M42 to M44

[markgq4]

i am thinking of swapping the m42 for the m44 as i understand its stronger and slightly more powerful.

i have some Q`s tho.
i have read that the best donor is the e36 318Ti as more parts fit, anyone tell me what they are over the e36 iS version?

will the m44 bolt onto my m42 box?

and if anyone has done this how hard is it to sort the engine loom into the e30 loom

can i use the e36s rack too?

Any and all help appreciated, as im bit clueless whats involved

[Jos]

I looked at this when I was having diffs sourcing an M42. Can't imagine there is much difference between the Ti and the iS engines in terms of parts.
There is very little difference between these 2, not worth the swap hassle unless your M42 is dying. Early M42 I thought was the strongest of the lot due to it's forged crank.

Gearbox will go straight on (check spigot bearing sizes).
e30 loom is easy, it'll be an X20 connector on the M44 so the usual M50 wiring will sort it.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

Getting it tidy in the e30 housing is tricky, I had to shorten/extend a few wires to sort it out.

Rack should be ok as you'd have to swap your exhaust manifold from the M42 as part of the conversion so it would be the same as for an M42 e30

[markgq4]

I looked at this when I was having diffs sourcing an M42. Can't imagine there is much difference between the Ti and the iS engines in terms of parts.
There is very little difference between these 2, not worth the swap hassle unless your M42 is dying. Early M42 I thought was the strongest of the lot due to it's forged crank.

Gearbox will go straight on (check spigot bearing sizes).
e30 loom is easy, it'll be an X20 connector on the M44 so the usual M50 wiring will sort it.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

Getting it tidy in the e30 housing is tricky, I had to shorten/extend a few wires to sort it out.

Rack should be ok as you'd have to swap your exhaust manifold from the M42 as part of the conversion so it would be the same as for an M42 e30

hi Jos, thanks very much for the info

i did not know that about the m42 crank,
maybe i should just stick with whats in it, refresh bottom end and look for some "hotter" cams instead then?

whats really irritating is i had an e36 M44 iS bout 18 months back and it came with a really good engine, i weighed it in for scrap cos it was wrong for the car .... yes it was an M42 lump .... hmm what a d*ckhed!