E36 316i M40B16 questions

[Kevinmyo]

Dear Bimmerforums,

I purchased a 316i with an M40B16 earlier this year and has been slowly restoring the car ever since.

This is my first post on bimmerforums!

It used to be an automatic but now has been swapped to the 5 speed. Still retained the 4.44 open differential as it is an automatic originally so with a 5 speed, the acceleration feels alright and is a preppy little car for city driving.

Im probably going to do a rebuild sometime in the future, perhaps end of the year or early next.. and since im opening up the engine , im thinking of upgrading the internals a little.
I am able to source a M40B18 and wonder what parts do i need from it to stroke the b16 up? Based on my research so far it would only be : crankshaft, pistons, throttle body, intake and DME.

Has anyone done this before? I would like to seek out your advice for this.
Also saw online somewhere that you can use a m47 crank and s50b30 pistons , with a bore up and get to 2.1l anyone know of anyone that knows of anyone that did it? It sounds ridiculous haha.

Thanks in advance.

k

[johnf]

I fully agree with the above, as someone whose first BMW was an M40 318i (first registered on his birthday). While the M40 is an amazing testament to what BMW could produce with simple, classic components – contemporary cars needed more displacement or valves to match its output – an M42/M44 feels just so much happier being driven.

[ed323i]

Please also note the M40B16 and M40B18 were never sold in the US, so there are not too many people on this forum that can help you. The 'slowest' E36 in the US was the 318i which used the 140HP M42, which, in Europe was sold as the 318is. Personally I'm not a big fan of the M40 engine, with its trouble with the camshaft/valves due to bad oil flow (all M40's eventually start to tick and lose substantial amounts of power)..

At the very minimum I would upgrade to an M43B18 and install a chip. Then you'll have close to 125-130HP. Those engines are really cheap to buy in Europe (don't know how that is in Singapore, but I think you should be able to find them; they were in 1993+ 318i models), and they're a LOT more reliable than the M40 and have some important technical upgrades like the distributor-less ignition (coil pack with 4 coils instead of distributor, proper oil flow to the camshaft/valve-train, better DME, DISA for a lot more torque down below, chain driven instead of belt driven). For the price of a single belt change for the M40 you could buy the entire M43 engine, I'm sure.

But if you want to really have fun with the car, the M42 and M44 are great upgrades.. Add a chip to those and you're close to 150HP and it's a very rev-happy engine.

Nice part is that for the 4-bangers, the transmission and exhaust are all identical, so it's an easy upgrade. Easiest electronically-wise would be an early M42 or M43 that has no EWS. Then it's plug&play. With the later models you'd need to transplant the EWS or do an EWS delete on the DME.

Even easier: just sell your E36 and get a 318is or 323i, 325i or 328i, unless you already have an emotional bond to the car and/or it's in pristine condition.