E36s - 328 or M3?

328 with a couple of mods will be a giggle.

 

328 with m50 manifold, m3 us spec cams and a remap will be in the region of 260ish bhp.

Plenty of torques, none of the higher maintenance costs of the m3 (m tax) and just as much a hoot imo

 

Gonna take a fair bit more than that to reach 260hp
You'd be lucky to see 225ish.
Fwiw I don't rate 328s at all. 325 or m3 are both capable cars in their own right and drift well. Obvious price difference but obvious performance difference too. Saying that there's not a lot you can't do in a well set up 325.

 

Take a look over on e36 coupe, plenty of 328s running 250-260 with those mods and a proper custom remap.

Your basically turning it into a us spec m3, which is still coded s52 but is basically a tuned up m52, they never got the throttle bodies etc

E36 328i remap and mods

 

I've been on there since 2002. I've owned more than 10 e36s. There's only one that I know that's reached 260 n/a and he did a lot more than you listed.

 

And how much are USA spec M3 cams, and how much to rip the engine apart and fit? That idea is stupid


Buy an m3, by the time you have bought a 328 and fucked about with it you could have bought an m3, plenty more power and holds value, most are gaining some value at the moment too

Judging power mods by individual dyno graphs is ridiculous too, some rolling roads are mega conservative and some read way over the top, if you were to average out every persons m50/remap/exhaust 328 it would proberly sit around 220hp not 260hp - 40hp differance is a huge amount

 

For you, no.

But, in a general sense they're fucking lightyears ahead in terms of performance.
EVEN if a 328 made 250hp, the difference in the way the M3 responds and revs, plus the extra 50+HP is massive.

 

i was linking the post to show what people like bwchiptune endtuning etc all roughly agree (and map to) the power a 328 will make with those mods.

Ive seen cams go for between 200-450 (difference between ebay auctions and a us breakers that knows what they are)

Fitting i didnt quote for because i would do it myself and theres plenty of diy guides, not to mention if we talk servicing you could easily spend 2-3 times the 328 servicing costs of a 328 on an m3 due to things like adjusting shims each time etc.

dont get me wrong i quite like an m3, i would love to get one but unless your willing to spend 6k odd on a proper clean car, most under that value have been dogged about in and will require a fair few quid spent before it even runs properly.

then you get vanos issues(s52) and big ends+conrod bolts snapping(s52)

or in s50 flavour you get oil starvation issues that require the evo sump and dual oil pump pickup to resolve.

So for the 1500 quid 328+1k roughly in mods is what? 235 lets say?

Or 4-5k m3 that could have expensive repair bills.

 

Drive both and see which one suits you best.

M3 is hands down the better car in every sense, but it might not suit your driving style or budget, so the cheaper 328 may be better. Either car will have its troubles now as they are nearly 20yr old cars. And £1500 as mentioned above will see you running around in a dog of a car. £500 car + £1000 mods will barely scratch the surface!

 

The answer to youre question is no.

The M3 is a far superior car all round but for what youve implied youll be using it for it would be a waste. Get a 328, decent intake, m50 manifold and a decent lightweight flywheel/clutch, coilovers, eccentric lollipop bushes, a 325i lsd or welded diff, bucket seat, harness and steering wheel, you will have soo much fun with a relatively simple setup. and there will always be room for improvement like modded hubs for morte lock etc when youve got youre valuable seat time!

 

Simon i said 1500 quid for a 328 +1k for mods not 1500 quid all in.

 

So much bollocks in one post, I salute you

 

I salute you for contributing to this thread and helping the op by answering his question

 

I did help him, I warned him not to believe your post!

Haven't really got time but...

No shit, the people selling you a map tell you it makes more power than it does. Next you'll be telling me that insurance salesmen are telling you scary stories about burglars.

Right, so you are ok to swap cams out but not ok to check the shims.. And apart from the shims (which need a couple swapping out every few tens of thousands of miles which a specialist will do in a couple of hours), what else is more expensive to service?

So your info is 2nd hand then you're saying?

First off, wtf is an S52? Have I just traversed the Atlantic? S50B32 I guess you mean. Vanos repairs are cheap now and con rod bolts - really? So your M52 is ok with revving to 7500rpm on standard bolts?

So the M52 has better oiling than the S50? Interesting.

Try 210-220.

Mate, your info is anecdotal. If you haven't got one, never have had one, and have no intention of buying one, then prob best to but out

 

I really didnt fancy getting into this. But to end the argument.

as said i really love the e36 m3s, and one day i would like one, but as a drift car a 328 is a wiser choice imo unless you NEED the 290 ish bhp (as even the evos only put that out when actually dyno'd) theres not much point spending a large chunk of cash more on one.

And i did/do have an intention to buy one, went to look at a couple about 4 years ago, brilliant cars as said, but even then the 5k budget i had just seemed flooded with really poor examples, so i bought an s13 instead....and am even poorer for it