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Thread: Street 323i Progress Thread

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    Central MA USA
    Posts
    6
    My Cars
    1999 BMW 323ci

    Street 323i Progress Thread

    What's up all

    Recently jumped in a 1998 323i Convertible with 121k on the dash. Manual transmission I have out at the moment replacing the DMF with a Valeo kit. The tan interior has seen better days but I can work around it for now! Came on Style 30s I swapped for these 19x7.5 Work wheels, and also Msport 3 spoke wheel with shifter. I like the drive so far. I'm getting used to the shift throws, and my clutch was at it's finish line so I'm looking forward to the feel after the install. I'm currently waiting on an upgraded pivot pin, and OE throw out (RMS and main shaft already here) so it's parked until then.

    Been learning a lot through the forums and parked threads just wanted to share


    iPhone shot at Foxwoods, was tempted to drive it even though I had 30% clutch. I lost more money towing the car from 395 to M.A. when it gave out on the way back.










  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    9,079
    My Cars
    1997 328i
    Nice car, welcome to the forum!

    Wow she's a real pig underneath, leaking oil somewhere...
    Attn. NEWBIES: Use the search feature, 98% has already been discussed.
    Click the search button, select "search single content type", select the "e36 sub forum" specifically, try the "search titles" then try the "search entire posts".

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Tenerife, Spain
    Posts
    628
    My Cars
    1997 BMW E36 323i
    Welcome! Cool car.. I am also driving a 323i..
    Some cheap upgrades to make the car a bit faster: a chip tune (I replace the entire DME with a tune installed for 130 euro, at Ebay, can send you the link if you like). Big difference, and really good quality tune.
    You can also plug&play install a 328i exhaust front to back, so you get dual pipe instead of single pipe (identical to 320i) exhaust.
    Then, if you like high end horses (and are okay sacrificing a little torque down below), you can also install the M50 intake manifold and get the car up to a little over 200 HP at the crank (if you also do the chip tune).. I decided to stick to the (much narrower) M52 intake and (probably, claimed) 190 HP (chip tune) because where I live there are a lot of hills, so torque in the lower revs is more important to me..

    Good luck!
    Last edited by ed323i; 06-10-2018 at 09:59 PM.


    1997 E36 BMW 323i
    (European) 275k km (171k miles), with following small mods:

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    Central MA USA
    Posts
    6
    My Cars
    1999 BMW 323ci
    Quote Originally Posted by Eric93se View Post
    Nice car, welcome to the forum!

    Wow she's a real pig underneath, leaking oil somewhere...
    Thanks, I'll be cleaning everything up while I'm under, that'll help me source the leaks (s).

    Quote Originally Posted by ed323i View Post
    Welcome! Cool car.. I am also driving a 323i..
    Some cheap upgrades to make the car a bit faster: a chip tune (I replace the entire DME with a tune installed for 130 euro, at Ebay, can send you the link if you like). Big difference, and really good quality tune.
    You can also plug&play install a 328i exhaust front to back, so you get dual pipe instead of single pipe (identical to 320i) exhaust.
    Then, if you like high end horses (and are okay sacrificing a little torque down below), you can also install the M50 intake manifold and get the car up to a little over 200 HP at the crank (if you also do the chip tune).. I decided to stick to the (much narrower) M52 intake and (probably, claimed) 190 HP (chip tune) because where I live there are a lot of hills, so torque in the lower revs is more important to me..

    Good luck!

    Thanks for your time, please send the link I'll look into it. I'm hoping to get into suspension after maintenance, if all goes well, I'll have a swap in sometime next year. Is the M50 Manifold a direct bolt on? I've been researching costs of bolt ins vs the current state of my car vs my end goal and I see my best bet being to baby the car and save up to do what I really want (300+ hp). This way suspension upgrades can stay if I choose to swap the engine someday. Maybe I'm lying to myself though and can't help driving a manual car without a profound exhaust sound

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    NY
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    9,079
    My Cars
    1997 328i
    A common leak that starts up front that many mistaken as an oil pan leak is the oil filter housing gasket (OFH). It's an easy job.

    Another leak that is mainly for older E36's is the oil ports that are on the back of the OFH, but on yours they should be properly sealed up.
    Attn. NEWBIES: Use the search feature, 98% has already been discussed.
    Click the search button, select "search single content type", select the "e36 sub forum" specifically, try the "search titles" then try the "search entire posts".

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Tenerife, Spain
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    1997 BMW E36 323i
    This is the link to the DME.. It's a little bit more expensive now I think:
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Chip-Tu...6724209?_ul=GT

    Double check with the seller if it's okay for the US.. I'm driving it in Europe, and here the emission checks are less strict than in California. We have no air pump for example and no OBD2 connector.

    I personally kept the redline at 6500 rpm (with M52 manifold it makes no sense revving any higher, and stock limiter gives less strain on valve train), idle at stock 700rpm (unless you want to install a light flywheel).
    I didn't remove EWS, because I have the 20-pin USB OBD adapter and a nice program to resync the new DME to the EWS. If you don't have this, and don't mind loosing the EWS, then you can order it with EWS delete installed (price won't change; you'll have to cut one wire though). ABS enabled of course and O2 sensor enabled.
    The tune is really good (I have quite some experience as I have chipped all my many BMWs in the past, and have also tuned an old E28 528i myself using megasquirt) and definitely adds quite some horses and torque over the entire rpm range. Climbing hills, I instantly noticed I needed less downshifts, because of the added torque down below.

    M50 manifold is no direct bolt on. But people sell kits so it's sort of direct bolt on.. But it has to be done correctly. Lots of people introduce vacuum leaks, causing poor running and unstable idle. There are some nice FAQs and tutorials on this. Check the main E36 page of the forum. Torque down below will suffer a little, but with the chip tune it will be more or less the same as with the not-chip-tuned M52 manifold. But, being honest, it will have a little lower torque than the chip tuned M52 with stock M52 manifold.

    300+ HP basically means either a V8 (BMW or LS1 for example) or a turbo/supercharger or transplanting the European M3 engine. If you really want that, best to save up for that and not waste money on getting some more horses out of the M52 (though the chip tune is very cheap, and adds quite a bit of fun to the car).

    Update: P.S. Here is a direct link to the 328i Chip Tuned DME: https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Chip-Tu...kAAOSwKJZbGWqh . $169 at this time. And here is the 320i Chip Tuned DME: https://www.ebay.es/itm/BMW-Chip-Tun...0AAOSwheNbNyiA .
    Last edited by ed323i; 08-15-2018 at 06:06 PM.


    1997 E36 BMW 323i
    (European) 275k km (171k miles), with following small mods:

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2018
    Location
    Central MA USA
    Posts
    6
    My Cars
    1999 BMW 323ci
    Input shaft out, and new OE one in thanks to the free autozone rentals. New RMS also. The feel is obviously night and day but I'm really just enjoying this one.








    Heading up to my pops on Father's Day.. chose to switch back to original wheels.






    Really need a better camera for pictures but this will will have to do for now. On another note the clutch swap was pretty straight forward. I dropped the exauhst down as one, but the putting it back in the same way didn't seem like it was going to be easy. So I split the center joint but had to torch the bolts because by then it was midnight and patience was thin by then. Needless to say I've been driving around with no muffler for the past week driving everybody nutts. Exauhst upgrades are somewhere in the future.


    The suspension when going over bumpy road seems to be getting worse. Sound like loose change when I hit pot holes, and she floats like a boat so I've been in the suspension sections reviewing the known weak points, symptoms, etc. That is the first thing I plan to do with my car before anything. Even though my interior is driving me nutts be in the meantime, I'll dig into the suspension and minor cosmetics. Plenty of info on the forums!!






    Thanks for viewing!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    NY
    Posts
    9,079
    My Cars
    1997 328i
    How were the trans mounts? They are pretty important to prevent a $$$$ shift. Make sure the cooling system is 100% in good shape, if your unaware these cars cannot take an overheat situation, the head warps and can crack, so be sure the cooling system is rock solid. If you ever find yourself in an overheat situation, pull over, don't drive it, have AAA membership or the number to get a subscription with you so that you can get a cheap tow home. Replace all the fluids, on my car the rear diff was super low, when I shifted from D to N I could feel the diff play. If you have a LSD diff then you have to use a higher weight fluid.
    Attn. NEWBIES: Use the search feature, 98% has already been discussed.
    Click the search button, select "search single content type", select the "e36 sub forum" specifically, try the "search titles" then try the "search entire posts".

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2018
    Location
    The Netherlands
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    1994 BMW 325i
    Quote Originally Posted by ed323i View Post
    This is the link to the DME.. It's a little bit more expensive now I think:
    https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-Chip-Tu...6724209?_ul=GT

    Double check with the seller if it's okay for the US.. I'm driving it in Europe, and here the emission checks are less strict than in California. We have no air pump for example and no OBD2 connector.

    I personally kept the redline at 6500 rpm (with M52 manifold it makes no sense revving any higher, and stock limiter gives less strain on valve train), idle at stock 700rpm (unless you want to install a light flywheel).
    I didn't remove EWS, because I have the 20-pin USB OBD adapter and a nice program to resync the new DME to the EWS. If you don't have this, and don't mind loosing the EWS, then you can order it with EWS delete installed (price won't change; you'll have to cut one wire though). ABS enabled of course and O2 sensor enabled.
    The tune is really good (I have quite some experience as I have chipped all my many BMWs in the past, and have also tuned an old E28 528i myself using megasquirt) and definitely adds quite some horses and torque over the entire rpm range. Climbing hills, I instantly noticed I needed less downshifts, because of the added torque down below.

    M50 manifold is no direct bolt on. But people sell kits so it's sort of direct bolt on.. But it has to be done correctly. Lots of people introduce vacuum leaks, causing poor running and unstable idle. There are some nice FAQs and tutorials on this. Check the main E36 page of the forum. Torque down below will suffer a little, but with the chip tune it will be more or less the same as with the not-chip-tuned M52 manifold. But, being honest, it will have a little lower torque than the chip tuned M52 with stock M52 manifold.

    300+ HP basically means either a V8 (BMW or LS1 for example) or a turbo/supercharger or transplanting the European M3 engine. If you really want that, best to save up for that and not waste money on getting some more horses out of the M52 (though the chip tune is very cheap, and adds quite a bit of fun to the car).
    What is the benefit of ordering a complete DME instead of just the chip and install it in existing DME?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Tenerife, Spain
    Posts
    628
    My Cars
    1997 BMW E36 323i
    Quote Originally Posted by klaas View Post
    What is the benefit of ordering a complete DME instead of just the chip and install it in existing DME?
    For the M50 DME, best to just order the chip.
    For the Siemens MS41 M52 DME, there is no EPROM socket to install a chip into. It's a flash chip soldered on the mainboard.
    So, you could buy a digital tune, get all the needed software and hardware, and flash your DME, with all associated risks.
    Or, you can buy a complete DME, already flashed with the new tune. Nice part is that you can re-install your old DME (will need EWS sync though) when needed, and you have a spare DME handy.


    1997 E36 BMW 323i
    (European) 275k km (171k miles), with following small mods:

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