525e with 320i head?

[shanehaward]

just bought a nice '87 525e, but needs head gasket.
can i use a 320i head with the 525e inlet manifold etc..
only asking incase the heads cracked andi know the 320 heads are pretty easy to get hold of

[AardHawk]

Yes it will, though the latter 731 head casting has slightly larger inlet ports, so there will be a slight mismatch between the eta inlet manifold and 731 head. It wont matter. The bigger difference is the 320i/520i cam, be it in the earlier 200 head or later 731 head, will be out of kilter with the eta ecu.

You are really on the route to a budget 527i. A 731 head and inlet manifold from a 320i/520i, A 325i throttle body with inlet manifold opened up to accept it and Motronic M1.3. Use a Speedtouch mild chip. Keep the eta exhaust unchanged, you cant really improve on it anyway. This will give you a slightly improved bottom end, which is already pretty good on the eta, with more top end. It will now rev to 5500rpm. Fuel consumption will remain the same.

[shanehaward]

thanks aardhawk sounds like a plan, ill have to read up on the motronic 1.3 conversion though