325e with 325i manifold and throttle body review. (FINALLY!)

[1cleanE30]

Hello board, I was researching this topic for a while and could not find any significant feedback for this swap, some said it was a loss of power, some said they gained hp so I decided to just do it for myself. Here is what I bought, 325i manifold with TB, 325i intake manifold gaskets, injector o-rings, 325i TB gasket, 325i valve cover breather hose and 325i intake pipe. I swapped over everything just like the ETA, you have to use vise grips to pull out the nipple on the back of the ETA manifold and drill a hole into the 325i manifold and just tap it in with a mallet. The rest of the setup you can see from the pictures.

My car has the kamotors intake, 3.25 LSD, ebay chip and ANSA cat back exhaust. Before doing this swap the motor felt great in the low to mid range but just choked up past 4k rpm and wouldn't really do anything except make noise, after this swap the powerband feels very linear and it keeps on pulling and pulling on the top end, my butt dyno approximates a few ft/lbs of torque lost but about 10-15hp gained as well as a very nice powerband. The only hiccup is theres a little backfire pop if you give it gas at idle, this is probably because of the turbulence at the 325i manifold and 325e head (I did not port the head to match).

I would highly recommend this mod on a budget, the parts only cost me about $150 for everything.

NEED WORK DONE ON YOUR BMW IN THE ATLANTA AREA? PLEASE CONTACT ME www.alexautoinc.com. -Alex

[Gary Horneck]

Nice. I liked the i parts on top of the e also.

[1cleanE30]

Thanks Gary for your feedback on this mod, that was a big help in figuring it out.

[einstein57]

I have all the parts laying around to do this swap. Any affects on fuel economy? I was considering this to clean up the engine bay a little. I'd relocate the ICV to the intake boot and relocate the cold start injector.

[SDemetris]

Sorry for bringing this back, but did you plug some of the tubes coming off the throttle body?