E30 Zone

Right i'm now really starting to think that i'd like to replace my 1.6 with the 2.5. the lad i bought the car from said that it would be easy as it's already got the 5speed gearbox. Now to be honest i don't know alot about the different bmw engines as i used to be a vauxhall boy for 5yrs not long ago! So i'm going to need alot of help.

Cheers, Rich

Read this first as ther are a few issues with a 1.6 to 2.5 swap on the electrcail side of things which can cause fire issues on the wiring.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ic&t=83367

HTH's

Spot on cheers dude, so am i right in thinking that other than that odd difference in looms it's pretty easy to pop a 2.5 in?

Should be, though you'll need to change your diff, prop size will be different, oh and your suspension to larger struts too

ok that does make alot of sence. don't suppose you know roughly which diff i would need do you? just want to find out as much as possible so that i can work out roughly wen i can do it. cheers for your help dude

To be honest Richy_Boy, its better to buy a 325i, maybe cheaper too.

Diff £100-£150
Prop £50
Engine/Gbox £300
Clocks £30
Struts/ set up £150

and i'm sure there's more

For a start,you'll require the following parts

2.5 engine and g/box
Propshaft
Exhaust
Engine wiring loom
Ecu
Pas pipe from reservoir to pump
Rad
Expansion tank
A 3.91 or 3.64 ratio medium case diff
6 cyl coding plug for the dash

Ideally the larger 51mm strut's from the 325/tourings

Easiest way would be to find an mot fail 325 doner and use the parts from that,rather than try and source the parts individually

HTH

I told you there would be more

right, quite a bit needed then!!! ha ha im liking the idea of getting a donor. cheers guys, definatly liking being a member of a good forum.

Cheers

out of interest, would it be possible to use a 2.5 from an e36?

Yep no problem, but you still need to change the brakes, and suspension set up, ecu, ews, wiring loom, best way to do this is read the posts in the engine transplant forum.
Good luck