BMW 316i E36 MY1997 – Stage3 turbo kit on stock engine

Posted December 22, 2023 by Stelios Alexandrakis 579 0

Going turbo is never wise on 27 year old, naturally aspirated cars. Then you get that very good friend, that you advise against it. Who still makes all the bad choices. And ends up with even more bad choices trying to correct his first one. Then brings you the car.
This BMW E36 316i was not very powerful at all. Even tuned on stage2, it still produced 85hp, engine power. For turbo enthusiasts and car lovers, that is never a great drive. Not only zero excitement, also a very boring daily.

Just when we thought things could not get any worse, the owner decided to go turbo with a KKK K03 from an Audi A4 B6 1.8T 20V. After installing the hardware, it was brought to use to tune its fantastic Bosch M1.7 ecu that has no boost sensor and no wideband lambda.
We managed to tune it and it made 156hp engine power, at 0.5bars of boost on 98RON. With a smooth idle, OEM driving and very good power delivery compared to when it was NA.

Projects like this are not recommended for owners without extensive tuning experience. But what is there not to like about bringing life and driving joy into an old car?

#bmw316 #bmw316i #bmwe36 #bmwe36coupe #bmwfans #bmw #etuners

Upgrade specifications

98RON fuel
stock motor
Upgraded luft (flap-type airflow sensor)
Upgraded exhaust
Turbo kit (KKK K03 from Audi A4 B6 1.8T 20V) + front mount intercooler
Modified intake manifold
Upgraded fuel injectors
Upgraded fuel injector rail and fuel pressure regulator
Manual boost controller
Custom #etuners Stage3 remap for Bosch M1.7.3 – provided in a re-writable chip instead of the stock 27C512.