e46 tune

i have an 02 325ci and want to upgrade for more power. i recently installed an intake and felt a slight but not impressive gain. any ideas on cost effective mods with maximum gains, exhaust or tune possibly?

You're better off getting a 3:46 rear end from an automatic, assuming you have a 5 speed. You'll feel that and spend less then you would on a tune.

Best mod I've done, but match it with a short shifter. I went affordable at understeer.com

And I have intake, muffler, and pulleys. Didn't feel crap from any of it. Sounds nice though.

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no. Best thing to make your ride FEEL faster in a cost effective way is a diff swap. intakes, exauhsts, pulleys do next to nothing....no chips either

What about headers?

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I saw a thread with eBay headers showing a dyno proven 7 hp on a 325.

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I got 12whp from headers on my ZHP!

This isn't a Civic. These cars are pretty well optimized from the factory. If you want actual gains you're going to have to shell out the cash.

No offense meant, you may well know how to drive a high reving car but... A lot of people who want to increase power don't understand how to apply what they already have to the road anyway. These aren't muscle cars they aren't going to feel fast in normal driving conditions. Their real power band is the 4500-6200 RPM range, I think a lot of people are afraid to drive their cars like they are meant to be driven.

Originally Posted by bski111

i have an 02 325ci and want to upgrade for more power. i recently installed an intake and felt a slight but not impressive gain. any ideas on cost effective mods with maximum gains, exhaust or tune possibly?

If you want an impressive gain, push the right pedal down further. Works for me every time...it really does.

Techron and gummi pflege is all you need besides this little trick!

You're welcome!

Originally Posted by choxor

This isn't a Civic. These cars are pretty well optimized from the factory. If you want actual gains you're going to have to shell out the cash.

This.

Originally Posted by DHK

No offense meant, you may well know how to drive a high reving car but... A lot of people who want to increase power don't understand how to apply what they already have to the road anyway. These aren't muscle cars they aren't going to feel fast in normal driving conditions. Their real power band is the 4500-6200 RPM range, I think a lot of people are afraid to drive their cars like they are meant to be driven.

And this.

Originally Posted by dmax

If you want an impressive gain, push the right pedal down further. Works for me every time...it really does.

Techron and gummi pflege is all you need besides this little trick!

You're welcome!

And this too, maybe coupled with downshifting a gear or two.

If you drive like a granny, e.g. never go over 5k, (or the previous owner did), throw a full bottle of Techron in a 1/2 tank of 93 octane and go beat the everloving crap out of it on some back roads until you need more fuel. Did wonders for my Z4 after it sat for 3 years in the PO's garage. Idled far better and the butt dyno said it was faster. Techron didn't do much for my 323i though, I'm assuming because I've driven it hard the whole time I've had it, as well as the PO, going back to ~60k miles.

Otherwise, headers are about all you can do for cheap. Only other NA mod I can think of that gives good gains are ZHP cams. ($$) Non OEM intakes have actually been known to decrease power. 3.46 diff is good, but not actually a power gain; it just changes how the power is put down. Still not a bad idea though.

Edit: Oh, and the M54B30 intake manifold is a pretty good option too, for the 2.5L.

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Originally Posted by ThatGuy_JZ

I saw a thread with eBay headers showing a dyno proven 7 hp on a 325.

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Really? Because I saw 11whp, which equates to about 13 at the flywheel.


http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=490864

Originally Posted by ThatGuy_JZ

You're better off getting a 3:46 rear end from an automatic, assuming you have a 5 speed. You'll feel that and spend less then you would on a tune.

Best mod I've done, but match it with a short shifter. I went affordable at understeer.com

And I have intake, muffler, and pulleys. Didn't feel crap from any of it. Sounds nice though.

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Sounds good but I live in New Jersey were you get snow at winter time by changing the rear end would the be safe or a real pain to drive?

Originally Posted by BMW_CRAZY

Sounds good but I live in New Jersey were you get snow at winter time by changing the rear end would the be safe or a real pain to drive?

i'm not sure why you think changing the rear end will have any impact on your car's performance in the snow.

I got a tune from AA for my 330i and I noticed a little difference but IMO not worth $500.

I was thinking it would slide too much or something ... So adding a automatic rear end to my manual will make a good difference? I'm going to try this :-)

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