Need help with the power conundrum

[TRM]

Ok, I am very interested in seeing what I can do to improve performance (acceleration specifically) on my 1998 318ti on a budget. I know this is asking a lot but, given the current value of the car (~$2.5K) and limited finances can anyone point me to a list of recommended enhancements or perhaps summarize a list of upgrades in order of price/complexity? My dream is to do a an engine swap with a 328 but as this seems to be about $5K at best it seems like this is still out of the question. Not to mention the recommended new breaks, suspension, tires and wheels that I would need to go with the engine (yikes!). Bottom line is that every time I look into some upgrades I also seem to get the feedback that the ti just isn’t the right car for it, but given the numbers of years I have been hearing this and the amount of expertise I see in the forum there has got to be a better answer (thus the conundrum). I figure putting $5 K extra into this car over the next 3-5 years will get me much better car than other avenues...on the other hand I am starting to see mid ‘90s M3s for ~$8K on CL so maybe it is better to just sock my money away...problem is I don’t really want to take my chances on some beat down M3 and to me they look big and outdated (but hey if I had one I am sure I would feel differently )

Thanks,
TRM

[tiFreak]

if it's a standard you could probably pick up a diff from an auto ti pretty cheap, it's got a higher ratio (4.44 compared to 3.45) which will improve acceleration at the expense of higher crusing RPMs and less gas mileage

[TRM]

Here is the kind of itesm I see on CL that get me thinking...I could pick this 328 up for ~2K pull out the engin, sport wheels, tires and mabye even breaks...that just leave the non-trivial matter of the the work...but am I crazy or is this a real possiblity?

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/cto/1977413896.html

Thanks,
TRM

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by TRM

but am I crazy or is this a real possiblity?

6cyl in a 318ti That's crazy talk.
http://www.318ti.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=26

[TRM]

hummm...is this sarcasm or would it not fit in the engine compartment?

[John_in_VA]

Originally Posted by TRM

hummm...is this sarcasm or would it not fit in the engine compartment?

I take it you didn't look at the link that cooljess76 provided...

[TRM]

Sorry about that...I thought the link was an on opened pop up in his signature tab...thanks for the link

TRM