E30 Zone

I wonder if there are some upgrades on a M40 engine? I know you can get a chip from ebay, but that isnt worth the plastic its made of....
My plan is when I go back to Norway, and that is to make my E30 into a project who means I will upgrade the M40 lump alot! (And please dont tell met to fit in a M20 or something else, the car is a 316i, and will still be a 316 pronto!)

So my plan is this, get the engine out of the car and strip it completely and bouild it up again with new gaskets etc.

For the upgrade I will need to do this:
-Get a head from a 1.8 M40 because it has biger valves
-Port the head (with new tapets)
-Hi-Comp pistons
-Hi-Performance Camshaft
-Upgrade to Trottle bodys
-S-Steel exhaust
-S-Steel exhaust manifoild
-New Rad with el-cooling fan
-Fit an oil cooler
-Clean the Crankshaft and balance it
-Fitt new bearings

So is there anyone who have some more ideas?

I seem to remember one guy spending £10k on his 316i m40...(without a turbo)

I have a friend in Norway who have an Alfa Romeo 75 Turbo Evoluzione, he have spent ca 38.000 sterling on it and ended up with around 380bhp on the flywheel

316 and 318 have the same head, which is handy because it sounds like you've lost yours

Martinaston wrote:316 and 318 have the same head, which is handy because it sounds like you've lost yours

m40 is not worth throwing £Â£ at.. m10 would be

drop a 24v lump in there

Tuning an M40 is not my idea of fun but your money.

M10 as Jhonno said would be

Can someone tell my why you shouldnt tune an M40?

gains are minimal.. dont respond well

big lumps offer more power for the money

Well there is always an option for tuning for every kind of engine. There is people who spend 3 grand of tuning a Skoda Estelle and there is people who spend 4 grand in styling on a Corsa. I will spend them on a BMW M40 engine instead to see what the engine can reach of its limitis. If the car will cost me 8 grand finish on the road, it will have cost me 8 grand and I will still be happy (We Scandinavians like to be a bit unsusal crazy)

I honestly can't think of how you could spend £2k on upgrading an M40, unless yyou haad it gold plated!!!!

that would see you with an s50 in there..

turbo the m40..

I will take the car to Norway, and they have stupid tax and import roules. If I go for an 2.5 or a 2.8 engine it means that I will alone give away 2 grand to the customs to get Norwegian plates on it (cash out of the window)
To give you an example, a two year old M3 CSL is about 72 grand in Oslo
So Im a bit sorry guys, I need to do what ever I can with the M40 to avoid giving tax to the government.

Well if its that bad, personaly i'd find another hobby.

turbo it then

I know this isnt what you're really after either, but there is an engine swap that might avoid alot of tax, stick an M42 or better M44 in it. More tuneable and alot better to begin with.

fozzymandeus wrote:I know this isnt what you're really after either, but there is an engine swap that might avoid alot of tax, stick an M42 or better M44 in it. More tuneable and alot better to begin with.

Boo Hiss! down with multi valve wrongness

Erik's Car has a willing 1.6i and If he wants to mod it, let him go for it!any suggestions on how to make the m40 better much appreciated

id be looking at getting the hydraulic tappes made into solid tappets, common mod on rover k-series and t-series engines. (www.rovertech.net)

you mentioned forged pistons yesterday, id give those a miss as your not going to see 200 + bhp on n/a m40.

4 branch manifold, get a hold of another head and have a go at polishing and porting it your self

ditch the inlet manifold and speak to the lovley people at www.jenvey.co.uk

custom engine management, megasquirt ?

car will be light, agile and should be able to kill a standard 325i

Jhonno wrote:gains are minimal.. dont respond well

by doing what ? are these bolt on mods ?

show me someone that has spent money on the internals of an m40 ?

Power to the smaller engines people!! Havent got an advice on the tuning but go for it, id love to see the outcome of a tuned 1.6. 1.4 Renault 5's can out run a 911 C4 from standing for quite a while so a BMW 1.6 with a 'Turbo' hintt, hint could do some damage.

Good luck.

Thx guys,
I have been in contact with Omega Pistons down south in England and Jenvey for Throttle Bodies, Hope I get the reply by morrow Monday for parts and price. This will be a rocket 316 and I love it!

loads of people telling you to turbo and to do this and that and your mad !

id love to have an m40 on the bench so i could poke and prod !

id be tempted to look at the tappets on an m10 and see if the camshaft/tappets would fit m40 ??

72 grand for a CSL... That would be cheap a bargian here in Ireland...

May as well turbo it. You could use 318 carnk and rods too while your at it. Then you'll have a 1.8 M40 so theres another 14bhp before you go anywhere.
If an M40 was tubo'd, steel forged crank, low CR pistons, and rods. ITBs, ss 4 branch manifold and straight through system, Electric fan, solid tappets, Ported and flowed head.
I'd say it might not be just a whezzy tappy 316 afterall
I'm sure the tax wouldn't be that bad for an M42 though? its only 200cc in fairness although my tax has jumped from 391 euro to 482 for that 200cc

id love to see how much power could be obtained without turbo ? ?

130-150 max I'd imagine

78dude wrote:Well there is always an option for tuning for every kind of engine. There is people who spend 3 grand of tuning a Skoda Estelle and there is people who spend 4 grand in styling on a Corsa. I will spend them on a BMW M40 engine instead to see what the engine can reach of its limitis. If the car will cost me 8 grand finish on the road, it will have cost me 8 grand and I will still be happy (We Scandinavians like to be a bit unsusal crazy)

As the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted. Next time you see someone in a really nice car, stop and think how they got the money to pay for it - not by blowing thousands on a four door 316i that's for sure.

But go ahead - we could do with a good laugh.

Andyboy wrote:

78dude wrote:Well there is always an option for tuning for every kind of engine. There is people who spend 3 grand of tuning a Skoda Estelle and there is people who spend 4 grand in styling on a Corsa. I will spend them on a BMW M40 engine instead to see what the engine can reach of its limitis. If the car will cost me 8 grand finish on the road, it will have cost me 8 grand and I will still be happy (We Scandinavians like to be a bit unsusal crazy)

As the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted. Next time you see someone in a really nice car, stop and think how they got the money to pay for it - not by blowing thousands on a four door 316i that's for sure.

But go ahead - we could do with a good laugh.

whats the difference acorss the e30 range ??? be it a 1.6 or m3 its still gonna be an old car with lots spent and little that can be re-couped.

so basicaly your saying buy a new car ? or insulting 78dude saying he has a shitter of a car. ?

Sher fook it, The fact that he has an E30 means if he ends up having a great engine after his experimenting and fun doing it he can always put the same engine into any other E30 that you think would be nicer when he gets tried of his "four door 316i"

Good luck in whichever route about improving it mate. Always like to see people determined and following things through

Dave_M3 wrote:Sher fook it, The fact that he has an E30 means if he ends up having a great engine after his experimenting and fun doing it he can always put the same engine into any other E30 that you think would be nicer when he gets tried of his "four door 316i"

Good luck in whichever route about improving it mate. Always like to see people determined and following things through

Andyboy wrote:

78dude wrote:Well there is always an option for tuning for every kind of engine. There is people who spend 3 grand of tuning a Skoda Estelle and there is people who spend 4 grand in styling on a Corsa. I will spend them on a BMW M40 engine instead to see what the engine can reach of its limitis. If the car will cost me 8 grand finish on the road, it will have cost me 8 grand and I will still be happy (We Scandinavians like to be a bit unsusal crazy)

As the saying goes, a fool and his money are soon parted. Next time you see someone in a really nice car, stop and think how they got the money to pay for it - not by blowing thousands on a four door 316i that's for sure.

But go ahead - we could do with a good laugh.

With all respect Andyboy,
If you want to save money to get your self a nice car, you dont get your self an E30 or BMW anyway...
The 316i have drove me all over GB and I am back in Oslo with it and please dont tell me its a bad car!

I have already started to get quotes for the tuningparts!

m-dtech wrote:
whats the difference acorss the e30 range ??? be it a 1.6 or m3 its still gonna be an old car with lots spent and little that can be re-couped.

so basicaly your saying buy a new car ? or insulting 78dude saying he has a shitter of a car. ?

money spend on moddinf an e30 M3 or a good 325i sport can be re-couped, unlike an "normal" e30 316i UNLESS its menatl and realy powefrull wind a few shows but its still a 316i. dont care what gets done to it , the paper work says 316i

personaly i'll leave it to the owner to decide, what ever makes them happy is fine by me.

ps 78dude, put nin a twin cam m42/m44 and turbo charge that. you'll easily see 200 bhp

Kos wrote:

m-dtech wrote:
whats the difference acorss the e30 range ??? be it a 1.6 or m3 its still gonna be an old car with lots spent and little that can be re-couped.

so basicaly your saying buy a new car ? or insulting 78dude saying he has a shitter of a car. ?

money spend on moddinf an e30 M3 or a good 325i sport can be re-couped, unlike an "normal" e30 316i UNLESS its menatl and realy powefrull wind a few shows but its still a 316i. dont care what gets done to it , the paper work says 316i

personaly i'll leave it to the owner to decide, what ever makes them happy is fine by me.

sp 78dude, put nin a twin cam m42/m44 and turbo charge that. you'll easily see 200 bhp

yet another post saying change the engine lol

did omega and jenvey get back to you erik ?