E30 Zone

Are all 318i tourings the m42 engine? if not how can u tell, because most of the people over the phone that are selling them dont have a clue?

Twin cam = M42.

No factory M42 tourings in E30, all would be retrofit.

as above no touring came with an m42 twin cam 16v they were all m40 8v

Seems to quiet a popular swap these days.

I know 4 iS tourings now

The M42 came in 4 door 318 cars in the US alright and also M42 engined Baurs about, I found out recently but there was never an M42 engined Touring from the factory.

Suppose, back then... Tourings were just the top of the range E30s that were practical etc, nobody took into account that they actually handled better and most of the buyers probably didn't know what a great engine the M42 was to become

Due to the fact BMW were embarrassed the wheezy m42 couldn't tuck the Golf GTi away in it's pocket, BMW decided to spare further blushes from trying to get it to pull the weekly shop in the back of a touring!

No....

They were just afraid of people complaining that they were getting broken eggs and broken milk bottles all over the back with the cornering forces on the way back from the shops

The eggs and the milk bottles wouldn't have been the only things thrown at that sort of perversion.

That and a six pot touring balances nicely as it is....

I'll be doing this soon, good compromise of practicality and performance (if you can use that word...) with fairly good economy and more importantly, lower insurance than a 2.5.

Rosc0PColtrane wrote:The eggs and the milk bottles wouldn't have been the only things thrown at that sort of perversion.

I didn't say they would be thrown about. They could be glued to the floor, the extreme forces would still break eggs

Ok, I'll stop now, since 6pot has been mentioned too and it can only go downhill from there...

The M42 would be a great conversion for a 318i touring since you wouldn't have to go messing with the log book changing tax then otherwise I reckon tourings are best with 6 cylinders since they are the only E30s that can take the extra weight up front. They still should have two cam shafts though

I'd love a 3.0 M54 touring... but I'd settle for an M50/S50

An E39 M5 motor in a touring would be my money-no-object weapon of choice.

Shame the factory did not build M42 tourings,we have missed out on a source of galvanized 5 door shells...