Installing a turbo on 328ci? need advice pls

[mykalem]

i am considering installing a turbo kit on my 328ci. what advice can you give me?? do i need to do any extra work on the engine?? can my engine handle the power increase?? what manifold shall i get? pls post turbo setups here.

[Penguin Koolaid]

i am considering installing a turbo kit on my 328ci. what advice can you give me?? do i need to do any extra work on the engine?? can my engine handle the power increase?? what manifold shall i get? pls post turbo setups here.
You would probably have to get one custom built. There aren't too many turbo e46's around. You're better off buying a supercharger from someone like ASA or AA.

[cowmoo32]

:werd:

You'll have more money invested in the turbo than you do your car if you try and turbo it.

[mykalem]

has anybody installed a turbo in the e46?????????????? which is better supercharger or turbo??????????

[cowmoo32]

yeah, there are prob 10 around the world. As far as power, its the same as it is w/ any other car. You get more power, but its not throughout all the RPMs, unlike a belt driven s/c, which gives power no matter what. also, turbos are more unstable on our cars...you could easily blow your engine

[5speedsteve]

go centifugal (belt driven tubro) 80% efficient i hear

[crazy1323]

yeah, there are prob 10 around the world. As far as power, its the same as it is w/ any other car. You get more power, but its not throughout all the RPMs, unlike a belt driven s/c, which gives power no matter what. also, turbos are more unstable on our cars...you could easily blow your engine

The only way a turbo will blow your engine would be that you are dumb and crank up your wastegates or you have horrible software. The exact same thing can happen from a supercharger. All a centrifical SC is is a turbo with the the turbine being beltdriven instead of driven by the exhaust. Also, a turbo wil make much more power and do much more work. If two cars have the same boost levels the turbo will make much more power due to no parasitic drag. Also, have you ever heard of something called area under the curve. With a turbo the increase in area under the cureve is much greater due to full boost being able to come on much quicker. Notice most turbo cars are torque monsters. Mechanically a turbo i far superior to a centri charger in term of power made and when. But it is much more complicated to install.

[zeshon]

Basically, I have a 328Ci, and would love to turbo as well. From what I have gathered, I can spend 10K at DA Motorsport, and get the turbo setup I want, but their work has yet to be proven. To put down real power, you would need to choose a turbo, figure out where to mount it, have custom manifolds bent. Get all of the assorted components for a turbo gathered and installed, and then spend about $1000 on tuning. The estimated cost of a kit like this is like 5-6k, after buying proper forged internals, and the rest of the turbo setup.

All in all, I'm waiting until turbo E46s are more common, and debating weather I should just buy a TS SC from technic or something. I'll give it a few more years before there is something really worthwhile for our car. Good luck on your quest, and I hope you are able to make our turbo dreams come true.

[funkyman]

The only way a turbo will blow your engine would be that you are dumb and crank up your wastegates or you have horrible software. The exact same thing can happen from a supercharger. All a centrifical SC is is a turbo with the the turbine being beltdriven instead of driven by the exhaust. Also, a turbo wil make much more power and do much more work. If two cars have the same boost levels the turbo will make much more power due to no parasitic drag. Also, have you ever heard of something called area under the curve. With a turbo the increase in area under the cureve is much greater due to full boost being able to come on much quicker. Notice most turbo cars are torque monsters. Mechanically a turbo i far superior to a centri charger in term of power made and when. But it is much more complicated to install.


Well said my friend!!
:rofl: :excited: :bow:

[maxnathan]

Your best bet is to talk to Anthony at SimpsonsMotorsports.com - these guys are based in Lydney but will soon be opening a branch near London. At the moment they are the official importers for ESS so they`re working on the Twin screw project........however Anthony is eager to start work on a turbo project after having seen a few turbo bmws recently....he might even do a little sponsorship deal with you......:shhh:

[spartanwarrior]

has anybody installed a turbo in the e46?????????????? which is better supercharger or turbo??????????Supercharger like the ESS TS or the AA TS when they come out, i would'nt even bother with a turbo in an E46 you'll never get it running right.

[zeshon]

Supercharger like the ESS TS or the AA TS when they come out, i would'nt even bother with a turbo in an E46 you'll never get it running right.

I honestly don't understand why everyone says you can't get this running right. With enough research, and some hard work, it is possible. There already are E46 with a turbo in existance. If people want to buy an upcoming turbo kit, or do one themselves, let them. We may be able to benifit from their work. Just because you (all of you SC fanboys) say it can't be done just because it isn't common, it does not mean it can't be done.

Flame suit on!

[funkyman]

I honestly don't understand why everyone says you can't get this running right. With enough research, and some hard work, it is possible. There already are E46 with a turbo in existance. If people want to buy an upcoming turbo kit, or do one themselves, let them. We may be able to benifit from their work. Just because you (all of you SC fanboys) say it can't be done just because it isn't common, it does not mean it can't be done.

Flame suit on!
Well said again.Its the SC vendors that are sponsoring this site.Naturally they have to sell their products you know,but the real reason is because i believe a SC system brings more profit to the designer and less after sales headache.Thats the real reason ,not that they can`t design and sell one.Profits wouldn`t be the same.The only guys that are making an effort are the infamous DA-MOTORSPORTS in Turkey who are so widely critisized by our community.

[Oshin02]

I honestly don't understand why everyone says you can't get this running right. With enough research, and some hard work, it is possible. There already are E46 with a turbo in existance. If people want to buy an upcoming turbo kit, or do one themselves, let them. We may be able to benifit from their work. Just because you (all of you SC fanboys) say it can't be done just because it isn't common, it does not mean it can't be done.

Flame suit on!

It can be done hands down, I did it. If you want to turbo your car, by all means do so and do your homework. The more you know, the more new doors open. But, you don't ask a site which has very few people who are educated on forced induction with a turbocharger or forced induction in general. Bimmerforums.com could be a good help but. Visit Supraforums.com, 3si.com (3000gt community), and DSMtunners.com. If not spoken in, read there threads about there setups. They are a World more hands on then the E46fanatics.com community and there are many DIY's about mechanics . Wish The E46 community was, but. EEh...guess not. Good luck with it and do your homework before anything.

-Oshin P.

[fusionrace]

The hardware is the easy part of the turbo setup. It is all in the tuning. If we had more standalone ecu's I think more people would be inclined to try an get a good turbo setup running. a standalone ecu is what makes it so easy for the supra, 240sx, dsm and rx7 guys to tune there care without having to send out there ecu to get it reprogrammed everytime something changes on their car.

However, there has been more and more talk about e46 turbos as of late, so maybe we will see something soon. =)

[Oshin02]

The hardware is the easy part of the turbo setup. It is all in the tuning. If we had more standalone ecu's I think more people would be inclined to try an get a good turbo setup running. a standalone ecu is what makes it so easy for the supra, 240sx, dsm and rx7 guys to tune there care without having to send out there ecu to get it reprogrammed everytime something changes on their car.

However, there has been more and more talk about e46 turbos as of late, so maybe we will see something soon. =)

An E-manage Ultimate from Greddy will do the trick. It allows you t adjust timing and air flow conversations. Also, you can adapt a MAP sensor to it and use ur MAF as well. this unit is what sits between piggy back and stand alone. only negativity is wiring, which his the same negativity with stand alones. For my Set up, I used the Apexi SAFC fuel management/air flow converter for a mild tune along wit ha data logger. wiring was threw a wiring diagram that picked up at Aves motor sports along wit ha CD somewhere else.

[maxnathan]

^^^^^^ What power are you putting down Oshin02? And have you driven a supercharged bmw before? Just wondering what your thoughts asto the differences?

[funkyman]

Try http://www.hassturbo.com/ these guys are one of the masterminds and gurus in Turbo charging in the USA,i`m personally thinking of going to them as they have alot of experience with turbos in general and ECU programming.

[funkyman]

An E-manage Ultimate from Greddy will do the trick. It allows you t adjust timing and air flow conversations. Also, you can adapt a MAP sensor to it and use ur MAF as well. this unit is what sits between piggy back and stand alone. only negativity is wiring, which his the same negativity with stand alones. For my Set up, I used the Apexi SAFC fuel management/air flow converter for a mild tune along wit ha data logger. wiring was threw a wiring diagram that picked up at Aves motor sports along wit ha CD somewhere else.

Hi man could yo like give me a technical run down of your various Turbo components in detail,also i would like to know wether it is ok for everyday driving and howmuch HP.Do you have intercooler and oil cooler.?
Most importantly horsepowerfreaks.com were requiring the help and advice of a guy like you so contact them and tell them how to program their turrbos with an APEXI or GREDDY or an AEM system.

[Lay2Low]

My turbo system is for sale, check my signature and PM me for details :thumbup;

[Kmhmuboy]

I have long contemplated a trubocharger for our cars as well. In fact, i've been doing a lot of homework, not really for my BMW, but for my taco(tacoma). Anyways, i've stumbled over a lot of possibilities and thought i'd get everyone's input. Like it's been mentioned before, tuning is a biotch for our cars. My possible solutions...a cheap route would be a mechanical FMU. Would this work? From what i've read, it would compensate the boost by allowing more fuel to be mixed. It is also adjustable, from 5psi of fuel for 1 psi of boost to 12 psi of fuel for 1 psi of boost. The advantage, stock ecu and boost at WOT. Another alternative is a stand alone system i found that lc engineering (a tacoma aftermarket company) uses on their turbo kits. A link can be found here http://www.sdsefi.com/ I found out that some people have even used it on E36 applications. Advatages, does not require a laptop to tune and if you know a little bit about cars you can do it. Also it can control variable valve timing systems (not just VTEC, I hate hondas, but VVT and i'm assuming Dual Vanos as well, haven't asked them). Anyways, let me get your guys' opinion.

[theyouthahead]

My turbo system is for sale, check my signature and PM me for details :thumbup;

hey man how much power were you throwin down with that turbo set up?

[Goinbigger]

Does no one make a software program for flashing the stock ECU? With the right program like tunercat or LS1 edit type stuff that I was used to using on camaro's, you have complete control over your MAP tables, fuel curves, timing, etc.... Then all you need to do is rent a dyno and get to work. Fabbing all the piping and stuff I can do, it's finding a way to tune for it that is the problem, heck I even have a spare turbo out in the shed. Also might want to try www.turbomustangs.com Those guys will help you out with any problems that may arise. Also www.ls1tech.com has a full tuning section with guys that just love figuring out tables and stuff like that.

[funkyman]

Turbomustangs?:hmm: :tsk: turbo e46`s don`t exist.

[Goinbigger]

Um, yeah, why? Some of those guys are tuning for pro 5.0 classes, etc... Just because it has 8 cylinders you think it doesn't have fuel, air, spark timing, etc.... The basic principals will be the same. Now any smaller problems that arise you can talk to some of the guys who have already tuned an OBD2 BMW before and figure it out. Like tuning for the vanos system. I was reading that thread earlier on the guy tuning for it with the megasquirt system, guess what, a lot of turbo mustangs, vettes, camaros etc. running the same megasquirt system. Someone changes a few leads and whalla, it works on a BMW. A little research goes a long ways. Just because no one has done it does not mean it can't be done. Everyone also told me I couldn't get 425hp out of a tbi chevy 383. I did some research and figured it out. Everyone told my buddy he couldn't go 9's with stock cams in his 03 cobra, he did it with a completely stock bottom end. I like doing stuff everyone tells me is not possible.

[ritos530i]

Um, yeah, why? Some of those guys are tuning for pro 5.0 classes, etc... Just because it has 8 cylinders you think it doesn't have fuel, air, spark timing, etc.... The basic principals will be the same. Now any smaller problems that arise you can talk to some of the guys who have already tuned an OBD2 BMW before and figure it out. Like tuning for the vanos system. I was reading that thread earlier on the guy tuning for it with the megasquirt system, guess what, a lot of turbo mustangs, vettes, camaros etc. running the same megasquirt system. Someone changes a few leads and whalla, it works on a BMW. A little research goes a long ways. Just because no one has done it does not mean it can't be done. Everyone also told me I couldn't get 425hp out of a tbi chevy 383. I did some research and figured it out. Everyone told my buddy he couldn't go 9's with stock cams in his 03 cobra, he did it with a completely stock bottom end. I like doing stuff everyone tells me is not possible.

Sounds like someone i can relate to.
I have always had this problem with people think i can't do something but i am a research and the information is out there if you have the patients to look.

Love the conversation

[Goinbigger]

Yeah I don't mean to bash anyone, just trying to say if you want to do something don't let someone tell you it can't be done. And don't limit yourself on resources. There are a lot of places that can help you out with something that you would have never thought of. I used all kinds of ideas from pro class mustangs, all the way to people working on ricers. Believe it or not there are a few that know what they are talking about. Like the turbo I have in the shed is off of a diesel marine engine made by volvo penta. Brand new, got it for free. It's probably going on my 91 GT, but maybe I'll stick on the bimmer? LOL

[strictly180]

well guys i been doin a little research on this as well

from wat i see from the bimmerforums thiers lots of sucess on the e36 platform goin turbo

now the downside we have is in tuning since we are obd2 thats where the drawback is at

i also have a 328 and been wanting to go turbo for a while now

as far as puttin a kit together im actually using a manifold off of a e36 chasis since our 328 engines are the same as thiers jut with the obd2 software

the only issue i see is in the manifold not fittin but we will see when im ready to put it in

im goin to be using a 70 coldside and a 63 hotside turbo i think i should see somewhere a little over 400whp at 10psi

and as for it blowing up i doubt it they sell a 140 head gasket and some arp head studs thier u go lower compression

for the tuning side i think im eithier gonna get a reflash or an aem stand alone system

in the end the whole project shouldnt be anywhere near the 6k

[funkyman]

well guys i been doin a little research on this as well

from wat i see from the bimmerforums thiers lots of sucess on the e36 platform goin turbo

now the downside we have is in tuning since we are obd2 thats where the drawback is at

i also have a 328 and been wanting to go turbo for a while now

as far as puttin a kit together im actually using a manifold off of a e36 chasis since our 328 engines are the same as thiers jut with the obd2 software

the only issue i see is in the manifold not fittin but we will see when im ready to put it in

im goin to be using a 70 coldside and a 63 hotside turbo i think i should see somewhere a little over 400whp at 10psi

and as for it blowing up i doubt it they sell a 140 head gasket and some arp head studs thier u go lower compression

for the tuning side i think im eithier gonna get a reflash or an aem stand alone system

in the end the whole project shouldnt be anywhere near the 6k

I think HPF have just recently mastered the art of turbo charging and tuning the E46 so ask them.If we however could do it ourselves we would be saving like 8k heheh so i`m with you.No way would it cost 12 k to turbo charge any car in theory,but i have no clue on programming the Vanos or ECU.How a stand alone would work i have no idea so i am forced to be at the mercy of these gurus.The way i see it is,if it were that easy everyone would have turbo charged their cars by now.Tell me i`m wrong.?Why don`t you use a ball bearing Garret GT3582R good for 550hp.I have 330ci so im willing to get together for a joint development project im down here in FL Fort Lauderdale but don`t know any competenet mechanics to take on a E46 Vanos.I know that a stand alone is the way to go but the problem is the stock ECU and engine errors and HPF have found a way round that.

[Goinbigger]

Yeah if you can flash the stock ecu there is no reason to do a stand alone system, unless you are making some serious horsepower and are beyond the paramaters the stock ecu can even calculate. I am not sure how the ecu controls the vanos system or how to tune for it. If it is variable than it will make it even more difficult to tune for. If it is like v-tec and kicks on at just a certain rpm then it wouldn't be so difficult to do. Or is there a way to either make it inoperable and tune it across the board that way? Or make it kick in at a certain rpm all the time and tune it that way? Which one would make more power? Could you just have cams ground to maximize the motor without the use of the vanos? A lot of stuff to think about when trying to figure out the best route to take.