wouldn't go any lower.

Combined with the above, the car is genuinely fast (it is stripped out too tho!!), estimate 14's to 100.

If you are in the area, I am happy to take you for a spin.

Cheers,

Mark

[ASBO]

MarkM3Evoplus said:

As per Playo, I have carbon intake, cams, aftermarket ecu, which are all great, but best mod I've done to make it more grunty low down was to fit a 3.64:1 diff from an E30 325i sport. Doesn't cruise too badly, but wouldn't go any lower.

Combined with the above, the car is genuinely fast (it is stripped out too tho!!), estimate 14's to 100.

If you are in the area, I am happy to take you for a spin.

Cheers,

Mark

And therein lies the rub (for me at least)

The Vauxhaul Astra VXR will do 100 in near enough the same time. Now call me shallow, but that would really, really upset me should I find myself in such a situation where the afformentioned shopping trolley were to blow me away, especially if I'd just spunked ££££'s on making my car quicker...

[E30M3SE]

ASBO said:

MarkM3Evoplus said:

As per Playo, I have carbon intake, cams, aftermarket ecu, which are all great, but best mod I've done to make it more grunty low down was to fit a 3.64:1 diff from an E30 325i sport. Doesn't cruise too badly, but wouldn't go any lower.

Combined with the above, the car is genuinely fast (it is stripped out too tho!!), estimate 14's to 100.

If you are in the area, I am happy to take you for a spin.

Cheers,

Mark

And therein lies the rub (for me at least)

The Vauxhaul Astra VXR will do 100 in near enough the same time. Now call me shallow, but that would really, really upset me should I find myself in such a situation where the afformentioned shopping trolley were to blow me away, especially if I'd just spunked ££££'s on making my car quicker...

Believe that's not a million miles away from the time for your E36 Evo....... so watch out for the same 'shopping trolley'.

[darronwall]

E30M3SE said:

ASBO said:

MarkM3Evoplus said:

As per Playo, I have carbon intake, cams, aftermarket ecu, which are all great, but best mod I've done to make it more grunty low down was to fit a 3.64:1 diff from an E30 325i sport. Doesn't cruise too badly, but wouldn't go any lower.

Combined with the above, the car is genuinely fast (it is stripped out too tho!!), estimate 14's to 100.

If you are in the area, I am happy to take you for a spin.

Cheers,

Mark

And therein lies the rub (for me at least)

The Vauxhaul Astra VXR will do 100 in near enough the same time. Now call me shallow, but that would really, really upset me should I find myself in such a situation where the afformentioned shopping trolley were to blow me away, especially if I'd just spunked ££££'s on making my car quicker...

Believe that's not a million miles away from the time for your E36 Evo....... so watch out for the same 'shopping trolley'.

i think ASBO you are a country mile away from the point.Now here i will offer a comparison on your level,i am a pisspot i love a drink,every night,i choose to get pissed on quality like some nice warm jamesons fron a nice wide tumbler or some nice deep rich red wine,or on a nice hot day maybe a plymouth gin and tonic with lime,or sometimes[quite often] a quality full strength lager mmmmm cold grolsh,now once i have reached the desired level of pissedness i look back and consider the fact that i could have reached the desired level on £8 of ste cider but do i regret my choice,NO. get the point???

[MarkM3Evoplus]

Asbo, I'll admit it's not the fastest car in the world, but a mates with a 2.5 can hold an e36 M3 to 140 and they're not exactly slow, plus we put in 57's round Brands Indy (I know, not a power circuit, but pretty good).

At the end of the day, if you want acceleration, buy a dragster.

From what I've heard (never driven one), the VXR is mighty fast, but just understeers round bends....not my idea of fun.

My dad had a modded 911 turbo. It was fast, but I prefered the delicacy of my e30 M3 (I had the choice to sell the M3 and have the Porsche).

Cheers,