E36 with M3 Evo conversion, anyone recognise this car?

[astraboy]

Tried this in general and had no luck I'm hoping I'll have more luck here.
Trying to find the guy who did the conversion on this car.
I'm told his name is Andy and he sold the car to a bloke called Ben.
He sold it to a friend of mine and its now in my posession.
Bought it a few weeks back and I'm trying to find out as much as possible. Here are some pics:
On the face of it just any other BMW325i



The leather interior is not really to my taste, but its nice enough.

but its the M3 Evolution engine that really sets it apart.


Had it rolling roaded today and its well down on power.
240bhp at the fly and 211lb/ft of torque is not what I was expecting when I put it in.
The techie said I should find out exactly what the conversion involved, which why I am here. If anyone recognises the car, the leather should make it pretty distinctive (i'm told the white leather was custom made, curiously enough I know the first owner of this car and he confirmed this) then please get in touch, the sooner I know the ins and outs of the conversion then the sooner I can get her running at her true potential again.
Thanks in advance,
astraboy.

[A.F]

hi astraboy,the bmw on your drive is one of my creations,the engine is none evo,325 box transmission diff,when sold to ben it needed the exhaust sorting and de catting,ecu and all other bits and bobs are m3 none evo

[astraboy]

A.F said:

hi astraboy,the bmw on your drive is one of my creations,the engine is none evo,325 box transmission diff,when sold to ben it needed the exhaust sorting and de catting,ecu and all other bits and bobs are m3 none evo

Hi Andy,
Thank you for getting in touch.
While I'm on the subject of thanks, thank you for building the car, she is VERY fast, even when down on power like this.
If you can indulge me further, I have a few questions,

With regard to chassis, I am going to get coilovers (height and damp adjustable) with an E36 325 fitment, I notice quite a few aftermarket welds around the suspension towers, will this affect my choice of suspension in any way?

Staying with the chassis for a minute I am also planning to get an LSD fitted, I have heard the E30 325i Sport LSD will fit, do you know if this is possible?

Ben mentioned something that had been done to the fuelling, something to increase it to 315bhp (or so Ben said) Do you have any details of what was done?

It has also been mentioned that Stage 1 tuning has taken place, with porting and polishing mentioned as a specific, any truth in this?

At the moment, the car is down on power, misfiring and has a noticable flatspot at around 2-3k, here, have a look...

Ben mentioned that this may be cured by a change of sparkplugs as the car tends to go through then at a rate of knots, which plugs would you reccomend for maximum performance and longevity?

And lastly, any idea what this is?

I found it wrapped round the inlet port and I'm not sure where it goes, any suggestions?

Sorry for the mastermind treatment, but Chris at Power Engineering said the best way to get the car running at peak power was to find out as much as possible about how it was built and needless to say, BMW themselves get a bit sniffy when I turn up in a hybrid like this.
Many thanks in advance,
astraboy.

[astraboy]

Oh yeah, thought I'd mention the one thing I have found out about this car, it used to be owned by a Rave DJ by the name of Dougal!
I tried to sell him the private plate and he said he'd already had it
Cheers again,
astraboy.

[A.F]

When sold the engine was stock,cylinder leakages no more than 6percent,the ecu had been chipped for around 300bhp(285bhp standard),the exhaust was m3 manifolds,but the rest wanted changing for a good sport freeflow system&cats,this with a good service &the missfire sorted should see the power return,the engine when fitted had done 20thou miles,the chasis was as 325 with no additions or welds?coilovers &goodset up &corner weighting will transform,I also owned &rebuilt the e36 v8 monster that iggy had,hope ben hasnt beaten it into submission.

[astraboy]

Thanks andy, very much appreciated.
One last question though, What Sparkplugs would you reccomend?
Cheer,
astraboy.

[A.F]

NGK/bosch platinum, norm M3 heat range,ran these alot in my own tuned M3 E36,lots of trackdays&fastroad with no missfires,check your not getting oil into plug chambers ,quitecommon cause of missfires.

[astraboy]

Andy, you're a chap , I'll let you know how I get on.
Cheers,
astraboy.

[Niffty951]

Hello this is Ben,

Just thought I'd pop in to the thread and say Hi. A was a bit slow to ring Andy and he rang me first to say you'd got in touch. Glad you got things sorted, hope the plugs sort it for you.

p.s. Not sure where the stage 1, ported & polished head information came from? I remember you mentioned it on the phone but it wasn't present when I sold the car?

[astraboy]

Easy Ben, thanks for pointing us in the right direction dude
I think the engine spec came from my friend being a tad enthusiastic about the car. The only reason he sold to me was because and I quote "If I dont get rid of it, I'm going to kill myself" and when he first mentioned it to me, he was under the impression it had undergone full race tuning.
Not bothered about it at all though, I'm just happy I know the cars real spec and how to cure the power loss and misfire, so thank you both
Like I said, I'll let you know how I get on. I intend to keep it subtle and standard, this car is a sleeper and I intend to keep it that way. The only modifications you will be able to see are the race seat and harness (which is already in) and the 316 badge!
However, when the car is fully finished, I will post further pictures
Regards,
astra.