E30 Zone

i have a 325i sport m-tec II auto and the head gasket has now gone ive been thinking of rather then doing the head gasket maybe change the engine insted.
but if im going to do an engine swap then maybe i should go for something abit more tasty.
the only thing is i dont want to have to cut or weld anything.
can anyone HELP me on this?

many thanks

It took me 6 hours to change my head gasket m20 fist time i've done it,

You have to Know your budget and is this a 2nd car, ie how long can the car be off the road, how much power do you want, do you want to keep the atomic box?

335i auto cab would be a nice summer cruiser

I was going to go the 3.5 M30 engine, but went down the turbo route because i want 300+ bhp ( not that i have that yet!)

I'm looking at the same question right now except I've got another complete 2.5 engine and box. Splitting the head from the block is going to cost in skimming and gasket. Swapping the engine complete is going to be a quite a lot of time. The gasket hasn't gone on my current engine, its the valve stem seals, but its a head refurb anyway.
Hmm.

mattG

no its not a second car, its my only car! im using the works motor at the moment but i dont think i can stand much more of it. i can keep her off the road if needed though.

i am on abit of a budget but it is possible to push the boat out if its worth it.
so how do i go about doing a turbo conversion? could you give me as much info on this as possible please?

as for the auto box, im not to fussed weather i keep it or not but i think manual is the way forward.

many thanks

manual box.


Ant is the turbo guy there are millions of turbo threads, if i was you i would have a long read through so you know whats going on etc

good luck fella

ric325i

Sorry im new to all this, who is ant?

the thing is i dont no where to start looking! i would really appricate it if you could tell me a few sites i could look at that tells me about turboing a 325 and how much it roughly cost's

as for the manual box ive just got back from the scrapy 100yds from my house and the blokey said 180 for everything to make her manual. is that cheap or am i getting my pants pulled down on it?

oh and how do i put pic's on here?

many thanks

Ant is one of the guys on here that actually is a mechanic and works on e30's all day, he's based off the M25 @ j4, he goes under the company name of A-Tech - 01959534718

Re Turbo's cost, that's not a question anyone can answer very easily dut to the amount of variables involved.

For a "custom kit" for a 2.5, with say 300bhp limits and lots of second hand parts could be donw for about £3k but if your handy with the spanners and a welder it could be done for less.

Check out the "update" thread and also any thread by either turbobrown, Erel and Dimmy, all have been through what your thinking about. Both racecar & Lennie supercharged their m20's so search those threads too.

Going back to the problem you have, to replace the head gasket on a m20 is quite straightforward and can be done fully within 3hrs, I know because I've had to do quite a few downside of being a boost junkie

Basic costs, GSF elring head gasket £19.80 + set of bolts £20 or so, so nothing major cost wise, once you've done it once it's easy next time! So it's just getting the head checked and skimmed if needed on top.

I don't think there is a "how to" on fitting head gaskets but the bentley and haynes manual's give you enough info to go on.

HTH, Mark.

Thanks to everyone that has given me info on turboing my 325i but i have decided to 335i my baby as i have just brought a E34 535i manual!

so anyone that has done/doing this could you enlighten me how i would go about wiring the ecu and will all my instruments still work e.g. trip comp and so on

many thanks Ashley

SORRY ppl but does anyone no where i can get the engine mounts needed as i dont have the confidence to fabricate some myself.

also do you need to make any modifications to the fire wall?

many thanks again Ashley

The M30 (which is the engine you've bought) is one one the more straightforward swaps. From what people have said it uses lots of fuel and is a bit heavier at the front which affects handling somewhat. It always seems to cost more than you first expect.
http://www.e30.de/335i/00.htm People have said there are inaccuracies in this, I don't know what they are so be careful

I think these people sell engine mounts too http://66.249.91.104/translate_c?hl=en& ... f%26sa%3DX

Another German link http://translate.google.com/translate?h ... f%26sa%3DX


Here's another current one on this forum
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... d&start=25

Have a look around (search button) there are loads in the Engine Swaps / Forced Induction section

If I were you I'd leave the current engine in and get Ant to put a new fast camshaft in with a new engine management chip and you'll be more than happy for a lot less hassle and cost probably too.

Doing an engine swap on a sport might devalue it imo ,thats why i brought a touring to molest so as to leave my sport std.

if it's a genuine sport, build a 2.7 M20 lump for it? that would kinda keep the originality.

if you want to go ahead with the M30 swap (like i did ) the wiring is very straightforward. bar a few tweaks, the main engine loom connector just plugs in.
the bits that need sorting are engine mounts, exhaust, radiator, electric fan, wiring tweaks (all covered on here somewhere). plus diff with a better suited ratio, yours will probably be a 3.91:1, great for 3rd gear donuts but renders 1st gear useless!