bena Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 Hi, I have just bought a BMW 316 SE Step Auto. Its the E46 1.9 version. To be honest i'm finding it really sluggish and i wondered whether anyone new of anything i could do to increase its performance. I dont want to do anything to servere like performace exhausts or things like that because to be honest i'm not really very mechanically minded and i wouldnt have a clue!! however I dont mind fitting things like air filters etc. I was thinking more along the lines of a chip or superchip but again i dont know anything about them or how much extra bhp they give you or how much they cost. If anyone can give me any advice on what i should do then please enlighten me. Thanks, Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sayerbloke Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 If you don't mind us asking, why did you buy a 316 if performance is a concern? If it`s insurance, fair enough because the smaller engine size would be cheaper to insure [though that goes out the window if you tell them about any mods you make]. Besides, if you`ve got money to spend on modifications, that could have been spent on buying a bigger engined model in the first place... But anyway. Not sure if you get a new chip for the 316 from superchips or AMD or whoever... Anyone else know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bena Posted August 24, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 yeah it was for insurance reasons, i'm regreting it now though!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizze Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 I think the chips will only give around 10bhp, so not really worth doing I am afraid. You may be better to advertise the car and get a 320d, the insurance is about the same, and you get a much faster car that definitely doesnt feel sluggish, even if you have to pay a little more a month for the car you will save that in fuel. It is an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bazza_g Posted August 24, 2005 Report Share Posted August 24, 2005 [ QUOTE ] But anyway. Not sure if you get a new chip for the 316 from superchips or AMD or whoever... Anyone else know? [/ QUOTE ] Doesn't look like AmD do a remap for the 316 - not sure it has the most tunable of the BMW lumps ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo283 Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 The guys are right, tuning a normally aspirated engine is tricky. Remaps & chips tend to fiddle with the boost on the Turbo, which can have huge gains, but when theres no Turbo, all they can do is adjust the timing, fuel mixture & smooth out a few flat spots, generally yeilding 8-12% more power for the sake of £300-800. Easy bolt ons like K&N air filters or Powerflow induction kits can squeeze a couple of BHP if you're lucky, but this is barely noticable. These will set you back between £50 & 100. Avoid those funny £3 'piggyback' chips from ebay, all they do is tell your car there is more air coming into the motor so it puts in more fuel. Bad idea! You could get REALLY technical and replae your cams etc, but again this generally does more for the smooth delivery of power rather than brute BHP. I've yet to hear of anybody squeezing more than 15% more out of a N/A engine without spending some serious wedge. I'm in the same boat, bought the non turbo A3 so I'm stuck with stock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shao_khan Posted August 25, 2005 Report Share Posted August 25, 2005 As said above - I think if you go for a 'superchip', airfilter and exhaust you might get around 10bhp, but NA engies are expensive to get much extra out of - ask the R32 owners!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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