Another new owner looking for guidance...

[track6]

Well, I finally took the plunge. After being somewhat of a car whore lately, I settled on an '87 325i sedan. I mostly do autox with some track day stuff & driver instruction. Hopefully, I can work out a cage that allows 4 seats & harnesses safely while on the track.
Anyway, the car suffered a timing belt failure and has over 200k miles, so I am replacing the engine. I've looked around and found several M20 engines for $500-$900.
I've been searching this and other forums for information, debating swapping to the M50. I've found some good information, but it seems sketchy and incomplete. But, I also priced the M50 and found them in the same price range of $500-$900. I know there things like the brake booster & motor mounts that have to change, but it seems like a better way to go for basically the same money.

So, if the E36 M50 needs the E34 oil pan and pickup, would it be better to use the E34 M50 instead? Or why not?
And, as far as the wiring, I was looking at the Megasquirt instead of the factory computer. But, it doesn't seem like the MS is real popular for these engines. Is there a reason for that? It seems to me that I could use the MS for fuel/air management and still keep the factory computer in place.
I know that the in the Mazda MX-6/Ford Probe community, the MS is hugely popular. That engine is a V-6 with an 84.5mm bore and 74 mm stroke. That is very close to the 84x75 of the M20/M50. That should mean that their development could be used for this engine and work great.

So, any input? And, yes, I know about the S50 swap and I'm not interested. Please, do not go there. If I'm going to spend $3000-$6000 on an engine swap and still have to do all the work, I'll buy another car. With the parts I've already priced, I can do the M50 for less than $1200 if I don't do the trans now. I don't need gross power, I just need to change the motor. I'm even content to keep the M20 if the M50 swap is too much hassle. Driving instruction is about driving smarter to be faster.

Thanks for your constructive feedback.
Tim

[joeuser528e]

Lots of people run MegaSquirt. As far as I know it's pretty popular in the e30 community.

[track6]

That's good to hear. It seemed like an good way to go, but I wanted some feedback.

[Febi Guibo]

I drive a 4-pot (eg, this is internet discussion vs. actual experience), but here is the general idea of things:

There are a some very proven DIY rebuild recipes for the M20... so if you are so inclined and can deal with it yourself, maybe consider the eta block with i-head route? You've got an i-head already --with some issues, granted...

Otherwise, the general consensus is that the M50 swap is still a ton of work and folks differ on hp benefit vs. ton of work. M50 folks will chime in with their take on it... dohc, easier to maintain, etc. etc.

So, I'd think of it in terms of quality rebuild vs. used motor transplant + extra swap stuff.

Finally... R3vlimited.com has a *complete* forum on doing the swap.

[track6]

Thanks for that. I pulled the valve cover off just to confirm what I already thought. I found one half of a rocker arm. I'm no expert, but I think that's bad.

I'll probably pull the head anyway, just to see just what the pistons look like. After that, I still need to decide what to do. I think I'd rather have this on the road quickly than deal with the swap. Maybe I can use this engine as a core for a bigger project down the road.

Tim