Super charged vs turbo?

[nicsop13]

I recently bought a 95 318ti that is all stock. Now this may be a stupid question but I am new to this. If your going to insult me about my lack of knowledge Save it. Im hear to learn thats all everybody has to start somewhere.

That Being said if i want to make this car faster Whats the best way to go about it Supercharge or turbo also whats the difference? Will I have to upgrade other aspects as well ie. brakes,suspension, also it has 215,000 miles on it should i get a spare engine or possibly a different engine if so which engine is best? Or can i rebuild the one i have. In the end I want to Do a frame off restoration on this car its a project for me and my kids. Any Info will be greatly appreciated
Thank you

[Breticus]

From the sound of it. With the amount of money you'll want to spend on a new engine/rebuild and turbo setup or supercharger. I'd go ahead and do a 6 cyl swap. I'm not all that educated on this though! Just what my mind is telling me.

[nicsop13]

Will that give me comparable power to a turbo or supercharged engine? Also do you know if I will have to upgrade more than just the brakes. Suspension and exhaust as well.

Also what 6 would you recommend will either of these work?

3.0 L S50

3.2 L S52

[Breticus]

Yeah both of those will work. In sure a more educated member will come along and tell you more of what you would need. You can also go with a cheaper engine like the m50/m52. Another member can give you more info than I can.

[Daffy]

It depends on what psi you want to run.

On stock engine, you can get upto about 12 psi, anything over that you will have to look at changing the ECU, Injectors and Fuel pump. And to get crazy boost, you will need to look at the head gasket, cams and other internals.

12-15 psi will be a gain of about 100 - 150hp. about 15-30 your looking at of upto about 350hp.
But if you want it as a daily driver, i would stay at about the 12-15psi range. Putting high boost in a l4 is alot of pressure, and you will be repairing it all the time.

And as for supercharge to turbo, i think its a personal preference. could be wrong thoe, i just been loooking at turbo's more than a S/C.

Im not an expert at this, just some of the research i been doing atm

[pdxmotorhead]

Turbo systems offer wider adjustability.

A supercharger will give you a straight up power boost, and has best easy to maintain bottom end.

The limit of a turbo is your Wallet. Same with a supercharger.

MOST (THere are exceptions) supercharger setups will limit out in drivability at about 2x the base horsepower.

Turbo setups can be moderated more easily, so you can have a drivable 4x+ hp number with some longevity...

Nothing done well is cheap... Expect to have 4000 in either solution unless you bargain shop your tail off.

Good luck.

Dave

[Jean H.318TI]

i like my turbo better, there's nothing like the sound of it and like Dave said u can adjust it to whatever u want

[djazz]

To compare(roughly):

M44 ~140hp
M52 ~190hp
DASC ~210hp
S52 ~240hp


If you're interested in doing a swap, you might want to start here:

The 318ti OBD-II engine swap manual

Sounds like a great family project. Have fun with it.

dj

[teen ti]

A supercharger will give you power in the neighborhood of 200HP when you need it and retain most of the M42s fuel economy when you don't. A turbo will give you a bit more power when you want it but you'll put more strain on the engine, have to deal with lag and all that jazz. An engine swap would be the most cost effective power upgrade. If you're willing to rebuild the engine and can front the cost I'd suggest going for a turbo, and if you've really got the money you should check out metric mechanic who make crazy engine kits for BMWs. Sounds like you've got a good project lined up, good luck!

Also, where in upstate are you located?

[nicsop13]

Thanks for all the input guys Its much appreciated. Sorry it took so long for me to get back here i started a new job and training took up all time. Base on what Im hearing and my budget I think Ill go with a 6 cyl swap. However I have a boat load of research to do. Also i check here quit a bit so any more ideas are welcome
thanks again

[nicsop13]

Im located north of Whitney Point Ny its Cortland county a small town called Willet. I have another thread i stared a couple weeks ago.
It details how my Ews-II system went on the 318ti. I have been unable to start it for 2 weeks I've tried a different DME and bypassing the EWS-II switching some wires with no luck. I finally met a guy on here Barrie with midnight tuning solutions. Great Guy has given me answers when no else could, So I mailed my DME chip to him this week he should have it in a couple days. So im sitting around with fingers crossed for now. hoping he can shed some light on it for me. BMW wants 2500 to replace the system but I only paid a grand for the car, It has 215,000 miles on it and drives like its new so I hope I can get it fixed. Wish Me Luck

[pdxmotorhead]

Turbo lag is pretty much a myth these days.
If you have lag, your turbo is not sized correctly in most cases.
A good ball bearing correctly sized turbo will spool before you can say LAG.

Both turbo and superchargers can be over done, or incorrectly tuned... Ya get what ya pay for ...

Cheers.
Dave

[nicsop13]

Will I need to rebuild the engine? What will a turbo do to an engine with 215,000 miles? Thats if i keep the 4cyl and put a turbo in it. Or should I go with a 6 cyl and turbo? Will the 6 last longer with a turbo installed. One other thing I was thinking will A 6 cyl with a turbo installed be to much power for the Chassis? Will upgrades to the chassis need to be made if so what are they? I have done a bit of research on this but welcome other opinions or experiences

[djazz]

The very first thing to consider before you do anything is this:

What do you want the car to do in the end?

Horsepower monster?

Autocross king?

Track Master?

Best of Show winner?

From there you look at how much you can or want to spend and work backwards to decide how to get there? All things are possible with enough money. But it's very hard for someone to make specific recommendations without very specific goals.

I think with 215k miles you would at least be thinking about motor work or a swap. I drove one 535i to 400k but I watched it carefully and had a spare motor over the last 100,000 miles. (In the end it was the wiring that became too much of a hassle not the mechanical side of things.)

If your endpoint is a little more hp and good road manners an FI four cylinder would be just what the doctor ordered. If you know you want more power but not sure how much is enough a swap would be the way to go because you have much more available power on the table if needed later.

And I would always include chassis and brake analysis with any power upgrade. Going the right direction and stopping are always more important than how fast you are going.

[nicsop13]

In the end I want a car I can use as a daily driver. with the ability to go fast when needed or wanted . I wont be racing it or anything like that. I would like to try and keep the fuel economy when not driving it wicked fast. But every now and then I like to fly around the country roads live on. you know that feeling you get when u hit 125 mph around some nice twisted roads. So control and handling are very important. And bare in mind my roads are not smooth. So i would imagine a suspension upgrade would be necessary. Are the stock 318ti engines easy to come by if i wanted to have a spare on hand?

Also A huge thank you to Barrie at Midnight tuning Solutions for getting my chip reading it and producing an ews-II delete chip for my DME I cant wait to get this car back on the road!!!!
Thanks