$4800, should I turbo?

[faithmassive]

hey what's up, I have an '01 330ci purely stock right now, except for halo's and eyebrows. I have 4800 dollars and more everyday because I'm 19 and I still live with my parents but I work full time. BTW, I am paying for my car.. and I will be for the next 5 years....... but I'm ready to mod it out some.. it'd be a nice sleeper with a turbo right? What should I do? :yikes:

[Commander FAT]

Save it. Join BMW CCA and learn how to drive for real.

[Davidjay]

Turbo it up!

[shockin330i]

Um....if im not mistaken, there is no turbo yet for your car. Also it should come out next month, or was it last month, or 2 months...I dunno its been said to come out for next month for the past year or so. Ever think of s/c?

[faithmassive]

I knew it wouldn't be out for another few months, in the mean time I would have saved the extra money for stronger internals.. the s/c gives great power I hear, but it's not the same bang for the buck.

[shockin330i]

Well as long as your willing to wait...go for it. :thumbup:

[Clem]

Pay off the car :dunno:

[04E46]

Rememer. Its easy to make a good car fast. It very hard to make a fast car good.

The motor was not meant for a turbo.

Id save the $$$.

[akhbhaat]

You do realize that there will be installation costs/labor on top of the initial 5k price of admission, right? You'll probably need some ECU tuning, as well. Turbo setups are not as cheap as they may seem.

Look at to spend AT LEAST 6 or 7 grand for a working turbo setup. That is, when one actually comes out, because there's nothing available right at this moment. Of course...the turbo alone is just part of the expense. There's a lot more that goes into tuning a car equipped as such if you want it to perform properly and hold up.

My advice: I get the impression that you're not exactly rolling in the dough. Nearly all 19 year olds living at home don't. $4800 is not a lot of money in this country when it comes to monthly or yearly living expenses...so, if you've already got $4800+ on tap and you're willing to blow all of it on something that depreciates extremely fast (and will also have a very negative effect on the resale value of your car), you need to reconsider your priorities. Not only that, but forced induction (especially turbos) will add to the maintenance requirements and possibly decrease the overall reliability of your car. Nevermind the stock internals on the motor...considerably more stress will be placed on drivetrain components, clutch, differential, your brakes will become inadequete, I could go on...chance of failure or premature wear are likely if not certain in all cases unless upgrades are performed on those components as well. I'm not even going to bother estimating those expenses, except to say that you'll probably need at least twice that of what you already have.

Seriously, save the money. If you really want to invest some of it into the car, buy a performance suspension, take some car control and driving/racing school classes and learn how to drive the car with the power it already has. You'll be surprised at what it can on an open circuit or road course do even in stock form. Leave the straight line street racing and stoplight drags to little kids.

Clem has some good advice, as well: think about paying the car off first before doing any expensive, major modifications (like a turbo). With a payment due each month, you will be in hot water if you lose your source of income and that money isn't available.

[ChosenGSR]

You do realize that there will be installation costs/labor on top of the initial 5k price of admission, right? You'll probably need some ECU tuning, as well. Turbo setups are not as cheap as they may seem.

Look at to spend AT LEAST 6 or 7 grand for a working turbo setup. That is, when one actually comes out, because there's nothing available right at this moment. Of course...the turbo alone is just part of the expense. There's a lot more that goes into tuning a car equipped as such if you want it to perform properly and hold up.

My advice: I get the impression that you're not exactly rolling in the dough. Nearly all 19 year olds living at home don't. $4800 is not a lot of money in this country when it comes to monthly or yearly living expenses...so, if you've already got $4800+ on tap and you're willing to blow all of it on something that depreciates extremely fast (and will also have a very negative effect on the resale value of your car), you need to reconsider your priorities. Not only that, but forced induction (especially turbos) will add to the maintenance requirements and possibly decrease the overall reliability of your car. Nevermind the stock internals on the motor...considerably more stress will be placed on drivetrain components, clutch, differential, your brakes will become inadequete, I could go on...chance of failure or premature wear are likely if not certain in all cases unless upgrades are performed on those components as well. I'm not even going to bother estimating those expenses, except to say that you'll probably need at least twice that of what you already have.

Seriously, save the money. If you really want to invest some of it into the car, buy a performance suspension, take some car control and driving/racing school classes and learn how to drive the car with the power it already has. You'll be surprised at what it can on an open circuit or road course do just in stock form. Leave the straight line street racing and stoplight drags to little kids.

Clem has some good advice, as well: think about paying the car off first before doing any expensive, major modifications (like a turbo). With a payment due each month, you will be in hot water if you lose your source of income and that money isn't available.

golden words

[jpm330ci]

Congrats on the car http://forum.e46fanatics.com/images/smilies/thumb.gif . Check out esstuning they offer two types of s/c. Wish could afford one http://forum.e46fanatics.com/images/smilies/mecry.gif
http://www.esstuning.com/default.asp?c=shop&cat=93&subcat=101&subcat2=114&id==

[0hMyGod]

You do realize that there will be installation costs/labor on top of the initial 5k price of admission, right? You'll probably need some ECU tuning, as well. Turbo setups are not as cheap as they may seem.

Look at to spend AT LEAST 6 or 7 grand for a working turbo setup. That is, when one actually comes out, because there's nothing available right at this moment. Of course...the turbo alone is just part of the expense. There's a lot more that goes into tuning a car equipped as such if you want it to perform properly and hold up.

My advice: I get the impression that you're not exactly rolling in the dough. Nearly all 19 year olds living at home don't. $4800 is not a lot of money in this country when it comes to monthly or yearly living expenses...so, if you've already got $4800+ on tap and you're willing to blow all of it on something that depreciates extremely fast (and will also have a very negative effect on the resale value of your car), you need to reconsider your priorities. Not only that, but forced induction (especially turbos) will add to the maintenance requirements and possibly decrease the overall reliability of your car. Nevermind the stock internals on the motor...considerably more stress will be placed on drivetrain components, clutch, differential, your brakes will become inadequete, I could go on...chance of failure or premature wear are likely if not certain in all cases unless upgrades are performed on those components as well. I'm not even going to bother estimating those expenses, except to say that you'll probably need at least twice that of what you already have.

Seriously, save the money. If you really want to invest some of it into the car, buy a performance suspension, take some car control and driving/racing school classes and learn how to drive the car with the power it already has. You'll be surprised at what it can on an open circuit or road course do even in stock form. Leave the straight line street racing and stoplight drags to little kids.

Clem has some good advice, as well: think about paying the car off first before doing any expensive, major modifications (like a turbo). With a payment due each month, you will be in hot water if you lose your source of income and that money isn't available.
:werd: :thumbup:

[BGReddy00]

Im thinkin its gonna run more about 10k to put a Turbo and Ive even been told that much by some of the guys at AA Tuning just because theres so many parts on the car that you have find another location to put them...

you have a good shot at putting a S/C for that amount of money though but remember the install price if you dont do yourself can be pretty hefty its quite a lot of hours todo the actual install

however once you get the s/c your gonna wanna change a bunch of things like the diff. and get uuc ssk..the list goes on..

my advice start small..dont blow it all on rims..get a nice set, get an intake exhaust..shark it maybe..then maybe save a lil more and get the s/c when you can get the rest of things that you will want with it..

[akhbhaat]

Ive even been told that much by some of the guys at AA Tuning just because theres so many parts on the car that you have find another location to put them...This is true. You'll notice that on many E36 turbo kits (including AA's), that the tubing and sometimes even the snail itself are placed throughout the underside of the car or towards the bottom of the engine bay.

The BMW I6 engines are large and eat up a lot of space, and the E46 bay isn't all that large to begin with. Turbo setups aren't as compact as a supercharger unit, which, thanks to size and the fact that it's driven by an engine pully (as opposed to taking energy from exhaust gases), can be squeezed into the same location and amount of space as the factory airbox uses.

[simon323ispp]

pay off a chunk of the car payment, you'll be $4800 closer to owning the car.

[ALPINEMSIX]

if u want a turbo get an e36 m3 and boost the hell out of it. There is a reason why only like 1person i think has a turbo e46 and that is kromeX. Which i do have to say is the sickest e46 in my opinion just because of the turbo.. so if u do put the 10grand into it and have a succesful turbo e46 i will give u props and luv ur car 4ever :woot: but for now all im goin to say is your going to go BOOM.. if u aint careful wit your set up and research the :censor::censor::censor::censor: out of it before u buy it and install it. :dunno:

[Creature]

To piggy-back on what akhbaat said, invest the money. Maybe you can turn the $4800 into $6000 or more over the next few years. The money you invest now at age 19 will be worth a hell of a lot more than what you can put away 15 years from now. Talk to any financial advisor and he'll tell you that.

That S/C will do nasty things to your car. It's already depreciating. Adding F/I on an engine will make the car depreciate faster. Unless you're raking in the dough (subjective for sure) there's a lot more sensible mods you can do to your car.

[faithmassive]

I know an e46 will never be the fastest car on the street, nor do I want mine to be. But as far as intake goes, I'm not going to spend 600 for a gruppe m because it makes the car sound good and gives 6 horses.. I'm considering a tse3 exhaust and an h&r cup kit for now. Believe me, my dad has done everything from business/financial coaching, health/group/life insurance to opening a middle eastern restaurant leila (www.leilawpb.com) (it's really good by the way, located one block south of clematis street on the corner of dixie and datura.. my name is jp if you stop in.) I'll ask him to help me do something worth while and not too risky.. stocks aren't the route I'm willing to go right now. Anyway's thanks for all your comments, as I said I'll probably go with suspension and exhaust for now, thanks for your input.

-jp

[1BADe46]

Pay off the car :dunno:

:werd:

[akhbhaat]

I'm considering a tse3 exhaust and an h&r cup kit for now.Good call.

[bengwie]

Not to put heat on anyone here, but my suggestion is don't put turbo, even on E36 m3 or whatsoever on BMW engine. I saw one car, the owner has spent 26K to fix the problem on his turbo, and still hasn't got it done till right now. U go to 1 shop, and they just keep throwing you to other shop, and never get it done, while the money just keeps flowing around. Well, it's just an advise, and you decide on what u want, good luck. :)

[valentino2001m3]

You do realize that there will be installation costs/labor on top of the initial 5k price of admission, right? You'll probably need some ECU tuning, as well. Turbo setups are not as cheap as they may seem.

Look at to spend AT LEAST 6 or 7 grand for a working turbo setup. That is, when one actually comes out, because there's nothing available right at this moment. Of course...the turbo alone is just part of the expense. There's a lot more that goes into tuning a car equipped as such if you want it to perform properly and hold up.

My advice: I get the impression that you're not exactly rolling in the dough. Nearly all 19 year olds living at home don't. $4800 is not a lot of money in this country when it comes to monthly or yearly living expenses...so, if you've already got $4800+ on tap and you're willing to blow all of it on something that depreciates extremely fast (and will also have a very negative effect on the resale value of your car), you need to reconsider your priorities. Not only that, but forced induction (especially turbos) will add to the maintenance requirements and possibly decrease the overall reliability of your car. Nevermind the stock internals on the motor...considerably more stress will be placed on drivetrain components, clutch, differential, your brakes will become inadequete, I could go on...chance of failure or premature wear are likely if not certain in all cases unless upgrades are performed on those components as well. I'm not even going to bother estimating those expenses, except to say that you'll probably need at least twice that of what you already have.

Seriously, save the money. If you really want to invest some of it into the car, buy a performance suspension, take some car control and driving/racing school classes and learn how to drive the car with the power it already has. You'll be surprised at what it can on an open circuit or road course do even in stock form. Leave the straight line street racing and stoplight drags to little kids.

Clem has some good advice, as well: think about paying the car off first before doing any expensive, major modifications (like a turbo). With a payment due each month, you will be in hot water if you lose your source of income and that money isn't available.


Yes, I agree, I say you will need 8-10K just for starts, then look at exhaust, susp. wheels, maint., and whatever else will pop up. Look at around 20K to do it right and have a well balanced car. If not, enjoy what you have now and keep the mods light. Its already a nice car.

[Commander FAT]

You do realize that there will be installation costs/labor on top of the initial 5k price of admission, right? You'll probably need some ECU tuning, as well. Turbo setups are not as cheap as they may seem.

Look at to spend AT LEAST 6 or 7 grand for a working turbo setup. That is, when one actually comes out, because there's nothing available right at this moment. Of course...the turbo alone is just part of the expense. There's a lot more that goes into tuning a car equipped as such if you want it to perform properly and hold up.

My advice: I get the impression that you're not exactly rolling in the dough. Nearly all 19 year olds living at home don't. $4800 is not a lot of money in this country when it comes to monthly or yearly living expenses...so, if you've already got $4800+ on tap and you're willing to blow all of it on something that depreciates extremely fast (and will also have a very negative effect on the resale value of your car), you need to reconsider your priorities. Not only that, but forced induction (especially turbos) will add to the maintenance requirements and possibly decrease the overall reliability of your car. Nevermind the stock internals on the motor...considerably more stress will be placed on drivetrain components, clutch, differential, your brakes will become inadequete, I could go on...chance of failure or premature wear are likely if not certain in all cases unless upgrades are performed on those components as well. I'm not even going to bother estimating those expenses, except to say that you'll probably need at least twice that of what you already have.

Seriously, save the money. If you really want to invest some of it into the car, buy a performance suspension, take some car control and driving/racing school classes and learn how to drive the car with the power it already has. You'll be surprised at what it can on an open circuit or road course do even in stock form. Leave the straight line street racing and stoplight drags to little kids.

Clem has some good advice, as well: think about paying the car off first before doing any expensive, major modifications (like a turbo). With a payment due each month, you will be in hot water if you lose your source of income and that money isn't available.

Basically what I said. Heh

[_TomDoe_]

Btw. whats wrong with 330i OEM HP...wish I had that HP myself ( 320i :( ).

[nicks]

I bet if he didn't say he was 19 you guys would have a different response :P . If guys can boost a honda and avoid problems i guess you can boost a 330 and do the same. that is if it is done right. but still listen to what was just said becuase they are right in some way. i wish i could see an e46 with over 500whp just to see how far the block can go. :)

[0hMyGod]

I bet if he didn't say he was 19 you guys would have a different response :P . If guys can boost a honda and avoid problems i guess you can boost a 330 and do the same. that is if it is done right. but still listen to what was just said becuase they are right in some way. i wish i could see an e46 with over 500whp just to see how far the block can go. :)
:hmm: Like the other guys said, s/c or turbo is not cheap for our car.
For 5k you even can't get a kit itself. :yikes:
That's why everyone said not to do it. :)

Did you check out the Kromex's ride? I think he's putting 495rwhp. :thumbup:

[2g2_330_ci]

get your pops to go in half and half...invest in a decent piece of property (30-40K)...hold it for a year and a day, sell it for a 20% (or more) profit...split the profit with your pops...then start over again with a more valuble piece of property. not sure about your location, but Panama City Beach is a very hot land market right now...easily see 30-50% turnaround in a year or less.

I regret buying rims/tires/and all other mods now that I see my dad flipping land left and right for 25-30% before he makes six payments on the damn thing...just a suggestion though.

[Cuore_alfa]

get your pops to go in half and half...invest in a decent piece of property (30-40K)...hold it for a year and a day, sell it for a 20% (or more) profit...split the profit with your pops...then start over again with a more valuble piece of property. not sure about your location, but Panama City Beach is a very hot land market right now...easily see 30-50% turnaround in a year or less.

I regret buying rims/tires/and all other mods now that I see my dad flipping land left and right for 25-30% before he makes six payments on the damn thing...just a suggestion though.

pm send

[Beemah_Mon]

I have 4800 dollars and more everyday because I'm 19 and I still live with my parents but I work full time.

And your point is?

[Bimmer33084]

Pay off the car :dunno:
:werd:

[Bimmer33084]

You do realize that there will be installation costs/labor on top of the initial 5k price of admission, right? You'll probably need some ECU tuning, as well. Turbo setups are not as cheap as they may seem.

Look at to spend AT LEAST 6 or 7 grand for a working turbo setup. That is, when one actually comes out, because there's nothing available right at this moment. Of course...the turbo alone is just part of the expense. There's a lot more that goes into tuning a car equipped as such if you want it to perform properly and hold up.

My advice: I get the impression that you're not exactly rolling in the dough. Nearly all 19 year olds living at home don't. $4800 is not a lot of money in this country when it comes to monthly or yearly living expenses...so, if you've already got $4800+ on tap and you're willing to blow all of it on something that depreciates extremely fast (and will also have a very negative effect on the resale value of your car), you need to reconsider your priorities. Not only that, but forced induction (especially turbos) will add to the maintenance requirements and possibly decrease the overall reliability of your car. Nevermind the stock internals on the motor...considerably more stress will be placed on drivetrain components, clutch, differential, your brakes will become inadequete, I could go on...chance of failure or premature wear are likely if not certain in all cases unless upgrades are performed on those components as well. I'm not even going to bother estimating those expenses, except to say that you'll probably need at least twice that of what you already have.

Seriously, save the money. If you really want to invest some of it into the car, buy a performance suspension, take some car control and driving/racing school classes and learn how to drive the car with the power it already has. You'll be surprised at what it can on an open circuit or road course do even in stock form. Leave the straight line street racing and stoplight drags to little kids.

Clem has some good advice, as well: think about paying the car off first before doing any expensive, major modifications (like a turbo). With a payment due each month, you will be in hot water if you lose your source of income and that money isn't available.

:werd: