New car BMW 318is

[lqbanotxano]

Hallo Guy…
I have owned many Fiats since 1974. The last one was a 1980 Spider 2000 5sp. That one, I owned for 22 years before I sold it to a friend. Any car I own, has to be kept outside….Fiats don’t do well outside. I got tired of watching my Fiat rust, so it was sold. That Spider had some head work that I did myself. Your book was used to do all the head & engine mods on the 1980 Fiat…It ran great.
I can’t afford a sports car. My daily driver is a pickup truck. Last month, my neighbor gave me his 1993 BMW 318is 5sp. The interior is terrible but the car runs well. It has 175,000 miles on it & believe it or not that is not bad for that car. I got the windows to work & have the interior half fixed…new struts, shocks, lower ball joints, left front wheel bearing, thermostat & a radio. The car is drivable now & it is a blast to drive. I am still working on the interior.
My questions to you are….Do all the things in your book that pertain to the “do it yourself head work” section, apply to this engine? If I do a head job using the instruction in your book, will it yield me at least 15-20 HP? Are you familiar with this engine? Does it respond well to some head work….like port work, 3 angle valve job etc? DO you have any suggestions?

1993 BMW 318is 5sp / Engine M42 BMW 4cyl

P.S. I have ordered a set of Magnecor ignition wires & a performance chip. The chip is made by a well reputed tuner. It requires the use of high test gasoline & advances timing curves to yield a little better bottom & much better top. It also raises rev-limiter from 6,500 to 7,100 RPM. Supposedly 7,100 RPM is the limit of the hydraulic lifters before they float.

[Guy Croft]

It's 19 years since I did one, though another is expected here soon. How's that for repeat business?!

Some pictures would be a tremendous help, would take the guesswork out of it.

Look forward to seeing some, chamber and ports in high-def please!*

G

* I keep stressing the importance of photos on this site esp GC Q&A because a lot more folk (I know this, a lot more) read these posts other than you and I..

[lqbanotxano]

Guy...Thanks for the reply.

Looking through the picture gallery, I was surprised at the total absence of any BMW cars. I know that because of the high taxes on big engines in England, there are a lot of 4 cylinders. I know they have 316, 318, 2.0 etc... BMW. Many of the members of BMW blogs are from England, Australia, Spain...all over. It is a shame that more of 4 cylinder BMW enthusiasts are not exposed to your services...especially in England.
I am going to try to post as many pictures & information that I can on the 4 cylinder BMW engines.

Thanks,
Ivan from Texas.

[lqbanotxano]

I hope these pictures of M42 heads loaded.

This engine has 2 sets of intake runners to each port. One is longer than the other. There is a valve that switches from the long runners (idle to 3500RPM+-) to the short runners (after 3500RPM+-) This engine has very little torque below 3000RPM. When the engine switches to the short runners at around 3500RPM, one feels a very noticeable surge of power.

More pictures to follow.

Thanks,
Ivan from Texas

[Guy Croft]

Have a read of:

http://guy-croft.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2119

Marked similarities betw the two heads, I'd treat them the same way.

If you want to discuss further, feel free.

G

[lqbanotxano]

Thank you for the quick reply.

Ivan

[Boyracer]

M42 is the engine I am tinkering with, I have posted some information about it and it's racing cousin S42 (used in Supertouring) in thread called "Internal engine geometry" or something similar.

I attached few photos that might be relevant.