New to forum and BMW

[Jos]

Hi there,

I am new to these forums (and any car forum) and also new to BMW. For about 6 months I have been thinking about buying an e30 325. I was discusing this with a friend of mine and he was saying he has an old 735i (e23) sitting in his driveway neglected. It belongs to his father but thinks we can nick the engine from it Anyway, we were discussing putting the e23 into an e30 chassis and making something a little entertaining. I have checked out www.e30.de and the whole idea seems to be suprisingly easy. Has anyone here done this? Would it be better to try and get an e34/e32 instead? Infact would this be a good idea at all, or would I be better going for a 325 and tuning it up/turbo'd?

I am not exactly an expert in car mechanics but I can generally get the job done with a little help, thats sorta where you guys come in

Going along the lines of using the e23 engine I have a couple of starter questions if I may be so bold:

Fuel Injection system - what should I do with it? We had toyed with the idea of using triple carbs for it, but the fuel bill would be insane(would sound good though) Ruling out carbs should it just be left as is, or would it be worth looking at some sort of 3rd party system (seen Megasquirt mentioned a few times) to avoid problems with the ECU later on.

Chassis - we will probably strip the chassis to nothing and build it up (M3 Suspension, brakes, new interior etc) but is there any particular starter I should use or would a bog basic 316i do the job?

Thanks

[GreekDriver]

Welcome to BF.c

The E23 is the chassis, the motor you're probably talking about swapping in is the M30. Yes it is possible, and any E30 chassis will do. Avoid the early ones as they come with drum brakes! What year is the E23, if it's an 86-87, it's engine management is fine. If it's earlier, you have issues.

[BMW#1Enthusiast]

Welcome to the best site on the net.

[Jos]

wow fast responses

Thanks for the welcome!

Its a 1982 model, it's the updated version of the 1st Generation M30 with single piece intake and Motronic 1.0 I think. There is about 100k miles on it, no running problems apart from a dying fuel pump.

Brakes wouldn't be an issue as we plan to replace them anyway, but thanks for the heads up. I supose if they are rear discs they wouldn't need to be changed but I think I would do it for completeness.

[Ruffian]

Welcome to the board!


Keith