Theres really no one answer to these questions since we don't know what condition the motor in the car you're looking at it in right now but in general...

Kenchinito said:

1)At what point will i have to upgrade the rods, pistons, cams, crankshaft, rings, valves, valves spring, valves retainers, etc?

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People run stock bottom ends and even stock heads well into the high 300whp range and higher. Probably a good idea to build at least your head if you're going to be pushing more power than that.

2)I know raising the boost too much will be putting heavy strain in the engine but assuming i've made the needed reinforcements to the engine, what is the hp limit if i want a reliable car that i won't need to maintain every month or so?

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How well the work is done on the car, how good your parts are, how badly you beat on it, and how few corners you cut almost influences reliability more than power. Thats said people do seem to break alot of manual transmissions and diffs in these cars when they start making huge power and drag racing: a transmission designed for 210hp isn't necessarily going to handle hundreds of high rpm awd launches with double that power without shitting itself eventually.

Now if you're looking to mod a car and drag race it, which it does sound like you're saying, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect to work on it monthly like you're asking. You're not going to be blowing engines monthly or anything but if you drag race alot you're gonna break shit from time to time, no big deal. That said they're really fun cars and if you get comfortable with doing some work on them yourself and meet people who can help you out when its beyond your capabilities they probably wont cost as much as your bmw to maintain.

1) Stock bottom ends are as good as the tune is on your car. Valvetrain components should be addressed if and when you upgrade camshafts. Mainly springs and retainers.

2) Increasing the performance of your vehicle inherently increases the maintenance as well. There no magic number for maximum reliable hp. Take your time a research every part of the combination you decide to put together. Doing this will go a long way in the longevity of your engine. Be realistic as well, your not going to build a 1000hp car and use it as a DD. Decide on a horsepower number that is within your budget and meet that goal.

If you're still calling it "Stage 1,2, &3" you will probably be fine on the stock lower end. People put out 400+HP reliably (depends what you consider reliable) with stock 7-bolt lower ends and some put out more.

That being said you can have a reliable 400HP vehicle using your stock engine (assuming it's in good shape) with the correct mods (i.e. fuel, tuning, turbo, exhaust, etc.).

The issue you will run into with "smoking the heavy weights" is the FWD. They are a bi*** to hook up.

i would grab a turbo kit, injectors, piggyback ecu etc and leave the internals alone until about 300whp and then if u want more u will have to worry more about getting traction to be faster before adding power. with the high compression of the na engine u need a good tune to be reliable and not break anything. then u could get forged rods and lower comp. pistons to add boost.

BigNugg99 said:

i would grab a turbo kit, injectors, piggyback ecu etc and leave the internals alone until about 300whp and then if u want more u will have to worry more about getting traction to be faster before adding power. with the high compression of the na engine u need a good tune to be reliable and not break anything. then u could get forged rods and lower comp. pistons to add boost.

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He mentioned a GST.

Wow, so many responses overnight! this forum is awesome! thank you all for you replies
Yeah, the BMW is a bi*** in maintenance cost not to mention repair cost.

rlacasse1 said:

If you're still calling it "Stage 1,2, &3" you will probably be fine on the stock lower end. People put out 400+HP reliably (depends what you consider reliable) with stock 7-bolt lower ends and some put out more.

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What do you mean if im still calling it "stage 1,2 &3"?

another concern i have is that i've seen videos of 2g's bending their rods and messing up everything in the lower end in the process. So i'm a little afraid of that happening to me.

I think i'm sticking to the 300 whp range without reinforcing the engine. and reinforce it while i go further.

Yeah, i'd like to get an GSX, but i'm all about convertibles! maybe do an awd swap in the long term? but still, i don't think i'll be that much of a full-stop dragger, most probably rolling pulls.

I would personally run the stock bottom end till 400hp. After that I would consider the upgrade (sure peple have ran 500+ on a stock bottom but some have lost motors at 250hp). I push over 500 hp with my head just being cleaned up, it still has stock springs and retainers because im only running fp2 cams (272). If I ever go to a bigger cam ill upgrade the head. Also the rev limiter is set at 7,500.

19BLACKGST98 said:

I would personally run the stock bottom end till 400hp. After that I would consider the upgrade (sure peple have ran 500+ on a stock bottom but some have lost motors at 250hp).

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I would too personally. I would wait until I started making more power to build the bottom end. The dsm heads are pretty good in factory form.

19BLACKGST98 said:

I push over 500 hp with my head just being cleaned up, it still has stock springs and retainers because im only running fp2 cams (272). If I ever go to a bigger cam ill upgrade the head. Also the rev limiter is set at 7,500.

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what's fp2? what's the dsm's stock redline?

Kenchinito said:

Wow, so many responses overnight! this forum is awesome! thank you all for you replies
Yeah, the BMW is a bi*** in maintenance cost not to mention repair cost.



What do you mean if im still calling it "stage 1,2 &3"?

another concern i have is that i've seen videos of 2g's bending their rods and messing up everything in the lower end in the process. So i'm a little afraid of that happening to me.

I think i'm sticking to the 300 whp range without reinforcing the engine. and reinforce it while i go further.

Yeah, i'd like to get an GSX, but i'm all about convertibles! maybe do an awd swap in the long term? but still, i don't think i'll be that much of a full-stop dragger, most probably rolling pulls.

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I as kind of messing around with you over the Stage thing.

If you are only shooting for 300hp your stock engine will be just fine for you. Just focus on other mods, and leave your engine alone. So start worrying about tuning, fuel, etc.....

If I was you I would not touch the engine, other than maintenance.

Hey man, welcome to the forums. There are a ton of good and knowledgeable guys here . Here's a list of what we're all saying in the order you should do them.

Compression test-if somethings wrong you want to find out now instead of spending all your money on mods then breaking.
Tune up-timing belt/tensioner, water pump, wires/plugs(ngk's, no hot plugs)
Fuel pump
Injectors
Boost gauge
Air/Fuel gauge
Bov (stock 1g is perfect and only like $20)
Safc-(ONLY if you're gonna stay at 300hp)
Big16g
FMIC
EGT gauge
Have money for a clutch

And personally if you it's time to do the timing belt and water pump, I would get some arp studs and replace the headgasket

Thank you!

yeah, i noticed there are a lot of knowledgeable guys around here. hehehe
it's a relief that i can stick to stock motor ### upgrading engine internals costs a hell lot of money.

I'll write down what you just said and keep a check list of it. thanks a lot.

And DAMN you have a 617 HP car? is your car streetable/daily driver? heavy maintenance? I have the idea that when you compress so much air into such a small engine it's like a time bomb.

Kenchinito said:

what's fp2? what's the dsm's stock redline?

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FP2 cams are Forced performance's version of 272's. They have many other cams but this was the biggest they had when I purchased them. I think all of the bigger ones require spring upgrades to use them. Also the stock red line on my 2g is 7,500.

Kenchinito said:

And DAMN you have a 617 HP car? is your car streetable/daily driver? heavy maintenance? I have the idea that when you compress so much air into such a small engine it's like a time bomb.

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I clicked on his profile after your comment to check the dyno sheet out. I was impressed when I saw the FP Green was the turbo making that much power....then I looked a little more and saw English Racing was the location. After that I didn't feel as impressed, it was more like what I would expect to see with that shops name attached

Kenchinito said:

Wow, so many responses overnight! this forum is awesome! thank you all for you replies
Yeah, the BMW is a bi*** in maintenance cost not to mention repair cost.



What do you mean if im still calling it "stage 1,2 &3"?

another concern i have is that i've seen videos of 2g's bending their rods and messing up everything in the lower end in the process. So i'm a little afraid of that happening to me.

I think i'm sticking to the 300 whp range without reinforcing the engine. and reinforce it while i go further.

Yeah, i'd like to get an GSX, but i'm all about convertibles! maybe do an awd swap in the long term? but still, i don't think i'll be that much of a full-stop dragger, most probably rolling pulls.

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Eh upgrades don't always fall into stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, its too broad of a statement to get a good idea of what you have going on. Its more upgrades lists.

From what I've heard of other forum members doing an awd swap isn't too expensive to do for dsms either

hypergenesis said:

Eh upgrades don't always fall into stage 1, stage 2, stage 3, its too broad of a statement to get a good idea of what you have going on. Its more upgrades lists.

From what I've heard of other forum members doing an awd swap isn't too expensive to do for dsms either

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Yeah, my bad there, but i was just following the terminology found here


yeah, am more worried about the skill involved in the swap =s

Kenchinito said:

Yeah, my bad there, but i was just following the terminology found here


yeah, am more worried about the skill involved in the swap =s

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Theres a few members on the forums who have done the AWD swap on their Gs-T and I believe there might be a DIY on the forums on how to do it as well, as for skill I don't know how hard of a task it is personally but might do it myself later on down the road

Yea I'm pretty sure someone documented the whole thing with pictures and details. I thought I was subscribed to the thread but I must have removed it sorry. It shouldn't be to hard to find though.

I'll look into the awd swap.

I just got my eyes on a Talon TSi Chassis with everything but engine. I think i'm purchasing that baby and ordering a 4g63T for it. I'm in a debate of whether i should go 1g engine or 2g engine what you guys think?

Thanks