318 1.8 - 2.5 swap ?

[jakeymears]

Hi first of thanks for the very informative forum already found it very useful.

I'm helping a mate of mine swap an larger engine into his e30 so i'm a bit fuzzy on the details as i don't own the car

he has the 318 with the 1.8 engine sohc all standard and being a jammy git has got himself a low mileage M20B25 for £300 jealous much !!!

ive found the wiring issue thread about pin 20 shorting things out when doing the swap but his e30 is non abs so it shouldn't be a problem but i'll check anyway.

my main concern is the prop shaft of the threads i've read the prop needs to be the shorter one from the donor car a 325 i believe but to muddy the water further it has the gearbox from a 2 litre engine would this effect the prop length ? i'm hoping there's a way of using the shorter prop.

finally he plans on using the 1.8 diff i assume the gearing will be way out because of final drive and the wheels will spin in every gear but my main concern, can the diff handle the power

sorry for the essay and thanks for your help

[e30topless]

he will need a 320i manual box prop and the diff will sh!t itself after a while !

[jakeymears]

thanks i'll check he has the right prop and explain to him the ramifications of a diff breaking when he's driving is there anything else that might rear its ugly head no odd little things to watch out for ?