rb25det conversion?

[SickEddy]

i recently bought another e30 and want to do an engine conversion on it. i had a few in mind, one of them being the sr20det. only things putting me off are its not bmw, not a 6pot and its not a 2.5l+. last one not really important but dont want to 'downgrade' compared to originally in the car.
then i though rb25det, nissan skyline r33 engine. its a straight 6, 2.5l turbo 24v, other than the make its spot on and so easy to improve on its already pretty good 250ish bhp and 240ish lb ft torque. the twin turbo version in the r33 gtr (150ish kg heavier than an e30) 0-62mph is 4.7s (could be wrong, info from wikipedia)
has anybody tried this in an e30 before or know any reason why it wouldnt work? there are now a few sr20 engines about and as far as i know its a very similar engine. if anybody has any info on this please help me out

[Theo]

Only an idiot would fit a ricer engine to a BMW...

[d6dph]

Finally you agree Theo

[Ant]

one extra option.

M50B25 turbo or supercharged, 350 BHP easily achieved, slightly more complicated than doing the same to your M20 but more efficient to start with.

Rb25 or 2 JZ both proven swaps.

5 cyl volvo 20V another possibilty.

[n1tr0_9]

SR20 is probably the cheapest option, and i might be making some engine mounts for it.

[SickEddy]

if i had the m50/m52 i would be turboing the engine eventually but i am just trying to figure out what to do in the near future. is m50 any different to turbo to m52? m52 appeals more to me because of the weight difference. i can get all of these conversions for not that much more than eachother, except maybe the alpina as ive never seen the lump for sale and probably wont. and no idea of cost for the rb25det, shouldnt be much more than the sr20 including the engine
i would love to turbo my m20, would sound so nice but its still a 20year old 12v, stock the thing is good and sounds amazing but to get to near nissan power would need a lot of internal work. the rb25 can do 350 just by changing the turbo, psi and a light cam and with stock internals a lot are running at 500bhp with no problems

[appletree]

http://onyxsyndicate.com/newman/e30gtr/e30gtr_00.html

[MarkT]

Big question is how deep are your pockets mate?

Buy the time you've gone down the skyline route, could you not have dropped in an american V8? LS1 is something I've looked at a few times but could never afford. 350Bhp in standard trim. 400Bhp easily achievable with chip, filter and exhaust. I'm currently looking at putting a 1uzfe lexus LS400 engine in mine, different cams, ITB's and a head skim will see close to 400bhp

listen here lol! http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p ... =1uzfe+ITB

[SickEddy]

cheers for the link appletree, not really wanting to cut the whole tunnel out. cant find anybody else who has done it so dont know if thers a way around it. they did use the rb26 bigger r34 skyline version though and it was a lhd car.
pockets at the moment are not too deep but i can get some better trousers if needed. will only be installing the engine and keeping it standard for now if i do a conversion and not put a turbo on the m20. i can get major help and have got somewher to work if i dont get it done pro.
im really just after something modern with a turbo and eventually around 325bhp (nice number lol). would sacrifice the modern bit for sound though, an sr20 will never beat the m20 turbo sound.

[oakey]

Standard engine with minor mods will take enough boost for 300bhp+

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

[SickEddy]

thank you oakey, your pulling me away from the rice. thats what i wanted. i didnt think you could get as much as that from stock internals on an m20. karels car there is just dumb. i love it and it sounds so much nicer than the nissans. think i will be sticking with bmw, will be worth the extra money for same bhp if i keep the sound.
ive been reading up a lot into turboing m20 but dont know much about turbsing an m50/m52. anybody know of a good read or a 'manual' of how to do it? thanks guys

[pikanibbles]

5 cyl volvo 20V another possibilty.

Any more info and/or examples of this swap?

I only ask as I have a 325i with a dead engine and I happen to have a T5 fragger with a decent engine. I know that 300bhp can be achieved with a remapped ECU and standard internals, and the 5 pot sounds glorious! They also seem to be cheaply and readily available on ebay if you don't already have one. Lets not forget that a variant of this engine is still used in the current hot Ford Focus.

I was going to fit an M52B28, as I too would rather keep it BMW and 6-pot, but off the top of my head, I can't see many problems;

Adaptors are available to fit this engine to the Getrag 265. I'm sure a look through a catalogue would find a suitable clutch plate. Engine mounts and sump would need to be custom made (the Volvo 240 guys use 960 mounts and a cut and shut 960 sump, but I doubt this would work in an E30). The downpipe would also be custom which would be a good opportunity to upgrade to a 3" with no cat. The inlet manifold would place the throttle body facing the bulkhead, but a manifold from a later engine would solve this. The only real problem I can see is that the dizzy would probably interfere with the bulkhead. I suppose this could be overcome with an aftermarket ECU and dizzyless ignition, but that starts to escalate the costs to a point where other conversions are more worthwhile. I used to own a RWD Opel Ascona, and one of the ways to get the C20XE engine into these (and Mantas) is to relocate the dizzy so that it drives off the cam pulley, so that's another possibility.

Not one for the purists, and I'm not sure if I could bring myself to do it, but food for thought.

Sorry if I'm thread jacking.

[Gunni]

For only 325hp your not really asking much, and I´m not sure a engine swap is the right ticket for that.

But if you must do an engine swap might as well get something light. So get a SR20.
But then again you could just turbo a M42.

In the end it´s best to put up the various engine swaps, list the pro´s , con´t and weigh their costs for the powerlevel and what the handling changes will do.

Another option would be M20 + 150shot, dead eazy. No different then running a 150hp turbo upgrade in terms of reliability.

[SickEddy]

ok so for sound, make and for not really needing it im ruling out all nissan engines and sticking with the bmw ones.
is it worth it for the 350bhp tops to change from m20 to m50/52 in the way of mpg and reliability? as in will it make much difference in running costs and is the m20 still pretty much bullet proof when turbo'd? i would rather have the m52 turbo as i do want a more modern engine but it will cost more. if its going to save me the cost of conversion in a years worth or petrol then id rather go that way in the first place instead of turboing something i will eventually convert anyway
i have a limit of about 2k for the project and luckily have a turbo god as a mate so to install that me and him will be doing the work, never done a conversion before so isnt really something i would want to do myself.

[Gunni]

Are you sure it will cost more?
You can get M50 engines pretty cheap now, and since your putting a turbo on, then most of the things you´d have to replace on a M20 you´ll do the exact same to a M50.

2k is not going to do much in terms of getting everything you need,
but if you can find alot of second hand parts then your 2k will get your far.

[tomson]

I voted for the R33 donk, now that would be a cool swap !

[SickEddy]

so you dont think 2k will cover turboing the m20 engine upto a max of 350rwhp? like i said any labour turbowise i can sort but not full m50 conversionwise so that would have to be me paying somebody or a workshop which is why i dont want to go down that route unless its really worth it for what im after. also what is the standard compression ratio of an 89 sport? thanks

[Gunni]

The engine itself doesn´t need anny beefing up.

If you can turbocharge an engine from scratch then a M50 swap is a walk in the park. You just have to research it a bit. Cause you change alot of things with a turbo setup, and that simplifies a M50 swap per say, as much of the swap is now the same as turboing a M20. So it´s less of a M50 swap but more of just put the engine in and put a turbo on it.

the compression ratio is going to be 8.8:1.

http://www.gstuning.net/e_Xodus.aspx?id=29&MainCatID=20
This guy is running a paper headgasket + ARP headstuds, And he´s running upto 22psi all he wants.

When I say 2k,
then that means youl need to get alot of stuff for free.
As you´ll have to get some sort of engine management wich will always cost a bit.

[SickEddy]

i should be able to get all the parts (maybe not all brand new) for around 1k including ms if i am just doing the m20 i already have. i will look into m50 swapping again but dont i need to custom a lot more parts? i know it isnt very straight forward but to my mate who is going to be helping me/doing the work it is. he has said that he doesnt want to do an engine conversion though just incase something goes wrong, he has done loads but only like for like on jap cars.

[SickEddy]

also would like to know why there are so many 2.7l turbos and not many 2.5l. is this just to get the most out of the m20 or does the turbo perform much better on a 2.7? thanks