BMW E90 320i performance upgrades

[Olorin]

Hi guys,

New to the forums. Took delivery of a 2005 E90 320i on Friday, absolutely loving the car. I went from a Toyota Corolla 140i 2003 so the difference is a little startling.

Now to the question. I just wanted to know, I've heard of this Unichip. Is it any good ? What kind of power increases could I expect if I chip the car ? I've been told that the car will be made more fuel efficient once installed. Is that true ?

Just looking for feedback from other BMW owners. Just looking for extra power and since I'm going to have the car for at least 4 years, if I can improve the power to a noticeable degree then I'll consider it.

Thanks.

 

[menno11]

On the Normally Aspirated 2.0L engine, a chip will only give a small performance increase, but will improve fuel efficiency. Coming from a diesel background I wont be able to give you many tips on the 320i for other mods. I'm sure there are a number of guys here that can assist.

 

[Olorin]

Thanks for the response. I don't know if a 5-10kw increase will be all that noticeable. I've heard of the unichip and some people have told me 10kw boosts from the chip alone. But I would like to try for at least a 20kw boost to make things worthwhile.

I have no experience in performance boosting and lord knows I won't do any of this myself, but if anyone can give me tips and pointers, recommendations for me to go (trustworthy companies that do the whole shebang ), I would appreciate it very much.

 

[menno11]

Where are you based, there are a number of great guys in Cape Town and Jhb. Go have a look at the forum sponsors, they have some great products tailor made for the E90.

The gain from the chip will only be around 5-10kW on the N/A car. On my 320d i got a 20% increase, but that is due to it being a turbo'd engine.

You will have to look at exhaust and intake modifications to improve airflow to get better performance on the 320i. These mods will also work well with the software (chip) to give better gains.

 

[Olorin]

So you are saying that the chip combined with a new exhaust and intake modifications can significantly improve power over and above 5-10 kw ? I'm not sure if 5-10kw will provide much of a difference to be honest. I would imagine 20-30kw would give a real noticeable difference.

I'm based in Cape Town. Thanks for the feedback, it's appreciated.

 

[andrewbuch]

TNT Branches, With full Stainless Free flow exhaust, BMC Drop in AirFilter, Dastek Uni-Q chip...

And if thats not enough, You could look @ Changing your Diff ratio to a higher one

---

But dont expect a racing car out of the 4 cyl

 

[Olorin]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the response. Yeah, you know I'm not really looking to convert my car into a racing car but what I would like is to increase the speed so that it's more in line with a 323/325i. Is that a possibility or am I dreaming ? I don't want to spend the earth to achieve this. I mean, I don't want to spend R15k on this or at least I'm hoping it won't cost R15k.

Like I said, I really clueless with this stuff and I would most definitely need to go to a place that specializes in performance boosting. Just need to know what's possible within a budget. If it costs R5k to achieve 5 kw's then to me, that isn't money well spent. If I spent R10k to get another 15kw-20kw, that's a little better. At the end of the day, I just want a real noticeable difference, but definitely not looking to hang with an M3 or anything. :thumb:

 

[andrewbuch]

Exhaust : about R3500
Chip: About R3000
Filter: R500
Diff about R2000

Will give maybe 15% more, I am guessing as I do not actually know

 

[Olorin]

Well, 15% more power is a decent improvement I suppose. My car produces 115 kw. So 15% improvement is like 17 kw improvement. Would anyone be able to really feel the difference with that kind of increase ?

 

[andrewbuch]

Speak to STREETRACER on the forum, he knows this stuff

 

[Olorin]

Thanks a lot Andrew ! I appreciate all the help. I'll send Speedracer a PM. Thanks.