[Leah1]

Other than a remap and dpf removal what other mods would see healthy gains in power/torque?

[Digitalize]

Changing the intercooler to a better one. Full exhaust may see you a small gain too. After that a new turbo.

[Leah1]

I've been thinking new turbo myself

[mob17]

DTUK tuning box

[Leah1]

Already have a remap

[old grey steve]

First thing I would actually do is to ensure that everything on the car was healthy, before craving more power as you never know the car in its current state might not be feeling its best, though you have a remapped car already id be checking things like vacuum hoses for starters to ensure that these are perfectly up to the task, as these if they are worn or partially collapsed can create problems, and reduce efficiency, from there the other basic things that can help are to ensure things like the air filter and the all important oil separator breather valve are serviceable, the amount of cars we see at work where these are saturated or disintegrating is eye opening, especially as some of the cars we've seen have previous BMW history including air filter changes yet the breathers not been swapped out, but changing this one item will help matters no end.

The other area to get sorted is to verify the situation regarding swirl flaps, if there in place chances are they'll either be leaking or there's wear in progress, if this is the case I'd have be manifold off, replace them with blanks and at the same time, if the cars done some mikes personally I'd also replace the glow plugs too as you'll be in the area and you'll save time/money by changing the glow plugs while the manifold off, at the same time the manifolds worth cleaning and you'll be able to do a proper cleaning job to the EGR valve as well.

It's worth getting a decent diagnostic health check as well to ensure everything is up to the task (things like smooth running to injector values and fuel pressure for instance can be measured) to ensure that everything is up to the mark.

In my opinion dealing with these critical items is the best way to ensure that when power increase mods are applied, you'll get the best from them and they deliver the results there intended too.

On the mod front all depends on what you're after, on my old 330d I had a remap done on a standard car and it was quick, the real eye opener for me was adding the DeCAT which really did change the way the car drove (as well as reducing back pressure ensuring the turbo under less stress)and shows how restrictive the CAT/down piped design actually is, mine for instance had also started to break away in the flexi therefore I can assume reducing power..

I added a CAT back exhaust system that made the car sound nicer, made it rev a tad cleaner, which again I'm sure produced a little more power than the stock system (and was lighter re weight too) I didn't venture into the world of inter coolers as I sold mine and bought a 335i, but I'm sure they'd be gains again but where do you stop..

For me it's all about ensuring the cars healthy enough to take the increase after that I'd go remap first the DeCAT down pipe and work from there.

[Leah1]

If I added a decat would It be worth going back to have the remap tweaked?
Or would it still be fine, I remember decanting my old 206gti and it did rev a lot easier if that makes sense

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Leah1

If I added a decat would It be worth going back to have the remap tweaked?
Or would it still be fine, I remember decanting my old 206gti and it did rev a lot easier if that makes sense

You could do all depends on who done the re map I guess, as some are better than others. You may if you want to get the best of of the car look to re do everything from scratch, but again if the re map you have is half decent you'd have to question the logic v gain!

But again where do you stop. If you wanted everything to work 100% to its ultimate potential the end result would be a live re map where everything could be scrutinized and tweaked to get the best out of the car.

[IanS100]

BMW are doing a performance upgrade for the LCI 320 which adds a larger intercooler & various other changes. It comes in at over £1k but is BMW approved, won't affect any warranties you have, & comes with favourable reviews from those that have had it done

[Leah1]

Originally Posted by IanS100

BMW are doing a performance upgrade for the LCI 320 which adds a larger intercooler & various other changes. It comes in at over £1k but is BMW approved, won't affect any warranties you have, & comes with favourable reviews from those that have had it done

Do you know what power it takes the lci 177 to?

[IanS100]

Sorry, the one I was referring to is for the 184 but they probably do one for the 177 as well

[Leah1]

Ok thanks

[Icekube]

you don't require a remap after a de-cat, the engine will be plenty capable for handling the extra flow on its own.

in terms of a new turbo, ive also been looking at this myself.

seems the early Alpina D3's were single turbo, and Alpina used a slightly larger turbo charger, along with injectors from a 535D and an intercooler from a 330D.

the turbo they used is a Garrett GTB1756V (compared to the stock, GTA1749V). not only is the compressor housing bigger but the "B" denotes its a newer revision of VNT, which also makes a big difference to spool, bringing power in earlier.

while ideal, the issue with the Alpina turbo is finding one

i have also been contemplating moving up to a GT20 framed turbo in the form of a GTA2056, from an early E60 530D, it would give a higher power potential but i'm not sure how much additional lag this would introduce (maybe too much?)

[Digitalize]

For intercooler I'd go straight to a custom one, I know Forge so that's where I'd go as I know it will be good quality and tested, but even eBay ones will be much better than even the biggest BMW one you can fit in.

Having the map tweaked after a decat and intercooler will be worthwhile, just so the map is taking advantage of the mods.

[Josh1a1h]

Gd luck with the mods mate! I have heard of people installing new turbos and the other usual bolt ons and achieving great power levels!

[Leah1]

Could someone like turbo technics take my old turbo and modify it to produce more power?
How many cats does the 320d have is it just the one

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Leah1

Could someone like turbo technics take my old turbo and modify it to produce more power?
How many cats does the 320d have is it just the one

Turbo Technics could do, people like TurboDynamics are quite up on creating 'hybrids' as such, but it all depends on what your trying to achieve, cat wise you've got the primary first unit just after the turbo(which you can ditch for a de cat)then on yours if its a later car you'll have a second/DPF unit?