Went in an m52'd e30-Awsome experience!Pics of his car added

[e30-EVN]

Personaly mate I would go with the first option of relieving the 328 of its m52 lump and take the inlet manifold off the other. Only make sure it is actualy a 2.5 m50 as the 2.0 m50 inlets look identical but infact are fukin useless! See sticky thread in the m50 section.....

Anyway... Be sure the m52 is a good running engine that doesn't overheat ect! Being an alloy blocked engine this would not be a great start at all, I've had a chat with danthe about alloy blocked m52's and he asures me that as long as the engine is a good one and you maintain it they are not as bad as people will lead you to believe! I went m50 2.5 because of this paranioa and I kick myself after going in the car this thread is made about as now I'm shelling more cash into it to get the power I should have had in the first place!

On the m50 2.5 side of things though,, its not that this makes a slow e30 at all in any sense! Mines a quick car but there is definatly more to be had I feel

[e30-EVN]

Oh and don't bother if your thinking of using an m52 crank ect to make a 2.8 m20!!
I copied this from another thread about stroking m20's and I have to agree with, daimlerman, I think that's who wrote it.....

""To be honest I have issues with the 2.8 M20s and anything higher although good in theory they have some issues...

The long skirt on a piston serves a purpose to keep the piston square and upright as much as possible in the bore, its to stop the bore from going oval on the thrust side. The long skirts help minimize piston rock which is what courses this.

So going to 2.8 you get the displacement but you will also get a shorter engine life... For what? very small tiny increase maybe a few hp""

I think 2.7 stroker is the limit with an m20 if you want the bugger to last that is

[E30_Crazy]

I read somewhere I guy was able to shave the crank to fit the piston skirts, avoiding this problem... Anyhow....

I was all gung-ho for keeping it retro w/M20, but the more and more I look into it, the more I'm tempted to go all out on something else.

What about the whole "S" scene? Thats the M3 engines, right? Wouldn't it just be that much better to go that route, along with the 3.2L, while one is already doing a swap? Or is there a lot more to an M3 engine swap?...

[e30-EVN]

Similar sort of work but the 3.2 will only stretch its legs over a nicley built 2.8 after 100mph and how often do you use that??.... In any case you are looking at 4 figures to get a decent manifold for the m3 engines to fit a right hand drive car!

What sort of buget are you looking to play with??

[E30_Crazy]

Dang, that's quite a lot just for a manifold! I do have some connections back in the US in the ways of exhaust, but I don't know if they go as far as custom-fit manifolds or not... Besides, they work mostly on major US makes/models, and some of the jap ricer imports.

I wouldn't have any budget after a 4 figure manifold!

It'll have to end up being a run-on build. Being, buy some things, maybe install it on the engine/etc other parts. But then need it to be done in a year, and slam the lump in over a weekend, maybe 4 days max and running. Price wise, maybe 400/mo?? I could splurge at first, but then to keep my bank account from progressively running down to zero, I'd have to take it step by step.

[e30-EVN]

You could do a decent m52 build for under 2k mate

[E30_Crazy]

Hmmm, is that buying the lump, or after the lump?

[e30-EVN]

That's including the lump, the mounts, servo, metal water pump ect ect, obv depending how much you get new will determine your buget.... I had all new sensors, coils, plugs, oil ect, but then its piece of mind you know its all new

[E30_Crazy]

You already that far into the M52, or are you referring to your M50?

[e30-EVN]

I'm refering to my m50 conversion mate, as I have completed that and covered about 5000 miles in it,, tbh they would both be similar in cost as the parts like mounts and servo ect ect are the same...

An m52 lump may cost a few extra quid compared to the m50 though but we are not talking a hell of a lot more!

With mine now (going m52) all I need is the engine, a decent box and new clutch kit as I already have all the consumables to carry over

[E30_Crazy]

ok, then. I'll have to see what the miles are like on the 2.8, and if the engine looks like anything worth using. Anything else besides the inlet mani from the M50'd coupe 2.5 i might want?

[e30-EVN]

While you are at the scrapy it would be a good time to find a plastic winged clio and have the brake servo off it, I payed £25 for mine.

If your serious about doing the conversion its a part you can put in your garage for when the time comes

[greasy_lizard]

Thanks all, Glad you like her, the colour is burgandrot metallic it's unusual colour and not one that I wanted at first, I originally wanted an mtech 2 sport, but after driving to Kent etc to view rust, I decided buying a nice shell was the only way, and found this car local to myself, all my friends thought I was crazy at first, but when I seen here first I had a vision, it was hard to see, as it was not colour coded, with beige se cloth interior, but the shell was straight as an arrow... I concentrated on getting car looking like it does first just to make sure my love was strong

Then came time for engine m52 was not the original plan, I wanted s50 bit failed to read much good about finished conversions, I had even bought an e36 m3 ready.. I decided against it and sold m3.. Burgandrot and I went through a quiet patch for a few months, where I was thinking tuned m20.. And then for some crazy reason I bought m535i engine off eBay it was 4hrs away, hated it when I bought it, let it swing round in my garage when I found out it used to be an aeroplane engine and it does look like she should spin a prop so I sold it..

Handling was always a big part of my project not just drifting, so then looked in to getting power out of a 4 pot 318is
and soon realised better off buying an e30 m3..
That's when I decided on m52 power as it was lighter than all of the above except 4 pot, and I'm very happy with it, it ain't all been easy though, I have a video of her on a maiden voyage just having a skid in a carpark and the bottom end went, so back out she came, and rebuilt..

Thanks mat