Results of performance mods on my E30 eta

["Rod Birch" <HOTROD930@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,
I thought I'd report the results of the upgrades to my 1986 325 eta.  A big
thank you to all who provided insight, details, and even some "how to" info.
I hadn't planned on spending much $ on my car lately, but I joined the list
and immediately tapped into the knowledge and expertise of many helpful BMW
owners.  Now it's $1k later, my wife is going to start cooling off soon
probably, and I'm digging my little 325.

Per the advice of many, I swapped the 2.93 open differential for a 3.25 LSD
from an 88 535i, big difference!  It really runs smoother now, no more
hesitation while it struggles across the lower rpms towards the start of the
torque band.  Before there was a "waiting period", and now it's virtually
non-existent when accelerating, and the car seems much happier at all speeds
in all gears.  Freeway is great too, though it's spinning about 300 rpm
faster in 5th at 70 mph, it still seems fine.  The car just feels more
powerful overall.

I changed my Dinan chip in favor of the Jim C from Turner.  This was an
improvement, though not drastic, but I like it.  I also had a muffler shop
replace the little resonator/pre-muffler with a straight pipe, and this made
a slight improvement, though the noise is about the same, (still OEM Ansa
sound), perhaps a bit throatier.

One fellow, Emevyl, was selling the ellipsoid headlamps and a strut tower
brace by Korman, and I bought them.  The brace was a definite improvement,
especially cornering on semi-rough surfaces, even more stable at speed on
the freeway, I highly recommend it.  (I have the Eibach springs, KYB shocks,
and 205/60 Dunlop D60's already-but 14" factory wheels, 16's are next!).
The ellipsoid headlights required a bit of "adapting" to put the correct
connectors on my car to plug the different style replacement bulbs vs.
original "sealed beam", but I have always loved the look, contact me
directly for details on wiring if anyone is interested.

I kept researching the airbox/cone style airfilter options, and all I saw
were the cones with some heat shields that didn't look like they really
shielded much heat.  Turner said that to really shield effectively on these
cars you'd need to enclose and duct the filter somehow.  GPR said they just
liked to modify the airbox.  Well, I already had a K&N filter, and I was
going to try to put a larger duct in to get more cold air from the same
place-behind the driver's highbeam, but then I looked at the airbox and
decided to cut a large opening in the lower portion on the driver's side of
the box (away from engine/radiator) and I made an opening in the lower
portion of the plastic shield behind the driver's low beam.  All of this is
impossible to see from above, and the factory duct is still intact, so it
looks "smog legal", but I can hear it growl when my foot's "in it" at 2500+
rpm, :).  It all seems to add up, and that air filter mod helps smooth out
the power curve more, also when the engine's cold (probably a bit rich
before?), so I'm really happy.

Sorry for the long message, just wanted to report the results, and thanks
again everyone for the help!

- -Rod Birch