Where to start??

[328isfamily]

I have a 98 328is, it is an automatic coupe and I would like to see more power come from it, I have recently been working on the outside(looks) of the car. Just purchased the Hamman STW body kit, new fenders, grille panel, wide grille, angel eyes and new corners. I think the car is gonna look sweet!! I want the looks to be backed up by the engine though and I dont know where to start, it is completely stock except for the bosch platinum 4 spark plugs. I assume you are going to say intake, headers and exhaust?? I dont have the money for anything like a turbo or supercharger right now and I would like to add things to the engine that will work if I were to get a supercharger or turbo down the road, infact which is better a turbo or supercharger?? especially with my bimmer being an automatic what is my best option to see hp gains and rpm gains??
:dunno:
New Member,
Kellen

[fun2drive]

The best power increase is from a chip or flash memory program if your car is OBD II, can't remember what year your car is.
Intake and exhaust will not account for great gains as BMW built a pretty good system. The only reuse if you go turbo or supercharger is the exhaust.

I recommend (and you will probably not like this) to save your money and get a good supercharger set up with either a front mounted intercooler or an aftercooler.

If you want real HP gains and reuse then a camshaft, chip of flash memory and intake will not be reused. I define real horsepower gains as 50-75 hp to the real wheels and I doubt you will ever see that with anything you can do unless you go FI. turbo is great but I wanted something that I can use and remove without screwing with the exhaust. My SC is a bolt on affair if you are handy. New injectors, new crank pulley, different intake with the SC mounted and an aftercooler is all there is to it. FMIC is more complex but doable.

BMW builds a pretty darn good engine that allows some tweaking but to gain significant hp and not spend money twice I suggest you say your money and wait, it will be worth the wait.