Hey all,
I have just bought myself an E30 316i Lux. It is a very sweet little car, with barely a mark on her. I actually bought it under the impression it was a 318, but after doing a little history check, I found out it was a 1.6... Not that it bothers me too much, cos as soon as I can, I want to do a heart transplant with the m40 2.5.
Here is my first question...
How straight forward is swapping these engines? I have found a 325 breaking, but it is LHD, whereas mine is RHD. Is this going to cause any problems, or will it fit straight into my car?
What about the diff? Is my car geared differently to a 325i? If so, how will this affect performance? I'm not looking for top speed, as we have no autobahns in Devon, I want something with good acceleration...
Please let me know your thoughts,
Cheers,
Carl
Newbie here... tech advice please :D
Moderator: martauto
-
godfather
- E30 Zone Newbie
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Exeter
Last edited by godfather on Tue Mar 14, 2006 1:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
m3ben05
- E30 Zone Addict
- Posts: 2555
- Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: High Wycombe
Welcome to the site mate, there are loads of people that have done the swap so you will get all the help you need.
Get some pics up, it sounds like a tidy car.
Get some pics up, it sounds like a tidy car.
-
godfather
- E30 Zone Newbie
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Exeter
Cheers... Pics to follow... waiting till the weekend to take some nice ones 
-
e30_Turbo
- Boost Junkie
- Posts: 3158
- Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: East Anglia
I think you mean M20B25 (325i lump) and the diff on your e30 now will be a small case open diff, you'll need a large case 3.64/3.73/3.91 lsd for sideways fun and the 3.91 will give the best accel.
There is plenty of info on the site to do the conversion, good luck and don't overlook the M30 3.5ltr lump too, not much extra work and bags more POWER!!
Or there is always a turbo.....but I'm biased I suppose!!
HTH, Mark.
There is plenty of info on the site to do the conversion, good luck and don't overlook the M30 3.5ltr lump too, not much extra work and bags more POWER!!
Or there is always a turbo.....but I'm biased I suppose!!
HTH, Mark.
-
eko
- Old timer
- Posts: 11531
- Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: South Devon
Welcome to the Zone Carl 
Where abouts in Exeter are you?
Where abouts in Exeter are you?
-
godfather
- E30 Zone Newbie
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Exeter
Just outside Exeter in Crediton... I think there's quite a large gathering of E30 enthusiasts down here!
I used to own an E34 535i, and really wanted to keep the engine, but just had nowhere to keep a 5 series shell... I was thinking about the M30 conversion, but seems overly complicated, I'm looking for something I can "Plug-n-Play".
Cos I'll have drums on the rear, is it a good idea to swap the back axle from a 325 for the disks, and the diff???
I used to own an E34 535i, and really wanted to keep the engine, but just had nowhere to keep a 5 series shell... I was thinking about the M30 conversion, but seems overly complicated, I'm looking for something I can "Plug-n-Play".
Cos I'll have drums on the rear, is it a good idea to swap the back axle from a 325 for the disks, and the diff???
-
Widge
- E30 Zone Addict
- Posts: 3661
- Joined: Tue Jan 11, 2005 11:00 pm
- Location: Leeds
Yes is the short answer.
I dunno how you are for space but you will probably find it easiest to get a rusty 325i with no MOT for Ԛ£200 and swap the parts over. But then again you could tart yours up and sell it on and just buy a 325i which was designed to be a 2.5 and has all the parts already on it. TBH I can see you want a bigger engine but unless you are going for an engine that wasn't in the E30's in the first place than I think you should just buy a 325, IMHO though, if you want to do it do it!
I dunno how you are for space but you will probably find it easiest to get a rusty 325i with no MOT for Ԛ£200 and swap the parts over. But then again you could tart yours up and sell it on and just buy a 325i which was designed to be a 2.5 and has all the parts already on it. TBH I can see you want a bigger engine but unless you are going for an engine that wasn't in the E30's in the first place than I think you should just buy a 325, IMHO though, if you want to do it do it!