To Dinan or not to Dinan... That is the question.

[Akakubi]

Welcome aboard! Any opinion is welcome here. We don't flame each other, just discuss and try to get down to the bottom of the issues.

I agree - F/I is the best way to gain cheap-er HP. You can tons of things to extract more numbers out of a Turbo engine. Look at Supras and Skylines making over 500whp for very little money.

But, and that is a huge BUT, you can never have a linear power delivery with an F/I engine. That's the beauty of N/A's. And as much as I respect a Turbo, I will still opt for an N/A engine given a choice.

As for "ricers", practically all of them are setup for drags. That's all they are good for. A turbo (most ofetne on a FWD chassis) and a bottle of Nawz. And that's what they call a "fast car". Anybody can hammer the gas pedal on a straight line - big deal. Look at the real Honda racers, all N/A, properly setup without any of the "flapping" useless bodykits. I don't know if you caught the Super Tuner TV show a couple of weeks back when HondaTech club had a "go" with the Sentra club at ButtonWillow. None were "ricey", all were pretty fast.

Same goes for the track days and AutoX's - you'll never see one in the fast ranks. In fact most of the guys that came from the crowd, ended up selling their "show" stuff to make their cars trackable. Now that's what I call "fast cars", regardless of the brand.

BMW is just one of the best suited cars for the task out of the box with little mods needed. They are already very fast. Not on the drag strip, but in the curves, where it counts most.

 

[mallards]

i agree with Akakubi

N/A is the way to go

Ben

 

[Isaac13]

Akakubi,
Thanks for the warm welcome! Of all the boards i belong to, this one sure seems to be the friendliest!

I can appreciate a NA car a whole lot. It takes TONS of tuning to get everything working properly and staying running in that manner. I firmly believe that a FI setup is a more efficient way of extracting power from an engine though. And you are totally right, a lot of the ricers are set up for drag racing, and that's exactly what I love to do myself. I don't do corners so well (I totalled my parents '90 Volvo 760 GLE Turbo going around a corner too fast) so I stick to going straight I've seen a few FI cars do very well at the autocross events ala S4's, supercharged/twin turbocharged mustangs, and AWD subaru's and lancers. There's one type of racing that most of the teams use some sort of FI is rally racing. Look at the Subaru's and the Mitsubishis, both turbocharged and AWD. They haul ass in the straights too! Back to ricers. I personally see NO benefit in most of the body kits out there, pointless and cost a lot to paint and put on the car. If I can't get some sort of performance gain from something, I wouldn't do it myself, but that's just me. I'm not a fan of "all show, no go" it seems like a boring principle to me, however i'm not a big fan of the converse either, it has to be done tastefully both ways. Oh well, i'm sure we could go back and forth for a LONG time about this I'm glad to be a member of this board and look forward to a lot of great information and interesting "conversations"!!

 

[Akakubi]

We need more mebmers like you!

Agree again with you. Tastefully done mods are the way to go, and cannot be called ricey - by definition you must have flapping parts to be in that category. [fake]

I am so glad that Japan has finally sent us the Evo and STi. These are probably the best F/I all-rounders on the market right now. Even the WRX is some respectful machinery. We have several WRX's in our group. The guys are true enthusiasts, all tastefully done. And they are fast at the AutoX. But, DO they have to shift though to keep on the boost. The torque drops considerably below 3000RPM, so they constantly shoveling the shifter. Fun though, I like their cars. Just not my forte...

What I really enjoyed out of the F/I crowd was hammering my other friend's Supra (and he only had BPU ++ on the engine with a giant Blitz intercooler and a straight-pipe Tanabe exhaust). It was down right hairy in the corners when suddenly the boost would kick in at 4000K on the second Turbo. The tail would just jump out... But in the straight line, it was something. I made myself a promise to one day either get a Supra or, preferably, an R33 GT-R, and just build it from ground up. There is definitely charm in huge Turbo HP.

Val

 

[Isaac13]

Thanks

I have driven a few WRX's, a couple supra's and a built turbo mustang, and they are great fun! I love the AWD of the WRX, but i'm not a big fan of it's interior quality nor the craftsmanship of it's shifter, it felt far too "rubbery". The Supra had an amazing amount of power, albeit being an auto. And the built turbo mustang was a drag monster, the owner consistently pulled 11.7's out of it, i was an embarassment at 13.2, but I don't drive it all the time. Oh well, turbo's are fun, but that's not why i'm (hopefully) buying a BMW.

 

[MrElussive]

brahtw8, my car is governed at exactly 156mph. I believe Infiniti did that just so they can say the top speed is 1mph faster than the M3 (limited at 155, electronically). Supposedly, the car can go quite a bit faster without the electronic limiter, as the car features zero-lift aerodynamics.

Isaac13, the WRX is a great car for the $$$. It is very quick, it handles very well, and it stops very short. I test-drove a WRX twice and I do enjoy it, but you have to keep the revs over 3,000 rpm (where the turbo spools up) for the power, and I agree with you, the AWD is a great feature. My only problems with the WRX are the lack of luxury features and the lack of low-end torque from the engine.

 

[Isaac13]

MrElussive,
I hear you about the low end grunt of the WRX, or the lack there of. That turbo doesn't kick in till about 2700RPM's and before that it's SLOW. I'm pretty sure my 98 Taurus would beat one before the boost kicked in. Oh, and a G35 is a phenomenal car!! I live in dayton and test drove the first one that the local Infiniti dealership had (the sedan) and i was totally astonished. It was and is a great car. I have yet to drive a coupe or a G35 with a 6 speed yet, but I hear that they are just a hair slower than the 350Z and twice as luxurius. Speaking of which, the WRX was severely lacking in that department! The whole interior felt cheap, and for $25,000 it shouldn't have felt that bad. Oh well, if I had the $$ it would be a very hard choice between a new 3 series or a new G35 coupe... We know which one you chose

 

[MrElussive]

Issac, I definitely like the WRX, and it does lack the low-end grunt, but otherwise it really is a very impressive sports car. I think its luxury problem is because all of the money went into performance and very little went into comfort and luxury. But I really think that if you are really into performance and are into tuning, the WRX is a great car to start.
As for between the G35C and 330Ci (I say this because this is what I narrowed it down to), I love my choice of the G35 Coupe and I have no regrets and I absolutely love to drive it, but after this car (in about 3 years) I definitely want to go for the BMW, instead of the Japanese alternative.

 

[brahtw8]

brahtw8, my car is governed at exactly 156mph. I believe Infiniti did that just so they can say the top speed is 1mph faster than the M3 (limited at 155, electronically). Supposedly, the car can go quite a bit faster without the electronic limiter, as the car features zero-lift aerodynamics.

I have heard a number of E46 M3 owners report that their governor didn't kick in until 160-165 or more. Perhaps 155 is just the official position, like the 280 hp. limit in Japan. Did you hear Daimler's excuse for not governing the new McLaren SLR? Not made on the traditional german assembly lines. Lame excuse for ignoring a lame limit.

Why not figure out the theoretical top speed of the G35 (and M3 if you have to compare the two)? Get the gear ratios and final drive ratio, and then find out the rpm at a given speed in a particular gear. From that, you can calculate the speed at which any gear, such as 6th gear, hits redline (assuming no wind resistance).

I don't recommend taking the G35 to 156 on the street. A long and deserted stretch of pavement can be quite tempting, however. I had a waking dream once where the NSX did 145 indicated at 7700 rpm in 4th, with 600 rpms to go before 5th.

 

[Isaac13]

brahtw8,
I agree with your method of figuring out the top speed, however wind resistance is a major factor, especially at top speed, it's just a far easier calculation without it. That said, I couldn't imagine driving an NSX daily or even on the weekends. I had the pleasure of driving a friends one time and it was exhilirating to say the least. The best part in my opinion was that wonderful 3.2 VTEC six sitting right behind my head, singing her sweet song. Man, I could have driven that car all day! It was funny to watch a GSX play around, and then go dumb when I happily handed him his ass. Great car.

On the top speed governor issue... the germans should take a hint from the Swedes on this... Volvo never has nor never will have a top speed governor. My old 95 850 turbo hit 133 on I-75 N in my area, and it could have kept going, I slowed so I didn't plow into the (rather large) ass of a semi truck.

 

[colnago]

To Dinan or not to Dinan.

Not really sure how we got off the main subject. But that's okay. I injoy reading everyones comments.

 

[dlynch]

I'm still on it ;-)

The earliest our dealer can replace our Dinan throttle body (called throttle motor by B-K bmw in Waterloo) is Friday. We'll see how the car performs after that. Previous owner bought Dinan 3 status.
* cold air injection
* throttle body
* software
* strut tower brace
* exhaust

Jury is still out whether we would pay to have it installed ourselves. I know one thing--I don't like the idea of maintaining the CAI filter, nor its placement.

Dave L
Mississauga

 

[dinan5]

I got two cars that i have used Dinan stuff on and they have worked great and no complaints noticable power gains, and also Dinan is the only aftermarket manufacture that does NOT void your warrenty which works out great for those of us with newer bmws. Also the guyz at Dinan know there stuff.. I love my dinan stuff hope this helps

 

[BMWdude]

WTF how old is this thread, notice the original poster only has 3 posts since the time this was posted (long ago) which means he/she is not comming back for this