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bgti2 View Drop Down
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: tune up m42
    Posted: 08-August-2003 at 12:36

hi, as an alternative to cramming in a 6-pot into this nutless wimp, I could always soup up the m42...?

does anyone know what are good tune-up tricks for the M42 lump?

the external stuff is fairly easy, sports air intake and exhaust pipe, but the real insteresting stuff comes with lightening and balancing flywheels and gas flowing heads, etc...diff management chips and maybe even turbo?

thoughts?
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Points: 5245 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-August-2003 at 12:45
Originally posted by bgti2 bgti2 wrote:

thoughts?


1) Why not buy a more powerful car in the first place?

2) There was a 318i coupe which was turbo'd to about 240bhp - it also had nitrous installed (think it was a 50bhp shot...) Custom job by a place called Dragon Autosport - I think they folded and relaunched. Don't know their new name...

3) Chuck an S14 engine in

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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-August-2003 at 15:31

more powerful car?, well yeah, but I do like the compact shape...

(some of us do lol!)

mm, turbo, well wouldn't be scared of that at all...

got his: "Dragon Autosport, Colchester, Essex CO9 2PU, 01206 865444", but they are not there now :(

S14:

"The E30 M3 is the BMW Motorsport-developed version of the E30 3 Series. Its S14 four-cylinder powerplant is a further development of the M10 unit and was chosen by BMW because of its compact dimensions. The S14 engine powered the E30 M3 from 1986 to 1991.

The E30 M3's S14 engine was designed for racing applications and is therefore compact and high-revving. It combines the basic four-cylinder block from the M10 family with a four-valve head derived from the one used on the six-cylinder M88 and S38 motors. Special features of this engine include individual throttle plates for each cylinder, machined intake and exhaust ports, and a crankshaft with eight counterweights. Like the M88 and S38, the S14 does not have hydraulic lifters, and thus requires periodic valve adjustments.

The S14 engine developed 200 bhp, but a tuned variant with 220 bhp was created in 1989 in a small production run with the designation S14 EVO (for Evolution).

In Italy, BMW produced an 2.0-liter S14 version since cars with engines over 2.0 liters were subject to high taxes. To achieve 2.0 liters, the stroke was shortened to 72.6 mm.

In 1990, 600 vehicles were built with the S14 EVO2 engine. With a 95.5 mm bore and 87 mm stroke, the engine produced 238 bhp and competed successfully in the DTM German Touring Car Championships."

yeah great - where do i sign up lol?!

what sort of dough do they go for 2nd hand?



Edited by bgti2
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-August-2003 at 16:14

ok ppl, any1 got any ideas?

I think I'm going to skip the engine change plan and stick to making the M42 go faster!

so, any1 got any ideas what's the best way to go about this?!

cheers
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Points: 5245 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-August-2003 at 17:00
Go to Birds Website and investigate their tuning options they have one option which takes the M44 engine to 190 bhp. Which is nice.
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-August-2003 at 17:35

lol yeah it would be...!

well i had a look and nothing specific, just "we make cool engines"...?

i spose i need someone who has done it b4, or knows a man who has...

I know the kind of things that one can do to an engine, but was wondering if someone knows the M42/M44 well enough to know what mods are good...

cheers...
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11-August-2003 at 17:40

srry just found the right place...^^ (on the birds site)

interesting how one option is 2.3l, no substitute for cc, as the yanks always used to say...
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Points: 2057 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-August-2003 at 12:49
The engine produces ~76bhp/litre which is pretty good for a road car. Stroking the engine is one common way - but a custom chip is a good starting point. The head, ECU and ignition systems are excellant but its does run lean at high rpm.

After that you are into big money for cams (~£1000) and throttle bodies (>£1000).
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-August-2003 at 15:35

hey thx b318isp, you sound like the guy I need to talk to!

ok, so stroking, can the extended stroke fit in the existing barrel and head? - what's the MAX cc I can get?!

can I stroke AND bore? or is the engine pretty much down to it's minimum cylinder wall width?

someone else said chipping was quite painless, any sites or graph's or advice on chips? (I really don't need mpg, I only use it for pottering about)

cams and throttle bodies, hmm, well some high lift cams give you more power at higher revs...

I note on that previous link (birds?), that the power/torque charts shows that more cc = lower rpm peak, which is great for me, I'd much rather get more power lower down, if poss, rather then make the thing scream!

what do throttle bodies do?

ok, so we may be firming up the knowledge into a plan...

1. get the most cc out of the engine
2. chip the fuel flow for power not mpg

maybe something else, dunno yet.

thx for the reply m8 :)



Edited by bgti2
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Points: 2057 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 10:51
You can't really get much more bore as the cylinders are siamesed but changing the crank and conrods (stroke) can get you over 2 litres - this is what Hartge did primarily.

Have a look at my site for more tuning info including my power graphs after chipping.

Throttle bodies can improve response and increase top end power. However, you would loose the long inlet manifolds seriously hurting the low end.

http://www.esatclear.ie/~bpurcell/
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Points: 5245 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 10:56
Clickety-Click
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 13:45

b318isp, u de man!

"changing the crank and conrods (stroke) can get you over 2 litres"

ok, that's that agreed, then!

throttle bodies? = aah, ok, I'll skip that one...

so, re bore to 2.3 and chip, looks fave at mo, unless any one else comes along with more advice...

[ also thx to webdunk :) ]
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 14:01

btw - how can that link be BOTH of "your" websites??? ;)

anyway, looks good, superchips do chips, I put me car in and pressed search and it said it had 1 type that adds 5-10bhp, which is cute, but nothing to write home about ;)

[ even tho the fella said that it hardly changed his mpg, which was nice! ]

they must do VARIOUS chips, for various applications? - not just ONE, surely?

but...what if I bored (SORRY, stroked) the thing out to 2.3 THEN chipped it...? hehe ;)

that sound like a plan?
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 14:07

"There is scope to lighten the flywheel to reduce spin up inertia in lowergears"

"89 models were fitted with the M40 9.973kg flywheel but were changed to a 11.45kg (aircon) or 12.25kg (no aircon) from 1990! So there's about 2.5kg saving to be had at a fraction of the cost of a performance part!"

I did this to an old cortina and really noticed the extra pickup, so fancy this as well, while the blocks off...would it be better to ask an engine shop to lighten yours, or buy an older, lighter one?



Edited by bgti2
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Points: 15508 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 14:10
Originally posted by bgti2 bgti2 wrote:

btw - how can that link be BOTH of "your" websites??? ;)
It's not! the link is b318isp's site but it didn't become a hyperlink when it was initially typed so webdunk decided to help out
Current: 2009 E60 520d "Sport" tractor
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Points: 2057 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 14:30
Just get a flywheel off a 316i/318i and bolt it up!

The problem is getting the crank and conrods. If you solve that problem, let me know!
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Points: 2057 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 14:32
...and Superchips, of course, have different solutions for different cars. If you stroke the engine, get a custom map chip instead. Dearer but will be needed for the different engine characteristics.
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 17:20

hi kbannon, well I simply cut&pasted into a browser, hardly rocket science! ;)

b318isp:
"Just get a flywheel off a 316i/318i and bolt it up!" = I love simplicity! - could one change the flywheel by dropping the gearbox and leaving the engine in place, thereby exposing the flywheel?

ok that bit's easy, but you think getting hold of crank and conrods is the diffcult bit huh? hmm...why's that?

"If you stroke the engine, get a custom map chip instead"

indeed...ok, so hold back on the chip until you decide to do the stroke-to-2.3-thing...ok, good point :)

[ srry about bold btw, dunno what happend ^^ ]



Edited by kbannon
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Points: 2057 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-August-2003 at 17:40
Yes, you can get to the flywheel by removing the g/box.

What crank throw do you need and where to you get the crank to fit the M42 journal spacings? Who's going to calculate the con-rod length - and then where do you get them?
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Points: 30 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-August-2003 at 21:33

b318isp

re: flywheel, ok that's cool, I think I'll do that thx 4 help on that :)

engine: well, for example, the birds site had 2 conversions, 2.1 and 2.3, so if the bore is a constant, surely, considering the 318 is a pretty common car, there can't be that many permutations of crank and stroke length? (I'm guessing?)

crank throw, hmm, I hadn't thought of that...

but again, there must be some fairly common sizes/dimensions that people have used...?
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