Author Topic: List your mods or upgrades to your M42 (Read 5862 times)

Cobra Jet · « **on:** May 16, 2008, 09:31:22 AM »

I'm just curious to see what all of you have done to your M42's as far as improving over the original design for the engine, exhaust and suspension...

My 318ic = bone stock. :cool: I've only had it for a couple of months and am still going through it as far as debugging it & fixing minor things, but it will eventually be de-virginized...

What mod made the largest improvement over stock?

What mod do you regret?

biglar · « **Reply #1 on:** June 02, 2008, 04:21:46 PM »

so far...

power chip
CAI
weight reduction

Suspension to come

Nivola · « **Reply #2 on:** June 02, 2008, 06:07:31 PM »

I'll bite...

Accessories (OEM):
◦ Euro grille
◦ Evo/DTM type hood and deck lid seals (In Transit)
◦ Oil-bag
◦ Rear head-rest kit

Aftermarket Accessories:
◦ Fire extinguisher

Brakes:
◦ ATE SuperBlue
◦ UUC slotted front and rear rotors (In Transit)
◦ UUC stainless steel brake lines (In Transit)

Drivetrain:
◦ 4.27 LSD
◦ AKG Motorsport DTM quick shifter
◦ RedLine MT90 in differential & MTL in transmission
◦ Rogue Engineering Transmission Mounts

Electrical:
◦ AKG Motorsport DTM mono-wiper
◦ Euro ellipsoid projector headlights w/ smoked urethane shields (and shields for fog lights)
◦ Hella H1 55W low-beam and H1 130W high-beam bulbs
◦ Smoked side-markers, turn-signals and taillights
◦ Stebel Nautilus full-size Italian air-horns

Engine:
◦ Bosch 0280155700-FVE Design III 19# injectors
◦ Coil-Over-Plug (COP) conversion w/ high-capacity plasma coils
◦ Custom cat-back exhaust
◦ E.A.T. Ultrachip, 91 octane
◦ Elf Excellium 10W50
◦ K&N filter
◦ NGK BKR6EIX Iridium spark plugs
◦ OEM clutch fan delete, replaced w/ E36 318ti electric fan
◦ OEM complete timing chain/sprockets, chain-guide replacement
◦ Redline Water Wetter

Frame:
◦ Eric Jason design front steel skid plate (In Transit)
◦ Mason Engineering 1-piece TIG welded tubular steel strut brace

Steering:
◦ Momo Monte Carlo 350mm steering wheel w/correct BMW horn button
◦ RedLine Power Steering Fluid
◦ ZF shorter-ratio steering rack (OEM, for standard Z3)

Suspension � Front:
◦ Bilstein Touring Struts
◦ Off-set lower-control arm bushings (OEM, E36 M3)
◦ Urethane sway-bar bushings

Suspension � Rear:
◦ AKG urethane subframe bushings (In Transit)
◦ Bilstein Touring Shocks
◦ Urethane sway-bar bushings

Tires & Wheel Accessories:
◦ Sumitomo 195/65HR-14 HTR H4s

Track Gear:
◦ CG-Lock
◦ D-Force 15� x 7� rims (STILL IN TRANSIT!) :mad:
◦ Falken Azenis RT-615s: 205/50ZR15(F&R)
◦ Ferodo DS 2500 brake pads

If anyone wants further details, pictures, etc., check out my website:
My e30 318is "das Viereck" and my M coupe

Ciao,
Nivola

Febi Guibo · « **Reply #3 on:** June 02, 2008, 06:35:02 PM »

oh boy

suspension
---
H&R #29663 sport springs
Billy sport shocks
turner rear shock mounts
ST front sway
RD rear sway (got used)
treehouse CABs
stainless steel lines
7 series master cylinder
slotted / drilled rotors, new pads

ronal LS 15x7.5 wheels
BFG G-force sports

engine
---
MM 2130 cc motor (bored / stroked)
custom pistons (wiseco)
m47 crank
custom rods
M50 lifters, 6mm valves
custom intake manifold
Mark D chip (7200 rpm)
Lightweight flywheel (machined M20)
238mm sachs sport clutch
cams (loads of overlap)

there's some stuff I'm prolly missing

Electric fan
Cone filter

X5 shift lever

clutch stop

I'm sure I'm forgetting some stuff

ok, let's say I had to do it all over again (in a way, I do, because I'm in the process of starting a new car now):

to spare everybody the e-novel

LEARN TO DRIVE BETTER

I did skip barber, and its why I love the M42... save up, take the 3 day class, it will make a huge difference in your relationship to cars

DO BASIC MAINTENANCE

Get to know your car, power wash the engine bay and underside if you can, track down every leak, check every piece of rubber, clean, polish, repaint, fix what you can, replace what you can't.

GET YOUR ENGINE RUNNING RIGHT

Chain tensioner, oil pan bolts, timing chain noise, plugs, wires, coils, etc.

CLEAN YOUR AFM and THROTTLE BODY

ok, once that is set, I would do in the following order:

- Mark D. chip (easy instant gratification, and raising the rev limit gets you to 60 mph in 2nd gear, cutting the 0-60 time by a lot)

- Clutch Stop

- Learn to heel toe, double clutch downshift

- short shift kit, or at a minimum, replace every bushing washer etc. in the shifter assembly.

- 15" wheels (my personal preference)

- GOOD tires (makes a bigger impact than shocks and springs)
- LSD if you don't have one
- 4.27 LSD if you wanna be a little quicker

By this point you should be able to get a good idea about how you want your car to handle at the limit

- Shocks and springs (personal preference, but lowering the car a bit helps) I very much like my H&R #29664 springs a lot; very supple yet predictable
- sway bar you like (ST is good and cheap)

- Best brakes you can possibly afford

higher ticket items

- lightweight flywheel
- electric fan
- supersprint exhaust

all of the above will help the engine a lot; even though the M42 doesn't make a lot of power, having make peak power FASTER (eg, keeping as much momentum as possible between shifts)

The fan and higher flow exhaust... it's icing on the cake.

All the other engine mods, although I am an extremely satisfied customer of Metric Mechanic... it costs money and is therefore not for everybody.

The spirit of these cars is that they are mechanically simple, and allow almost anyone who **really** wants to understand driving dynamics to get in the game with a minimum of fuss.

tjts1 · « **Reply #4 on:** June 02, 2008, 07:09:54 PM »

Febi Guibo · « **Reply #5 on:** June 02, 2008, 07:15:12 PM »

Quote from: tjts1;50495

yeah, that about got it right!

Choking Hazard · « **Reply #6 on:** June 03, 2008, 09:19:24 AM »

I've restrianed myself (well, really the bank restrained me from spending money I did not have) pretty well. I Bought the car two years ago. Bone stock. Did the bilstein springs & shocks, e-bay chip, don't-rmember brand rotors, 16 inch wheels, t-chain tensioner, oil pan bolt search, cheap-ass muffler, and thats about it. In that two years, I've gone from 139,000 to 175,000 miles too.

John W · « **Reply #7 on:** June 05, 2008, 09:38:42 PM »

Not much so far: K&N drop in filter, Mark D chip, Magnecor plug wires, Mobil 1Synthetic in the crankcase.

On the next oil change, I'm coupling the synthetic oil with this: http://www.oilextreme.com/ (Snake oil, I know, but I have seen too many dyno-proven results over the past 12 years to deny its benefits.)

Soon: Mild suspension upgrade: Bilstein sports, e30 M3 springs, e30 M3 cabs, new control arms, OEM offset upper strut bushings, new rear shock mounts. I already have most of these parts collected ...

Otherwise, I'm mostly going to leave it alone. This car is just a fun, reliable daily driver for me.