How to improve a E30 318i?

[anxious]

I have a general Question:-



How to improve a E30 318i?



I guess many E30 forumers here own a 318i.From my experience over the last yr I must say it is a relatively trouble free/easy maintainance car apart from the normal wear and tear.

But a 1.8 4 cyclinder has its limitations.Given a choice now I would prefer a 325i A 2dr (post 1988) but there arent many available in Msia.

Anyway what have u guys done or plan to do to improve your 318's.......performance,handling,noise insulation,wheels etc.

I know it all mostly in the forum but searching is very time consuming and some of u guys may not have shared your experiences.......so why dont we share our expereinces on how to improve a poor man's E30?

As for me, my car is pretty much stock with a K&N drop in filter as my main mod.I have changed almost all my bushings and am looking forward to changing the absorbers and mounts,getting 15 or 16 in rims,painting the car black and of course getting rid of the thump sound which occurs sometimes before I come to a stop.



___________________
318i(A) 88/92 M40

 

[xLibelle]

get the 16's, they look great!
with a 318, id say go forced induc.

 

[ldzpstnr]

Depends on how much money you want to spend. This is a 84-85 model right? This stuff is what I did to my 85 318i.

You can play with the ignition timing, keep advancing it tell it pings. The ECU does not handle ignition timing on this car. I never checked to see what it was after I had it set by ear. Keep the valves adjusted, I did mine like every 4 months or so, only takes about an hour. Use good bosch parts in the ignition. I also had a header for my car, and had the cat converter taking off. I did have a K&N drop in filter like yours. I also had a little bit bigger injectors, they flowed like 10% more then stock.

Thats as far as I got before I decided to pull the car from the road, the engine was getting relaly tired... had almost 250k miles on it.

If you really want to get trick you can get ahold of a 2.0 engine out of a 77-79 320i, the 80 and on models had the 1.8 also. The 2.0 produced 20 more hp and torque then the 1.8. Or even try to find a M20 6 cylinder engine to throw in.... but I liked how light the 4 cylinder car was.

Later

 

[anxious]

Mine is a 1988 M40 Uk model.

I am thinking of improving its handling.

 

[german-speed-demon]

If you can get you hands on a 525e crankshaft that would increase you stroke, but be very careful treading these waters, my buddy did that without going thru the engine, and he got 2 dynoe pulls, then the engine blew up. BUT, his last pull showed just under 265HP @the whls. It's a thought...I'm still deciding if i want to buy an older e30 to try it on, or if i just want to do it. Ahhh...decisions, decisions.