1999 N/A E36 M3 Opinions

[CosmoLTW]

Alright guys, I have a 99 M3 coupe that is my pride and joy. I got my second job yesterday and so I should have some extra money to spend on the car and would like to get y'alls input. I want to build the car with the 3.5 hfm, intake, M50 manifold, and exhaust from the headers back including the headers. I would like y'alls input on a few things. First, the cams. I want to get some more peak power and high end power with out losing all my power under the curve. What would y'all recommend? I don't want all peak but I would like some more power up top. I don't know if the Sunbelt sports or a Schrick of some sort would better suit my needs. Also, I really like the design of the AA race header, but I have heard that will absolutely kill my bottom end. Is this true? I want to run all I have mentioned plus injectors and a Conforti tune. Will I have no down low power with these headers? Should I go with some other ones? I really would appreciate y'alls input, anyone who has had experience with these cars. Thanks in advance!

[CosmoLTW]

What do y'all think of this idea for the intake/ head/ software side of the equation?





http://www.bimmerworld.com/html/e36-m3-32l-cam-kit.htm

[HiRide]

damn for $3200 + probably another $1000 for install on that you might as well go FI.

You can do an AA S/C for $4400 + install which has no internal motor parts so install wont be crazy. basically you can do the S/C which makes 360BHP for $1000 more than the cam kit which makes 300BHP.

they are both about the same $/BHP @ $14/BHP.

Actually, you could probably do a custom turbo for around $7K which would easily make 600BHP = 480RWHP which is around $11/BHP.

I would say there are two ways to go with an E36 M3:

Light Modding = no internal mods, just bolt ons. Maybe some nitrous.

Heavy Modding = F/I

Internal mods are not worth the cost; the cam kit is offering 60BHP which is 48RWHP for $3200 + install. You can get that for $500 with a 50-shot of nitrous which is nothing for that motor.

Save your money and mod the motor correctly. Right now you are all over the place with what you want and you need to focus on the most efficient way to get it. All the headwork, internal mods, and bolt-on's in the world will cost twice as much as a basic F/I setup and make less power in most cases.

Also, you are not going to loose low end power so badly that you wont be able to move the car. You sound overly concerned with the low end which is pointless if you want to start modding your car. You dont want to do something like running nothing but headers off the motor but you have to sacrifice pressure to gain flow. The torque you lose from increasing flow is just the backpressure of the system gained by production car exhaust, etc..

Cams will raise your power peak but it also creates more airflow throughout most of the powerband. Again, you might lose a tad down low from loss of pressure due to a higher flowing cam setup. But you are not going to be slow.

At the end of the day its about what you want to do. The S50 manifold + cam combo has been around for a while and works great but now people are just saying screw it and going FI for only a slightly higher cost. FYI it is more expensive to go turbo on an OBDII e36 M3, but it can be done.

[sina518]

agree with hiride. that car and a AA supercharger and exhaust, and chip. most fun ever.