2.8 & m3 engines

[rufus357]

Hi Guys - Hope you can give me some advise on BMW engines - I am think of getting a Z3 2.8 or a Z3M.

Do these engines cope with high milages OK? In particular the Z3M's I could afford would be ~100k miles.

Secondly I have heard that the 2.8 engines are very easilly tuned as they were originally intentionally limited in power - is this correct?

Thanks

Al

[dxb335d]

Yes high mileages provided its been well serviced mate. I dont think the 28 is that much de-tuned from the factory but have heard it is slightly de-tuned. I think a manifold swap can release 20 odd bhp!

[Top pup]

My mate had a 2.8 Z3 and it seemed pretty much indestructible, it was still as sweet as a nut when he sold it with 120k miles and the 40k he did in it were VERY hard.

[soprano]

the 2.8 is bulletproof. the m engine is more highly tuned and so naturally more stressed, therefore it wont cope with the miles so well. thats not to say they wont keep going, but they are more likely to have something go wrong.

if you are getting a higher miler, 2.8 is probably the way to go, it really will go on and on.

[andye30m3]

The M engines are good when you consider how much power they produce. What other mass produced, normally aspirated every day car has around 100 BHP/litre?

Even 996 911's have their engine failures.

If i was going to buy an M car i'd want £1500 in the bank just incase of vanos failure or bottom end issues. Its far from common but can happen.

Edited by andye30m3 on Thursday 17th April 11:01

[LC23]

It would be the 2.8i for me with that sort of mileage. Exellent engine and it will just keep going provided it is looked after

[dan101smith]

At that age of car the reliability of both should be similar. Both will need to be (and have been) looked after, same as any car. M3 engines have had a few incidents of Vanos issues, M52s have had problems with Nikasil. As long as you take good care of it, either should be very reliable.

[rufus357]

Thanks guys - some useful info. Are the 3.0's noticably quicker than the 2.8's and do these later have cars have any other benefits such as better suspension?

How do I know if is a Nikosil block?

Thanks for the advise.

Al

[neil_bolton]

I've done 40k from 98k to the now 138k miles my 2.8 is on- and they have NOT been, erm, symapathetic, at the best of times - I use her to the max

Shes still sweet as a nut, and unburstable *touches wood*.

You won't go wrong I'd say.

[StuB]

A Z3 3.0 will cost quite a bit more than a 2.8. They're all the 'later shape' and come with DSC as standard which is a huge bonus. Only a few 2.8's in the later shape. No Z3 2.8's have the Nikasil block. The 3.0 M54 uses quite a bit of oil and it's not much quicker than a 2.8. 2.8's can be tuned very easily with the inlet manifold from the 525/325's. My E36 328 did 214k miles and still saw north of 1.4 leptons on trade in day and always pulled like a train. The 2.8's have ASC which is very crude, clumsy and intrusive I find.

HTH. Have a look around on www.zroadster.net for more model specific stuff.