318iS - 325i

[bobski]

hi if i cant sell my 318iS i was wondering how hard it would be to fit a 2.5 in? the shell is immaculate and very straight and i think i,d struggle to find a nice 325 without spending ££££'s in the same condition, any help with what parts i would need would be greatly appreciated, like loom, ecu, prop, diff and does the iS have any parts i can use? e.g prop, brakes/suspension? any help would be great.

[jbh]

you'll need engine, box, prop, diff, 325i front springs and exhaust . the 318is has got the 51mm front struts already as well as the same brakes as the 325i you'll need the 325i rad, expansion bottle and pipe work as well. hopefully you would get all this with the engine you buy as well as the loom and ecu but it should all plug and play..

[bobski]

ah not too bad then, its the wiring i was worried about. my mates got a 325 engine and box i,ll have to ask him what else he's got. cheers

[jbh]

only thing I would say regarding the wirring is keep an eye on Brian moores warning over pin 20.. have a look on the car side of the c101 plug and see if theres a brown wire..

[bobski]

now thats confused me.......

[jbh]

have a quick read it could save you a lot of hassle

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ic&t=83367

[bobski]

cheers, right think i understand that haha. i,ll try and get engine + loom from same year as my car (1990) and check for that brown wire.

[bobski]

could i use the original 318iS rad or have i got to buy the 2.5 one? cheers

[ross2009]

youll need the 2.5 one the inlets and out lets are different to the 318 rad

[baptie0]

you would save hassle by bolting an m50 onto the 318is box

[Royalratch]

Why would you go downgrade like this?

[bobski]

Downgrade like what?

[baptie0]

he means going from 4 valves per cylinder to two.

[jbh]

140bhp to 172bhp.. not much of a downgrade

[Rav335uk]

Why would you go UPgrade like this?

Corrected your mistake Ratch

[bobski]

cuz its free engine also

[bobski]

what about the coil packs doesnt that go into the car loom and engine loom?

[ross2009]

coil packs ? lets get this write what engine are we talking about here the m20 dont use coil packs the m50 and m52 etc does the m20 just had a normal coil

[bobski]

the 318iS m42 i,m taking out for the m20 has

[ross2009]

o sorry yeah the coil packs are wired in to the wiring loom but you wont need them in the m20 but you will need a m20 wiring loom though

[bobski]

engine loom or car loom? i,m not going to bother if i got to start chopping and dr'ing.

[Sanchez]

Leave it as an 318is and get another car to put the M20B25 in.

[bobski]

thing is i cant afford another car, the body and interior on this one is pretty mint so i dont want to sell, its just turning out at that this engine swap isnt as simple as what people say. its more than 'just plug and play' i think. coil packs and ecu's looms etc. i can understand the engine loom bit. but for my dad to get his blokes to do it at his garage in his time they need to know the full ins and outs. they could do the engine swap etc not a problem they just dont the car hanging around in the way because of stumbling blocks where they have to start waiting for missing parts and looking up wiring etc. plus the m20 engine is a swap for my m42 so its literally costing me just a bit of labour.

[bobski]

no idea mate i,m having it off another forum member. the thing thats stumped us at the moment is the 4cyl coil pack loom disappears through the bulkhead and goes along to the plug so its not as simple as just ditch it? i can understand if it just come out with lump any ideas?

[bobski]

hi people got my car booked in to have engine done next week. the chap who's doing it has asked me if anyone could write it down simply what he has to check for and possibly change around in reference to the pin 20 c101 issue.
its a 1990 m20b25 lump going into a 1990 318iS.
i know theres links etc to it on here but when it comes to printing it off and finding the actual info amongst the other questions and spam its a nightmare.
many thanks Bob

[bobski]

any help on this please?

[jbee]

im thinking about doing this conversion too