E30 Zone

Sorry guys I have posted this in the photo gallery forum under the thread of my car. So its a bit of a repost but incase some experts dont go there im posting it here aswell.

Ok so some of you might now I think I got myself a super Eta but info I have on the car is a little scetchy.. Ive been told to take the cam cover off and count the cam journals.. 4 journals = eta, 7 journals = super eta.. Or so I have been told....







Should I be jumping with glee? Gotta say im a little excited I might have a super Eta, what do you EXPERTS think??

Mike

has that poor thing ever had the oil changed?!

885 will be stampped on the head, inlet side thats a 2.5 head to be sure

Ive only had the car for a month and its got a good service history... The oil does need changing thats why it got a service.

Check the number on the ECU - If it's a 154 you've got a 'super' eta, should also have a toothed harmonic balancer at the front pulley cos they were equipped with Motronic 1.1

What's a super ETA? Sorry new to BMW's.

I don't know either?

325e - Eta - greek letter for efficiency - 2.7l - long stroke, low revving, high torque, economical.

Super Eta - wears it's pants on the outside ?

Chris

Chris wrote: Super Eta - wears it's pants on the outside ?

Chris wrote:325e - Eta - greek letter for efficiency - 2.7l - long stroke, low revving, high torque, economical.

Ok so would it be possible to put the 2.5 head on the 2.7 bottom end, to keep the power of the revvy 2.5 and get more torque as it's seriously lacking at the mo!
Please don't laugh if this seems stupid, I come from the world of VAG where that was done with the 16V engine's in the MK2 and 3 Golfs.

Super Eta - wears it's pants on the outside ?

Brilliant!

Chris

Still hasn't helped!

What is a Super Eta?

Rodderz wrote:Still hasn't helped!

What is a Super Eta?

Sorry
Super ETA's are an American thing i believe. With a smattering across europe as well, over here in the sunny isle we rearly see them. I think from what i vaguely remember seeing somewhere is that the Super ETA was a long stroke 2.7 but with a proper head on it so a decent rev limit.
That head does have seven journals so it is either a non ETA head (320, 323, 325) or it is indeed a 'Super ETA'
Pray tell, what is the rev limit on the Tacho? And can you tell us the number cast into the head?

Aaron325: Yes it's turning into a fairly common thing over here to slap an ETA crank into a 325 - or a B25 (325i) head onto an ETA block.
As you guessed this gives you the long stroke torque of the larger capacity, and the ability to use it with a head that wont self distruct if you try to push it past 6k.
Have a look in the Zone Wiki - or grab a copy of 'The E30 Restoration Bible' Great read.

Cheers
Chris

Chris wrote:

Rodderz wrote:Still hasn't helped!

What is a Super Eta?

Sorry
Super ETA's are an American thing i believe. With a smattering across europe as well, over here in the sunny isle we rearly see them. I think from what i vaguely remember seeing somewhere is that the Super ETA was a long stroke 2.7 but with a proper head on it so a decent rev limit.
That head does have seven journals so it is either a non ETA head (320, 323, 325) or it is indeed a 'Super ETA'
Pray tell, what is the rev limit on the Tacho? And can you tell us the number cast into the head?

Aaron325: Yes it's turning into a fairly common thing over here to slap an ETA crank into a 325 - or a B25 (325i) head onto an ETA block.
As you guessed this gives you the long stroke torque of the larger capacity, and the ability to use it with a head that wont self distruct if you try to push it past 6k.
Have a look in the Zone Wiki - or grab a copy of 'The E30 Restoration Bible' Great read.

Cheers
Chris

Ok the diff between a super Eta and a regular Eta is the super eta uses a 885 head but retains the Etas crap inlet manifold and throttle body. The super Eta also has flat pistons instead of dished pistons and it has a higher rev limiter 5500rpm over 5000 rpms. It also has a different ecu...

Obviously the benifits are you get a higher compresion with the flat top pistons and you get the 325i head (885) instead of the Eta head (200)... This make the Super Eta a better starting point for modifications as you only have to change the manifold , throttle body cam and put in double valve springs... The regular Eta you have to swap the head too.

I did manage to get a peak at the number on the head and its a 200 head so no super eta, however I have no idea why it has 7 journals instead of 4... Any ideas?
It also has the 5000rpm tacho This I knew and I had dismissed the idea of it being a super Eta before but when I pulled of the cam cover I thought, hang on a second what do we have here?

Anyway life goes on.

Mike

maybe they both had 7 journals