Italian 318is, NA 197hp, E30 S14 ITBs... (pics from article)

[nuvolarossa]

Hi, I want to show you a thing that made me dream since 2004, year of this article. It's from a Italian tuning magazine.
The car is a M42 318is tuned by Franco Gatti, one of the best, if not the best italian BMW tuner (he built BMW race cars. But he died a year ago.

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Here is the mod list that magazine shows:
- lightened crankshaft
- CPS forged pistons, but not bored and not stroked, so oem displacement
- Schrick cams
- ported head, intake and exhaust holes, but not skinned
- Compression ratio 10,8:1
- flywheel lightened: minus 6,5kg from oem weight
- different oil pump, external oil filter and external oil radiator
- ITBs and airbox from 320iS E30 S14
- BMC CDA air filter
- Superprint exhaust, central and silencer pipe
- EFI race ecu, should be a standalone.

Power= 197hp at flywheel, 23,6 Kgm of torque (circa 168 ft-lbs).
rev limiter is slightly over 7000 rpms.
As you can see the e30 itb can be fitted!

To me the list is too short for 200hp...
no other infos of the car

[nuvolarossa]

Tell me what do you think!

[Zacki]

that only like 175 at the wheels, so a 55hp improvement over stock. seems with the stuff he did plus turning and high octane fuel its normal.

[nuvolarossa]

Originally Posted by Zacki

that only like 175 at the wheels, so a 55hp improvement over stock. seems with the stuff he did plus turning and high octane fuel its normal.

Maybe for you it's normal, for me it has 3 ft-lbs more than metric mechanic 2100 engine and only 8hp minus (it's in DASC territory), all with a human rev-limiter at 7100rpms, so no problems with harmonic balancer and similar things

Note that valves, hydraulic lifters, rods and more parts are stock unlike MM build...
and the CR is only 10.8:1 unlike 11.5:1 of MM rally engine!

[mohaughn]

Metric Mechanics numbers are using a G-force type meter. I wouldn't trust those numbers as a good comparison to dyno numbers. Even with dyno's you can't do direct comparisons without taking into consideration the type of dyno, weather conditions, etc....

The Metric mechanic engine can rev higher, but the intake that they use on the e30 m42 is probably the limiting factor. I would think an MM engine with a properly setup and configured ITB could hit higher numbers than they have listed.

[nuvolarossa]

the thing that I've found interesting in this is that it's reaching 109,4 hp/liter without so many mods as metric mechanic engine. I was thinking that was been more complicated to reach 200hp from our engines. The more difficult mods in this car are: lighten crankshaft and porting the head. All other are easy and bolt-on. But I think that all the engine have been blueprinted before the modify.
Do you think that is possible to reach 200 hp with these mods? The engine should have a very high VE for reach those numbers..
bye

[mohaughn]

I'm not sure I understand. Looking at the list you have, that is a completely built out motor. Definitely not bolt on. Porting/polishing the head is probably where most of the gains come from. Not just anybody can do that properly.

I would say he is doing everything that MM is doing for the most part. The extra stuff MM does is just to get up to 2.1 liters displacement.

But yeah, you should be able to get up to 200 crank horsepower out of an m42 with a completely revamped high flowing head, cams, tuning, different pistons, ITBs, etc...

The ITBs are the trick part. From what we have seen on here most tuners that take on the challenge to get them running right on an M42 don't succeed. So there is more to it than just making up an adaptor and slapping them onto the head.

[Zacki]

Originally Posted by mohaughn

I'm not sure I understand. Looking at the list you have, that is a completely built out motor. Definitely not bolt on. Porting/polishing the head is probably where most of the gains come from. Not just anybody can do that properly.

I would say he is doing everything that MM is doing for the most part. The extra stuff MM does is just to get up to 2.1 liters displacement.

But yeah, you should be able to get up to 200 crank horsepower out of an m42 with a completely revamped high flowing head, cams, tuning, different pistons, ITBs, etc...

The ITBs are the trick part. From what we have seen on here most tuners that take on the challenge to get them running right on an M42 don't succeed. So there is more to it than just making up an adaptor and slapping them onto the head.

the list probably is just some of the mods, there is probably a lot more done.

[Den]

Seems reasonable to me. Probably cost much more than the ~$3k a basic DASC would cost though. S14 ITB's are not cheap. E30 M3 guys aren't tossing them out, but maybe they are easier to come by in Italy, where you had that E30 320 with the S14.

Need to consider the power band too. Might be really narrow, like 6000 - 7000rpm, on that motor with the Schrick cams. DASC would almost certainly have a wider power band, not sure what the spec is though. . .

[EarthwormJim]

I remember a couple of years ago someone on bimmerforums was selling an s14 itb and an adapter plate to make them work on an M42/M44. Wish I had bought it, he only wanted around $400.

[larryn]

That's a real cool conversion. Looks top notch. Teh numbers it's putting down have got to be pretty close to a M50 325i, which could be exceeded with a simple chip.

I assume it's for racing 4 cylinder cars with factory parts, where that conversion make a lot more sense.

If it's not done for a specific reason, IDK, back in 2004, I would think that a euro S52 or S50 would have been at least as much bang for the buck, without having to do all that work to the motor.

[mohaughn]

In the US, there really is no reason that you would choose to build out a high end m42 or m44 over an m5x,s5x engine. If you do a completely build out high end m4x engine it is going to be the same horsepower as a slighty tuned m5x. The weight difference is also minimal. So in terms of a racing class, the i6 engine wins every time in terms of affordability. I don't know of a racing class that would put a 2.1 liter highly modified 4 cylinder in a different class than maybe a bolt on 2.8 liter i6 engine if they are making similiar horsepower. Most classes are based on horse power to weight, or displacement along with a few other items.

Once you start doing custom cranks, boring, pistons, oil systems, etc.. you get bumped into the higher level modified classes. SCCA is that way, as is BMW CR. An m42 can definitely be competitive, and if it works well for you to make a lot of power out of a small displacement engine then spend the cash. Otherwise, just get a z3 2.8 liter and be done with it. Most people who want to do a m42 build want to smoke a 6 or 8 cylinder car and then pop the hood and show the mighty beast of the 4 cylinder.. I love my hamsters and I'd be stoked to take on an m3 without using an m3 or 328 engine.

[haroulis]

novularossa sorry but in your other thread i recomend this conversion.for me it is very good to make it.

[Den]

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=762227
M44/M42 Hayabusa throttle body adapter