318iS E36 Supercharger

[DEATH2000]

Well the way I look at t is this: a blower forces more air into the engine. With more air you need more fuel. In the AA kit it includes a new fuel rail and injectors. How is the car going to know to pump more fuel into the car if the DME isn't remapped? Unless the computer knows that their is a blower and it needs to compensate with additional fuel the car will run lean. That's why AA says you have to mail your DME to them for remapping.

The link to the Bentley Manual is posted in the E36 section. It's a sticky so it is at the top of the page. It's a large file, about 97mb do it may take a few mins to download.

[DaleKP]

That's a very good point. I see the DA kit doesn't come with new fuel rail and injectors (but the pictures from KO suggested theirs does - or did)

I followed up on that and had a chat. It was explained to me that no further remapping would be neccessary as the Mass Air Flow meter would detect a greater flow of air and would tell the dme to compensate with more fuel.

Given I am light years away at best from getting my hands on one of these kits (Downing Atlanta hasn't responded to my emails) it could be a moot point and I might just go with the remapping for the time being - that will at least give me a wee bit more power and torque in the immediate future and who knows? maybe I'll get rich enough to buy an M3

In all seriousness, my quest for supercharging keeps getting stymied at every turn and I must assume from the lack of contact from Downing that they are not really interested in what I have to say. I will try phoning them but the time difference makes it really tricky - we are 10.5 hours ahead of GMT here at the moment. May be better to wait until your spring and our autumn when the States goes forward an hour and we go back an hour.

That aside, my one real hope is that someone will have a second hand kit they want to sell, so I keep checking the forum classifieds. It is a long term thing though - I can't see it happening in the near future, so I will start with Nology Hotwires and a remap.....

Many thanks for directions to the manual - about to go and download it now. I have an ADSL 2+ connection, so won't take too long.

[DaleKP]

All 92.7 MB of Bentley manual down.... in 4 mins

[DEATH2000]

4 mins? I don't know how long it took me but I left it for a minute to go do something. I think it was less then that but i didn't look.

Considering how set you are on supercharging your BMW the easiest option to me is starting to be one of two options: S50/52 swap or M3! I kinda licked out with my 328i as performance upgrades are readily available. Same with the 325. I fully understand your quest was a supercharged 318 but availability of parts is pretty small.

[DaleKP]

Given the cr*ppy speeds I get... 4 minutes for 92 MB is good

Well, I don't know if I am set on supercharging the 318, so much as not wanting to part with it and wanting more horsepower. I have spent a large sum of money on it already (lights etc) and having put this much time and effort into learning all the foibles of the car, I am reluctant to part with it and start all over again. Yes, I guess the M52 / S52 swap IS probably about the best way to go given the lack of supercharger parts..... I'd still LOVE to supercharge though just for the sheer pleasure of driving something quite unique and hearing the howl of the supercharger.

On the other side of that, I don't have the leather seats or a sunroof. Advice I have sought about putting the BMW E36 sunroof in is DON'T.... it is a lot of hassle and unlikely to work properly.....

But leather seats get bloody hot in our summer.... and freakishly cold in winter so I guess cloth is OK, and not having a sunroof isn't the end of the world.

DAMN you have me thinking now....... S52 swap? Did you say there was a thread where someone had actually done that?

On the bright side, I have received notofication that both teh strut brace and the Nology Hotwire leads have been dispatched to me

[DEATH2000]

I understand the not wanting to sell it. The only way of sell mine is for a better one (so an M3). But considering you don't have the sunroof or leather maybe selling it an upgrading might be better. Do you still have your original parts? I still have my original lights just in case. Cause you can always sell them seperatley.

A new car is a new "project" in my eyes. A supercharger on a M3 or 328 would sound a lot better then on a 318. I'm sure theirs plenty of you tube videos on it. Their are a few people that have done the S52 swap and lots of information available about it.

I have the leather seats and although their hot in the summer the heated seats totally make up for it!

[DaleKP]

Sadly I don't have the original parts - I sold them to pay for OTHER stuff on the car. An upgrade sounds good, I must admit. I cannot afford an E90 (let alone an F30 !!) at the moment, so if anything it'll be an E46. Now I'd LOVE an M3 and if the right one comes along....

Having said that, there are an awful lot of E36 fans out there as well. I have never driven an E46 of any engine size so I can't comment on how it "feels" compared to my E36.

I think the only thing I can say with any certainty, be it supercharged, merely chipped, S52 swap or E46 of some kind, is that it will definitely be a BMW...... I like the thought of leather seats, I must admit..... and the sunroof does look great.....

[DEATH2000]

Resale value should still be good as long as all the mods are tasteful and subtle. Over the top things are what hurts future sales. Buyers usually don't look for heavily modded cars unless it's 16 year olds and usually JDM cars. I love my sunroof. I hate not having one in my truck.

If you can drive an E46 then I would definitely look into it. I've never driven an E46 but that will probably be what I upgrade too. I would prefer an E39 M5 but their still outa my budget. Theirs two twin E39 M5's cranking out 800 and 1,050 go respectively. One is called "El Diablo". The other lives in Bahrain. Both are twin turbos. The E39 M5 has a 400hp V10 engine stock. I was looking on you tube today and their is a number of guys in the UK who have dropped the V10 into an E46!! Sounds phenomenal.

If I had an unlimited cash flow I would do up an M5 for the family and drop a V10 into an E36/46.

[DaleKP]

Yep - was thinking of that - all mods are very subtle - black leather with white stitching gaiter for gear stick and handbrake, Alloy AC Schnitzer handbrake handle, chrome trim rings for dash and around gearshift (the dash chrome trim rings are fantastic and I will get them for whichever car I get next), AC Schnitzer Stainless steel and rubber pedals and thats really all on teh inside. Externally, LED "angel eyes" fitted to standard Bosch Euro headlights, clear corners with orange LED bulbs, HID conversion for headlights - of course the Strut brace under the bonnet when that arrives and the Nology ignition leads, then at the rear M3 style rear lights, but LED all through - brakes / indicators etc - OH and M3 mirrors. I am considering an M3 front bumper which I have found for a DAMN good price and of course the engine management chip upgrade, then the only other thing I was considering is some tasteful (i.e. NOT CHROME!!!) 17" rims. I will be keeping the car for at least another 12 - 18 months as there is no scope at all for a newer car inside that time, so I won't go much past what I have described (unless a supercharger comes along at the right price.....)

Then maybe a few months down the track when a few things are sorted, a nice E46 M3 - or at the VERY least a 325i.

Yep I could save the money I intend to spend on mods and put it towards a newer car, but a) as long as I own the beast, it will be modded and b) given the price of BMW's here, the money I spend will be a small percentage of what one will cost.

[DEATH2000]

You still haven't uploaded pics! I wanna see this car now! Haha.

[DaleKP]

Well that's the thing - I have been trying to post using "rate my car" etc and I still can't get rate my car to work - the picture uploaded is well within guidelines and also when I try to upload signature pics, it just says "invalid file"

Beings this seems to have become a general thread, I'll link some pictures here later today

[DEATH2000]

The Rate My Car system is having technical difficulties due to a security software update. Were working on getting it fixed soon. Same with adding avatars.

The Bimmer Showroom is also available for picture threads

[DEATH2000]

Here, I found the link to El Diablo I was talking about earlier:

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e39...ber-beast.html

Long read but it's a good one. It will make you want an M5. Here is the video from when it was originally in Bahrain:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oocoI...e_gdata_player

It's now in Chicago in the US. I'll post more information about it in the 5 Series section later.

[DaleKP]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Mannnn....... droooooooooooooooooool. I just love the "Mission Impossible" soundtrack to the U tube clip as well

OK... beings we seem to be the only two using (or abusing...) this thread, here are some pictures of my car. I'll post again in Showroom, but I'd like to get the strut brace and Nology leads on first. I am hopeful they will arrive next week... or the week after.... or the week after that.....

OK... so some pictures. (I have just taken the Interior ones a few moments ago) As you can see, not a whole lot done to it. I have found a VERY reasonably priced M3 front spoiler (Made of polypropylene and with removable front lip, not moulded) and I am toying with the idea of getting that at the moment.

[DEATH2000]

I like that. Looks great. The exterior looks absolutely gorgeous. The headlights and clear markers are a great look. The steering wheel cover needs to go though! Haha. But the cloth killed it for me. It looks really out of place compared to my leather one. I'll try to post a picture of mine here in a bit.

My M3 bumper was a polypropylene one too. I liked it because it was lightweight and really durable. I was in a small accident where a guy pulled out in front of my and I t-boned him (his fault) and the bumper took the impact with no damage to anything else. It was very cold out as this was in November I believe, so the bumper cracked and parts shattered, but my body shop said the bumper did exactly what it was designed to do. I paid $600 CDN for it. The one that I have on now is an actual OE M3 bumper from BMW and its triple the cost (paid for by insurance).