Newb Motor Swap ?

[jinxmitchell]

I'm a n00b and just ran a search, but still don't know enough to trust myself here so I'll just ask.

I'm looking to buy an 87 325iS and came across a decent shape 93 325i motor with a warranty. Is this an easy and beneficial swap or would I be better off just keeping the stock motor?

Thanks,
Jenkins

[Carzzi]

It's a doable swap, a few folks on this board have done it. I have driven E30s with this swap and find them quite fun. What price is it being offered at? What kind of warranty?

Zionsville BMW/ autosport has a CDROM which will guide you through the entire process. Google search them to find the URL.

[ryan_george]

Check out this website for some info. It's pretty interesting.
http://www.e30m50.com/

[Viking325i]

or www.e30.de its all in german, but you can throw it through babel fish to get a funky german-english hybrid. But the pics may prove useful anyway.

I plan on doing the swap in the near future, but closer to the time I'll debate on if I go the supercharged M50 or go for a BMW v8 transplant

[89325iturbo]

I wouldn't do it unless you plan on doing some mods to the M50 motor to get some extra power. Like m3 cams, software, and such.Or if you plan on going real big with a turbo, or supercharger. If you swapped it in, and just left it stock it wouldn't be much of a performance increase, for the money. Unless you can get the motor pretty cheap. I like the simplicity of the M20. Its probably one of the easiest motors i ever worked, you can pretty much take the car apart with a 10, 13, and 17mm set of sockets. With a few other sizes thrown in here, and there. If you don't have much experience working on, or swapping engines stick with the m20. If you have experience, and can get the engine at a good price then go for it.

[jinxmitchell]

I have experience with Honda's... I'm still REALLY new to BMW's though.

I'm looking at about $1k for the motor with a 1 year warranty, and the shop is only 25 mins from my home, so it's pretty accessable if problems arise. I've been considering maybe buying the motor and letting it sit on a stand while I collect parts and do more research on that particular motor (to see what I would want to do to it). If I went that route then I would install it after it has been built to my specs (all I want is to NEVER lose to a Honda, and streetability). I would love opinions before I go spend a dime though. PS, I won't be buying anything for about a month or so. Thanks all!

[Viking325i]

There are some really nice turbo kits floating around for M20/M30's that give out 300 or so rwhp for the M30, cant remember what the M20 was, but it was a fair bit.

Dont forget, upgrade your stopping power :)

[Viking325i]

After re-reading that the part about not loosing to a honda, some are bloody quick, especially TypeR's we get down here. There is a guy on here who's done a 10 second pass with a M50 turbo'd E30 and stock internals. He said it was 550ish HP, so I would imagine that should do the trick. I'd be curious to know myself how it would stand up to being used as a daily driver.

Still, stripped out shell, with an engine like that :buttrock

[jinxmitchell]

LOL! ok ok... I guess I can lose to crazy ppl who have 10 second Civic's. I'm just talking about ignorant ricers here in "college town" who think their GSR's with I/H/E are unbeatable. If someone has gone out and done real quality work to their cars, then I don't have any problem losing to that. I don't street race or anything so it's not that big of a deal. I just want a quick and streetable car.

[Viking325i]

It all comes down to how much $$ you want to sink into it. Brakes & Suspension dont come cheap but need doing if your adding stacks of additional power. Maybe look into these guys TCD (http://www.turbochargingdynamics.com/)

[jinxmitchell]

Nah, I don't want to go the way of boost... I would upgrade the suspension/wheels/tires and brakes before dropping in a powerful engine ofcourse. I'm new to Bimmers, not to cars.

Does the 95 2.5 bolt straight in though? What would need to be done to make it work when the time comes around?

Thanks for the responses all!

[Viking325i]

Yup, it'll bolt in using a variety of BMW parts. People mostly use E28 M5 engine mounts I believe. Biggest problem is brake booster clearance. There is a yahoo group "E30TwinCam" that is really useful for this conversion, including alot of people doing the 2.5L or M3 engine conversion.