first off im going too start off by saying im not a bmw guy and never have owned one and dont know much about them.. I have a buddy that has 323i 1999.. as everyone knows the 323i has less power then the 325i but with the same displacement.. the question lies in this... to gain that extra hp back is it possible to swap out the 323 cams for the 325 cams? we've tried researching it and keep coming up with nothing.. he came across and good deal on a 325i motor complete but with rod knock and was wondering if the cams will work with the higher duration hoping to gain that little bit of hp back with very little money involved.. thanks for your input.

 

the power is mostly due to changes in the intake and exhaust manifolds from what i've read. 99 323 should be an m52 motor. find a s50 or m50 intake manifold, some headers/exhuast, a tune/chip and the motor will wake up a good bit

 

1st thing i would aim to do is change the exhaust on the car. the 323 should be a single pipe thats pretty small and very restrictive the motor needs back pressure but the stock exhaust is over kill. and while your doing exhaust why not toss on a set of tubular headers.

 

the m50 or s50 same manifold swap is a common m52 upgrade. it flows better than the stock manifold producing smoother power and more of it. the manifolds run about 100 bucks, then if you buy a 'swap kit' it's another 20 bucks or so in random parts to make it fit properly. took me and a buddy about two hours to do it on his car with a beer run half way threw (included in swap time).

for a chip you have a few options but i highly suggest the jim conforti software

when you do the manifold swap you can do something like a "cold air intake" if you want which will of course help with a little bit more power but mostly the sweet intake sound

 

but back to what you originally asked about (the cams). internals on both motors are the same so a cam swap wouldn't do you any good unless the other motor has upgraded cam's

in a straight line race the 323 and 325 will be pretty much dead even. the 323 is a little peaker across the power band where as the 325 makes a 'smoother' band, pretty sure the 323 makes a little more torque than the 325.

 

the 323 is the same as a 325 engine wise
you need an obd1 intake manifold from a 325/328 obd2 are very restrictive
get a bigger throttle body
swap the cat and rear section from a 328 or after market i would go with supersprint decat stock 323 is single pipe were 325 328 are duel
headers no need to swap
cam wise you can use u.s spec m3 stock cam's or schrick
no need to do a ecu upgrade unless you go with aftermarket cams the ecu is self learning
without the cams you'll be around 200hp

or just m/ls1 swap
i would go lsx because your never going to be happy with the amount of money you put in to get good power out of a s50 / m52

and i really hate the gear ratio in e36 cars

 

I put the intake mani from a M50 on my M52B25, replaced the spark plugs and put a K&N air filter mat in, also fittet a Reuter Motorsport muffler







Dynoed it with 200 bhp.




need to get the ECU done someday, I'm also thinking about getting some Schrick cams. Should be good for 220hp.

it depends what amount of hp you'll get, because the 323 use to spread upwards

Goes pretty well, I outrunned a Audi A3 2.0 Turbo yesterday on the Autobahn.....have to admit I have the winter tires on (smaller, slimmer).

325 and 323 both are totaly different engines, also the 325 produces more torque.

 

agreed


I fucking hate my first gear

 

you should boost your e36.. i think im going to really soon i already have full exaust and air intace.. strut bar i wanna put m3 cams in my 328i but idk ive seen 328i on youtube boostin runing 10 sec or even 9

 

^those cars have a lot into them over a bolt on and go turbo set up also. remember when you go anything over bpu's your really going to have to pay to play, things break faster and break harder when boost enters the equation