Chips

[E36 weeks]

I have a 1993 320i and need more performance. ive tried alot of air modifications but my car just doesnt seem to run well,i think it gets too much air.
i was thinking about chipping it, has any one chipped their car, if so wot kinda gains did u see? ive been told id have about 15bhp increase, is this realistic? what chip companies would u reccomend?

thanks.

 

[Dutch]

You will not see a big increase in HP since you have a relatively small engine with no turbo. 15 hp seems realistic. You can get a lot of info on engine chipping on the internet. Use google to find web pages of chipping companies. There a lot of different companies out there, some good, some not. But I would personally not chip a car of that age. Have looked up some info for my own car (2003 330d) and it would be anywhere (depending on the company) between 500-1000 euros. But it can be done cheeper though.

Good luck

 

[DSK]

Personally prior to spending money on modifications on a car around that age, I would start off ensuring all the service items are regularly replaced and then take it to a BMW dealership to have an engine diagnostics/test done. This way things that sometimes may not be so obvious (even to mechanics) like poor crankshaft sensors, failing air flow/mass metres, vanos units, 02 sensors, coils, plugs, injectors etc etc can be tested in great detail to see whats happening rather than a simple fault code read that you will get at an independant specialist place. The BMW dealership machines can see whats happening at various stages hence the greater detail rather than waiting until a part actually fails. This way anything that comes up, can be rectified getting the performance back to normal as a starting point for future modifications.

(I am only saying this as in my experience such items never get replaced etc and I had a 325i Sport years ago, that felt a bit slow. Turned out that the injectors needed to be stripped and cleaned this cost me £115. Lastly the Air Flow Metre was looking a bit worn so I had that changed and the cars performance and economy was restored On my 328i I have changed the crankshaft sensor (£65 @ BMW), 2 x 02 sensors (£120) which made a hughe difference and now the Air Mass Metre is left to be done).

Personally I think 15bhp on a 320i is a tad optimistic from a chip alone. However, this depends on the chip manufcaturer that you go with as they all vary slightly. A chip coupled with an inducation kit and an exhaust should help though.