I am looking to tune my 1997 BMW 328is convertible and i was looking for a suggestions for an exhaust, intake?
J W asked:
body kit, rims, stereo, paint color, suspension parts, and other performance parts
i have about 5 grand not including labor because i can do that myself
no stupid answers please
i would like to get about 50 horsepower more at least and way better handling
strutmasters.com
body kit, rims, stereo, paint color, suspension parts, and other performance parts
i have about 5 grand not including labor because i can do that myself
no stupid answers please
i would like to get about 50 horsepower more at least and way better handling
strutmasters.com
December 22nd, 2009 by admin
Posted in BMW
December 25th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Shock Absorbers
Okay, no stupid answers.
Immediately scratch body kit, rims, stereo, paint, intake, and exhaust off your list. These fall under non-performance and/or stupid mods.
An intake and exhaust will get you about 7-8 wheel horsepower. And for a decent setup, will cost you $1500 of your $5,000.
A decent paint job, is around 2,000. So now you’re up to $3500, and all you’ve done is paint it, and get 7 horsepower. Which wouldn’t make the car faster at all. You wouldn’t be able to notice the difference.
Suspension is nice, but you have a BMW. It HAS a nice suspension. So unless you plan on racing the car hard, you won’t notice the change anyway. And by racing hard, I don’t mean going 60mph around a corner in the middle of town.
Wheels? Pointless. Stereo? Pointless.
So, if you really want 50 horsepower, take that money, look into a supercharger, turbo, or rebuilding the engine to higher specs.
December 26th, 2009 at 12:33 am
Get discount suspension parts.
Seriously and I am not giving you a stupid answer here but I would never put 5k into a 97 328i. That car is very outdated and 5k is going to do nothing. You might be able to find a turbo kit but the added power is going to do nothing but fry your clutch, blow your rear end, and cause every single seal in that 328 to leak. If you are a BMW fan and want to stick to BMW then I would find a nice M3 or 330i with the competition pkg and put the 3.5grand down and 1.5grand in a exhaust system and keep 500 in the bank in case something breaks. If you are dead set with sticking with a 328 and squeezing 50hp then I would try and find a turbo kit and clutch plus a performance ecu tune, you wont have enough$$ for anything else.
December 28th, 2009 at 4:33 am
Suspension Parts
Your not gonna get much off a exhaust and intake. BMWs dont respond as well as other cars do to mods. The intake is basically already a CAI and exhaust doesnt do much good except sound. Get an M50 manifold, if you ever see pics of the difference between the M50 and M52 manifold youd be really suprised. You can get the reprogrammer too for another $300 thats good for 15-20 bhp.
December 28th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Shock Absorbers
for your parts go to the following links…
( there’s E36 parts on there too)
On these sites you’ll be able to get everything you’ll need to make you BMW handle better and go faster. Don’t forget the easiest and cheapest(free) way to go faster is to lighten the load (strip the interior or other useless items out). But for other advice I’d go to and talk to a bunch of the members on there. They’ll point you in the right direction. But be sure to use the search function first before asking questions.
Have fun and good luck!!