e30 325i thoughts

[pureboiracer 0]

hey guys. i might be getting myself a manual e30 325i this week. i took it for a drive and oh man its got alot more grunt than my 320 used to. haha.

the plan is when i get it to do a few things to maximise the power from this engine. nothing too drastic as this is my daily. just got a couple of questions

1. when i get the exhaus done i want it to be reasonably loud but not stupidly loud. but overall i want it to increase the horses a little. so im doing a system from the manifold back. what size pipe should i go and what mufflers would you recomend using? and should i use a single pipe or keep it like the factory one with twin pipes?

2. i want to keep the panel filter in it but want abit more flow. so am thinking about something like a k. and n filter or i think someone recomend bcm filter? anyone got the rundown on this and weather going with a pod filter will be beter or not?

3 if i replace the visciouse fan with a electric one will i acheive much?

cheers oli

[Driftit 2001]

Replacing the viscous fan is always risky. Electric fans need to be wired in with a thermoswitch. The amount of times I have heard people say that they wont forget to turn it on. And then they cook their motors.

There is also a bigger risk of the electric fan crapping out and you not knowing till its too late. Stick with the viscous. The gains would be minimal anyway.

An airbox is better for giving the motor cold air. If you are going to get a pod filter make sure you get a divider so that the pod is only getting colder air. I am going to make up a nice stainless airbox soon. Will make it in a way that can reproduce them. Will put them up on the site soon.

As for the exhaust. My is OMG!! loud at the moment. I am keeping the twin pipes all the way from the motor but ditching the factory mufflers and cat. Will run one high flowing muffler to get a little back pressure and stop the OMG loud at around 2000 - 3000rpm.