RAJ-Built custom WideBody 318ti

[RAJ]

Purchased in 1998.
RAJ fabricated Full Exhaust
CPU download
stripped interior
Full Roll Cage
Sparco Seats
RAJ Short shifter w/ Momo knob
H&R springs
Cold air intake
Custom RAJ One-Off GT1 fenders
RAJ One-Off Front Splitter
OZ Wheels
Now produces approx. 200HP

[GDB]

That thing is beastly

[RAJ]

Do You Like?
Trying to figure how to get more power.. - contemplated turbos, superchargers, but too $$$$. thinking of making entirely new intake manifold for a Good strong mid-range.

Thanks,
L8tr

[GDB]

Yeah I do like it. As far as power I think a custom turbo on a decompressed engine would be best for big numbers. If you go with a custom manifold then you may want to also bore out the TB. Good luck with it and keep up updated.

[TiPerformance]

I think you are a little off on your Horse Power. In stock form you have 138HP to the flywheel. So you are getting another 62HP from an exhaust, a CPU download, and a cold air intake?? More along the lines of a 15HP to the wheels increase. Lightening up the car does not add horse power.

Other wise the car looks pretty sweet. any pics of the intake and exhaust?

[RAJ]

Thanks for the compliment- I still have work to do on it. Faster Faster.
True, removing vehicle weight does not Add HP to the engine. Car And Motorcycle Performance has been a part of my life since 6yrs old. This isn't my first Rodeo.. and likely not the last. Not here to brag.. or rag, but there is quite a few things to do without completely tearing the engine down and starting over. More than some bolt-ons to get power, And more than chips and cpu tweaks. Essentially, performance and fabrication has been my entire life. The Download tweak gave me a rough 40 horses and I moved the rev-limiter to 75** RPM.
The Cold air intake is just a pipe from the TB to the K&N filter- nothing special. The Exhaust starts with the stock, stainless header modded a little, then goes into a stepped-up converter pipe with free-flow converter. It steps up in size again after the converter. same size from there out to the back. $50 bucks and I will tell you the sizes. $800, and will build you one- LOL. I didnt see the point in aftermarket headers with are rediculous priced since I do not have re-worked ports or a fabbed manifold yet... and larger primaries would just loose velocity .. perhaps resulting in bottom-end lag which the 318ti suffers from already without Nitrous or Forced Induction. I listed some mods, not all. Hmmm, Amazing Wonders can be done with Valve train and reciprocating mass though- And This Does gain HorsePower.
Speaking of stock HP levels at the Flywheel, I have read all kinds of conflicting stats. BMW claims 165hp. I have also read the 138 HP like you stated. I have heard so many - 145, 155, 190.. and on and on. I never dynoed the car when it was stock- wish i had though. I dynoed it a few times through the computer phasing- A BMW dealer in Dallas Dynoed it last time just out of curiosity ..And I dont care: this is like the 300th vehicle I have built(something like #14 of my own))->like stated, I have nothing I have to proove- I know it isn't the fastest nor the slowest. I know it keeps up with a stock '98 M3 up to 140mph... and that is better than stock 318Ti stats.
Every Dyno will produce a different Rating. No 2 dynos will give the same exact results.. but usually there are with 10HP of eachother if they are calibrated by the same guy, in the same room, and used to dyno the vehicle the same day. A Different day will aso produce different results as weather might change by brometric pressure, air temp, air density, etc.

Question- Noticed some Ti's have vacuum Operated Variable Intake Valves(silver cover) and some have electrically controlled ones(black plastic cover). Mine originally had the electronic valve. Yet, I have seen other 98 models with vacuum ones. I put a Vacuum one on it for kicks to see if I could notice any differences. Is this something that changed mid-year?
Funny Thing here> Originally sent the manifold off to a Guy in CA who said he'd give a wack at fabbing a manifold (his business as he claimed was Civic manifolds) So I sent the TB complete, my injector rail, and manifold- the whole deal. One year later- yes One year of Nagging and I finnally get this rude nasty chunk back that wouldn't flow a Micron through it efficiently. He kept the Tb and everything else except the fuel rail. He insisted it was the Snazzy stuff.. but i wouldn't put it on my push mower. I was M-A-D... MAD. If he does this crap to Civics, then hondas must really suffer in stock form.

[RAJ]

Hogging the stock Tb.. might be a bit tiresome and worthless. I am thinking adaptation of wiring and going with another- either M3 to keep it in the family .. or any 65mm like mustang, honda, or calling Accufab. a trubo might be fun if reliable. but Prefer natural aspiration I think for simplicity- why not H-beam rods, new crank knife edged, mill the head .0030 .. Or do higher comp pistons. Plus some Nutty cams- the result might be equal in the end to a low boost( 6-7psi) turbo application. Thought about adapting a vortech kit like those for a honda. ?? Anyway, too broke right now to go big.

[TiPerformance]

Care to elaborate any on the Computer Programming, where can one get this programming done, how is it done, is the software available to those of us who would like to tune our own computers.... Ect.

I have air injection on my car, any ideas on how to remove it with out messing everything up?

[ClubSport332ti]

Please post some more pics of this kit

[RAJ]

This wasn't a kit.. exactly - it took me 2 yrs to make... And I am still not happy with the rear fenders. Part of the whole deal is actually metal I formed. I Plan on making some rears slightly different... but had to get the car Road-worthy since I blew the engine in my Roush. After it is "finished" to my expectations, I will make final molds.. and a final product in either Carbon or ABS... to keep the fenders light, but strong. I'd post more pics but the jpeg size limit is a bit nutty> I have to shrink the picture to a silly comic size.
I made the splitter from aluminum. The air dam is an M3 GT1 unit.

[RAJ]

- When you say "air injection", Are you speaking of the air bleeds that attach to the Fuel injectors and and air pipe before the Throttle Body?
IF so, you can cap these ports with vacuum caps and be done. I did it yesterday to see. The car ran fine. could not tell, but it might run a little on the rich side- didn't have any new plugs to drop in for a plug check, but i figure the computer will compensate. Not really sure why BMW felt the need to do this.

I am still trying to figure out the whole sensor BS associated with the little MPG meter inside the car. As I spoke of earlier, the variable intake valve on my car is now Vacuum operated instead of the original electronic valve. It seems to open Fast- least now I can measure when it opens.. and how fast it does. But, just having disconnected that plug for the valve, the little digi-meter no longer works- I get "PPP" full time.. and it doesn't turn off when the car is off. I read up- the earlier 4's had a batteries (2x AA) behind the gauges to oprate the service meter. Surely there arent some dead batteries somewheres? There are enough wires in these little cars to reach china i think. I just unplugged the bugger for now.
Oh, and if ya haven't figured it out yet- 2 paper clips will start this car without the key- pull the bottom cover under the wheel and the back of the ign. is totally exposed. The green wire is real cool - powers up everything - dash, ign, vacuum motor, and sensors and/or their idiot lights.

the 2 little wires i am not certain of yet- have suspicions but nothing garanteed.

I bypassed all of it and opted for some toggles- good luck stealing the car now.

Does anyone have a wiring diagrahm? I'd like to know what the 50 little black boxes are behind the glove box- I figured out a few so far.

And where can i find #1 cyl's coil low tension lead? - colors @ the coil?

[RAJ]

Okay, Pics of the Side... & Inside

[schussey]

interesting.....you gotta do away with that rice exhaust

[RAJ]

i dig it- it is real deep, sounds kinda early european like maybe MG'ish or Alpha.

[bmw///m3///]

the rear looks soo ricey.... like the front end fenders though. good design