E30 Zone

hey, was wondering what would be the best thing to do to my '86 316. should i get the engine re-conditioned/tuned and turbo it or just swap the engine completely?
i want to keep with a four pot really and dont want stupid power but definately need to do something...

any ideas or info would be great

M1020 botten end with a 318i head and intake. As for engine management I am sure L-jet can be tricked somehow into running the engine "properly".

Either that or fit an M42 for simialr results.

How much cash do you have to spend?

max about two grand. would like some change for leathers etc.
what do you reckon?

If you want change, either option could give you that if you do all the work yourself. If you are paying someone I would suspect the M42 option would be cheaper but you will need to change gearbox and maybe propshaft with latter option.

Or fit and M20B25. There are so many options. You could probably get a M30 fitted for under £2k or an M50. An M30 would bolt up to your current gearbox but your diff would need changing.

2k and want to keep a 4pot?

2k easy you can get a M50 in there, depends how much work you would like to do yourself, if you can do it all yourself and to be honest its not the hardest conversion in the world then if you look around hard enough you can find yourself a doner car with most of the parts for sub £500

i dont have the time or space to do it myself though. thats my problem. so i would be paying someone to do it, hence why i am budgeting so high.

i dont want stupid amounts of horses under the bonnet but need a bit more go..

the M10 is such a good engine, durability wise, and it would be a shame to ditch mine as its in such good condition, especially as i've fitted webers onto it so i was kinda hoping i might be able to get the cylinders bored out or turbo it...

M10 turbo gets my vote! It would be pretty cool imo, 24v swaps are common now whereas m10 turbo e30s aren't. If you can turbo it, turbo it

yeah i do like the m10 turbo idea. anyone know where i can get any info on it??

lots of e21 and 02 turbos in the states normally 2.0l ones about 300bhp but it's reasonably low comp strong and cheap engine so 2k should do it. google or search ebay.com for a boost brothers manifold.

Jason

M10's are brilliant mate! Sick twin carbs on it and a nice cam and it'll be wicked. I've gone the whole hog with mine and used the crank pistons and rods from a 2002tii and used a head off a 518i.

Its not amazingly powerful but the sound it makes is amazing!

M50? how boring!

i dont want massive amounts of power like i said earlier but definately needs something. think i definately want to stick with the M10 though.
was it hard to convert the head and pistons? did you need any other mods? what was the cost?

The head and pistons just bolt straight in/on so its just an engine rebuild.
The only thing you would need to sort for twin carbs is the inlet manifolds, throttle linkage and electric fuel pump.

The cost I didnt really keep track of but I got the 2002/518i parts for around £100, carbs for £200, inlet manifolds for £70ish.

The 292 cam was probably the most expensive part I bought.

Check out www.Jaymic.co.uk they are brilliant for M10 parts.

ah right. i just recently fitted webers to it. 32/34 if i recall correctly. which did you use?
it came with a manifold so was simple to fit.

I've got twin Dellorto DHLA 40's on 2002 ti manifolds

yeah i should have gone bigger when i fitted mine...hindsight is a great thing.
that looks tasty what bhp do you get out of her?

Currently running around 130bhp but badly needs setting up. Im fitting mappable ignition at the mo so setup and a power run is comming soon!

nice! id like to eventually get something like that out of mine. just really hunting for the best way to get there

m10 turbo is the only way to go you need to get rid and find an injected m10 and get all the parts from that you can find themon early e30's but quit hard to find ring fritz bits they should have the parts required to make the car injected so it can be boosted

can you not turbo a carbed m10?

You can turbo carbureted motors. It's more tricky though, you will need proper advice for that. If you pay someone to do a turbo conversion it will cost alot more than 2K though. For £2k you will be able to get a 2002 bottom end built up with a 318i/518i head and an suitable cam, inlet manifold and carbs. A full custom exhaust system and custom exhaust manifold will probably push you over £2k though if you pay someone to all the work.

hmmm... 2k isn't really high enough to do a turbo conversion if you aren't doing the work, but I don't know what's involved on an M10. Look around on E30tech - there are a few respectable M10 turbos out there. It gets a lot harder if you want to keep the carbs, and the notion of not having decent fuelling control scares me, but I hear it can be done.

Megasquirt, turbo, win. (possibly overbudget though)

i can get the custom exhaust and manifold made quite cheaply as a good friend is a blacksmith/custom bike manufacturer so thats not a problem.

will look around on e30tech as suggested.

any input from anyone is greatly appreciated and taken on board