To turbo or not to turbo

[1984 JPS]

Ok, I have a BMW E30 (1984) 323i with about 210,000KM and want to know if it is worth putting a turbo in. Will the engine suffer? It is in pretty good condition and has been running relatively fine but a turbo seems like a big jump for an older car. What kind of HP should I expect to be putting out? I.e I will be getting a midly price ranged turbo.

Thanks in advance, Andy

[MaloventEvil]

also wondering the same question but i have an m30 with 180k miles

[943184dr]

do a compression test and see what it hits. if it does well then go to town. just since the motors have never had a rebuild i would be carefull and only do a low boost kit. anything more and personally i would rebuild the motor.

Tom

[MaloventEvil]

do a compression test and see what it hits. if it does well then go to town. just since the motors have never had a rebuild i would be carefull and only do a low boost kit. anything more and personally i would rebuild the motor.

Tom

how much does a rebuild cost?

[Rich V]

how much does a rebuild cost?

A good rebuild for a nice turbo motor should run $4-$5k if you want to do it right. If you stick with stock anywhere from $1500-$3500.

[943184dr]

A good rebuild for a nice turbo motor should run $4-$5k if you want to do it right. If you stick with stock anywhere from $1500-$3500.

This is giving that you have a shop do it for you. of course if you did it yourself and shopped around for the parts you could do it alot cheaper.

Tom

[Rich V]

This is giving that you have a shop do it for you. of course if you did it yourself and shopped around for the parts you could do it alot cheaper.

Tom

Correct, but if you have to ask how much for a rebuild; you're probably not going to attempt it yourself.

[943184dr]

Correct, but if you have to ask how much for a rebuild; you're probably not going to attempt it yourself.

good point.

Tom

[fortysix]

If you do a compression test and the results are unsatisfactory, what can you change besides changing the compression of the pistons?

[diegom6]

I can't remember who is the guys runing on stock internals with similar Kms on the odometer like yours, and I think is not boosting more than 6-7PSI and runing perfect.

BimmerJimm putted his turbo on his 325i at 160K "miles" on it if I remeber well,with stock internals and runing strong @10-11 PSI

[Makr]

If you put a turbo on your car you will... 1. Have a problem, swear off turbos forever. 2. Run low boost and enjoy modest power gains. 3. Become addicted. It starts with low boost applications, like yours. You then start cranking up the boost, and find out you don't have enough fuel. You fix the fuel problem and you scatter the motor all over the freeway. You build a motor with all the cool stuff, in the process, spending all of the money you were supposed to be building a new garage with, and you start dreaming about stand alone systems, water injections, larger intercoolers, decreaced radius bends, and most importantly more boost....


Don't do it!