Engine Transplant

[E30BeemerLad]

Hi, maybe because I am such a newbie to this site and E30 ownership, my query may have been answered hundreds of times, but I honestly have not seen any evidence of this, so here goes...

Why have I never seen someone with the later 24v 2.5 lump as fitted to the E36 etc installed into an E30?

I see plenty of people going down the 2.6 & 2.7 route and some even going for the 3.5 lump. Is there any reason why the 24V lump never seems to be installed. Is the block the same as the M20? are there any other restictions? Otherwise, for equivalent size and I assume weight, there's a reliable 190+ bhp straight from the standard unit.

If not, then this is certainly a route I would chose to go when my engine curls up and dies. Anyone know anyone who has done this swap?

Also, although I am still enjoying the honeymoon period with my 325i and revving the fanny off it at any given opportunity (still in love with that noise), is sub 20 mpg the norm for these cars? It has got a piper fast road cam and remap, but the fuel economy is worse than a 3ltr V6 Alfa I was running not so long ago, which still returned 20+ mpg depsite the constant abuse from my right foot.

[Jimbob]

There's a couple of peeps here with the 24v conversion, 6potWil6pot bought one like it, Andy325i has one or in the process, and so is Brianmoooore. Don't have a clue about it (just finished the 2.7 conversion on mine) but from some of threads in the Tech section it doesn't seem too hard, but not straightforward either.

[jmc330i]

Yup there are a couple 2.5 24v powered E30s on here, I think Andy is using the later 2.8 24v in his conversion, so its definitely being done.

Ian332isport has the E36 3.2 M3 Evo engine fitted to his E30 and Ive nearly finished my E36 3.0 M3 conversion.

The conversion seems more popular in the USA but its catching on here now.

[glenn]

another factor to consider with the 24 valve conversion is the cost.
as a fair few ppl on here are at uni, or first cars etc

just a thought

[6potWil6pot]

24v E30s are superb, they rev like monsters, reminds me of my old iS engine but with a bit more inertia and a sledgehammer blow of power power power!
And like all 6s have vast wide oceans of torque to draw on. Keep almost stalling/hurting the bottom end on other cars cause im just used to driving in higher gears on my own
Dont wanna get rid of it in a few ways...

[Frenchguy]

What about weight distribution ? Woudn't an S50 (iron block) for example make an E30 too nose-heavy ? I've read several reviews of Alpina and Hartge 6 cyl E30s and understeer seems to be an issue.
Or maybe this is notihng some suspension tuning couldn't solve ?

[Brianmoooore]

The M50 engine is a few kilos heavier than the M20, but not enough to make any appreciable difference.
The engine drops in easily enough, but a few problems occur, like no room for the fan at the front, exhaust manifold getting tangled with the steering , and inlet manifold fouling the servo. Also the E34/E36 gearbox has a 1:1 fifth gear instead of 0.89, so a diff change is required as well.

[E30BeemerLad]

thanks for the responses guys

as time goes by, well it has only been 1 month of E30 ownership now, I am just growing to like it more and more. Drinks fuel more than I expected, am currently getting less than 100 miles from Ԛ£20 of unleaded. Is this normal?

Am thinking of getting the old girl onto the rolling road as would equally be interested to see what sort of power she is producing, any ideas would be appreciated though, briefly the car is a 325i, ported and polished head, piper fast road cam, don't know model number, FSE power boost valve, K&N element, remapped ECU, full scorpion stainless system. Is 200 at the flywheel not too unreasonable to expect.

Finally, got a wet carpet in passenger front footwell, seems to start near the speaker/ kick plate and covers most of the footwell from there backwards. Is this a common problem? Is it likely to be a door or sunroof seal problem or a blocked drain hole from the sunroof, or am I probably really unlucky and the bulkhead is like a tea bag?

All the best

Lee

[nav786]

its probably the 'elephant trunk' as its called. look under the bonnet and you will see a tube looking like an elephant runk hanging down. its below the windscreen. this gets blocked up and needs to be cleared.

[E30BeemerLad]

found the elephant trunk, which was a bit blocked, but later found roughly where the water is coming in from, right up in the top left corner behind the glovebox, so looks like will be doing a bit of stripping this weekend, carpet is soaked in passenger footwell.

[Brianmoooore]

The metal surrounding the large rubber grommet carrying the wiring into the engine bay is very prone to rust - sometimes extending out into the rear of the wheel arch. Difficult to repair properly, because you really need to remove the brake servo and master cylinder, the fuse box and looms to access the area properly.

[E30BeemerLad]

hehe, I was really bored so decided to look for some of my first posts on the zone to see how much of a chump I was.

Anyway, found this old thread and have to salute Brianmoooore as his diagnosis was absolutely spot on in terms of the rot to the bulkhead as it went into the arch as well as being completely rotten below the fusebox area.

As I said on another thread recently, that car was still the best £500 I spent

twat

[maxfield]

I was doing that earlyer lol