e30 engine swap!

[Harms]

HI I am in the process of purchasing a e30 325i cabriolet with a view to swap the engine for something alot more powerfull.

I am new to BMW Ive had two porsches and then moved to TVR ownership. now going back to the retro and my opinion best 3 series ever made I need the performance to match some of the newer cars out there.

I see alot of people using the 3.5litre lumps from the 535i or the 3.0 e36 m3 engine.

Can anyone recomend to me..:

A- A Good engine to slot in
B - where I could buy the engine from
C- Someone who could carry out this conversion for me.
D and roughly the price for all this.

Thanks alot, I am really looking forward to starting this project and making a one of e30
any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks guys.

Harms

[DennisCooper]

Here's one I made earlier.....



This was in a Touring !

Way back in the day - mid 90's, when I and my bro had quite a few E30's I was about to get the 3.5 litre from the E28 5 series and E24 6 series. Plan was then to modify the engine a little to take from the standard 218 bhp to around 260 with the schrick cams and other modifications. There wasn't really any other engines to use realistically with the money I did have. In the end I opted for a bore of the engine to 2.7 litre (had a 87 325i SE 4 door) and I loved that engine and the performance it gave me.

Nowadays there's much more choice, the engine from the E46 2.8 litre unit? the E36 M3 engine is a popular or much wanted choice too!

all depends on your budget! if money is no object, you've got to drop in the E60 M5 V10

The touring I picture above was a 3.6, dogleg gearbox and E30 suspension and wheels and a custom exhaust, didn't want to go too crazy with it so it was left pretty much as standard. I personally feel that 300-350 bhp in an E30 is about as much as the chassis can handle for a street car. With more work of course you can push them further, E39 M5 V8 ?!! In a convertible, due to the body's scuttle shake characteristics, putting something very powerful in you'll need to stiffen up the chassis.

For me, if I got another E30 and could drop in any engine, I think I'd go for an E36 Evo, I'd not really go for the old 3.5 litres, efficiency compared to new engines isn't so good niether is bhp/power increase!

I wish I kept that last E30 I had.... I also warn you of the rear camber issue, which nowadays I believe can be remidied. Back in the mid to late 90s I used to go through brand new tyres within 5 weeks down to the threads!

I'll stop harping on now!

cheers, Dennis!

[Harms]

wow that looks a serious set up even for back then.

Unfortunantly money is an object....wel it doesnt have to be but i do need to be a bit sensible. A few people have said stay away from the older lumps, youve just confimed my thoughts on that idea too.

So ill go for something newer, it doesnt have to be a monster of power but more than 230bhp would be nice

What would you suggest for that? ill allow up to 2k max preferbally £1500 for a conversion so im thinking e36 2.8 litre lump and tune it up a bit. a m3 3.0 or 3.2 evo would be perfect but i dont know where to source one from??

Any ideas where i can get a descent engine in that price rang and fitted too??

Thank you

[soda]

I recall reading about a Scandinavian company selling bits to let you fit a Volvo T5 in an E30.

I'll try and hoke out the name later.

[hoppo4.2]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://germa...

a big job though.

[griffter]

advantage of the m52 e36 2.8 is its aluminium. The old m30 3.5 was iron. Dont know about m3. I know a guy who is combining 2 of your interests by dropping a tvr tuscan engine in an e30!

[E30M3SE]

E30zone should help.

[Harms]

I see theres quite a few options then, I think I'd like to stick to BMW power plant though, be true to BMW In some way. I d prefer an easy option too. I hear a few engines are slot more easier to slot in than others, hence why I initially thought about the older 3.5 lump, but I've scrapped that idea now.

I hear putting an e36 or e46 engine in isn't too much hassle.
Anyone had any experience with one of these?

[4rephill]

Harms said:

wow that looks a serious set up even for back then.

Unfortunantly money is an object....wel it doesnt have to be but i do need to be a bit sensible. A few people have said stay away from the older lumps, youve just confimed my thoughts on that idea too.

So ill go for something newer, it doesnt have to be a monster of power but more than 230bhp would be nice

What would you suggest for that? ill allow up to 2k max preferbally £1500 for a conversion so im thinking e36 2.8 litre lump and tune it up a bit. a m3 3.0 or 3.2 evo would be perfect but i dont know where to source one from??

Any ideas where i can get a descent engine in that price rang and fitted too??

Thank you

I can't help thinking that a budget of @ £2k is too little.

A quick check on ebay shows that the cheapest M3 engine on there is @£1000 and that's one with vanos issues (actually there is one cheaper starting at £1 but that has a suspected crank issue), otherwise they are ranging from @ £1700~£2500.

An E36 2.8 engine will cost anywhere from @ £300~£1000. At the £300 end your going to be looking at older Nikasil lined engines that can (but not always), suffer from excesive bore wear. The engines in the £700~£1000 range are more likely to be later, steel lined engines as they are more sought after.

To get the 2.8 up to @ 220~240 BHP, you'll need a big bore throttle body + an M50 manifold swap + an engine re-map + a cold air intake and that's if the engine is in good health. If the engines done high mileage then you're more likely to get @ 195~210 BHP (basically not much more than it had originally when new). The budget for all these performance tweeks needs to be something @ £500 at least.

As well as the engine you will also need the wiring loom, ECU, EWS system for the ignition, exhaust manifold (+ custom exhaust), clutch and flywheel for a start. You're then going to need custom mounts for the engine and gearbox plus if you're not doing the conversion yourself, the labour charge alone will probably blow your budget.

Sorry to be putting a dampner on the idea but if you're not doing the conversion yourself I think you'll need to at least double your budget.

[Harms]

No that's all good thank you for clarifying a few things. Any advice is appreciated. Right I see what your saying about the 328 engine rather pointless too then. I guess it's kind of all or nothing then really. Spend loadsa money and create a monster or leave it original.

Just out of curiosty. If I did leave the original 325! Engine in, what can I do if anything to create a little more horsepower from it??

[E30M3SE]

Lose the AFM and run a piggy back ECU, would be first step then add a 6 branch manifold and lose the CAT, if it has one, that little lot will probably cost about £1000-1200 all done.

[Harms]

Ah ok.. And then induction system and super chip?? How much am I looking to gain with the mods you just mentioned?

[les3002]

I did an M50 swap a few years back for sub £1k, not in the same league as the S50 but much better than the original engine both in performance and fuel use.

[buggalugs]

I've got an M50 2.5 in my 4-door, did 90% of the work over a long weekend, total cost was under a grand. Most of the cost / ball ache factor is the exhaust side as whatever you use it needs to be modded to clear the steering column, which means custom downpipes. I bought pre-modded M3 manifolds which were a lot of the cost in themselves.

M52 2.8 is about 30Kg lighter and can be brought up to the power lever you mentioned with manifolds and maybe cams/remap. The disadvantages of them are the head gasket issue - if its been cooked there seems to be a fair chance that you will pull the threads out of the block when you change it. Also you'll need a matching ECU, EWS module and key to get the thing running to you're best buying a running car rather than a naked engine.

Non-vanos M50's like mine are cheap as chips, no EWS and have the same stock peak power as the 2.8 even but are much peakier in delivery - all the guts are over 4.5K. Very solid engines though you can beat the st out of it all day no problemos.

There's a dedicated engine swap forum on e30zone.

HTH

4rephill said:

As well as the engine you will also need the wiring loom, ECU, EWS system for the ignition, exhaust manifold (+ custom exhaust), clutch and flywheel for a start. You're then going to need custom mounts for the engine and gearbox plus if you're not doing the conversion yourself, the labour charge alone will probably blow your budget.

Yeah if you're not doing it yourself the labour will be the biggest budget item.

Re. clutch, flywheel - you can either use an e30 318 gearbox, 320 prop and M50 clutch/starter/fly. This keeps you e30 diff. Or you can use the M50 box, fly, clutch etc as per the original engine + e36 328 prop, but then you'll need a Z3, Compact or 'e' diff to match it (ratio wise).

Engine mount arms are e36 M50, rubbers are e34 M50, sump needs to be e34 m50.

Make sense?

Edited by buggalugs on Thursday 24th March 15:43