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lee's supercharged 318is

8K views 31 replies 9 participants last post by  hornhospital 
#1 ·
hello all!
im lee from the uk and have owned my 318is for near enough 7 years or so heres the story so far!

right where to begin!!
well i'll start with a pic of the how the car looks now and then go back to the start and try not to bore you all too much!

heres a couple of upto date ones





and the story so far........

well i've had the car now for quite a while it was originally intended to be a stop gap untill i was a decent age to be able to get a sensible insurance quote on a e46 m3 however 6 maybe 7 years later its become part of the family and i cant bring myself to part with it!
i dont have any pics of it when i 1st got it but it was pretty standard untill i got the modding bug!

this is the earliest pic i have



as you can hopefully see my tastes in mods have changed over the years :oops:

by that point i'd fitted m3 rep wheels a ss exhaust some m3 rep mirrors with indicators on them! and more M badges than i even care to admit! (more of that to come!)

then the 1st mod i did was to replace the cloth interior



but i'd always wanted vaders so not long after i found a set



then came more rep wheels


(4x4)

then i went through several different induction kits including k&n panel ,powetec s1 cone and a few others but finally settled on the carbon fibre viper induction kit



but as i'm sure as does 99.9% of 318is owners i just needed more power so next up i thought i was vin diesel and got all fast and furious and bought this little lot!



i spent a small fortune and went all out with a direct port sytem with what was then a top of the range race controller,bottle warmer etc but after half hearted research after i bought it i then found out my nearest filling station was roughly 70miles away! X(
so it was sold on with a promise to myself i would go down the FI route!
 
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#2 ·
continuing on my quest for M badges (which are all gone now by the way!) i then brought my 1st bits of carbon fibre (which you'll see shortly i've now got quite an addiction for)



and the 1st mod that made me change my whole outlook and plan for the car was buying these!



but at the time i was running just kw lowering springs so it looked like a 4x4





i knew the car needed lowering more to do them justice so a set of kw v2 coilovers were purchased



but with such wide wheels i soon found out they would rub like mad and this is how much they poked out! :shock:





so after a visit from the arch enemy guy



the coilovers were lowered down :D



 
#4 ·
a few boring bits
went for oem mats and a little cargo net that has been very handy!







i also retro fitted a rear sun blind
down


and up


these are what is going to be replacing the m door mould badges



i also replaced my door speakers from these



to HK speakers

although i've been told i've got them the wrong way round as per oe! :oops:

i have had my steering wheel retrimmed and padding added plus a little bit more carbon!





to save ruining the hartges i went for these as winter wheels



 
#5 ·
i replaced the hiddious m3 rep mirrors with some genuine acs ones



heard that a lot of people rated x braces so got myself one (although i still havent fitted yet! as i dont have the nutsert tool!)



before getting the extra power i wanted to make sure my brakes were up to the job! so the standard brakes were swapped for the e46 330ci setup
along with some braided hoses and a brake fluid change!

 
#6 ·
and then after putting wanted ads everywhere and pestering everyone that had one i finally got myself what i was after!


so after buying a load of new consumables such as the gaskets and new o rings for the injectors i was ready to go!

so on a weekend i set about fitting it
everything was laid out



i downloaded the installation guide onto my laptop



and cracked on (i have got a load of pics of the full process that if anyone's interested i'll put up on a seperate thread?)

i replaced the throttle body with a bored out one
comparison pic (bbtb on the left!)



and after a couple of snags such as breaking the bleed screw on the rad and breaking an injector it took roughly 8 hours to fully fit

and then it was fired up for the 1st time
so heres a little vid of it (click the pic to start it)

 
#7 ·
i then gave the engine bay a good clean ready for a show i was going too and also managed to pick up a carbon fibre acs strut brace!
which doesnt normally fit the 4pots because of the height of the intake manifold but after a bit of jiggery pokery i got it to fit



and also refitted the viper filter (which i like the looks of more but it does take away a bit of the whine)





im still on the ropes with wether i'll fit this yet but it would be ideal to have the cold air feed into

its a bit marmite but i think i'll fit it and see what i think as my last one broke off somehow!

and thats is pretty much how things sit at the moment! so a couple of pics to finish off!













 
#8 ·
as i'm away quite often or tinkering and having to disconnect the battery i went for an isolator switch 1/4 turn on the wheel and its disconnected



fitted some alcantara gaitors

before



after





had my new nilfisk pressure washer turn up today and it was nice for a change in sunny wales so i gave her a well needed wash!

and once finished i fitted a few marmite mods!

i got the hartge side moulding badges off adonis and as the wheels will be going back on shortly i thought i'd give them a whirl!



and on the car (will get some better pics when the wheels are fitted!)



and the more marmite mod i've had this a while and thought i'd see if i like it



and on the car (i can imagine 99% will hate it but i'll give it a couple of weeks and see what i think!)





and a pic when i'd finished cleaning it!



i've got my flame suit on stand by! so let me know what you think! :lol:

oh and the hartges are all polished up ready to go back on! :cool:



 
#10 ·
a few pics i found from a show in the uk











just to get this up to date

fitted a walbro 255 fuel pump as the standard one gave up on me





also had a remap done that involved upgrading the maf to a 325 maf and injectors to 30lb injectors from a volvo turbo
it also needed adaptors from metric mechs in the u.s.

 
#11 ·
the mapping all went well and it now feels more powerfull and more drivable :D

a week later i was driving along nice and slowly over a speedbump and all of a sudden the steering went heavy which i instantly thought was something to do with the power steering pump so pulled over and lifted the bonnet to see this



basically one of the idler pulleys that comes with the dasc kit had given up the ghost!



i had heard that these were not great and had already started looking at replacements before they gave in and went for a set a guy on e36coupe forum fabbed up using alloy with top notch double row bearings etc





and fitted



and just a small update but it all goes towards the mint engine bay i want for next summer/show season
so changed a rusty battery tray that was letting things down
 
#13 ·
I like it. You obviously care about doing things properly. I understand your concern that not everyone may agree with your creativity or opinion on what works, but I think most can agree you are doing it right.

And for that you will get much respect.


You have also made this a joy to read/view. Thank you for sharing! :thumbup:
 
#14 · (Edited)
Dude, awesome build! By the way, you don't need a special tool to install the nutserts for the x-brace. You just need a wrench, hex key, and some nuts, bolts, and washers. Only took me a few minutes to install mine.



^This is my car with the homemade nutsert "tools" installed and ready to crush down the nutserts. You just bore out the hole to fit the nutserts, then insert them into the holes. Then thread in the hex head bolts with washers and a nut on each one into the un-crushed nutserts. Using one hand to hold the hex bolt from rotating with a hex wrench, use your other hand to turn the nut with a wrench. It will pull the nutsert down and crush it so it's permanently installed. Let me know if you want any guidance.
 
#18 ·
i look forward to getting it on as i've only heard good things about them and even though i've got strut braces front and rear they didnt make as much of a difference as i was hoping :(

heres the rear one as i missed that pic


next things to come are bushes getting changed for poweflex items and some gauges to keep an eye on things!
 
#19 ·
I don't have a strut or shock tower brace, but I've heard from those that have all three (strut, shock, and x-brace) that the x-brace made the biggest difference of the three. I definitely noticed a difference in my car after I installed it. Feels considerably more solid.
 
#23 ·
had this for a while but finally got it fitted today



not gave it a thorough test yet but can already tell it made more difference than my front and rear strut brace!

forgot to take a pic of it fitted but am back under it at the weekend changing the rear trailing arm bushes to these
so will take one then!



and last but not least since fitting a bigger maf i've been on the lookout for a new intake and did origionally want a gruppe m (genuine) but couldnt find one so settled for the well known and proven dave f kit

 
#24 ·
not gave it a thorough test yet but can already tell it made more difference than my front and rear strut brace!

forgot to take a pic of it fitted but am back under it at the weekend changing the rear trailing arm bushes to these
Excellent! The addition of the x-brace seemed very subtle to me at first, but the more and more I drove the car, I began to increasingly notice that it produces a very significant improvement.

Also, I installed the Rogue Engineering RTABs in my car a few years ago. I love them, and I'm sure you will, too. They're the best RTABs on the market if you ask me. RE products are so incredibly good across the board.
 
#28 ·
the dave f filter arrived yesterday thanks again to phil at CA auto :wink: so got to work fitting it today!

i'd been trying to source a new intake boot to get it all to fit but after a a few adjustments with my rambo knife i managed to get everything to fit!

heres a pic of the size difference between the dave f and the filter i had as a temporary measure



and after the remap with new injectors not air fed i had to bung up the hole on the intake boot and found a dust cover from the brake callipers works a treat



wasnt gonna post pics until i'd gave the bay a good clean but sod it here you go







needless to say it sounds a lot more agressive! :twisted: and will probably have my mpg even higher than it is already
 
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