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There were at least four or five ti's there (hard to count because the cars keep changing place). I had a nice chance to meet and talk with some of the other ti drivers.

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A prototype of the M coupe was on display. Many people have commented on the way it looks. Now I have my own opinion:

First: IT DOESN'T MATTER! This thing is going to fly!

Second: I like it. It really surprised me how low the roof line is compared to the ti. The dramatically reduced center of gravity should be a big benefit. Sitting inside, it actually seemed closer to the ti to me than anything else BMW (dashboard, gauges, general feel, etc.). The roof was pretty close. I was expecting the hatch area in the back to be bigger.

The engine looks really good crammed under the hood. A number of people were commenting on the /M oil filler cap. You can bet that these will be a popular appearance retrofit that people will be putting on other BMW's.

Leif has one of these on order (lucky!).

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Jim Conforti announced that he can now do OBD - II Seimens cars (like the M3). He says he'll be able to do BOSCH cars (like the ti) in a few more months. I had originally heard he was going to do it the other way around. It must have been the demand from the M3 crowd.

A couple of points that came up in a conversation with him:

He hasn't investigated this yet, but he has a concern that MOTRONIC M5.2 ('96 and newer ti's) has the injector control information located on a portion of the code that is mask programmed onto the processor (i.e.: programmed as part of the chip fabrication process). If this information is stored there, then it won't be possible to reprogram this system for larger injectors ( possibly needed for forced induction mods). Let's keep our fingers crossed on this one! (It will still be possible to remap the system for other performance enhancements, however).

He confirmed that the OBD - II misfire detection algorithm would probably complain about a lightened flywheel. So those of you out there (and me) who are considering this should wait until the system can be reprogrammed before attempting this mod.

I asked if he or anybody he knew could reprogram the ASC + T thresholds to improve the traction control performance. (Someone here described it as "that wonderful electronic LSD feeling" ) His reply was that because it was integral with the ABS system, nobody would dare touch it. The fear of lawyers from a (possibly unrelated) brake malfunction has deprived us of a simple way of making a big performance improvement. (I suspected this, but it still hurt to hear him say it).

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...which leads me to...

I finally was able to confirm the price and availability of the Quaife differential from Korman.

Yes, the E30 unit will work and is available.

It's about $1700! :-( (plus installation if you don't do it yourself).

(It *only* cost $900 when I got one for my Scirocco about twelve years ago.)

I want it! The price is killing me to think about it.

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I found nobody who had done anything with internal performance mods to the M44. Part of this is due to the lack of OBD - II reprogrammability. Most people felt an engine swap was the way to go. I was a little irked that most of them didn't appreciate the low polar inertia that ti has (this is a big part of what makes the ti feel so "tossable" compared to, say, an M3). They didn't understand why I might want to stay with the M44. It was only the other ti owners there who understood exactly what I was talking about, and they all seemed to agree that it was a great characteristic of the car.

Yes, I might consider a swap to a six, but at the moment I'm feeling more determined than ever to work with the M44.

Talking with Pete McHenry (who has stuffed a highly modified M3 motor into his ti), it appears more than ever that the aluminum six from a Z3 2.8 would be the the best six cylinder for my goals, should I try the swap route. Unfortunately, it appears that these engines are commanding about a $2000 price premium over a comparably used M3 motor (I had a lot of price shock this weekend).

The factory is selling new aluminum 2.8 blocks for about $1700. Taking the crank, rods, head, etc. from a used 3.2 M3 motor, along with a new aluminum 2.8 block and pistons, and any other mods that one might throw in during the rebuild (forced induction?) appears the be the ultimate way to get a powerful lightweight motor for the ti. I don't think I'm going to be able to cough up this kind of money for my car, but it's something to think about for any of you out there with the cash.

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I probably enjoyed Andy Pilgrim's talks on driving techniques the most of anything during this event. Lot's of useful stuff that he was very good at putting into words.

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I talked to quite a few people who really thought the Mosselman Turbo systems worked great. Most of you out there know that I really don't like the concept of using a rising rate fuel pressure regulator as a patch for the engine management system. While everyone I talked to agreed that the approach wasn't ideal, they all said that in practice the system works quite well, with no drivability or side effect problems. Some reported lots of years and high mileage with the system.

I'm still uncomfortable with the idea, but I'm willing to reconsider some of my opinions. I'm developing some new ideas about how the Motronic system may be dealing with this kit (the control adaption may be helping a lot) and ways to test what is really happening. This may be important if it does turn out that it's not possible to resize the injectors. More on this later.

I've been promised a ride sometime in April in a ti with the Mosselman Turbo. I'm also very interested in getting a ride in ti's that have the Sebring supercharger kit, and Corky Bell's turbo and Whipple installations, just in case anybody out there knows how I might arrange something.

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Overall, the days went really fast at Gateway Tech. It seemed like they were each only a couple hours long. I missed eating lunch every day. There were a few more presentations that I wished I could have attended, but I think I was able to balance my time pretty well. Of course there was tons of stuff that I didn't even mention here. Some of you really might want to consider attending next year.

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I finished up the trip by taking a long detour along the Great River Road on the Illinois side of the Mississippi (I added almost 200mi to my return trip). A very enjoyable drive. Nothing in the way of really challenging twisties, but very pretty, diverse, and winding. It really reminded me about the purpose of my trip to Gateway - cars and driving. It was easy to get detached from the actual experience when setting in a presentation.

Brian Brown