Bimmerworld's OBDI conversion kit?

[hyperknight]

Like many others, I was eagerly awaiting the OBDII cam kit. However, with the results "appearing" less than stellar, I've begun to look into other means of acheiving 300hp NA.

The OBDII to OBDI conversion kit from Bimmerworld sounds very interesting. Has anyone purchased and installed one of these kits? They say it's a "do-it-yourself" job. Can someone comment on this?

TIA

hk

[essejM3]

I knew Eurospeed was working on a kit, how much is Bimmerworld asking for it?

[JLee]

i was just thinking the same thing !!

i was waiting for the OBDII kit but since there haven't been that many raving reviews, I may go the OBDI conversion way as well

maybe a group purchase ??

jeff

[DSK M3/4]

hyperknight-
have you checked into smog issues at all? it would suck to have to re-do it every smog check.

[JLee]

Who else sells a complete kit to do an OBDI conversion ?

You would think with the stock market tanking the way it is, and the continuing layoffs, the aftermarket market would be lowering their prices.

maybe dinan will finally do a group purchase

[hyperknight]

DSK,

The guy I spoke with at Bimmerworld told me I should have no problems passing smog as long as the area/state does not plug into the OBDII port.

I'm in SoCal (OC area) and last time I had a smog check (about two months ago), I didn't see the smog tech plug anything into the engine bay (granted, I wasn't paying close attention). So I'm pretty sure I'm good as far as the OBDII port plugging for smog is concerned.

essejM3,

There are three levels Bimmerworld offers. Stage I is the OBDI conversion kit by itself which they sell for about $1700. This is supposedly good for ~275HP. Stage II adds larger injectors, EURO HFM, and chip - good for ~300 (~$2400). Their stage III adds CAMS with reprogrammed chip and is good for about 310+HP (they claim).

hk

[frayed]

Jeff,

The BW prices are pretty aggressive. I think they represent a fair savings over Zionsville.

hyper,

The OBD II port is right above your left knee or shin when you are behind the wheel, not in the engine compartment. I'd stop by an area inspection station and ask how they test OBD II cars, and if they do not plug in, ask if that's on the horizon.

Problem is, it seems more areas are going to the EPA supported 'plug-in' test. While my area does not (Austin) Houston and Dallas now do. Among other things, the data from your dme relating to the motor's running conditions taken form the O2 sensors is downloaded, typically to a centralized state database (at least here it is).

Not good. Theoretically, Houstonites and Dallasfolk, could go to a non-emmissions county, get inspected. However, you'll have a different color inspection sticker that will stick out like a sore thumb on the streets of Houston/Dallas. If you get pulled over for it, you'll have some 'splainen to do.

1984 all over again.

[fourfa]

areas in LA under "tier II" smog programs do check the OBD-2 port. this is only in the most heavily polluted areas of California, which unfortunately includes much of L.A. and the southern Valley. Northern California is likely to get it within a few years, as part of some horsetrading that went on to pass the recent CO2 legislation.

If it were me, I'd wait a year and see what shakes out.

[Keda]

Here is the response from James@bimmerworld to my email asking about the kits and installation:

It depends on which kit you are doing. RWHp is less than crank power, werate the Stage III kit at 315 crank, an addition of 65 Hp, or approximately a bit over 50 at the wheels. The Stage I conversion is worth about 25 Hp, or 20 at the wheels. Stage I and II is DIY, you will need sockets, 22mm wrench, screwdrivers, and a torx set for the chip. Stage III required cam installation, professional shop suggested unless you are comfortable with this type of work and have access to the cam tools. The cams are 256/264
Schrick - the standard M3 upgrade for streetable cars.

Instructions are included for the conversion.

[frayed]

Right, fourfa has it right. Tier II areas are the affected areas as I recall when I looked into this.

The trend is for more TII areas. That, and my history for moving around a bit, made me concerned about the conversion. Last thing I want is to have a non-registerable, non-saleable car in a 'foreign' city. And, this is coming from someone who went through the pain of putting together his own kit.

But, if you have the ability to do it yourself (for easier reversal at a later date), you are stable at your location, and you live in an area that is not threatened by TII regs, then I'd go for it.

It's just a calculated risk. . .

[JLee]

frayed, what did you ever end up doing on your car ?

just wondering, I'm still strugglin with which way to head, the OBDI conversion now sounds more feasible. i may end up takin her back on the track one day

hmmn, do all these kits come with Jim C intakes ?

jeff

[frayed]

Originally posted by JLee
frayed, what did you ever end up doing on your car ?

just wondering, I'm still strugglin with which way to head, the OBDI conversion now sounds more feasible. i may end up takin her back on the track one day

hmmn, do all these kits come with Jim C intakes ?

jeff

I'm presently at the stockish motor/tweaked suspension situation. To go any further, it's big ticket items: 1.5k for clutch/fly/install from Rogue, 3k for a cam kit. I sold my URI pulley and will put in the evo pulley so I can run a light fly. . . but I've been busy playing around with springs and such and sorting out wheel/tire choices for track and street.

Jeff

[ADVANT123]

Jeff, you might want to hold off on the Evosport Pulley Kit. Rogue Engineering and UUC are supposedly coming out with Pulley kits in the very near future that don't use a crank pulley and will be priced in the $210-250 range(with the necessary belts), saving you about 150 bucks with similar performance gains.

[frayed]

Right. I think the Rogue is already in production, and Ben is waiting for final dyno numbers.

UUC, dunno where they are beyond a teaser pic.

[fourfa]

awesome. I knew the $400 price for a couple of $50 lathe parts would stimulate competition...

[ADVANT123]

Well, the Rogue Engineering pullies arent going to be available until the the final dyno numbers are available. Ben says pricing of the pullies will be somewhat determined by the kind of HP numbers that the pulleys provide.