E30 Zone

A few months ago I purchased my e30 325i sport. Recently been gathering all the relevant info on swapping my standard 325i for something a little tastier!! I have made my decision on an e36 m3 motor. Just wondering what people's opinions on the best s5x for the job? Brakes? Cheaper buying a damaged car? I'm relatively clued up mechanically and currently work at a fabrication company as a welder and have full access to the equipment (fathers company) and have a big plus of having a 2 poster in there! Any opinions/info would be greatly appreciated.
I would also like to know where I make a donation too the site as it's been absolutely great help so far and couldn't thank the people that came up with the idea enough!!
Regards Ryan
P.s I will be making a thread and keeping people up to date on my progress.

If you are going for an e36 lump you have a choice of the s50b30 and b32. I would go for the b32, a lot of people claim they are a lot more fragile, I think it's all scaremongering. Just watch out for grumbling VANOS, but a relatively easy to fix problem.

Brakes, I use WMS 4 pots on my m50'd hill climb car and they are really decent for the price. Would recommend them.

You could buy a damaged car and break it but e36's don't really break that well. However ideally you want to hear the engine running.

Have a good read of the s50 engine swap section.

I can't recommend DanThe's wiring loom and fan conversion loom enough, very well priced and neatly executed.

Donations are on the front page I believe.

Hope that helps!

Great help! I Think the b32 is the choice. The old motor should be out by the weekend and the bay should be painted by Monday! Decision time on the brakes? Are they a relatively easy install? If anyone comes across an s50b32 which is half reasonable let me know

WMS's are a bolt on fit and great quality. A zoner called Keri-WMS sells them.

http://www.wms-brakes.co.uk

What are you doing for the manifold? s50's are very sensitive to manifold mods to clear the steering column.

Again great help!! We'll that's what I do for a living so was hopefully thinking of fabying my own as I've made headers for numerous other cars, but what do you think? Does anyone do a pre-fabricated header?
Thanks again for the help!!

BTB make a bolt on solution but make sure you are sat down when you get a quote

No power gains, but importantly there are no losses either, however if you are a fabricator I imagine modifying the standard manifold won't be too hard. It's the number 6 primary that needs modifying iirc. If you ask in the s50 section I'm sure some zoners will have pictures for you

Oh and in case you don't know, if you are buying just the engine make sure it has all the EWS gear with it. There are guides on here showing you how to install it. Alternatively DanThe does an EWS delete

Yes I did glance at the BTB's and then turned away an ran as fast as I could!!! Aha. Great stuff! I did try having a look at the s50 engine swap on the wiki but it's telling me I'm unauthorised? I will be giving WMS a call later today

That's weird. Maybe try PM'ing a mod?

Also I recommend you use AKG engine mounts. They are expensive but very strong, well worth doing with the heavy s50 lump or if it's going to see any track work

I will do cheers. Yes I've also heard good things about the akg mounts. Planning on running it to Le Mans next year so need to try and avoid silly things going wrong so she'll be reasonably reliable!!
Tracking it is to come

ross_jsy wrote:It's the number 6 primary that needs modifying iirc. If you ask in the s50 section I'm sure some zoners will have pictures for you

Both sections of the manifold need modding to fit for ARB and steering clearance. The front section needs a fair bit of tweaking, but it's the rear that's the hassle as No.6 primary needs cutting off and rerouting.


There's the servo/intake plenum clearance issues, but that should easily be sorted with a combination of moving the servo over and using a smaller servo (usually a Clio servo).

I have some pics of mine in the link below in my sig....

Awesome!! I'll take a look. Great responses thanks again! Looks like my hands are going to be busy over the next few months