318iS E36 Supercharger - United Bimmer Community

**DaleKP** · 01-08-2012, 05:02 AM

Quick bit of information for those that may not already know:

Downing Atlanta were making Supercharger kits for the 318i / iS / ti E36 but sadly they stopped making them and this fine kit was locatable only by searching far and wide for second hand units.

It appears as though there is a light on the horizon for those of us wishing to monster up the venerable 318.

KO Performance are advertising supercharger kits for the 318 - for those interested, take a look here : http://www.koperformance.com/BMW/tur...harger_kit.htm

If this is old news or has already been covered here - I apologise.... just damn happy I have found a supplier

DEATH2000 · 01-08-2012, 06:56 AM

Excellent find. I'm glad you finally found a kit you were looking for. Those are a lot cheaper then the Active Autowerks kits too.

**DaleKP** · 01-08-2012, 06:23 PM

They are cheaper....But I still need to sell a couple of body parts to buy one.... or grovel to my bank manager (I favour the latter)

Whatever I do, I shall not let a little thing like cost get in the way of my quest !!

And yes, whatever I do, it will be legal !!

DEATH2000 · 01-08-2012, 07:25 PM

Haha. I know how you feel. The AA supercharger is more then I make in a month, and costs about as much as my car is worth!! Makes it tempting to upgrade to an M3 instead. I've meet owned a supercharged vehicle.

**DaleKP** · 01-08-2012, 07:48 PM

Yep, I know what you mean - even with the small amount of mods I have done, I have already well and truly over-capitalised... well... I am not intending selling, so I don't care how much I spend.

M3? God I would love one, but I just CANNOT afford to get one - they are so expensive here.....

I have just purchased some Nology Plug leads from Pelican Parts over your side of the world. Waiting for them to arrive so I can see if they benefit as much as they promise. Apparently have a capacitor built into the lead that allows the voltage to build up until it reaches ionization point at the spark plug and then delivers the full whack... apparently promises 300 times more power....... and is 100% legal in the States - check out Nology HotWires

I have ordered a set and eagerly await their arrival... ooops... drifting a bit off-topic there - sorry

DEATH2000 · 01-08-2012, 08:46 PM

I've spend $5,000 at a local store called Tunerworks in upgrades. My Jim Conforti Carbon Fibre CAI was $500 alone

. That doesn't include the maintence and repair costs. I don't want to sell it but my wife really does care how much I spend.

I actually did almost buy an E36 M3. Found one for sale when I was looking for the one I have now. I couldn't justify spending $500ish per month on insurance. It was a Cosmos black M3 coupe with black Vaders. Soooooo nice. Asking price in 2005 (it was a 1995) was $25,000 CDN.

That's cool. Make sure you let us know how those are when you get them. Should be good.

**DaleKP** · 01-08-2012, 09:51 PM

I most certainly will give a full report (in the correct forum...) I am looking forward to fitting them and seeing a difference.......

Death2000 as an aside and COMPLETELY Off topic here - I can't seem to set up "Rate my car" - can you help?

DEATH2000 · 01-08-2012, 10:47 PM

I can try. The picture needs to be uploaded using the File Manager at the top of the screen. Preferably under 550x600. What the problem it's giving you?

**DaleKP** · 01-08-2012, 10:55 PM

Well I have uploaded a picture, a massive 359 kb only and should be around the right size. I can select the picture in "Rate my Car", but it just won't show to the left when selected and "Rate my car" just doesn't go "live"

DEATH2000 · 01-08-2012, 10:58 PM

Okay, I'll look into it for you. Give me a bit of time though.

**DaleKP** · 01-08-2012, 11:00 PM

No dramas - thanks for that

**DaleKP** · 01-10-2012, 04:02 PM

UPDATE:

I emailled KO Performance (twice !!) and received no response and on closer inspection found the site hadn't been updated since 2006. Whilst it shows superchargers, you can't actually add them to your "shopping basket" and when I phoned them I got a "receptionist" who turned out to be an answering service, who could not (or would not) confirm they were actually still in business and declined to take a message as she asserted they would not return international calls.

*sigh* Is there anybody on this here forum that can check out these guys from your side and let me know if they are legitimate, in business, trading and ACTUALLY supplying superchargers?

They are KO Performance, www.koperformance.com

Thanks All

Dale,
Adelaide, South Australia

DEATH2000 · 01-10-2012, 05:27 PM

That's pretty bad man. Well I guess KO is a no go from now on.

Have you tried calling Downing Atlanta directly? They still lost their contact info on the bottom of their website: http://downingatlanta.com/downingatl...s_info_new.htm

I checked the AA website and they only make supercharger kits for the 325i and up. I also searched Turner Motorsports and it does t appear they have anything. Supercharged 318's Arnt very common anywhere, let alone Australia.

A more common option is to drop in a 2.8L engine and mod it, then supercharge it. A 2.8L engine is gonna be a lot cheaper then a supercharger. Was your goal to have a fast car or be one of the very few people with a supercharged 318?

**DaleKP** · 01-10-2012, 05:36 PM

Yes - I emailled Jim Goodroe - he responded and told me that Eaton had stopped making the blower units he used so they had run out of stock. I responded asking if there was any possibility of a kit using another blower, but.... no response to that question

I have also emailled AA and asked them if they do kits for the 318iS - will see what they say.

I was really keen on just having a Supercharged 318 - being really fast doesn't help when the speed limits restrict you quite severely over here, so I was on a quest for more horsepower and torque and thus quicker acceleration..... hence me wanting a Supercharger and not a Turbo unit. HOWEVER, I am an inveterate tinkerer and the thought of dropping a 2.8L is interesting... what else needs to be modded to enable that?

That aside, I will continue my search for a Supercharger kit..... the thought of actually bolting the thing on is really very appealing......

DEATH2000 · 01-10-2012, 06:10 PM

When I looked at the AA website earlier today it did not have a kit listed. How we they do sell individual components so you may be able to piece one together. I want a supercharger as well, and although your gas mileage suffers slightly they are better then a turbo. Most superchargers are bolt on kits plus tune software. Turbo kits are usually much more complicated and have more parts. More things can go wrong with a turbo setup then with a S/C. My car is also an automatic and I will never turbo an automatic car.

My stock 2.8l engine made 142hp from the factory. The easy mods are an intake, under drive pulleys, S52 cams, M50 manifold swap, M50 throttle body, and a good tune. The S52 cams will run fine without a tune, but to get te most out of em a tune is nessecary. As far as I know a 2.8l engine is an almost direct bolt in replacement. I think all you need to replace is the DME, and a few small things. The E36 chassis was the same. In Europe the offered a 320i which was a 6 cyl engine utilizing the same M52 block, just not bored out as much. I contemplated boring mine out to 3l, but I realized an S52 swap would be better as they are already 3.2l and made 340hp.

A former member of this forum had a 328i and he was turbo'ing it and was expecting 600hp~ when completed. His was a 1997.