Supercharger Performance and Engine Performance Parts

BMW Alpina B3 E36 power upgrades 

Rating: +1

I did some research on your behalf Pete and it seems that the 3.3 Alpina is based on the same 3.0 "S52" engine block as the 330i and the M3 3.0 and 3.2. The Alpina makes 280hp @ 6200 from it's 3.3 liter but it redlines at 7200. The car besides having an increased 3.3 liter displacement has an intake side VANOS camshaft, an upgraded exhaust, and redesigned extractors (headers) with the catalytic converters relocated under the car.

I'm not sure weather you own a manual or automatic, but if you own a manual and are actually able to rev it up to 7200 without having an computer shift for you, then shifting peak power from 6200 to 7200 holds the potential of a 14% power increase bring power up to ~320hp and times down from 6.1 seconds to 5.3 seconds in best case scenarios. To do this I'd focus on the intake side (as the exhaust side is supposedly already upgraded on your car), and go for a later year M3 style individual throttle body intake, coupled with an aftermarket carbon fiber intake plenum. You'd have to ask around (probably with schrick or in the BMW dealer's part database) to find the exact duration of your intake and exhaust cams... if they are around 260* of duration i'd leave them alone for a target of 7200 rpms, if they have less duration then you're going to need to upgrade to hit peak power at 7200.

Once you've gotten the intake sorted, I'd invest in a lightweight flywheel to help you hold the power up in the higher rpm ranges with less losses and weight, and I'd also get the whole setup tuned for the new power.

If 320 hp doesn't sound like much (and it probably doesn't considering the newer BMW's are rediculously powered) then you should look into an supercharger kit, and since your engine is related to the 330 and M3 engines then you have no problem going that route. Your compression ratio is 10:1 and your car produces less power than an M3, so make sure to get an intercooled kit because your boost will be higher (with the same standard M3 kit because your car breathes less so the supercharger will be able to push more boost into it at stock settings).

Potential here goes up as high as 460hp at around 10psi. The supercharger compresses the intake air , so your intake manifold, throttle body, and intake came become less of a restriction.... when you go for a supercharged setup. If you were to go supercharged you'd want to think about leaving the intake side alone and going for upgraded headers and a new cat-back exhaust system capable of flowing 500hp (which is doable if you want it).

Your acceleration with this kind of setup will drop from low 6s to low 4s , theoretically as low 4.16 seconds if you can put the power down.

Example 1 Carbon fiber intake for higher rpm flow

Example 2 Carbon Fiber intake with built in air filter.

Some resources:

Active Auto Works

Schrick

Giac chiptuning