Hello All, St. Louis 318ti here
 

Just introducing myself, I have driven a 2001 Passat V6 for years now but recently traded my wife that for her 318ti so she can get around town easier with our ten month old daughter.

This isn't the first BMW I've owned, but the previous one was pure transportation (85 325e coupe). I'm anxious to see what I can do with this fun runner up to swapping an M engine into it (down the road if ever).

Oh yeah, and my name is Jack!

welcome Jack, check out the engine swap section if you haven't, pretty much any E36 engine can be swapped with minimal work

welcome jack!

What part of STL are you around. I had a girl friend with a ti that lived in Kirkwood.

And welcome to the site. Search around for questions you may have or just ask us.

Let me know if you ever want to have a STL 318ti meet. Im in Ballwin.

Get a DASC! There's a couple for sale right now. It's nice having 270 hp on tap (meth injection, tuning, and smaller pulley) all while getting 30+ mpg.

i'd be down for a STL meet since carbondale isn't that far from STL

@pnosker - Yes, I've been reading about the DASC, it may be more economical in the beginning to go that route over a full swap but I'm not sure how well the stock internals would hold up, the M42 (I believe that's the engine) seems awfully solid and still quite peppy. Maybe that coupled with the LSD would help (not sure yet how to tell if the original owner opted for the Limited Slip).

@adamud - South City "The Hill"

@all - I'd love to get together sometime, but first I want to at least lower this puppy so it's not completely bone stock.

Yes you have an M42. The M42 is supposedly stronger internally than the M44 which is what I have, and I'm boosting to 14-15 psi. A stock DASC boosts to 8 psi, so you will definitely be safe. LSD is a great option too. I have a 2.93 LSD coupled with my supercharger and it's much better for autocrossing.

If you look on the diff itself, there should be a metal tag. If it has an S on it, then it's a LSD. Or you could try to burn out and see if the car lays two separate lines.

From all of the reading I've been doing, maybe freshening up my gaskets and related a DASC would be the route I'd go, but the unfortunate part is that they don't make 'em anymore. I know they're floating around here and there, what sort of (Fair)price range will I be looking at for one?

they've started making the DASC again, it's just under $4k though

or he could do what john and jean are doing and turbo his car, which i think in the long run would cost less then the DASC from what john has been stating in his finances with his project