3 litre conversion?

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M3Jimbo
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:54 pm

I have the opertuinity to aquire an X5 whith the 3 litre petrol engine in very cheap it is in a freinds breaker an has had a very bad rear end acident it still starts a drives sort of?? it basicly just drags the back end around behind it but it does run sweet no real damage to the front as far as i can see!!

Has anyone any expeirince in putting one of these in an e30 or any advice on doing the job i have a fairly good mechanical ability and have accses to a ramp!

Has anyone even seen it done or know a link to a web site thats got a revaiw of ant sort

Cheers fellas any advice on whever it would be worth my while or just not feasable when i say cheap i mean more like a drink!!!

i wanna put it in my J reg tourer!
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Andyboy
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:42 pm

Why not? Not sure if an X5 has a front or rear sump bulge but you'll probably need an E34 sump plus different mounts. You'll need an E34/E36 box, flywheel and clutch. You'll need to use the X5 loom and ECU plus you'll need the Key - either that or get the ECU's EWS code flashed.

231 factory bhp. Yeehah.
maxfield
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 9:44 pm

Has the X5 got fly by wire system?
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liam012
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:12 pm

"The M54B30 is a 3.0 L (2979 ccm) successor of the 2.8 L BMW M52. Bore remains the same at 84 mm, but stroke is increased 5.6 mm to 89.6 mm. Power is 231 hp (168 kW) while torque is 221 ft.lbf (290 Nm).
It is an all-alloy engine with Al-Sil block. It uses SFI fuel injection, has 4 valves per cylinder with VVT and features fracture-split forged steel connecting rods, a one-piece cast camshaft, and reinforced plastic intake manifold"

Yes fly by wire but a custom throttle body and standalone would sort that i'm sure. Wha about the double vanos though, isnt that a pig to map with aftermarket ecu's.

And a 3 litre petrol? that has to be one thirty gas guzzler, 22mpg max i'd say on a 70mph run for 5 hours downhill.

nice standard power and torque figures but would it be tunable???
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Turbo-Brown
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:18 pm

If SFI means Stratified Fuel Injection (or some kind of direct injection) then I'd say it'll be very hard to run on a standalone ECU as the time frame in which you can inject fuel is just a tiny fraction of what you have with conventional injection. You also MUST run sequential injection.

You'd need the fuel pump and some very high pressure fuel lines too as the standard E30 fare will be well short of the mark.

I think the CR of direct injection engines is quite high too as they can get away with it and running leeeean because of the injection system.......for some reason :lol:
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Karan
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:22 pm

wouold be lovely conversion i think.... can u PM me how much he wants for this engine.... there are a good few very high quality supercharger kits out there for these
Andyboy
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 10:59 pm

liam012 wrote: And a 3 litre petrol? that has to be one thirty gas guzzler, 22mpg max i'd say on a 70mph run for 5 hours downhill.

nice standard power and torque figures but would it be tunable???
a.) It would do 35 mpg easy on a steady run. The 330i does. My E32 730i, powered by a prehistoric 12v M30 boat anchor averages 28.

b.) Why tune it? It's got 231 bhp, is economical and reliable. It wants leaving alone.
Karan
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:01 pm

yeh that engine is lovely. my friend has an e46 330ci sport and its such a nice engine which sounds and pulls very strongly.... and its bmw v8 smooth
Andyboy
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Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:07 pm

Fly by wire throttle not a problem - just use an E46 throttle pedal module. It fits exactly where the E30 pedal goes.
tailoutcharlie
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 12:04 am

do it...

sounds like too good an opportunity to miss by what these guys are saying...

especially if you get mates rates winkeye
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Simon13
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:27 pm

no one has done this yet, would be a cracker of a conversion imo
Toby_Unna
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:35 pm

Andyboy wrote:
liam012 wrote: And a 3 litre petrol? that has to be one thirty gas guzzler, 22mpg max i'd say on a 70mph run for 5 hours downhill.

nice standard power and torque figures but would it be tunable???
a.) It would do 35 mpg easy on a steady run. The 330i does. My E32 730i, powered by a prehistoric 12v M30 boat anchor averages 28.

b.) Why tune it? It's got 231 bhp, is economical and reliable. It wants leaving alone.
exactly. :cool:
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Morat
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:02 pm

Sounds like the new hot conversion - if you can get the engine cheap :)
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james_obryan
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 9:21 pm

I thought that after the late i.e. 2004 e46 facelift that these engines produced more power / were available in the X3? I also thought that the 530i that uses this engine comes with the better tune.... or am I totally confused
d1mmy
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Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:25 pm

Got 330i e46. One lovely car to drive. Great engine with good delivery. I would love to see one of these in an e30.

Who will be the first one :cool:
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Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:55 am

I'm not sure how feasible it would be, but keeping the entire drivetrain and making a 330iX would be extremely cool....
M3Jimbo
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Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:41 pm

cheers for the advice guys i do wanna have a crack at it now, im just a little worried bought certain things like exhuast manifold how much room, gear box! all that sort of stuff! i cant belive no one in the world has not done it but if they havent surley theres a good reason for it?? im gonna have to do a bit more exploring before i fully commit myself!

if i had all the time in the world it wouldnt be such a problem but it would need to be a 3 month project tops and i work 1 weekend in 3 so thats makes it worse!

Come on bofs i want a break down of what im up against!!!!!!!
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fozzymandeus
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Fri Aug 24, 2007 8:42 am

the reason it hasnt been done is due to cost.

The engine itself has a high value, add in standalone management and any custom work that needs doing (perhaps engine mounts or exhaust and manifold etc.) and it quickly becomes pricey. Also, no matter what route you choose, wiring will be tough!

Since you've got an opportunity to buy one at a reasonable price.... it definitely is worth further investigation.
Turbo-Brown
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Mon Aug 27, 2007 7:35 pm

So is the engine direct injection?

If it is, you need simply mind blowing resolution on the injector control!
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