Useless Mods; Which is the least useless

[Holland]

It seems that you are already bent on the throttle body, so you might as well grab it, but my vote would be the pulleys.

[bubbajan21]

250hp. This is a motor that sucks a lot of air, but it shows that the stock TB is perfectly fine for an M50.

That is a very good point that I seem to have overlooked, these tests are both on an S50/S52, which sucks a whole lot more air than my humble M50. I would imagine the pulleys would produce the same gains on an M50 as they would on an S50, no?

Save your money...go to the track! :)

Oh, I'll definitely save enough money to pay for track days!:D

It seems that you are already bent on the throttle body, so you might as well grab it, but my vote would be the pulleys.

I guess you are kinda right, I have been leaning in the direction of the TB since the beginning just because of the supposed throttle response improvement, but I started this thread to get other's input and feedback on the matter, and I think hoveringuy might have just swayed my opinion back towards the pulleys.

[Wh33lhop]

I wouldn't buy anything you would openly admit is snake oil. Put that money towards M3 cams, or even better, an S50 later on down the line.

[CoClimber]

What shape is your suspension in? Brakes? The two things you are discussing will have little to no noticable performance gains but some good brake pads will be noticable. Besides, you will want better braking with that new engine. When I dropped in my S50, I fabricated brake ducts to keep my front brakes cool at the track.

[Gruelius]

do m3 cams require a ecu upgrade or chip?

[bubbajan21]

I wouldn't buy anything you would openly admit is snake oil. Put that money towards M3 cams, or even better, an S50 later on down the line.

I said that they might be snake oil, but yeah, I see your point.

What shape is your suspension in? Brakes? The two things you are discussing will have little to no noticable performance gains but some good brake pads will be noticable. Besides, you will want better braking with that new engine. When I dropped in my S50, I fabricated brake ducts to keep my front brakes cool at the track.

Very good point, but that is all sorted out already. E30 M3 5-Lug / Suspension, Bilstein Sports, H&R Sport Springs, Racing Dynamics Sway Bars, Dunlop Direzza Star Specs, and E30 M3 Brakes, Hawk Pads, Stainless Brake Lines. The only thing I could see that I could possibly upgrade in the Handling / Brakes department would be a front strut brace. Does anyone think that would be a more feelable difference in driving than either of the other 2 things, or is that more snake oil?

do m3 cams require a ecu upgrade or chip?

Yes, when you use M3 cams, you should have a chip tuned for the cams to get the full benefit. TRM and Turner Motorsport sell off the shelf chips for this application.

[Gruelius]

yeah thing is im not sure if those chips are tuned for 98ron fuel or not. and impossible to find a tuner for cheap or a repeutable aus chip reseller. might see if i can find a euro chip seller.

[nando]

I vote for the underdrives. They should definitely work, they just cost a pretty penny for what they do.

However, the plastic garbage BMW made the 24v motors out of likes to fall apart, so really you can think of it as preventative maintenance, rather than a performance mod.

[z31maniac]

Keep saving for a decent motor.

That's what I would do.

[bubbajan21]

Keep saving for a decent motor.

That's what I would do.

I'm not going to start saving to pull out the motor I just put in. It's a DD, I'll be fine with the M50 for a while. A few years down the road, if I feel that I need more power, then I will swap it for an S50/52

[jrdeamicis]

You don't have to do new lifters, I am sure there is tons of guys on this forum with dead lifters.

Besian seals for the Single vanos are cheap and easy.
And the install isn't that bad for putting into the cams.


I would save your money for future maintenance. Really, something is going to break. I would buy a new crank sensor, then a new cam (if you haven't already). Cheap security.

[JGood]

Must be nice to have a few hundred bucks that you just have to spend on the engine, even if it will do no good. I wish I didn't want to/have to save money for something even remotely useful.

Anyway, that dyno shows a ~2hp gain. When I dyno'd my m50, and my m20, all the dyno runs, back to back, were a good 3+ hp apart. That's without changing anything. Oil temp, from cold to hot, can make a 5hp difference. I don't know why people look at dynos like that and think it means anything.

Save up and do cams. It's worth it. Most m50's dyno ~166. Mine dyno'd 188 with s50 cams and a tune. My total cost was under $500 for everything, did the install myself. The car feels the same below 4500, and above it just makes gobs more power.

[bubbajan21]

Must be nice to have a few hundred bucks that you just have to spend on the engine, even if it will do no good. I wish I didn't want to/have to save money for something even remotely useful.

Anyway, that dyno shows a ~2hp gain. When I dyno'd my m50, and my m20, all the dyno runs, back to back, were a good 3+ hp apart. That's without changing anything. Oil temp, from cold to hot, can make a 5hp difference. I don't know why people look at dynos like that and think it means anything.

Save up and do cams. It's worth it. Most m50's dyno ~166. Mine dyno'd 188 with s50 cams and a tune. My total cost was under $500 for everything, did the install myself. The car feels the same below 4500, and above it just makes gobs more power.

I'm not sure, but I'm getting a sense that you don't feel that either of these mods are worth my money.... But hey, maybe I misinterpreted what you were trying to tell me.;)

[Wanganstyle]

I'm not sure, but I'm getting a sense that you don't feel that either of these mods are worth my money.... But hey, maybe I misinterpreted what you were trying to tell me.;)

both:

"bb throttle on a NA stock engine"

and

light/underdrive pulley's

dont do much anything.

I have had biGGer throttles in replacement and they are really just hokus pockus, unless the engine is built and designed for ITB...like an S14 or something authentic WBS from Germany.

The cam is the limiting factor of the engine in regards to Air (in/out)-

camshafts directly control the valves that allow air to go in and out. The buck stops there...

the plastic M50 family pulleys are actually pretty light!!! they do occasionally break down, but not really that-that often.

If you want to ultimate underdrive; just delete the PS and ac, the main belt for waterpump can be re-sized for that.

Even then, with ps and ac mechanisms deleted (all the weight and rotational drag), the power gain is MARGINAL. IF any at all.

I did this on my S54 with alpha-n full tuning on 91 octane (310-320 rwhp) and big pipe headers, in stages to compare the power differences. Really un-detectable. I really didn't notice any power and would rather have not even wasted my time to even modify (I don't mind driving power or non power steering, indifferent to feel).

Leave the M50 engine 100% stock and make sure it is perfect running. This is all.

If hellbent to burn 2x Ben Franklins; spend $200 on awesome brake pads; Braking G force is 4x as exciting as accelerating a 200hp engine any day all day long.

[bubbajan21]

[/Thread]

I'm just going to save my $200 for a better cause.
Thanks for all of the input everybody!:up: