Hmmmm what to do what to do

Alright y'all I've got 10 g's to spend on my car for upgrades. Thoughts and suggestions? Already have a dinan cai and cut both resonators out of the exhaust.

Oh and btw I have an 05 325xi

Originally Posted by phellk17

Alright y'all I've got 10 g's to spend on my car for upgrades. Thoughts and suggestions? Already have a dinan cai and cut both resonators out of the exhaust.

Oh and btw I have an 05 325xi

10g's? sell your car, and with the money you get from that combined with the 10k, go buy an E46 M3....

Spend 5k on maintenance, 5k on mods. Redo your entire cooling system, suspension, and all your gaskets and seals. Read the forums for what you should do. Then you could look into mods. Maybe coilovers, headers, mtech 2 body kit, there's really not much you can do without looking into forced induction. Good luck

Already rebuilt the vanos and most seals (that were worn). Replaced all cooling system parts and did all maintenance. Don't have a desire to sell car only has 48k on the clock. All maintenance has been done and am now looking to mod. Looking to go with natural aspiration mods for now, still uncertain about forced induction

For 10k, sell your car and buy a new one.

You car probably isn't even worth much more than 10k...

OP, how old are you?

Don't waste your time with NA mods. If you really love the car supercharge it.

Originally Posted by SamDoe1

For 10k, sell your car and buy a new one.

You car probably isn't even worth much more than 10k...

OP, how old are you?

You wonder why people get "defensive" ..as if it is your business to know OP age. If the OP wants to maintenance and mod the car they currently own then that's their prerogative! Maybe they don't want a new car! Ever think of that? No, your too busy being Mr. Know it all.

I too would advise you to sell your car and put the 15-20k toward an E46 M3, however if you like what you have and want to keep it I'd say take it to the best mechanic in your area and make sure you've done anything necessary to maintain the car, then look into adding mods, or as "SamSam" would say, cheap parts. Well that's what happens with aftermarket, it's not OEM any longer but millions use them with great results. You forgot about that, your just too busy having orgasms to telling people how to live. Simmer down Sammy

I'm 22 yo not that it matters. I enjoy the xi and need it for my commute to and from work..only looking to get to around 300whp and ill be happy.

Noted. Considering doing cams, under drive pulleys, tune (shark injector or??) cat back exhaust with headers, TB maybe? and so on and so forth just need opinions on increases and brands

Get your car in like new condition then get a stage 1 or 2 supercharger.

Fix whatever needs to be fixed, maybe change your lighting and that's about it. I'd save the rest honestly.

Already like new maintenance has been performed and everything has been changed out (wear and tear parts) ready for a little but of increases power now that I just did the vanos seals

Originally Posted by 3coupe

Get your car in like new condition then get a stage 1 or 2 supercharger.

Was looking into HPF stage 2-2.5 supercharger...opinions?

A fool and his money.

Originally Posted by DimitriGregorio

Spend 5k on maintenance, 5k on mods. Redo your entire cooling system, suspension, and all your gaskets and seals. Read the forums for what you should do. Then you could look into mods. Maybe coilovers, headers, mtech 2 body kit, there's really not much you can do without looking into forced induction. Good luck

Congrats, you just summarized E46Fanatics!

To all the haters GTFO. If you're not gonna help then **** and leave, last time I checked this wasn't your car or your money

Originally Posted by Lou3viLL3sLuGGa

Snip

Op asked a question, I gave an answer. Grow up. I'm not going to dignify your post with any more of a response than that.

Originally Posted by phellk17

I'm 22 yo not that it matters. I enjoy the xi and need it for my commute to and from work..only looking to get to around 300whp and ill be happy.

Noted. Considering doing cams, under drive pulleys, tune (shark injector or??) cat back exhaust with headers, TB maybe? and so on and so forth just need opinions on increases and brands

For everything you wrote there, it will run you ~$1-2k and give you maybe an extra 30-35hp. Adding NA mods to the E46 engine isn't really all that worth it. If you're going to do anything, go forced induction.

I understand that the driveability of the Xi in all conditions is a great plus to have in a car but there are many others that are more powerful and more reliabile while being just as driveable as the Xi. Example, Subaru STi or Mitsubishi EvoX. I highly recommend you investigate those before dropping nearly the value of the car into mods because that's money you will never get back.

Originally Posted by phellk17

Already like new maintenance has been performed and everything has been changed out (wear and tear parts) ready for a little but of increases power now that I just did the vanos seals

Was looking into HPF stage 2-2.5 supercharger...opinions?

Without knowing specifics, I'm going to assume that the maintenance you have done and claimed that the car is "like new" is appropriate before you dump an extra 100whp to your car...

I wouldn't go HPF, I personally think they are a ripoff. ESS or Vortech make great systems for much less money.

I have redone entire cooling system, vanos seals, lines and solenoid, vcg, oil filter housing gasket, ccv (cold weather), all vaccum lines, intake boot, Intake seals, control arms and sway bar end links, all fluid changes, as far as other suspension parts I haven't gotten too deep into as I intend to replace with aftermarket parts. I personally would prefer to do NA first then decide (after I feel it and dynoed) whether or not I would like to put a supercharger on.

Noted for everyone the vehicle has exactly 48,564 miles on it

That is a nice list of maintenance. Is it a manual or auto?

I had BB headers for a while and they definitley do raise your car from the dead but exhaust gasses can be dangerous to humans and bad for the enviroment so i put the stock cats back on. The performance increase is nice but there are too many downsides.
Get some nice LW wheels and performance tires.
A LW flywheel is a nice upgrade.
I don't think cams are street friendly. They are meant for high revs.
Pullys would be nice with a stewart WP.
There isn't much you can do in terms of power.

Originally Posted by e46alfonso

That is a nice list of maintenance. Is it a manual or auto?

I had BB headers for a while and they definitley do raise your car from the dead but exhaust gasses can be dangerous to humans and bad for the enviroment so i put the stock cats back on. The performance increase is nice but there are too many downsides.
Get some nice LW wheels and performance tires.
A LW flywheel is a nice upgrade.
I don't think cams are street friendly. They are meant for high revs.
Pullys would be nice with a stewart WP.
There isn't much you can do in terms of power.

5 speed manual transmission, thank you for your input I will keep all that In mind. Do you still have your headers? And I was thinking of doing headers with high flow cats

HPF only makes turbos for the m3. Go with AA or ESS. My personal choice would be a stage two ESS kit. But I highly recommend fixing any and all issues, and reinforcing your subframe mounts BEFORE getting a supercharger.

You should have things like vanos, head gasket, cooling system, and anything else done. You can supercharge a higher mileage engine, but if there is any issue it will be made worse with boost. Which means if you spend all your money on FI you might end up with a very large and expensive paperweight until you can fix any problems that come up.

For me, the cost of a supercharge kit isn't what's keeping me from doing it, it's the cost of maintaining the car afterwards or prepping it before, however you want to look at it.


Edit: Saw you wanted to stay NA. Don't waste your money. Look for people doing NA builds. They spend more than the cost of a stage 1 kit with not as many gains. Most of those mods are also useless once you go FI, besides maybe headers.

Originally Posted by 3coupe

HPF only makes turbos for the m3. Go with AA or ESS. My personal choice would be a stage two ESS kit. But I highly recommend fixing any and all issues, and reinforcing your subframe mounts BEFORE getting a supercharger.

You should have things like vanos, head gasket, cooling system, and anything else done. You can supercharge a higher mileage engine, but if there is any issue it will be made worse with boost. Which means if you spend all your money on FI you might end up with a very large and expensive paperweight until you can fix any problems that come up.

For me, the cost of a supercharge kit isn't what's keeping me from doing it, it's the cost of maintaining the car afterwards or prepping it before, however you want to look at it.


Edit: Saw you wanted to stay NA. Don't waste your money. Look for people doing NA builds. They spend more than the cost of a stage 1 kit with not as many gains. Most of those mods are also useless once you go FI, besides maybe headers.

Thanks for all your information I really appreciate it, I planned on doing the head gasket and what not soon, in considering forged internals just incase I do decide to go with FI