Fred, The supersprint is IIRC $1200. Go custom not much more money and there "may be" some tq gains (not sure how much if any) plus the supersprint is not coated. The ECU thing....ahhh...it's a flash ECU. What that means is the software is injected not chipped. What we need is either MOTEC or a code cracker to rewrite the software based on dyno mapping. If you disable the EWS (BMW antitheft) then you could have a couple of ECU's available for different ambient conditions. The EWS prevents the car from starting if the ECU and the key do not match. I have spare ECU's but I can't use them at this time. I've heard the EWS is easy to disable and I've also heard it is hard, so I haven't ventured there yet.

Some one had suggested converting it to OBD 1 , which I don't know if it is IT legal or not, but it would make some things easier I suspect. BMW does some interesting things with the electrical sytem so I don't know what the expectations/limitations of the swap would be. (for instance the on board computer for gas milage, trip distance, etc. is a hub for the wheel speed TCS so you can't just rip it out without going into limp mode). We spent half of last season in limp mode without knowing why. How fun is shifting at 5200 rpm?

The car has nice even hp and tq curves which is real nice. I think it may be still a little heavy given its increase potential. The car has one-off written all over it. If you like an oddball you'll LOVE this car.

R

Also, the e36 318 is the same car as the Z3 . The 318ti is identical just different body panels. If it mattters.