3.5 6 into a e36 325i, will it go?

[ynnejcantbe]

Ive bought a 325i Coupe with a blown engine, then bought a 525i for £100 to do an engine swop, but I still have engine and box from a e28 M535i in the garage. Will it fit or should i just do the easy swop?

[sniff diesel]

It's been done before, even on the E30's with a smaller engine bay so you shouldn't have a problem. I'm not sure if it would be worth the effort though for just a 20bhp gain considering the extra weight of the 3.5

[ynnejcantbe]

I know the M535 had 218 bhp, whats the figure for a 325i ?

[sniff diesel]

ynnejcantbe said:

I know the M535 had 218 bhp, whats the figure for a 325i ?

193 bhp for the M50

[Diesel Meister]

It will go with a few mods but why would you when you could have something lighter and more modern for not much more cash? Bear in mind the cat version of the M30 3.5 will be more like 210ish (211 from the factory). It will be torquey and sound good but pretty juicy next to the M50 (if that's a factor). Just a thought.

Edited by Diesel Meister on Sunday 30th November 20:37

[Hugo S]

Indeed don't bother with the M30. IMO it is an old and rudimental engine. f you want bargain power that's plug and play to fit (apart from the computer ), get an M52 328i engine and swap the intake manifold for an M50B25 intake. You will lose the lower rev torque but you gain quite some punch from 4K to 6.5K. Makes for a very powerful engine. Top it up with a custom chip and you are likely to have about 225-235BHP and a lot of torque.

[ynnejcantbe]

Thanks for all comments, I think ill forget about the 3.5 lump then, and do the 2.5 swop. A 328 engine would be better I know, but I already have a 525 for the engine.
Does anyone know if the gearboxes, both manuals, are the same between the 3 an 5 series? anything else i should be aware of???

[sniff diesel]

ynnejcantbe said:

Does anyone know if the gearboxes, both manuals, are the same between the 3 an 5 series? anything else i should be aware of???

They appear to pull the same revs for a given engine speed but they could still be different. Can't you use the 3 series box just in case it's different? Bloody heavy engines, even with the box removed.

[Hugo S]

Gearboxes are, as far as i'm concerned, different.

e34 525i 24v comes with 2 boxes. One with the 1:1 in 4th gear and with a 3.72 rear diff. The other, newer, ones come with the ZF boxes with the 1:1 in 5th gear and with an 3.21 rear diff if i'm not mistaking.

The e36 325 has an 3.15 rear diff, same as the E36 M3 LSD's so i expect you to have the ZF box or something alike.

Do check www.realoem.com, enter the short chassis number and you can find everything for your car!!