E30 with an E36 M3 engine - anyone ?

[chris7676]

Just was thinking - so many people praise handling and purity of the E30 and yet the power is quite limited among those. Has anyone though / done a conversion using perhaps a newer M3 engine or would that be too difficult ? That would certainly be a rocket...

[RodentRacing]

Its been done quite a few times with e36 m3 engines. Some home projects others professionally done.

[Vixpy1]

The E30 M3 was a 4 pot, and should stay a 4 pot..











well ok, its a good idea

[chris7676]

Wondering whether it would involve a lot (costs / fiddling)?
Well E30 had also inline six ones so the newer engines should fit...

[C5L]

never remove the S14 from the E30 M3 its sacrilege !!!

I'm a purist ! !

you can do the conversion , but you will ruin the intimate handling the E30 is known for.

[r5gttgaz]

It would make the E30 M3 a lot better if it was circa 300bhp.

[clonmult]

RodentRacing said:

Its been done quite a few times with e36 m3 engines. Some home projects others professionally done.

Seen quite a few of them, pretty awesome cars overall.

There's even a few E30s with V12 floating (or is that sliding?) around as well.

Doubt anyone in their right mind would change the engine on an E30 M3 though - most of the conversions tend to be on lower specced donor cars.

[chris7676]

I meant buying maybe 318 or 325 and then putting a proper engine
Why would it ruing handling - are the E36 M engines heavier than E30 sixes ?
There is also an option of 2.8 which is alloy...

[Pork_n_Beem]

The problem i believe is around getting the sump to fit as its back to front on a e36 engine, i.e. the big bit of sump with the oil pump is at the back of the engine on e36 and at the front of the engine on e30's.

[rassi]

Marrying the E30 chassis with the E36 M3 engine = Z3 M Coupe

[chippy17]

r5gttgaz said:

It would make the E30 M3 a lot better if it was circa 300bhp.

only if it was still a four cylinder light engine

[Wadeski]

the E30 M3 engine has some (distant) origins in the 4-cyl F1 engines of the turbo era...

there are some people who have boosted the HELL out of E30 M3s...many hundred bhp!

[Gravy]

This has been done a few times, you should check out the e30zone, where there are rather alot of projects on the go, and alot of completed, lovely transplants.

I have an E30 318i touring and an M60 4.0 V8. I was going to install the V8 but I have changed my mind and wish to fit it to an E28 instead when I find on with a decent enough bodyshell!

Edited by Gravy on Thursday 18th October 16:17

[pikeyboy]

Vixpy1 said:

The E30 M3 was a 4 pot, and should stay a 4 pot..


well ok, its a good idea

Alpina did a similar thing back in the day with the B6 3.5S as did Hartge, both e34 m5 engined E30 M3's (i think) both had nose heavy handling though but were awesome in a straight line, not really what an e30 m3 is about

pikey

[s62]

clonmult said:

Doubt anyone in their right mind would change the engine on an E30 M3 though - most of the conversions tend to be on lower specced donor cars.

I am one of those nutters.

I bought an stock E30 M3 at the beginning of the year to make
a toy for the Nurburgring.

I knew from the start that the S14 was too weak for my taste and
to tune that engine for serious power costs VERY much and what
you get is a fragile engine.

So I sourced a supercharged S50B32 and had it installed (along with
some other stuff for the track).

The weight issue because of the swap is overrated I think.
The car was weighed (before it was stripped for cage etc) and
compared to a fully stripped Warsteiner replica with a stock engine.

Front axle - my car: 735kg. Warsteiner: 670kg

Rear axle - my car: 585kg. Warsteiner: 582kg

Still need to weigh it now that it has been stripped.

I may install some grp/cf parts up front later to balance it out
but it´s really not something that is necessary.

[Cliffv8]

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name=Forums&amp...
this is may mates 325 sport, it opened some eye's at the BMWCB track day at Croft a few weeks ago needles to say!

Edited by Cliffv8 on Saturday 3rd November 11:08

[Methane Bloke]

Back in the day, Arild Martinsen a Norwegian Rallycrosser had an M3 with a BMW 4 cylinder formula 1 turbo engine under the bonnet complete with his own 4x4 transmission. It was one of the fastest accelerating cars I've ever raced against making 60 in around 1.5 seconds. It was making around 800BHP and weighed in less than a ton.



Regards

Chris

Edited by Methane Bloke on Saturday 3rd November 11:17

Edited by Methane Bloke on Saturday 3rd November 11:19

[Cotty]

Personally im tempted with a 2.7 conversion. 220 bhp

[agent006]

Best compromise for the power/preservation-of-sanity-during-installation balance is an E36 328i engine. Not as much of a pain to install as the E36 M3 engine and a damn sight cheaper in all respects.

[s62]

Methane Bloke said:

Back in the day, Arild Martinsen a Norwegian Rallycrosser had an M3 with a BMW 4 cylinder formula 1 turbo engine under the bonnet complete with his own 4x4 transmission. It was one of the fastest accelerating cars I've ever raced against making 60 in around 1.5 seconds. It was making around 800BHP and weighed in less than a ton.



Regards

Chris

Wow - one hell of a machine.

Any more info on this car - is it still running?