Price on s50 into an e30?

[macas]

Ok,I'm going to be swapping my current 2.5 for the slightly quicker s50 in the very near future but was wondering how much money I would be looking at paying a garage to do this conversion,I would be dropping off all the parts needed all at once and say there you go!
Many thanks

[furbster]

I have recently had this exact thing done. Dropped off everything needed including a loom adapter was quoted £500 ish and ended up costing £800 including fluids and having a fitting fabricated to take aftermarket water temp guage and wiring in a supplied adjustable thermostatic cooling fan controller with manual overide AND the E36 M3 steering rack, also included making up new brake lines to fit the supplied Golf Servo and Audi master cylinder. Another point to note is that mine had the BTB manifold so didn't need messing about with to route around the steering linkage.

Are you dropping off EVERYTHING?

i.e.

Engine + Box with mounts, exhaust, ECU & Vanos controller, diff, prop, EWS loom, master cylinder and servo?

[macas]

Yes dropping off everything,just gathering the parts now,iv read other threads and I seem to be seeing over three grand for labour!and I'm thinking if the average garage charges £40 an hour that basically 75 hrs ov work,so I'm thinking surely it wouldn't take two weeks!
But I'm no mechanic so might be wrong!
How much did you pay for the btb manifold?thanks for the reply

[furbster]

Mine did come out of another E30 conversion so was supposed to pretty much plug and play but some fabricaton was needed.

The manifold was already on the car so was included in the price. I think they are about £1,300 to buy new.

I paid £3,800 for the engine (with manifold), box and mounts, loom, ecu + vanos controller, Oil cooler, EWS loom, E30 M3 prop, Z3M Diff, E36 M3 Rack, E36 M3 Radiator, Golf Servo, Audi Master Cylinder.

The conversion did take about three weeks in total but wasn't worked on consistently and he didn't charge me for every hour it took as I know the guy.

Where abouts are you based? I would definitely recommend the guy I used as he's very anal about the way things are fitted and does an excellent job.

[penton08]

Are you dropping off EVERYTHING?

i.e.

Engine + Box with mounts, exhaust, ECU & Vanos controller, diff, prop, EWS loom, master cylinder and servo?

if your starting from scratch that list does not even come close!! imo there is no way you will get all the bits together in 1 go, and there are a lot of odds and sods that need to be customized/fabricated. wiring the s50 up so all the wiring can be fitted into a 4 pot loom cover can take up to 20 hours on its own there so many different ways to do the job properly or not, but i would say £2k would be fair for a nice install

[fuzzy]

didnt someone mention about 7000 plus for a supply and fit?

[penton08]

didnt someone mention about 7000 plus for a supply and fit?

jhonno currently has a plug and play engine for sale, and it has been suggested it could be supplied and fitted for around £6000.

[furbster]

Are you dropping off EVERYTHING?

i.e.

Engine + Box with mounts, exhaust, ECU & Vanos controller, diff, prop, EWS loom, master cylinder and servo?

if your starting from scratch that list does not even come close!! imo there is no way you will get all the bits together in 1 go, and there are a lot of odds and sods that need to be customized/fabricated. wiring the s50 up so all the wiring can be fitted into a 4 pot loom cover can take up to 20 hours on its own there so many different ways to do the job properly or not, but i would say £2k would be fair for a nice install

Well mine came straight out of an E30 that had already had the coversion done so looks like I got myself a bit of a bargain there!!

[marty325]

If you picked up an E36 m3 for £2500 (of which there are quite a few on offer with rusty bodies etc) surely the conversion would cost a hell of alot less then £6k?

[E30BeemerLad]

If you picked up an E36 m3 for £2500 (of which there are quite a few on offer with rusty bodies etc) surely the conversion would cost a hell of alot less then £6k?

That's exactly what everyone thinks, but still ends up sinking the thick end of £5k into it.

[DanThe]

Engine and ancillaries are the tip of the iceberg..

[jaistanley]

I'm a reasonably competant spanner wielding monkey boy and I'd say my conversion was done for about 5K, but that doesn't include buying the E30 or any of the suspension/brake upgrades that are ESSENTIAL. I got a full M roadster (rolled) for a very good £2200 with a BMW warranty engine freshley in her - I was VERY lucky with it!

I did everything myself apart from the BTB manifold.

If you bought an engine that was previously in another car and had EVRYTHING to swap over, I can see it costing you about £6-800 to swap it all in, but unless you bought Dans or one like it, the cost of the hours of fiddling with wiring, immobilisers, sump oil returns, oil cooler setups, radiator fans, cutting coolant hoses, fitting water temp senders, making an exhaust, moving brake servo's over (!), modifying manifolds (!!!!!), swapping oil pumps, sumps, clutch replacement, swapping diff/props, etc etc would mount up so high it would make it a totally pointless endeavour. If I'd had to fork out to do my swap at £40 an hour I'd have been better off going and finding something seriously fast out of the box, like an E46 M3 (made of carbon fibre, gold plated genuine virgins pubes!).

Jai

[macas]

If you picked up an E36 m3 for £2500 (of which there are quite a few on offer with rusty bodies etc) surely the conversion would cost a hell of alot less then £6k?

that's what I'm going to do,just get a complete car and frag it to death!
The car I'm putting the engine into will already be stripped ready for the conversion,I just then need to get the manifold.

Is there any brake set up I could use on the four stud set up that would be sufficient as I would like to keep the car looking completely standered loooking...i.e stll keeping my 15 inch bbs wheels?thanks

[Jhonno]

If you picked up an E36 m3 for £2500 (of which there are quite a few on offer with rusty bodies etc) surely the conversion would cost a hell of alot less then £6k?

that's what I'm going to do,just get a complete car and frag it to death!
The car I'm putting the engine into will already be stripped ready for the conversion,I just then need to get the manifold.

Is there any brake set up I could use on the four stud set up that would be sufficient as I would like to keep the car looking completely standered loooking...i.e stll keeping my 15 inch bbs wheels?thanks

Good luck.. You are slightly deluded if you think you only need the manifold on top though. (£1500 from BTB now, + Post. 3k +Post for the complete system and manifold). penton08 fragged an e36 M3 to do his and it still cost him the thick end of 5k iirc..

It really isn't as easy/cheap as many people convince themselves it is.

[Jhonno]

I have a practically complete conversion for sale for 4k, the engine made 297bhp on a reputable dyno, has arp's fitted, baffled sump, wiring all trimmed and fitted into a 4 pot cover etc etc, and some spares.

[furbster]

I have a practically complete conversion for sale for 4k, the engine made 297bhp on a reputable dyno, has arp's fitted, baffled sump, wiring all trimmed and fitted into a 4 pot cover etc etc, and some spares.

Sounds a good price Jhonno!!

I paid £3,800 for mine and the wiring wasn't trimmed down, doesn't have ARP's (although I thought they were only necessary on the 3.2??) or a baffled sump.

[Jhonno]

The 3.0's benefit from it also.. Esp I had planned to fit a 3.2 head and Shrick cams and use an 8.5k odd rev limit.

[jaistanley]

It's all bout whqat useful bits you think you're going to get from the donor car... The engine, engine loom and ecu, gearbox, radiator and that's about it! You still need to sort an exhaust, manifold, move the brake servo over, upgrade your suspension and brakes, do loads of wiring yourself, sort a fan out, plumb the oil cooler, plumb fuel/radiator, source a diff and propshaft etc etc. On top of that you will be replacing perished rubber, seals, new bits and bobs you didn't think about, it really just does go on and on.

Really, I know people say it all the time and you are convinced you can do it yourself cheaper but it IS an expensive conversion. I was joking about being a spanner monkey. I'm actually an automotive engineer with a degree and a good ten years of practical car mechanics under my belt. I did 99% of the work on my car myself and it STILL cost nearly £5k. I even got a full donor car that suits the E30 better for a nice low price (the Z3M is a better donor for the conversion than the E36 - more suitable diff, prop, gearbox, suspension, loom).

Good luck..

Jai

[UweM3]

I bought a "complete" S50B32 for a good price but when I inspected it properly first there where little things missing here and there. Like the MAF! Long story short, I paid £400 ish for a box full of "small" items like temp sensor or plastic cover for injector rail and so on to complete the engine redy for install.
Oil cooler and power steering lines will be another expense on top of the engine cost and all these 'while you are at it' bits will add up.

I am lucky that I can do a lot of work myself. Would never do a conversion like this if I had to rely on a garage to fit all the stuff even if they are charging a reasonable hour rate.

If you go with a 'cheap' garage or somebody who will only work in quite times you may end up waiting for your car to be finished for MONTH.

[furbster]

It's all bout whqat useful bits you think you're going to get from the donor car... The engine, engine loom and ecu, gearbox, radiator and that's about it! You still need to sort an exhaust, manifold, move the brake servo over, upgrade your suspension and brakes, do loads of wiring yourself, sort a fan out, plumb the oil cooler, plumb fuel/radiator, source a diff and propshaft etc etc. On top of that you will be replacing perished rubber, seals, new bits and bobs you didn't think about, it really just does go on and on.

Really, I know people say it all the time and you are convinced you can do it yourself cheaper but it IS an expensive conversion. I was joking about being a spanner monkey. I'm actually an automotive engineer with a degree and a good ten years of practical car mechanics under my belt. I did 99% of the work on my car myself and it STILL cost nearly £5k. I even got a full donor car that suits the E30 better for a nice low price (the Z3M is a better donor for the conversion than the E36 - more suitable diff, prop, gearbox, suspension, loom).

Good luck..

Jai

I totally agree with this. As I said i paid £3,800 for the majority of the bits but the conversion had already been done by another zoner. I then paid another £800 mates rates to have it fitted and there are still little bits I need to do! For example the guy I bought it off had never tracked it and used the E28 M5 mounts - well they may be fine for road use but as I found out on Tuesday at Oulton Park when you corner hard left the engine shifts and interferes with the steering linkage - new AGK Motorsport mounts on order ANOTHER $260.

I believe I did this conversion the cheapest way possible and it's still coming out the wrong side of £5k.

Listen to the other guys posting here - they seriously do know what they are talking about and even advised the guy I bought the conversion off!

I would say it's worth every penny though!!

[Dave_M3]

I couldn't believe how an S50 conversion could cost 5-6K doing it yourself while I've been on here for a few years and genuinely thought it should easily be done for 3 to 4.


But... Having helped with one or two now doing it properly, whichever way you cut it it adds upto over 5-7000 euro no problem at all by the time you have everything sorted with no short-cuts or half measures with the engine side of things as well as on the car like bushings, suspension, brakes etc etc to make use of the engine and not just have a pig of a car with a big lump out the front with lots of power to do nothing with.

And S50s are cheap to start with over here too!!!




Still think a proper conversion done to a high standard is worth every penny once finished though




600-800 sounds about right for swapping out an M20 for a ready made S50 conversion set to go back in.

[furbster]

I forgot to mention that I already had Leda coilovers on the car which cost the previous owner over £2k, I sent them back to Leda last your for a service and that cost just over £500. like DAVE said you needs the brakes (another £800 for a WMS setup and service kit for the rear) otherwise there really is no point making something very fast that handles like a bag of shite and doesn't stop!!

In addition to that I had a sump guard fabricated as the sump is now the lowest point on the car! (ANOTHER £300 with some welding to the chasis legs that needed doing)

Then there was the cornerweighting - ANOTHER £70

Then the laser alignment - £45

Can you see where all the unexpected stuff mounts up?