300whp NA m20

[IronFreak]

^^^I say all that with love dude, I wish someone had spoke up when I first started wrenching on cars. Pull your face out of the magazines and get into the meat and potatoes. Find guys that actually know stuff, and suck up all the knowledge you can.

[travish325]

Someone did tell me that when I first started. But I was 16, so I didnt listen.

[IronFreak]

Someone did tell me that when I first started. But I was 16, so I didnt listen.

Oh yeah...that's right, I remember now.

[Cabriolet]

yeah but it's not realistic, and it's also not linear.

true. but as a good rule of thumb for the stock entire e30 drivetrain 15-18% at rear wheels is really close to the area most people are loosing.

[Wild Ride]

There is some really good advice I couldn't have said better myself about leaving your engine alone.
LISTEN to them. Stop responding to the posts about power and start responding to the posts that say leave it alone and learn to drive better. You are spending all your money trying to have a fast car in a straight line when you really need to learn to be a fast driver in the turns.

Join the BMWCCA and SCCA and start autocrossing. I GUARANTEE your car with an experienced driver is capable of going around a 60 second track ten seconds faster than you can drive it. It's a fact. So basically your car is faster and more capable than you already. Leave it alone and learn how to drive it to its full potential as is it will be a hell of a lot more fun and safer than having alot of power and trying to beat some ricer at a stoplight in a straight line or weaving in and out of traffic on the freeway. I beat a lamborghinis (and other much faster cars) time at an autocross in my e30 because the owner wasn't a good driver. Basically you could have 300+whp and a good driver will still beat you in a stock car. Also in autocross you will find that you can't even use all the power you currently have so you won't need more of it. You will find high performance driving instruction will rearrange your priorities.

The BEST mod is a clean car! Go buy a clay bar kit at the autoparts store and get to work.

[F34R]

haha yeah the first car i started off driving was my dad's 99' 540 and that car was fast. so say i start saving for a turbo for the m20, sorry guys i just dont know about an engine swap for some reason i like the m20 and want to keep it, about how much should i save up for a GOOD turbo kit that will let me maintain some sense of reliability. or is that not possible? will the m20 be able to even handle a turbo? it has 164k miles on it already. Thanks Fear appreciate any help/advise from you guys

I know you are young, and you are in the tech sections instead of the OT sections unlike 90% of the fucking retarded kids on here. I give you PROPS for wanting to do something besides stereo, cut springs and "rimz" at 16. Learn to wrench, it is just remembering where everything goes. You are not in a hurry, this is the Internet...we all started where you are right now. Clueless and a noob, you will make mistakes ad waste money on the path of car building. Everyone does ;)

I suggest maintenance FIRST before slapping a turbo on. Timing belt, water pump and other front end bits. Then refresh that old suspension.

Then save 3k for this:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=144652

You cannot come close to a proper kit like that without the know how for building your own MS management and other bits. That is a GREAT kit.

Step back from these ideas of MORE POWA!!! and learn how to drive well first, you will have the money in no time and done right. Read as much as you can on here, learn then learn some more. Don't be scared to bring an old thread back from the dead to ask a question, just stop making a new one for something that is covered already.

[Wild Ride]

it means we can't tell if you're bullshitting us or not.

anyway, dude, you're 16. I don't want to paint every young guy with the same brush, but I was 16 once too... what are you going to do with 300hp? 154whp in a light RWD car is already plenty enough to get into trouble. I got into all kinds of shit in a 80hp 3200lb land yacht.

A stock E30 isn't fast compared to say, a modern sports car, but it's still pretty fast for a young guy with only a little bit of driving experience. Maybe look up the term "R3v'd" for some perspective.

I assume you really like your E30 - I doubt you'll want to crash it, and that's probably what will happen when an inexperienced driver has that much power.

You've already got some nice mods, although it doesn't sound like they're doing a lot for you (there are *stock* SpecE30 builds putting down more power than that with just a blueprint and balance). Save every penny you have, do maintenance so your E30 is reliable, and otherwise leave it alone.

You make enough money that you could afford to take some driving skills days or HPDEs. Join your local BMWCCA, get some seat time. $250 spent on a track day will teach you how to control your car, and be a lot more fun than drag racing your friends on the street. You'll be a better driver and you'll appreciate your E30 a lot more. And your friends will all be jealous.

Save the mods until you are older. One thing that a lot of us did when we were young were stupid car mods. I once cut a huge hole in the hood of my car for a hood scoop. It looked fucking retarded, but I was a teenager so I thought it was cool. Try to hold off because you'll really appreciate not having a hacked up E30 in 5-10 years.

Listen to this guy

[Wild Ride]

I know you are young, and you are in the tech sections instead of the OT sections like 90% of the fucking retarded kids on here. I give you PROPS for wanting to do something besides stereo, cut springs and "rimz" at 16.

I suggest maintenance FIRST before slapping a turbo on. Timing belt, water pump and other front end bits.

Then save 3k for this:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=144652

You cannot come close to a proper kit like that without the know how for building your own MS management and other bits. That is a GREAT kit.

Guys he doesn't need more power until he can get to his 20's without crashing it.

[Wild Ride]

In all honesty being 16 with an e30 is great in it's own respect. You might need some more grown up advice on this though. You should get your e30 maintenance all squared away first, every bushing, hose and belt. your e30 is 20+ years old and is going to be worn out. I know it sucks going to school and seeing all of the kids drive the new cars their parents bought them, but you have an e30 and its old and probably tired so take care of it first and drive it, have fun. Once you get a little older you can get better paying jobs with more hours and then have some real cash to spend on a good motor and tranny. For now just get all the maintenance taken care of and start saving for a decent suspension setup that way even if your car is slow in a straight line it won't be in a corner. When some time goes by and you have the money for more power you will have the perfect car with a good suspension all ready for that bad ass motor you have been dreaming of.

Quoted for relevance

[F34R]

Guys he doesn't need more power until he can get to his 20's without crashing it.

I am 26 and this current engine will be my first e30 over 121hp in 11 years of owning them. He has plenty of time to learn how to wrench and save. The fact that he is in here says alot, he does not come off as a retard at all to me. He listens and respects others wisdom. He is just excited to own a car and do stuff to it.

What he needs to learn is to not undertake more than he can handle. Getting into a shop class at school would be perfect. Learn about working on cars etc.

Everyone started out as a kid/noob. No need to smash his dreams with our older wisdom. I think it is wise for him to learn the car as is and improve the running nature/suspension. Learn to control that and move up after a few years. Driving classes, SCCA all of these offer experience and training to hep him. These kids are the future of car modding, if he is seeking out to learn I say good job and keep at it.

[Wild Ride]

I'm new to E30 so I will respectfully stay away from what you can and can't do with the m20....that being said let me give you a little advise from my 12+ years of build assorted cars and other projects.

1. If your buying a part that specifically advertises a certain "HP" gain......DON'T BUY IT. that number it relative to so many variable it's not even funny. You'd have to assume that everything was exactly the same on your car as the one the product was tested on, and that is assuming some advertising guru didn't just say hey, if we say it adds 25HP people will buy it! Stacking HP like that is just BS, welcome to the car world.

2. If the motor runs good now.....LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE!!! Here is a little life lesson that applicable to this situation. When I was in High school I had the hair brained idea to put a SBC into an S-10, so I did, I went from a 305 to a 350 then a stroker 383.....then I sold it and was pissed because of all the money I had spent on it. Why, because I all could do was beat everyone else to the next stop light. When these guys say maintenance and replace everything....SHUT UP AND LISTEN.....I'm building my first E30, and while it's not going to have the stock M20, my budget is MUCH larger then yours. but you want to know what I've spent all my money on so far.......I have stripped the whole car, and am replacing every bushing, bearing, tie rod, ball joint, shocks, springs, fixing rust, and the list goes on......do you see anything about me "build up the motor"? No, because I don't care if you have 70bhp or 9000bhp......Like it was said above if you can control it and get it to the ground your wasting your money.

Listen to these guys, a car with 100hp that handles like a race car is going to be way more fun. Also, the more power you make, the more stuff breaks, keep that in mind with your budget, do you really want to go out and flog the piss out of it, break it and have it sit while you walk to papa johns for 2 weeks making the money to fix it?

I know this is not what you wanted to hear as it comes off as tough love but listen to these guys. They took their valuable time to try and help you because we all wish we approached car ownership differently at 16 and are trying to keep another kid from the same mistakes.

There is a lot to be learned. I bet that once you start autocrossing all of your mod priorities will change. Spend some time lurking in the track/autox section and see what those guys prioritize and talk about. Those guys know how to go fast in an e30.

[-bimmerboy-]

I am 26 and this current engine will be my first e30 over 121hp in 11 years of owning them. He has plenty of time to learn how to wrench and save. The fact that he is in here says alot, he does not come off as a retard at all to me. He listens and respects others wisdom. He is just excited to own a car and do stuff to it.

What he needs to learn is to not undertake more than he can handle. Getting into a shop class at school would be perfect. Learn about working on cars etc.

Everyone started out as a kid/noob. No need to smash his dreams with our older wisdom. I think it is wise for him to learn the car as is and improve the running nature/suspension. Learn to control that and move up after a few years. Driving classes, SCCA all of these offer experience and training to hep him. These kids are the future of car modding, if he is seeking out to learn I say good job and keep at it.

Thanks Fear, that kit looks amazing......someday ill have it. I do know a fair ammount about "wrenching" im actually in the process of rebuilding my head. Ill post some pictures if anyone wants to see it. Ive done all the work on it myself. I did the water pump when i bought the car, timing belt is gonna be done when i put the head back on, i got new spark plugs....all that stuff. The maintenance is covered on this car. There isnt a THING wrong with it. But so i think im going to take all the advice you guys have given me and go to one of those driving schools you were talking about. Im already a member of BMWCCA but i dont know if they have any schools around me and how i would find any. Plus the only suspension stuff ive done is a sparco strut tower and some stiffer bilsteins.....

[LJ851]

^bimmerboy, there truly is a lot of wisdom here in between the snarky comments and general abuse. Keep an open mind and enjoy the E30 ride.

Everyone loves pictures here, post 'em up.

[bmw325csi]

the way I see it, your only real option is a euro s5x if you want 300 hp of N/A power.

[F34R]

No problem man, I wish you luck and everyone here is more than happy to pour down advice if you ask the right questions. Don't just make a new thread every time to see something you want to do, research ;)

Go take some pictures and start a build thread here:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=148

Great way to keep everything contained in one place about your car.