E30 Zone

Hi, i'm new to this site. My name's James i am now the proud owner of a 1993 316i touring. Having spent the last 2 years without a BMW , i have treated myself to a project. Finally got myself a good wage and plenty of spare time so i want to get a 4.0L V8 into the car. Have i bitten off a bit too much is it it do-able? If so what donor car do i need as i want to try and use as many parts off the donor as poss i.e Engine, Rad, Diff, Brakes, Ecu's and anything else i may need. I am also willing to pay for work to be carried out by a garage if this is whats advised. All comments and help will be greatly appreciated. I'm based in Derby. Thanks, James

Welcome, where in Derby are you? May of seen you about

It's the engine out of a 540 E34, My other half has one for sale if your interested.

Hi thanks for your reply. I'm in Etwall in south derbyshire. Does your other half have the engine only or is there the box and other components?

Everything with the engine, full wiring loom and the gearbox is an automatic.

Im doing the same conversion at the moment, bit further south though.

Iv got a touring too, to be fair an easier way of doing it is starting with a complete E34 540, therefore you have most of the things you need in an easy managable way and also you can sell the rest of the parts to make some of the money back. Even if you find a 530, you can mock everything up then drop a 4.0 in (plus they have the 5 speed box which is alot easier to work with!)

As said in many threads the difficult bits are the servo and manifolds, however if your handy it can be sorted. Most people run a servo behind the headlights which involves fabbing up a mount and lingage, however you can do this

http://www.driftworks.com/forum/drift-c ... biach.html

of which isnt mine but how I am running my set up.

Manifolds you hear things from allsorts of people, iv gone with X5 manifolds as they are a 4-1 collector so alot easier to start with and from a trial fitment I believe they fit without much of a headache, but I will keep you posted on that part!

Wiring is simple with a non ews car (M60B40) and is very simple if you have a manual box

Mounts - most people use e30.de ones

Again if you start with a doner 540 you can use the rad and brake set up from there, I am doing my conversion with Raw Motorsport speaclisits in race preparing and racing E30s and various other cars.

Just my little bit, and i know everyone has a different view on how to do it, everyone does the conversions differently so its worthwhile doing your homework before you start