I've got a heavily modified E36 that's had a fair bit of work done to squeeze every last bit of HP from it including replacement cams, ECU and exhaust. It's not bad for it's age and is still capable of going off the speedo 155mph + (or so i've heard). It used to belong to the guy who owned DRP motorsport in Hoylake.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any experience with superchargers for these cars? I've seen some online for about £5K but it would only put about a second less on the 0-60mph (which it can do in about 6 secs). For 5K, i was also worried about it being directly behind the bumper in case it had a little smash.

What does everyone make about the blowers that you can get off ebay that go on the air intake pipe? Are they crap?

Thanks,

Neil.

junk mate, speed is a question of money, Id sell the car and buy something from the factory thats quick

Do you mean 12v electric superchargers?

I'd also go down the M3 engine route. I wanted to do this to a 2002, but was beyond my skills and just lost interest.

yeah the 12v electric ones, are they crap I take it?

The good thing about getting factory is that you don't have to get mod insurance. I suppose the car is ageing and not worth spending a great deal of money on.

bollox neil, restrictive at the best!

saw this one: ebay If only £15 would make the car go faster!

bollock bud, it will restric more than anything!

and cause the alt to have to work harder. I love the way it comes with a switch to wire straight to the battery lol.

I also like one advert that claims it extends engine life

The electric ones will improve power at lower revs but haven't got the power at higher revs. I am surprised nobody has brought out a hybrid system, electric and pulley driven, as each counteracts the other's shortcomings but turbos seem to be the order of the day.

I wonder if anyone has come up with an active exhaust extraction/decompression system? Turbos must increase the pressure at the exhaust, this is an inefficiency which must be similar to the power required for a supercharger.

I laughed at another gimmick where one was powered from the vacuum line - this would mean you were extracting air from the vacuum line and then pumping air in before it, overall this has got to lose power not gain, alright if you just want a "shiny" under the bonnet but no good for Santa Pod.

The one thing I find mad about the e36 is that it constantly heats the mirrors, even if they need it or not. I reckon that would effect fuel consumption by a few miles per tank of petrol.

As for snow, rear wheel drive is poo. Had to sit the girlf in the back seat for a bit of ballast at the start of the year!

sell the beemer and get a scooby or an evo

I have thought about it but they'll all do about the same top end and whislt the sub and evo are between 1-2 secs quicker on 0-60; I get 35mpg, they'll struggle to do about 20 - 25mpg. Plus insurance, tax and servicing are more.

For a car I drive about once a week, it's not really worth it.

Electric superchargers are junk on the whole. They can do something for very small engined cars where the air demand is quite low, but on a big cc car they cannot keep up with the air demand, and cause a restriction in the intake.

What BMW do you have? If your knocking on the door of 155, then you are already at M3 speeds

Id think about spending money on suspension / brakes and keep the car normally aspirated as it will be far more reliable.

It was orginally a 323 / 2.5 M52 engine. It produced 218bhp last time it was tested. I'm not sure if the gearbox is original, although Getrag boxes were fitted on e36's. It's had a short-shift kit fitted. Haliwell Jones seemed impressed with it for the car's age last time it was in.

It's had Bilstein suspension on it since almost new. The garage that modded it never touched any part of the air intake so it's all standard. The exhaust is 328 type, dual right the way from the manifold.

Optimax does make a noticable difference to performance.

A set of decient tyres will sort that, my e36 has some kind of electrical fault atm which is quite annoying, when i brake the stereo turns down, when i accelerate it turns up! Oh, and the windows won`t go up or down once the engines been started???

The ECU will feed the radio with the vehicle speed and should adjust the volume slightly to compensate for engine nose. I don't know if you can adjust it by "how much" tho. Windows sound mad, must be annoying in this weather if the car hasn't got a/c.

Overiding the track control is unwise on these cars, especially in the wet. I found that out the hard way on junc 3.

I'd stay away from Turbo/Super chargers as they dont offer much value for the M50/M52 engines..

The M52B25 only has 187bhp as standard, so if yours has been RR'd at 218bhp then your doing very very well.

Even if you swapped the motor for a M52B28 (the engine from the 328), fit the inlet manifold from your current motor and a pair of Shrick cams then I reckon you wont be getting more than 230-235bhp.... (circa £1500 all in)

You could always get a S50B30 (the early E36 M3 non-vanos) engine which will be good for 286bhp if its healthy and has the tappets done correctly.... (circa £2000 w/out fitting)

OR. Go down the S50B32 (Evo 231bhp) route, but beware of vanos issues and the reportedly fragile 6 speed box (circa £3k)

Any M engine will be more expensive to run and service, but the noise and the performance are to die for!

I think with the age of the car, it isn't worth doing anything drastic to it anymore. I took it over 140mph at the weekend and it shits me up to think whilst the engine will move the car that fast, the wheel bearings and other components are ageing.

I'm also neverous about the quality of my own suspension, braking and steering work on the car; not that there is anything wrong with it (and it's passed MOT), but did I torque the trackrod ends and calliper retaining bolts properly when I replaced??

Maybe I'm just getting older and think of the consequences more!

Hi Neil
I used to work at drp when we had your e36 as our car, what a machine it was.
Do you still have it ? Be nice to see the old girl again