True 325is Top Speed

[eye ess]

Hi guys,ive just moved to the USA from south africa where i had a proper SA spec 325is with a 2,7 liter fuel injected engine(non catalyic converter)as is the case with all SA models specially developed by bmw SA between 1987 and 91 for the south african group N racing.The car could accelarate from 0 to 60 in 6,3 seconds and topped out at about 130 mph.I have recently purchased a US spec 325is (yet again!) and on a recent trip on the 95 interstate from North Carolina to DC i managed a dash indicated speed of 140 mph.Sorry Officer!!!!!!!!!!
can anyone tell me what the true top speed of these cars is and if theres anyway i can remove those terrible diving board bumpers.My car is a brilliant red 88 325is with lowered suspension.

 

[mrferg]

You can swap the 89+ bumpers onto the 88's. As for the top speed, I too would like to know!

 

[epj3]

If you do not want to do the swap, you can adjust the bumpers, so there is a lot less chrome sticking out.

Theoretically, at 7000 RPM (which would probably destroy your engine in a matter of seconds at that speed), you would be going 164.23 mph.

I honestly wouldnt attempt it.

 

[eye ess]

thank u for the info,one other request......did BMW offer rear headrests as an option on the 87-90 325is? I personally think they drastically improve the whole appearance of the car especially from the rear.can anyone tell me whats the best way of obtaining them and how easy or difficult (god forbid) it is to intall them?

 

[mrferg]

Hmmm I don't think the e30 ever had rear headrests, but who knows I could be wrong.

 

[Rukus]

ithink my buddy's 85 325e had rear headrests. personally. i like cars better without rear headrests.

 

[equate]

Yeah my old back seats had headrests and armrest. Although I put new ones in and now it dosnt

 

[mrferg]

Okay I was wrong, but these are sedans that had headrests correct? I don't think you could get them on a 325is.

 

[South Africa E30 driver]

The 325is in SA has rear headrest's hey eye ess, what is 130mph, and 140mph in km/h , and why did u move to the usa ?

 

[chucko]

thank u for the info,one other request......did BMW offer rear headrests as an option on the 87-90 325is? I personally think they drastically improve the whole appearance of the car especially from the rear.can anyone tell me whats the best way of obtaining them and how easy or difficult (god forbid) it is to intall them?

I've been told that BMW offers a headrest fitting kit for the E30's that dont already have rear headrests. Check with your local bmw dealership for details. From what I've headr it's a fairly easy job.

 

[epj3]

The 325is in SA has rear headrest's hey eye ess, what is 130mph, and 140mph in km/h , and why did u move to the usa ?

Here's a cool trick, go to google.com and type in the search box " Convert 130mph to km/h"

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=convert+130mph+to+km/h

 

[South Africa E30 driver]

Well when my 325i was standard I could get it to 130mp/h easily, but I recon it could get 140mph, cause it still had about 3000rpm to go before redline

 

[brahtw8]

If you do not want to do the swap, you can adjust the bumpers, so there is a lot less chrome sticking out.

Theoretically, at 7000 RPM (which would probably destroy your engine in a matter of seconds at that speed), you would be going 164.23 mph.

I honestly wouldnt attempt it.

A couple of points here. I assume that your 7000 RPM calculation of top speed is based on gearing. In other words, 7000 RPM in 5th translates to 164.23 MPH, using the gear ratio and rear axle ratio.

The reason they call this theoretical top speed is that wind resistance becomes an issue. The NA1 NSX is geared for 183 MPH or so, but will be unable to overcome drag at 168 MPH.

With an E30, the actual top speed is probably in the high 130s or low 140s.

If you put enough power in the car you could attain the theoretical top speed, assuming you left the gearing and rear end stock (and your calculations are right).

As for 7000 RPM destroying the engine, I don't know the redline of an E30 325i, but I expect it is in the 6500-7000 RPM range, and could probably be chipped to 6800-7000 RPM or so. As long as you don't exceed redline by more than a few hundred RPM, your engine should not blow up. 500 RPM over redline may be the absolute limit that you would ever want to accidentally explore, unless you have done some internal work or have titanium connecting rods.

An eta engine would blow up at 7000 RPM, but its redline is around 5000 RPM.

 

[South Africa E30 driver]

The redline, on my 325i, was 6500, now it is 7200rpm, but I only take it to about 6800rpm, cause that is it's maximun power in the higher gears. In it's state now it can apparently get 160mph, but I've never tried

 

[muskyman]

I had a 1989 325is with a Dinan generation 3 chip , header ,extrude honed intake,and borla pipe. It pulled a average of 152MPH in two directions on radar a number of times.

every car has its own aero dynamic wall where it will take a huge increase of power to brake thru. this is a factor of the frontal area of the car X the drag co-effiecient..

the lowered rear roof line of the E30 M3 was said to gain 8 MPH for the same amount of power.

MM

 

[South Africa E30 driver]

I want an E30 M3. musky man I love ur sig, dirt = sideways and fun , asphalt = sideways and scary, but still fun