What should i pay?

[hash]

Hi, am thinking of converting my is to 52 power.
How much should i pay for just the engine and wiring loom and other parts needed from the car?
Or how much should i look at spending on the complete car as my mate is offering me one?

Cheers

[E30BeemerLad]

A complete 328i donor car should be available for about £500, which will give you the engine (possibly gearbox if you want to use the E36 manual gearbox), ECU, Loom, EWS stuff, radiator, air con fan to use as electric fan, engine mounts etc.

Cheaper than buying everything separate and also you get to genuinely see what the engine is like, rather than taking a chance.

Being realistic, you're not going to do an M52 conversion for under a grand

[hash]

Ok cheers, the car my mates selling is a 2.8 sport, and is in running order with 3 months tax and test, as was gonna run it till this has run out to check the engine is all good.

Would anyone who has done this conversion be willing to lend a hand, im in the southampton area.
Cheers

[jimbob88]

If you can get the car for a decent price you'd be laughing, i bought my engine, box and loom from a guy for £500 everything else i've had to source myself.

i also had my loom made by danthe and im well over a grand and it not even in yet and i did kinda go to town on the engine and box, and everything is there for the job now

[e30-EVN]

Being realistic, you're not going to do an M52 conversion for under a grand

as said... if anyone does this conversion for a grand or under it will no doubt be a death trap and not aloud on the road.... tatty and thrown together shite.

so if theres anyone out there with a thousand pound e30 24valver its a worthless pile of shite

for the record though i payed £350 for a stonkin m52 engine, got the loom from dan £130 - (TOP quality!) and every other individual part sourced seperatly... way over the thou!!

[Green]

Well to give an idea on how much I've speant so far

Whole 328i £500
Loom and Mani's from Dan £410
m42 box £45
325i prop £30
£200ish on bits from Bmw
Clio servo £30

And I'm looking for probs another £100 or so on bits I may need whilst doing it just incase!

Although I have my mate who'll take the empty shell off me for £200, I've the alpina reps to sell and a few bits and bobs from the m20 to go as well so it shouldn't be so bad by the end of it

[DanThe]

As above, if you want to claw some coin back then buy a complete car, sell some bits off and you should get a cheap motor at the end.
All depends how much you value your time though at the end of the day

[hash]

ok cheers, am going to look buy the e36 tonight hopefully.

[kevo]

my total spend so far is £775, £150 ecu , £300 another engine (correct sump attached), £300 e36 running car with lpg, £25 clio servo. having had to buy another engine as mine fell off the engine stand and another ecu as mine became defective sometime during removal/storage/fitting. oh and i sold £700's worth of parts from the e36 scrapper i had.
It can be done for peanuts if you have the ability to make the exhaust manifolds and gearbox linkages and loom as i did and you buy a toyed up car to break. it owes me about £150 all in after having to buy a few gaskets and rad fan switch. oh and mine has the advantage of being cheap to run as it's on lpg too which is good cos i'm tight haha