E30 Zone

hi boys and girls

Brought myself an e30 2.7 cab about three weeks ago now, off of a forum member. Its in a mint condition with lovley royal blue with white leathers and was told it had a fully rebuilt 2.7eta engine.

However i started it up the second weekend of owning it and it smoked like a student union going for a record sized hot box. So off to the stealers it went. Turns out the engine is only holding 70% of its compression rate and is running about 80psi i when it should be well over a 100. So it means ive now got to go to the expense of replacing the engine.

Heres where im stuck, if im having to replace it should i have a fully remachined engine from the ground up, or should i put an original 2.5 lump back in or should i do something even more outrageous with it.

All ideas and suggestions welcome.
Please help me decide

s38 if i had the funds, absolute best thing ever invention

if not, turbo m30

do sumink mad u no u wona

i dont really want to turbo it cause ive had turbo cars before and the gave me a huge headache. Do u have any info on the s38 and stats???

sheldo wrote:hi boys and girls

Brought myself an e30 2.7 cab about three weeks ago now, off of a forum member. Its in a mint condition with lovley royal blue with white leathers and was told it had a fully rebuilt 2.7eta engine.

However i started it up the second weekend of owning it and it smoked like a student union going for a record sized hot box. So off to the stealers it went. Turns out the engine is only holding 70% of its compression rate and is running about 80psi i when it should be well over a 100. So it means ive now got to go to the expense of replacing the engine.

Heres where im stuck, if im having to replace it should i have a fully remachined engine from the ground up, or should i put an original 2.5 lump back in or should i do something even more outrageous with it.

All ideas and suggestions welcome.
Please help me decide

is this dave's old car? cabrio327i?

its fookin expensive

its basically an s14 with 6 cylinders

individual throttle bodies

power, a fucking lot

e28 m5 has it mate

yeah thats the car

ouch sounds a bit more expensive than id planned

how about s14 transplant then? same just 2 cylinders less

S engines r the way

sheldo wrote:yeah thats the car

id love to know what the hell he's doing with these engine's i bought a 2.5 bottom end off him brought it back to newcastle, put it in the car and same as your's mate, smoked like a trooper, and i had oil dripping out of the oil filter,
sorry to go a little off topic, but id love to know what he's doing wrong!!!!!!!

u too need to speak to a 2.7 god i think

i dunno m8 but whatever hes doing it aint good.

Yeah a 2.7 god would be handy any ideas on who to contact?

a good fairly cheap option is to put an m30 3.5 engine in. gives good power figures, and not too much of a difficult job.

318-is- just seen your location says Woking, thats where im from. what car do ya drive may have seen you about, i'll flash next time.

right guys after waying up all my options ive decided to get the 2.7 lump machined from the ground up, but im wondering what i can do to possibly squeeze a few more ponys out of it or up the torque.

Its got 2.7 bottom end, 2.5 cam and 2.5 ported and polished head and to finish it off an ant chip. Everything else is original to the 2.5 lump (exhaust, filter etc).

So what can anyone recomend me??

Get a new cam, I got my Dbilas from German eBay for about Ԛ£230.
I also recommend a BTB 6 branch from the Zone Shop, along with a big bore throttle body available through the shop.

what sort of power gains am i likely to see over the components ive got already?

and then turbo it

fozzy how reliable has your turboed car been?? Had turbos before and cost me a fortune!

fit an m30 3.5 from an e34 535i m8.

bundles of power and torque.
easy and cheap to find
relatively easy to fit


will be a monster.

if your having the M20 rebuilt do s few things which will make a huge difference.

Firstly use early 325i pistons like Jimbob did and get the compression upto around 10.2:1

Lighten the flywheel while everything is apart.

Use a Shrick 284/272 cam.

Most definately get the head gas flowed/ported from a reputabel company like Bexleys.

Thats the engine bit done.

Then just run it in and then after that start on tuning work:

6 branch
Remap or MAF conversion
Good induction kit

This should in reailty give you something that sounds brilliant, goes very very well and should put down 210 bhp/200+ lb.ft torque.

If you want more power than stick in an M30 3.5 and tune that. Even in standard form the M30 will be quicker than a 2.7 conversion as there is more torque available through the rev range.

Want more? E34 M5 engine - 315 bhp. We are talking super car performance once that engine is in your car.

Turbo - talk to Ant and he will take you though it.

hi sheldo, ive not had to much of a problem with turbod cars,obviously theres a bit more expence involved in maintaining them but if done regularly then no problems but its well worth it. you cant beat the kick up the arse you get when 22psi of boost kicks in

yeah fuzzy i know what you mean and the sound it must make aswell, but i dont think im gona chance turbos again. I think im gona do as m5pilot said. My mechanic suggested getting the flywheel balanced and setup.

Where from and how much can i get the Shrick cam from???

hi guys as you know ive decided to rebuild my 2.7 lump and have it remachined fully. just got these prices back from the garage for the parts just wondering if anyone knows where i can get hold of these parts a bit cheaper?

Pistons Ԛ£106 each Ԛ£636 in total (ouch)!!!
bearing Ԛ£119
bigend bearing Ԛ£82
head gasket kit Ԛ£165
bottom gasket kit Ԛ£43
Balanced lightend flywheel Ԛ£125

add to this the labour and she gets a bit pricey!!!

If anyone knows where i can get my hands on these parts cheaper pretty quickish ud be a life saver.

u can get custom pistons made to any compression ratio for that money from the USA

head gasket set include the bolts? genuine stuff from german,swedish,french is probably a bit cheaper than this

Me i would use a healthy 2.5 lump with a nice sounding exhaust as they are for cruising and do not handle aswell as the tin top brothers. Maybe just play with a 2,5 a touch. The car will be no slouch with a 2.5.

3.5 way too thirsty for my liking, which is a point if you are going to use the car alot. talking sub 20mpg And if u are paying that in petrol you might as well go for the whole hog and get the S38 "3.6" or BMW M divisions take on how the M30 should of been! Which i think is a bit silly in a cabby

if your gonna spend out on new pistons go to the states and get an overbore size to make it a 2.8...

is it a 2.5 or eta block?

i'd go

2.5 block - bored and honed
eta/324td crank
oversize custom pistons
shrick/diblas cam
2.5 head with headwork
lightened and balanced bottom end

then standard induction for the running in

then

Emerald (no afm)
bbtb
6 branch lovelyness
decent exhaust system - eisenmann possibly

thats the sort of spec m20 i'd build in your position even if i had to stick a standard 2.5 in for the time being whilst i built the engine slowly (if your gonna do something etc...)

yeah i thought the pistons were a little expensive myself.

i know the cab dosen't handle aswell as a tin top but ive already got all the 2.7eta parts and dont have any of the 2.5 parts around. Do you know where i can get hold of a solid 2.5 lump as i dont want to have to pay to have it put in and then fork out on having it out again for other stuff to be done on it. I could be convinced to bung a 2.5 in it if i knew it was A1 condition.

jhonno's idea was close to what im going for except have the 2.7 bottom end rebuilt and balanced, a shrick cam and the head ive got is already port and polished 2.5 head. Then once ive run it in a play with the breathing and get it setup properly.

I dunno what to do now price has doubled what i was originally quoted. Is it worth it??

going back to your original post mate, why why why end up chucking thousands at the engine. Won't a set of pistion rings cure your compression issues and cure any smoking going on?

Dave who you bought the car from did have a Dbilas cam all brand new and boxed, but I think he may have sold it now.

I reckon a set of rings in there and the other comsumable parts/components used for reassembly will see that engine running totally sweet, then apply the bolt on goodies like a cam and 6 branch if you like.

i dont think it will m8 as its the bottom end has bad bore wear so that needs rebuilding as well. It wont hold anything like a decent compression test. its not just smoking a bit anymore u cant see the car behind u and im not that great at mechanics and dont have the time to do it myself even if i was, so im having to rely on my mechanics opinion.

Believe me m8 id rather put this money into a nice set of split rims or a weismann hardtop. When dave sold me the car it supposibly had a new engine, (i think daves words were a car that needs no money spending on it just needs driving and enjoying). So now im in a bit of a situation what choice do i have, after forking out so much for the car i cant just let it ruin.

jeez, can't think why that car is smoking like it is, i mean so soon after I last saw it, probably in July/August I guess.

It all boils down to what you want and how deep your pockets are I suppose fella. Perhaps best to try and look out for a decent 2.5 lump to chuck in there and keep the car running and then pull the lump out of there and get a bench build going on, where you can take your time and progress as and when budget allows

yeah your probably right m8

any ideas of where to get a good 2.5 lump?

il have one in may with all head work done and rebuilt

i say stick a good 2.5 in and sell the 2.7. you dont really need all that power in a convertible, so just use your money elsewhere.

nav786 wrote:i say stick a good 2.5 in and sell the 2.7. you dont really need all that power in a convertible, so just use your money elsewhere.

That's only true if you've got another powerful car aswell! If not then you need to do the 3.5 conversion. I was going to do it, but as my car is a limited edition I wanted to keep it original looking so I went fo the 2.7 option.

I would have loved to have done the 3.5 conversion

i think im gona just bite the bullet and get the 2.7 done. I fount a company in America that can supply the parts (pistons, big end bearing and also head gasket kit). They work out with the conversion rate about Ԛ£500 english pounds cheaper (but got to take into account shipping costs). These parts are exactly the same for a uk spec car aren't they?