bmw 330ci supercharger
- Thread starter Euro_import_racer
- Start date
Hey, nice ride ya got there, and welcome to the forum. ![[thumb]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_thumb.gif "Thumbs Up [thumb]")
Pros:
It kicks ass.
Cons:
You risk engine reliability, and overall engine life.
It's expensive.
You get lesser gas mileage, by how much depends on your driving style.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure others will chime in. My real opinion is that if you want your car to go faster and it's not worth trading in and buying a faster car, and your warranty is expired, a supercharger is your best bet.
Pros:
It kicks ass.
Cons:
You risk engine reliability, and overall engine life.
It's expensive.
You get lesser gas mileage, by how much depends on your driving style.
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure others will chime in. My real opinion is that if you want your car to go faster and it's not worth trading in and buying a faster car, and your warranty is expired, a supercharger is your best bet.
MRE gave you the major things. Only thing I would chime in with, is that stage 1 SC's are pretty safe on bmw's with forged parts - stage I's don't build enough psi to really worry about engine wear. There are folks pushing 3-4 years with SC's on daily driver cars that are totally fine, with no engine work needed.
AA or ESS are the better SC's available for E46's, AA's considered 'safest' due to low psi. Since you're the proud owner of a 330, you also have forged engine parts, which means it can take the strain even better than an older car like my 323, with cast parts.
The big con is the price.. they can go anywhere from 6k-8k just for a stage 1, and the install is generally 14-18 hours - another 1k in labor generally. Add in the cost to 'take' it somewhere nearby to do the install (if you're not lucky enough to have tuner garages in your town).
The big pro.. For you will be hanging with, if not slipping by E46 M3's on straightaways..
![[:D]](/images/smilies/biggrin.png "Big Grin [:D]")
You should see a gain of about 100hp, and 60-70 torque on your 330 with AA's SC (just as an example), so your RWHP #'s would be about equal to an M3.
That pretty much covered it. Basically, worth it if you own an M3 or 330. The performance gains aren't really worth it on a 323/325 cuz they only go about as fast as a 330 and it'd likely be cheaper/easier to just sell your car and buy a 330. That's unless you must have a sleeper 325 for some reason.
Well, quite a bit faster than a 330 actually. A 323/325 with a stage one is an E36 M3 match any day, likely will edge it out actually (That would put the 323/325 at about the 270-280hp range, 240-250 torque range - figure somewhere around 230-240 to the wheels when all is said and done - a little more than US E36 M3's - New). ![[:)]](/images/smilies/smile.png "Smile [:)]")
A few other little things(diff change being key) and a 323/325 w/ SC could put down faster times than an E46 M3, shockingly I know(You're right though - at that point, if you're looking for that sort of power, sell the car and go 328/330).. A Diff change is needed though, that or another 10k in mods that slooowly get your power up.. 328/330 would be a better base over a 323/325, but I wouldn't quite say it's 'not' worth it (for a 2.5l banger). Just a little - extravagant. ![[hihi]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_hihi.gif "Hi Hi [hihi]")
I hope to give a full report before the year is out!
[driving2]
A few other little things(diff change being key) and a 323/325 w/ SC could put down faster times than an E46 M3, shockingly I know(You're right though - at that point, if you're looking for that sort of power, sell the car and go 328/330).. A Diff change is needed though, that or another 10k in mods that slooowly get your power up.. 328/330 would be a better base over a 323/325, but I wouldn't quite say it's 'not' worth it (for a 2.5l banger). Just a little - extravagant. I hope to give a full report before the year is out!
[driving2]
I did - if I had a 328/330, I would probably go the ESS route - it gives more gains than the AA charger (It would still be on the table for debate for me at least). The reason I'm going the AA route is because it's 'safer' on the engine, a little less psi (believe it's a measily 6-7) is being pushed, so it'd improve the 'longevity' of my cast engine with it bolted on. It's still my 'daily driver' for a little while, putting the SC in it may spell the end of it's daily driving days. The 'safer' part I mentioned may just be a figment of my imagination, but I've read alot in the FI forums here and there, and it's considered the simpler/easier/tad safer of the 2 (from the 323 cast engine perspective). Across the board, the ESS chargers do have higher gains - and higher psi levels being pushed.
Honestly if I get myself into a new E90 or 5 series - then this car will become my full time plaything, and I may just pull the engine in favor of the M 3.2, or a 330 3.0 and then slap on a bigger SC since they can take higher psi levels with the forged engines. I'd very likely go ESS in that respect - or call it a day with the 3.2 (I know - why not just sell the car and get what I want.. I guess I'm attached to it now, especially after putting time/money into it. And well, I already have it!)
ESS gets good reviews - I guess I've always leaned towards the AA's since I look at the car from a 'daily' driving perspective. (for now) There is also a tuning shop here in town that does good installs with AA chargers. A few of the local bimmer guys have slapped AA chargers in their cars, and not batted an eye afterwards (1 with a 330 with SC for 2 years, another with a 323 just got his AA put in a few months ago). So I know I have some good local support if things got flakey. (That was the other thought that kept going through my mind - I'm not a 'real' mechanic by any means. If the SC flakes, can I go local for work or is my car going out of state on a flatbed?)
The price is down on those ESS's too, 6k is less than I recall seeing it for previously. (awesome!) Hopefully the price on the SC's will continue to go down as the availability of these cars increases.
Honestly if I get myself into a new E90 or 5 series - then this car will become my full time plaything, and I may just pull the engine in favor of the M 3.2, or a 330 3.0 and then slap on a bigger SC since they can take higher psi levels with the forged engines. I'd very likely go ESS in that respect - or call it a day with the 3.2 (I know - why not just sell the car and get what I want.. I guess I'm attached to it now, especially after putting time/money into it. And well, I already have it!)
ESS gets good reviews - I guess I've always leaned towards the AA's since I look at the car from a 'daily' driving perspective. (for now) There is also a tuning shop here in town that does good installs with AA chargers. A few of the local bimmer guys have slapped AA chargers in their cars, and not batted an eye afterwards (1 with a 330 with SC for 2 years, another with a 323 just got his AA put in a few months ago). So I know I have some good local support if things got flakey. (That was the other thought that kept going through my mind - I'm not a 'real' mechanic by any means. If the SC flakes, can I go local for work or is my car going out of state on a flatbed?)
The price is down on those ESS's too, 6k is less than I recall seeing it for previously. (awesome!) Hopefully the price on the SC's will continue to go down as the availability of these cars increases.
![[repost]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_repost.gif "Repost [repost]"){kind=icon}
Section_8, those are definitely good points. ESS' kit is an 8psi kit. On a lot of their models they offer a 6psi version and an 8psi verison so weird that they don't offer the 6psi version for the 323. I guess your options (dropping in an M3 engine, or installing supercharger, or 330 motor+supercharger, etc.) really just depends on how fast you wanna go. [headbang]
It would be really cool to turn the 323 into a project car.
It would be really cool to turn the 323 into a project car.