Performance Upgrade Options on a Federal M6 (S38)

[Antipodean]

Hi all:

I have owned my federal '88 M6 for almost 2 years now, and it has been enjoyable and reliable over that time. The engine is stock with quite a few miles on it and has lots of torque and pulls fine, but does not have what I would call sparkling performance.

Its comming up for a valve adjustment and stage II maintanence, so was wondering if there are any fairly straight forward performance mods folks would recommend (i.e. bolt-on stuff that does not require going internal).

I was thinking things like a MAF meter, cold air intake, exhaust valve timing, etc. I believe it has a Dinan chip installed - but have never confirmed that.

Anyway would apreciate any suggestions filks might have.

TIA,

Rob.

[SUABBYM6]

If your engine redlines at 8k rpm and you can pull +/- 60mph in 2nd gear, it has a chip. Don't waste time or money on cold air intake as it is already there. There was a thread here last week regarding that. Exhaust components, to my knowledge, are the only "bolt on" mods you can do. Not sure what to recommend there.

[sofiabghome]

Get Euro headers, Dinan chip and sproket, Use custom exhaust all the way dual 2.5 inch and make sure you put big "X" pipe..Keep cats for some back preasure. You will wake up the car with a lot !

Cheers
Anri

[Antipodean]

Thanks guys. Sounds like freeing up exhaust flow is the trick - headers and exhaust pipes. Are there after-market headers for the S38 other than the Euro? And what is the "Dinan Sproket"?

Rob.

[M6csi]

And what is the "Dinan Sproket"?

Rob.

Exhaust cam sprocket and is actually a BMW Motorsport part. They were originally installed on the European E30 M3 evolution I and II cars. It works by retarding the exhaust gas slightly, thereby giving more mid-range torque. It works as advertised...quite noticeable mid-rpm oomph. Definitely one of the best "bang for the bucks" parts for an M6.

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee229/m6csi/img019.jpg

[Antipodean]

Wow - those performance numbers do look impressve! But it looks like this is for the sprocket and chip. Yesterday I poped out the ECU and took a peek inside and sure enough there is a Dinan chip in there:

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g167/RobTh/DinanChip.jpg

So should I assume the sprocket is installed also (are these usually installed together)? How much more benefit would I get if I have just the chip and then add the sprocket?

Cheers,

Rob.

[scottswash96]

redline to 8000????? my car would blow the hell up, thats Honda S2000 rpm's.

[LarryM]

So should I assume the sprocket is installed also (are these usually installed together)? How much more benefit would I get if I have just the chip and then add the sprocket?

Cheers,

Rob.

No, I don't think you can automatically assume that your car has the sprocket. Dinan offered their upgrades in "stages" and the chip was a stand-alone option, as was the sprocket. However I think the sprocket was also a popular item so there's a good chance you have one.

Since M6csi posted the dyno results with both, he might be able to post the test showing gains realized with just a chip, so you can compare them.