BMW E36 Blog

I found this video for a BMW E36 M3 with an impressive performance. Take a look how it’s passing every car it encounters. The owner says it has a supercharger (C30). This may explain it, but still the driver is doing an amazing job too. Take a look it’s really cool.

Enjoy this…

BMW E36 Blog: The Ultimate E36 Information Source.

Chris asked me some time ago to write about the Cold Air Intake upgrade and to try to clarify it. I have to admit there is so much talking about it and I couldn’t find any study out there that is supported by numbers. Only opinions of BMW E36 drivers who actually either created their own Cold Air Intake (CAI) or bought a kit to do that.

The idea behind Cold Air Intake (Theory):

The air intake system in your car is where the engine gets oxygen in order to create combustion. When the combustion occurs, your engine will use the resulting energy to generate power. So, if we could feed the engine more oxygen molecules, we should get a better combustion and thus more power. We also know that colder air is denser than warmer air and will thus have more oxygen molecules. So, upgrading the air intake system in your car to get cooler air will, in theory, provide a better combustion and thus more power.

Why People install CAI?

While doing a research about Cold Air Intakes (CAI) and why people normally install them, I’ve found that there are 3 reasons for that:

1. Sound:- The cold air intake will change your engine sound. You can hear the engine whistle in on the intake and you can hear a little deeper exhaust sound too.

2. Performance obviously.

3. Cool looks:- The cold air intake will give your engine a cool look as a performance car instead of a normal BMW.

Does it really work?

Well, this is the hard question for every one who tries to install the cold air intake. In theory, it should work, but in real life there are many factors that may interfere and make the cold air intake update just useless:

1. BMW Engineers are not dump:- If you follow this rule, you will definitely know that your upgrade for the car intake is useless because BMW engineers know what they’re doing and I’m 100% sure that they’re not going to let 5 or 10 more HPs to be lost from your engine just because they don’t want to install a K&N filter. BMW already engineered the air box to keep most of the heat out.

2. The fuel/air management system doesn’t adjust if there is a small change in the temp of the intake air.

3. Cold air is always closer to the ground in the summer so it’s a good idea to make the intake get the air down from the bottom of the front bumper instead of the engine bay.

4. If you decided that you don’t want to get the air like described in point 3 above, you should remember that you will need to create a heat shield to prevent the hot air in the engine bay from reaching to your K&N filter (regardless of where you put it).

As you can see, there are many factors that will cause the CAI upgrade to be useless and thus not to give you the horse power increase that you were wishing for.

Cold Air Intake Brands:

I heard about many cold air intake brands that will look and act great. Some of these are:

1. Cosmos Cold Air Intake: Make sure to get the water shield and the amsoil filter.

2. Umnitza Carbon Fiber Intake.

3. Conforti Cold Air Intake Kit.

If you decided not to buy one of these cold air intake (CAI) kits, then at least go with a K&N Filter. It’s the best choice available. Read here about it (thanks Chris for the reference)

What do I think?

Well, I’m not convinced that you’re going to get any noticeable gain in performance from installing a cold air intake (CAI) kit. There is nothing wrong with the stock paper air filter. It is good enough for other great BMW cars and it’s definitely good enough for your E36. So, I think that the people who actually install it do that for the wrong reasons. I’m not saying that there’s something wrong with getting a nice sound out of your car. It’s your choice after all, but I would recommend getting a cheap air intake and create a heat shield if you’re going to do it anyway. You can invest your 200-400 dollars somewhere else.

If you have a cold air intake…

If you have a cold air intake, lets here your opinion. Did you notice any performance gain after installing it?

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate BMW E36 M3 information source.

This is a list of tips for the BMW E36 owners. Some are for the new owners and some are for the experienced and some of these tips are made just for fun. Read the list carefully, I hope you find it useful and enjoyable:-

Note: I underlined some of the tips that I think are very important.

The coolant pump (water pump) will either fail or start leaking.

The upper radiator hose from the thermostat housing will break.

The cooling system may require several bleed sessions to completely rid the system of air. The coolant low indication will appear on the OBC.

The VANOS rattles like pebbles in a tin can.

The valve train sounds like a diesel after sitting for a few days or on cold morning start ups.

The brake pad sensors do not require replacement unless the brake pad symbol is illuminated in the instrument cluster.

The brake circuit failure indication on the OBC is cleared by replacing the switch located above the brake pedal.

The clutch pedal squeaks and moves laterally due to worn bushings. Replace with Delrin AF bushings.

The clutch slave cylinder is a high fail component. Replace it and bleed the clutch system before dropping large cash on a clutch job.

Flush and bleed the brake fluid every two years.

Flush and bleed the cooling system every two years. Use BMW coolant and distilled water 50/50 mix.

Replace the thermostat housing with an aluminum aftermarket.

There are no adverse effects of using synthetic fluids at any mileage.

The shifter can be replaced with a short shift kit, including Delrin AF bushings, for ~$175.00

Wheel offset means the number of millimeters the mounting surface is from the centerline of the rim.

Buy a quality clicker type torque wrench.

Buy a Bentley Manual.

Batteries fail when the weather turns cold.

Belt tensioner and idler pullies fail and make hideous noises.

Buy a set of Blitz Rhino ramps.

Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil is available at Wal-Mart for cheap.

Distilled water is in the water aisle at the grocery store.

Buy a quality floor jack.

Buy quality jack stands.

Buy wheel chocks.

Buy a fire extinguisher.

Torque wheel bolts to spec. to avoid rotor warp.

Establish a good relationship with the parts guy at the local dealer.

Tip said parts guy.

Clutch Judder is normal in traffic jams due to hot clutch plates

Don’t buy Lexus type rear lights, its not big nor clever!

Does my car have LSD? Solution; get in some dirt or sandy pavement (as not to abuse the car) and spin the damn tires, or jack the rear up and turn one rear wheel and see if the other spins the same way.

Yellowing and faded plastic headlight covers can be restored by using Mequiars #10 and #17 Clear Plastic Cleaner and Polish

The dealer will try to [Oops!] you! If there are no independent bimmer mechanics in your area, leave a jar of vaseline with the dealership service manager along with your keys

The check engine light is USUALLY caused by the o2 sensor but there may be other reasons for it to be set off

The little O with ridges around it are the brake pad sensors. They are in the LF and RR

The e36 does have a ‘natural’ lean when driverless and looked at from behind

DTM tips were invented Osama bin Laden….don’t support terrorism

OBD2 cars cannot be ‘chipped’ there must be a software download

Chips and ’sharked’ downloads merely advance the ignition timing and will not make your car beat a Corvette

E36’s are not drag cars, due to their diff ratios. If an Integra beats you, your stoopid azz deserves it

Larger rims and speaker boxes will add weight and slow down your car although you think louder means it’s moving faster

When you hear a “thunk” from the middle of the car, it’s probably the Guibo. (flex disk)

When you hear a “thunk” from the back of the car, it’s probably the Rear Shock Mounts. (RSMs)

If it’s cold, and you have trouble starting the car, you probably have a cold starting problem.

$tealer survival list includes: credit card with high credit limit, ETK & TIS, an attorney, and Vaseline.

Q: I just changed my spark plugs now I’m getting rough idle.
A: Gee, could it be the new Platinum+4 spark plugs you just put in?

RTFM - Read the Farking Manual!

The *ding* you hear when it is cold out means It IS cold out, duh! (dings at 38F)

325/328/M3 exhausts are interchangeable. 318 are not.

Buy an genuine BMW water pump

An M3 lever is a short shifter for a 325

A Z3 lever is a short shifter for a 328

Have all rear bushings inspected regularly on 325s

Oil the seats regularly

There is a moonroof available but it is very expensive.

If you want nitrous, you’ve bought the wrong car .

The value of a car does not increase with mods by any logical amount

Yes, red cars ARE faster

This car will NOT get you laid.

A faulty seatbelt sensor will cause the SRS warning light to stay on

Not closing the gas cap all the way will cause an engine warning light just about every time.

Once you take the dashboard apart you will NEVER get the glovebox door to line up perfectly again.

before disconnecting the battery. Make sure you write down the radio code or have the radio code card that comes in the owners manual.

The most popular setup of aftermarket name brand shocks for the E36 are H&R w/ Bilsteins.

The tire in the trunk helps to maintain a near 50-50 weight ratio. If you decide to auto-X the car, you may want to leave the spare tire in the car.

For OBDI E36’s you can use the pedal trick to get the fault codes. For OBDII, you will need a code reader.

If you find oil in your spark plug well, most likely cause is that your valve cover gasket is leaking.

You can “double lock” your doors by turning your key all the way to the right from the drivers side door and all the way left from the passenger side door.

The two significant problems on the early 318’s were the profile gasket (which is not a head gasket) and the Bad Valeo alternators

Pulsating headlights usually indicates your voltage regulator or alternator needs changing

The profile gasket affected only the M42 engines

The 318’s have had 3 separate belt and pulley configurations between the M42 and M44

Altezza tailights were created by Satan himself…do not support raw evil

Chips do work, but the wont make your car wheelie like herbie the luv bug it will simply increase your ignition timing for a more robust/smoother torque curve

BMW E36 Blog: The Ultimate E36 Information Source.

Take a look at this thread on bimmerfest. It has a list of the most common mods/upgrades that can be made for your BMW E36 and best of all, the list is ordered by what you should do first. The list includes decent petrol to use for your car, good spark plugs like the NGK IRIDIUM IX, Good tires like Pirelli, Bridgestone and Yokohama, CAI (Cold Air Intake) but I’m not sure about the 10BHP gain as I read many posts about BMW owners not feeling any difference after that upgrade. To continue with the list Good brakes, Performance chip like (Dinan or Turner although I hear that Turner performance chip will make you feel the difference more in performance). These are the basic upgrades for your BMW.

If you’re interested in doing more advanced upgrades, follow the link above as it will provide you with more details and more procedures to give your BMW E36 stronger muscles

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.

If you’re like the rest of us, interested in enhancing your car’s performance, then I’m sure that you’ve heard of the Electric Supercharger kits. These are usually cheap and claiming that they will give you more HP (Horse Power) that can reach up to 10+hp . Well, I’ve decided to write this post to tell you all that this does NOT work. Take a look at this:

This is an example of an electric supercharger kit which claims to save your fuel, enhance your car’s power and give you a faster acceleration. Well, don’t believe everything you read. These are called "leaf blowers" because they simply can’t provide your engine with the required amount of air that a real supercharger does. The funny thing about these electric superchargers is that they normally cost less than $100. So, how the hell BMW engineers skipped adding such an important feature to their high-tech engines? I’m sure they didn’t think about this idea LOL! .

Anyway, if you want to read about real superchargers that can really push your car’s performance, then you will need to read this and this. Please pay attention to the pricing on these bad boys. They usually cost thousands of dollars and this explains why they’re not installed in all standard cars. Enjoy and sorry if I have disappointed you in finding a cheap and easy way to boost your car’s performance

BMW E36 Blog: The ultimate E36 information source.