best engine conversion on a budget?

[audiomike2491]

ive recently purchased an e30 316 and im looking to do an engine conversion.

my friend has an e30 with a m52 conversion which is pretty powerful and ive done some research on this and all in all its going to cost around 2k for parts and labour.

is this the best route to go down or would you recommend something else?

i would love to have a turbo so what route could i go down for this?

all suggestions welcome!

thanks

[ross2009]

whats ya budget ?
every thing comes down to money ?

[craigieeb]

if you have a spare few hundred, just go for an M20 2.5
or
If you have a spare couple of grand, go for the M52,
or
if you have quite a few grand spare go for a turbo set up

[ross2009]

if you have a spare few hundred, just go for an M20 2.5
or
If you have a spare couple of grand, go for the M52,
or
if you have quite a few grand spare go for a turbo set up

i think that just abut sums it up lol

[LagunaE30]

m50 probably your best bet for a turbo conversion, but then again your looking at around 2k for a standard m50 setup and then maybe another 2k on top for turboing it.

i'd stick with the m52 if youve got around a 2k budget, i've just done one and theres no set way of doing it, whichever way you go around it to do it properly your going to need a 2k budget and you'll have to uprate your brakes and suspension to atleast the 2.5 setup with an m52.

if youve got a 5-6k budget i say go for a s50.

on the other hand just fling a m20 2.5 in there with minimal effort and around 500 quid max it'll feel a world apart from a 316 but then again it'll feel a world apart from the m52.

[audiomike2491]

cheers for the replies guys this forum its amazing how much interest you all put into it

i think its gonna be either the 2.5 or the 2.8 and then turbo later on...

for all the parts excluding the m52 engine and couple of e36 parts needed it came to approx £800 including ebc pads and disk brakes and then however much on top of that for a donor car for remaining parts and engine so hopefully less than £1600 for parts total...

as a friend will be doing the work it wont cost too much for labour so hopefully looking at under £2k total

is the total cost for the m20 more/similar/less?

which would be the better option?

thanks.

[pukar]

good luck with your conversion mate.....i'm not that familiar with them, but i would recommend before spending any big money on a conversion, please check your car is sound and rust free...i would hate for you to have a lovely engine and then discover lot of rot under the carpet or something...some really clean looking cars can hide a heck of a lot!

[audiomike2491]

been fully checked over, only spot of rust on the car is on the sunroof which is getting replaced

thanks

[audiomike2491]

i need to find out the total cost of the m50 conversion and how much to turbo it, and total cost of turbo conversion to the m52.

more or less gonna go with the cheapest option unless the better option isnt much dearer if that makes any sense?

thanks.

[ross2009]

cheapest option is a m20 can pick one up for a couple of hundred quid then you just need loom ecu etc but then not forgetting it will prob be best to swap all ya suspension over aswell use 325i running gear

[e301988325i]

You turbo the M50 because it has a steel block, you can put the 2.8 internals in the steel block if you so wish.

Your talk of budget turbo'd 24v's is really quite strange, a decent (finished, mapped etc) turbo setup is going to be 5k from where you are, plus another 2k on the chassis so you don't lose it on the first corner, then it's going to do 20mpg best, are your pockets deep enough????

[Dezzy]

I doubt it!

[ross_jsy]

How long is a piece of string really. A m50 can be chucked in for £500 if you do all the spannering/fab work etc. But when the engine is out, there are a lot of might as well do it type jobs.

A budget of £2k is sensible and allows you to it properly the first time.

Turboing all depends on power levels. A low power set up using the standard maf and standard engine is going to be a lot cheaper than a higher powered map based standalone set up obviously. On the cheap, budget £1k+ for low power, but to do it properly you are looking around £5k on the engine side alone. That will see you up to a nice 500hp though

[cecotto_singh]

Check out my cossie conversion for sale dude. All done for ya. It's the little bits that add up, and you will soon blow 2k budget.

[audiomike2491]

so will the 2.5 conversion be cheaper to do?

wont be looking at turbo just yet as i will have to save up for it, but the 2.5 is looking the better option...

cheers for the help guys