headers and i intake on eta?

[gokepsgo]

Hey everyone, I have an 87eta coupe with a chip, 325lsd, k&n filter, and a advanced autos dtm muffler. My car feels pretty quick now but would like a little more pull on the highway.

What would an I intake mani and headers do for me. If I do the headers I plan on going with a 2.5" exhaust with a cat. I know that if I change the mani I will lose some low end. Will it be worth it? My chip revs to 5800 but doesn't see past 5500 and only has 130k miles so I'm not to worried about the motor.

[jlevie]

The limiting factor on this engine is the head and cam. Just changing the intake and exhaust will have little affect.

[gokepsgo]

I was having trouble searching info buti saw a couple eta guys saying they swapped I mani, exhaust, tb, and injectors and it made their cars quite a bit faster. I was planning on doing the same thing but with a custom exhaust.

[VinniE30]

I was having trouble searching info buti saw a couple eta guys saying they swapped I mani, exhaust, tb, and injectors and it made their cars quite a bit faster. I was planning on doing the same thing but with a custom exhaust.

I have this same exact setup and also 4.10 diff and the miller war chip. Feels good but it's hard to tell really how fast it is since i've never driven a stock eta and the eta gets power sooner than the 2.5i's so it feels different.

FWIW, I slowly pulled on a chipped m42 318i from ~60 mph till I let off at ~90+, with a passenger in my car, both cars had full tanks of gas. The guy is a member here.
Stock, the m42 has around 20 peak hp on the m20b27, and with a highway pull, that's what matters, the eta's great torque at low rpm doesn't do it any good over the m42 in this scenario.
So I can conclude that with these mods my eta m20 is making at least 140 crank hp, probably around 150 or more since I pulled on him(albeit slowly), the weight difference, and the fact that he was chipped.

[gokepsgo]

Holyshit a 410?! What is your top speed? Mine is 120 at 4800 rpms

[gokepsgo]

Btw can you share some info with me so I can do this myself? Like what year car you have and years parts you used so I know exactly what car is compatable? Any help would be great. I'm def down for a junkyard trip soon if this is true!

[VinniE30]

Holyshit a 410?! What is your top speed? Mine is 120 at 4800 rpms

Never taken it up that high, I don't like excessively speeding on public roads after some tickets i've had in the past.

Btw can you share some info with me so I can do this myself? Like what year car you have and years parts you used so I know exactly what car is compatable? Any help would be great. I'm def down for a junkyard trip soon if this is true!

My car actually has a "story". The car is a 1989 325i but valves hit pistons by being overreved or the timing belt or something so the PO swapped in an eta engine and used all the i parts, but nothing internal, so only the engine itself was swapped, the manifolds, throttle body, exhaust, etc, and all are the original "i" parts.

[gokepsgo]

Shit it might have been your thread I found. I usually don't speed crazy either but it was 3am and just got a new clutch and muffler/ exhaust leak fixed. It just felt right at the moment. I'm tempted to just hit the junkyard and give it a shot. Putting in a starter soon so the timing would be perfect, just wish I knew where to find info on the swap. All I'm finding are 327I threads.

Is your motor an 88? What does it rev to?

[jdvorwe]

The key thing to get higher revs is also the ECU. You will need an "i" wiring harness and ECU. Might as well just do the whole 327i swap if you want to do everything you mentioned before, the only other thing you need is the "i" head.

Read this thread:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=100939&highlight=head+swap

[jlevie]

The key thing to get higher revs is also the ECU. You will need an "i" wiring harness and ECU. Might as well just do the whole 327i swap if you want to do everything you mentioned before, the only other thing you need is the "i" head.

And a key part of getting higher revs is the I head, cam, and dual valve springs. The "i" DME just makes that possible by raising the rev limit.. To avoid valves hitting pistons and to take advantage of the higher RPM you need the "i" head (and intake, throttle body, injectors, AFM, engine harness, and DME)... I.E., a budget stroker.


There's no "free lunch" with a BMW egine. Whatever it is is tuned darn near the max and simple bolt ons aren't going to help.

[gokepsgo]

Damn that really sucks. Didn't realize I would have to rewire everything, just figured I would need parts off an 87. I think I will end up doing this eventually but nowhere near as soon as I hoped. I guess for now my car is hopeless =(. Thanks for the great link btw.

[VinniE30]

Is your motor an 88? What does it rev to?

My motor is not a super eta (not an 88). Not sure of the year but it has to be before 88.

Your best bet is to swap to an i head.

[gokepsgo]

I would but that is more work/money than I can handle right now. I think I could do the motronic and allthat other I stuff pretty cheap besides a chip. Don't really understand the wiring part though since I've never seen a wiring harness in general and would have no idea how to sort it out. sould you do the 1.3 without a chip and just make sure not to over rev or would that make the car run shitty,

[Cabriolet]

to get more power out of your car. A. save your money dont waste any more on the eta engine. B. swap to S5x.

i had an eta and did a full top end rebuild, even with the 2.93 LSD it was a fun little car. but still there isn't anything that you can mod on it without weakening its reliability. the engine only has 1 spring per valve, very small intake/exhaust ports, and low power cam. which makes it the best engine to DD but horrid to try to get power out of.

[VinniE30]

^truth

My eta swapped e30 is a very fun daily driver street car. Just be happy with it's great drivability and reliability. If you can't he happy with that and absolutely must have more power then save your money and do an engine swap. It's just not worth your time and money to mod your eta for power.

BTW, my r3v limit is something pretty high like 6500 I think, not sure cause i've never brought it up that high. It doesn't really matter as long as you are not stupid and don't bring it up that high, atleast not for more than a quick burst. I just think of a r3v limit as a safety mechanism that is unnecessary as long as you are aware of how high you can safely take your engine. I wouldn't take my engine much over 5000.