Thinking of buying 318ti

[mildundersteer]

Hello, this is my first post. I am located in Los Angeles, California, and I'm coming from Japanese compact background, mostly Toyota. Now I'm planning to buy a 318ti, hopefully 1.9L, and I have few questions. 1. If I understand correctly, in the U.S. from 1997 model and on there was no limited slip differential offered. What's involved in installing LSD in non-LSD axel? Is it easy swap or will it require replacement of other parts like axels? 2. I've noticed among for-sale ads that most of cars on the market have close to or over 150,000 miles. What's the chance that the engine is still good, meaning not burning oil much, etc. How about the transmission, both manual and auto? 3. If the engine is not so good, I'd like it rebuilt instead of swapping with a different engine. It's easier to live that way in California. However, I'm looking for a bit of performance upgrades. Aside from the cost, what are the common internal upgrades? Over-sized pistons, cams, head work, etc. and trustworthy manufacturers for those? And the computer tuning?

[tiFreak]

1. it was actually in the middle of the 96 model year that you couldn't get a limited slip, BMW decided that only M cars could have them, which I think is a pretty stupid decision, if you decide to swap it though, it's as easy as dropping the old transmission and sticking the new one in if you get a stock ti diff. if you use a diff from another BMW you'll have to swap axles and shim the ABS sensors, but only certain models work, the E30 (84-92 3-series) diff is most common

2. it depends on how well the car was cared for, my ti has 130k, was serviced at the BMW dealer up to when I got it and still runs strong, it's a huge plus if they have service records with the car

3. not much you can do with the 4-cyl., Metric Mechanic has some good internals but they're not cheap, if you have an extra 4k laying around there's also the Downing Atlanta supercharger kit which quite a few members have, it's SMOG legal so no worries in California. Dinan offers a premade tune for BMWs, but you can also have a custom tune written

welcome, hopefully you can find the ti you're looking for

[roadrash]

Originally Posted by mildundersteer

What's involved in installing LSD in non-LSD axel? Is it easy swap or will it require replacement of other parts like axels

This thread will give you some examples of what other people have done.

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by roadrash

This thread will give you some examples of what other people have done.

I was looking for that thread, forgot where it was

[roadrash]

It was right there in the search results the whole time. There's even another thread with a similar title that includes a prominent link to this one. LOL

[tiFreak]

yeah, I fail

[mildundersteer]

Thanks for your inputs. I'm still getting used to this forum's interface as well as learning about ti. There are lot of good info here. Also, good to know there is a smog legal supercharger kit!