my mechanic and the title says that my beemer is a 325i.. however the i is missing in the back and the sticker on the door is missing as well ( old guy owned it .. didnt take care of the outside but he did the engine n interior ) well i know the 325 has about 130 hp and the 325 i has 170.. how can i figure out which one is the one i own.. i know the 325 i has a diff compression.. but if i do end up having a 325 ( Grrr) .. how can i make it into a 325i..
325 or 325i?
- Thread starter xbeemere30x
- Start date
If you put a Dinan chip in the ECU you have to have a 325i. There is NO Dinan chip upgrade for the 1988 325. The ECU units are entirely different. You cannot get an exact figure of hp because the Dinan & other chip maker's specs list hp and torque improvement only. A stock 325i delivers 168 hp at 5800 rpm so at that peak rpm it is now putting out about 177-182 hp. The stock torque otput for a 325i is 164 ft lbs at 4300 rpm. With the chip it is a little more, about 10-15 lbs more at that rpm.
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xLibelle.... that's pretty funny 
wow... really guys, no offense, but i'm pretty discouraged at how bad this thread is... i'm sorry if this post is gonna seem harsh to some of you, but it's just the truth.
first off... if you bought & installed a chip yourself w/o knowing what kinda car you had, that's pretty bad... and the general consensus of the entire e30 community is that dinan's chips are inferior to the JC chip... and probably my Bav Auto chip, as well... in the future don't buy anything from dinan... their power numbers are grossly inflated. if you want a chip for your m20 or m10... go Jim Conforti from www.turnermotorsport.com
second, rjp325i is right on... NO E30 WAS CARBED FROM THE FACTORY
third, the '88 "supereta" doesn't have a chip available for it because the gains wouldn't be very noticable due to the way the motronic & engine is set up, NOT because the ECU units are entirely different, because the ECU is EXACTLY THE SAME as a 325i. That's one of the ways it gets that extra 7hp. my eta ('87 325), which is chippable, is VERY responsive to a chip (the eta responds the best out of all e30's to a chip "by nature of the beast", because of the way it was tuned from the factory)
fourth... the easiest way to find out what kinda car you have is to simply look at the sticker on the inside of the driver's side door jam. but since you don't have that, you can look at your stock tachometer (if you still have it)... if the REDLINE is at 5500 RPM, it's a supereta (An easy way to spot a Super Eta is its telltale 6000 RPM tach.)... if it's at 6700 RPM, it's a 325i.
here's a couple links for you boys -
http://www.strictlyeta.net/differences.html
http://www.strictlyeta.net/differences2.html
wow... really guys, no offense, but i'm pretty discouraged at how bad this thread is... i'm sorry if this post is gonna seem harsh to some of you, but it's just the truth.
first off... if you bought & installed a chip yourself w/o knowing what kinda car you had, that's pretty bad... and the general consensus of the entire e30 community is that dinan's chips are inferior to the JC chip... and probably my Bav Auto chip, as well... in the future don't buy anything from dinan... their power numbers are grossly inflated. if you want a chip for your m20 or m10... go Jim Conforti from www.turnermotorsport.com
second, rjp325i is right on... NO E30 WAS CARBED FROM THE FACTORY
third, the '88 "supereta" doesn't have a chip available for it because the gains wouldn't be very noticable due to the way the motronic & engine is set up, NOT because the ECU units are entirely different, because the ECU is EXACTLY THE SAME as a 325i. That's one of the ways it gets that extra 7hp. my eta ('87 325), which is chippable, is VERY responsive to a chip (the eta responds the best out of all e30's to a chip "by nature of the beast", because of the way it was tuned from the factory)
fourth... the easiest way to find out what kinda car you have is to simply look at the sticker on the inside of the driver's side door jam. but since you don't have that, you can look at your stock tachometer (if you still have it)... if the REDLINE is at 5500 RPM, it's a supereta (An easy way to spot a Super Eta is its telltale 6000 RPM tach.)... if it's at 6700 RPM, it's a 325i.
here's a couple links for you boys -
http://www.strictlyeta.net/differences.html
http://www.strictlyeta.net/differences2.html
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I think you mean M42 engine, the M10 is analog with no chip available.
The Bosch HPN for an 88 eta (M20/B27) engine is 0-261-200-154 you can always check that out when you see the ECU unit. It is the only model and year that carries that number according to Jim Conforti. There were several different ECU units used from 1987-1991 in 325i (M20/B25) engines. They carry the numbers 0-261-200-153 (Motronic 1.1), 0-261-200-173,351,380,382,524,525 or 526 (Motronic 1.3). The early (9/84 - 9/87) eta engines (M20/B27) used 0-261-200-027 (Basic Motronic 1.0).
The Bosch HPN for an 88 eta (M20/B27) engine is 0-261-200-154 you can always check that out when you see the ECU unit. It is the only model and year that carries that number according to Jim Conforti. There were several different ECU units used from 1987-1991 in 325i (M20/B25) engines. They carry the numbers 0-261-200-153 (Motronic 1.1), 0-261-200-173,351,380,382,524,525 or 526 (Motronic 1.3). The early (9/84 - 9/87) eta engines (M20/B27) used 0-261-200-027 (Basic Motronic 1.0).
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