Re: 318is engine question

["Justin Hughes" <ka1ult@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>Now the engine. I'm trying to decide which engine conversion to do on my
>2002 and am leaning toward the 91, 318is engine. My questions are: Is a
>91 the best year model engine for the conversion? What's the highest
>horsepower rating stock for this type engine, and if tweaked right,
>what's the highest HP I could get using one of these? Any input would be
>appreciated.


You might want to ponder an even newer 4-banger, the later 1.9 that went
into the '96 and later 318s instead of the earlier true 1.8.  Both provide
138hp @ 6000rpm, but the 1.9 provides 133 lb-ft of torque @ 4300, as opposed
to 129 lb-ft @ 4500.  Figures blatantly stolen from www.bmwusa.com, so
that's stock configuration - I'm sure you could tweak a lot more out of both
engines with some mods, plus they're chippable (is that a word?)  BTW, the
engines are generally identical in, say, a 318i and 318is - it's usually the
suspension, exterior, interior, and maybe the brakes that are souped up a
bit in these models.

    - Justin

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