mincePy

Cheers Brent! Cam is something I need to decide on, but was leaning toward stock B35 cam.. I'll look at CP. Are the ones in your picture for your M88? Don't think I have a need for old ones.

For context - the M90 engine is a 3453cc variant of the M30 from the late 70's to early 80's with the shorter stroke (84mm) and wider bore (93.4mm) than the standard M30. Trying to ignore what’s going on with gas prices right now … I have my M90 engine in at the machine shop being rebuilt. The cylinders are worn to about 93.9mm, and the head is cracked (original M90 head). I already have a B35 head that has tested well, so I am considering going to 94mm bore with the B35 head (if I can track down intake, TBs, crank balancer etc.). I’ve seen plenty of folks talk about doing this – boring the M90 to 94mm, using VW forged pistons or JE customs. Slapping on the B35 head will lower compression if you don’t go custom pistons – I’ve read compression drops from 9.3:1 to anywhere between 9.0:1 – 7.5:1 ish. I’m fairly open but it does seem that using the B35 head, with the larger valves and better flow, is a good option granted I get custom pistons (I want to keep this NA so not interested in turbo). Even though this has been done many times before, I can’t really find how folks are determining the shape and/or compression height of what customs pistons should be so that compression isn’t lowered too much. Paul Burke used to make pistons for this exact application, but I understand he’s long out of the game now. Then again – would I even notice the compression drop, especially with the overbore? Interested in people’s thoughts…

Hey team - sorry for the lax response. I actually moved to London last August (2019), now held up here until about December 2020 so the car is in storage. I didn't end up parting much at all, and now I'm thinking of a complete reversal and returning it to stock - nothing special just a good tidy up.

Hey man - sorry for the super slow reply! I don't think I need the loom though I haven't yet pulled out the dash nor wired up my project sorry - happy to come back to you when I have but might be a while!

I bought a 728i version E23 about a month ago to serve as my parts car for my build (link below). There's plenty off this car I won't be using so if anyone is after E23 parts let me know. Car is currently running and in reasonable condition given the age. Last 7 digits of VIN are 4476296.

That was the original thinking (the engine I have now is from an E32 735i) though I'm not getting much luck finding a second hand one..

Seems an M30B35 is a bit tricky to come by these days - that, plus the availability of parts in future, is pushing me toward the M54 option.

True. I suppose I'm thinking simplicity - I already have everything ready for an M30 - plus I really don't know what S50's go for these days or how easy they are to obtain. Any ideas?

Cheers! Sure will - it's here already

Yeah I went in circles with the seats too! Call me boring but I like the style of the non-racing leather seats. For me this car is to be a nice cruiser - maybe a little pep - but fundamentally a cruiser. Nice one - I'll let you know about the M30, highly likely to scrap it just not sure to what extent yet. What are your Frankenstein M30s? I'm pretty keen to keep the motor in the BMW family. I've considered all sorts - 1JZ, an LS - but for this car it'd just bother me. I think my dream is an S38, or S50. But, not really practical cost wise nor cruising engines me thinks ?.

I picked up an E23 shell, prepped for paint, a couple of years ago along with everything but seats and a front windscreen. It promptly sat in the garage for about a year while I sorted out life! Moved a couple of times, bought our first home and now my attention is really on the project. First on the list was to ship it off to get the interior, underneath and engine bay painted ahead of putting it back together. I've gone for a Calypsorot Metallic colour throughout. It looks quite different in the dark of the shop / garage versus in the direct sunlight: My restoration plan is ground-up - so while it was in the shop I started refurbishing what I could of the suspension and sub-frames (I had a spare rear laying around). My primary goal is to get the car back on the road so while I'm likely to change a bit in future to reduce the ride height, I've stuck with the stock suspension for now, with the exception of new Bilstein B6 shock absorbers - which should handle any future ride drop. I have both a 4-speed and Getrag 5-speed manual gearbox for an M30 to run with. Sadly I just stripped the motor to reveal chronic rust in the block water jackets and around the cylinders. The head is quite 'out of shape' around water holes too. It doesn't look salvageable so I'm now going through the roller coaster question of - what engine do I eventually put in? I don't like the tan interior it came with, and nor do I have seats - so I've found an anthracite interior sitting at a wrecker in Melbourne. The hard part is swallowing the shipping cost ?. I've also ordered some samples from www.stockinteriors.com who do a new carpet set for the car. So - that's where I'm at now.

Hi all, I'm Josh from Auckland - a qualified auto sparky by trade. Strangely my love for BMW's really stemmed from working on them before anything else - though that's not to say it's the only reason now. I've embarked on a project to restore a 1979 E23 733i that I picked up a couple years ago from a chap who blew the motor up and stripped it right down to prep for paintwork, then realised he had too many projects on. The E23 is well on it's way now but plenty more to do! Cheers Josh