Hello to all. I have a wonderful 1984 533i that I have slowly improved over the years, and now I would like to try to beef it up a bit. I would swear that somewhere in one of the boxes in my garage, there is a Roundel from, I believe, the late 1980s or early 1990s, that had an article about one guy who made some modifications to his 533i to improve engine performance and output (and maybe handling). But I can't find it. If anyone can ID the Roundel edition, I understand the Foundation can get me a copy of the article. Or if you have a copy of that Roundel, please email me at hbrown1063@aol.com and I'll be happy to pay for a fax or a copy or whatever. Also, if you don't know of that Roundel article but have any other articles specifically about improving the output of that era 533, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks very much.
There's no substitute for cubic inches, they say. Start with a 3.5 liter engine in place of the 3.2 that came in the car. A used '85-86 might be hard to find these days in good shape, but the difference is worthwhile. Sometime in '87 the ports changed and your manifolds won't transfer to the replacement engine, and that injection is different. Not too much you can do to the 3.2 to make a big difference.
Ditto the 3.5l M30 motor - then consider a chip (requires running high-octane fuel), then possibly performance exhaust, then maybe headers. The chip/exhaust can only add a few hp, but probably a noticeable, albeit small, difference. Big differences take big money. If you're going to the effort of a motor swap, that might be a good opportunity for a camshaft - again, not huge difference, but something more easily done when an engine is out of the car. Building a big motor can take big $$$. Chip & exhaust are probably the easy things to try for your 533i. You might want to see what route folks on mye28.com have taken also.
Hey, I forgot to mention the REAL hot set-up----the twin cam, 4-valve engine from the M5 0r M6. Now you're talking good noises! We've put a couple in old Coupes and they LOOK great. I think Mario Langston has an S52 M3 engine in an e28 also. There's a world of fun projects out there. But back to the real world---MGarrison is correct in all that he says.
