S54 (e46 m3) engine inside an e36 m3 chassis

[zackzimm47]

My plan is to create my dream car. I love the staggering 333 hp the s54 engine pumps out, but I'm not too crazy on the body style of the e46. I currently have an e36 m3, stock but peake performance chipped. Anyways, do you all think it'd be worth it for me to try to pay for a s54 and pay a mechanic to install that engine inside of an e36 m3 body? What's the estimated cost? Would it be just as fast as an e46 m3? Most importantly, would it be reliable and last me a while?

[mwood]

I would not sacrifice a orig M3 for a swap. The M3 has intrinsic value as an M3.

Get another chassis to frankenstien

[galuple]

Why use an M3 body when all the E36 bodies are the same? Quick search shows that engines fetch at least $5000. Then you have the costs of installing it, which could easily be a few thousand depending on the shop you go to. Since the E36 is lighter, in theory it might be even faster than an E36, but it's probably not worth it.

If you have that money to throw around, go FI. Turbo or supercharger.

[fahdyehia628]

Do an S50B32 swap :)

321 hp and i've seen videos that it's faster than the E46 M3 when both stock

I will be worth much more if you want to sell it later

[scooper]

An s54 powered e36 will be faster than the e46 m3 and will be easy to tune and easier to drive than most FI e36s. And they should be more reliable than most FI e36s. Get a non-M and do the conversion. Search for the wanganstyle thread. There's a lot of info on here. An s54 e36 is what I would go for. It's not going to be cheap though.

[Bianca98]

its a $9000 dollar project to have a shop do for you. You can recoupe some costs by selling the pieces you remove. But you will need:

Engine
Trans
Engine Management
Driveshaft
Updated suspension to handle the power
Reinforcement plates
wheels
brakes
......MONEY

S54 + Boost is the only thing that keeps me holding on to my M3 Vert. Some people say, why ruin an M3? Well why put an M50 in an E30? Why so LS swaps into Ti's? Because its fun. You can make the argument that your would increase the value of a non-M shell with the swap, but you can also argue that you would increase and possibly put a high shelf on the value potential on a project car like that.

and Mike Radowski from Maximum PSI has done the swap a few times and has photos on his Facebook page. Check it out!