gmccormack

Depending on the year of the 320 concerned a 325 engine will go straight in. However some 320 will have different gearboxes, radiators, diffs, springs, ECU and wiring etc that will need to be changed to make it all work properly. The later model 320 you have, the more similar the cars are and the easier the swap is. Eg, fitting a 1983 320 with a 325 engine requires more parts to be swaped over from a 325 than say a 1990 320 which needs fewer parts from the 325. Provided you have all the parts needed it would take a professional less than a day to do the swap (8hours @ $40-$60/hour). I bought a complete but damaged 325 from Turners Damaged Car auctions, it made the swap easy as it provided all the parts I needed. It cost $950 for the wreck and I made more than that back from selling off other parts from the wreck that I didn't need and by selling my old engine and box.

If your talking about the rubber coupling on the steering shaft in the engine bay, some have normal bolts, but others have studs with splines that stop them from rotating in the coupling. Just undo the nuts and it will still come apart without resorting to the angle grider. If you need to change the studs they can be pressed or hammered out once the coupling is out of the car. The nuts should not be reused.

A 323 manifold won't bolt up to a stock 325 exhaust system. 323=3 stud whereas a 325=4 stud, but if you want to weld on a new flange you can make it fit. A 320 manifold can work on a 325, but it must be from the same year or in some cases later year depending in the age of your car. The 325's are all motronic (and came out some time in 86) but some dealers kept selling 320 with L-jet well into 87. All the L-jet manifolds only have 3 studs where they bolt onto the exhaust but the motronic cars have 4

A 323 manifold won't bolt onto a 325 exhaust, Carl and Andrew are both correct all motronic manifolds are the same, the problem is the release of the motronic system was not at the same time as the facelift. All 323 E30 are L-jet and all 325 E30 are motronic facelift or not

I don't think so. The piston skirts will slam into the crank on the down stroke

Isn't Andrews car running a taller diff ratio too......his car must have a lot more torque if it still fells faster than your down low. Is your engine just worn compared to Andys recently rebuilt one??

Exactly Andrew. Why bother building an engine out of mismatched parts. A 325 or 525 wreck will only cost around $1000 and you end up with plenty of spares

A wreck I bought with no keys had them on it. They were factory fitted and used the ignition key to unlock them, do they sound like the ones you have?? A couple of hits from a hammer had them sorted, they not very strong!!

Oil flow through the oil cooler on a 325 is thermostatically controlled (the valve is the thing under the oil filter where the pipes go off to the oil cooler) but a small amount of oil does go through even when the car is cold.

Cost and simplicity. The diffs are a control component supplied by the racing organisation. The organisers want to keep the racing close, so they give everyone the same non adjustable locked diff. One less thing to effect setup. The same applies to a raft of the components they use. Spoiler kit, gearbox, wheels, rev limiter.......

V8 supercars all run the same locked diff

Shotgun the testdrive

Engine and trans swap.......in and out through the bottom takes less than an hour if the donor car is the same spec as your engine. I would do it for nothing just to put an end to the maddness

Your still talking about a mouse.....right???

More likely to make used cars worthless, like they are in Japan.

Sounds a little hard to believe... some air bags cost more than a 10 year old car is worth

Yeah, its a facelift (88). The guys number is (09) 238 0733. I think is name is George if I remember correctly. It's at 17 Reidy Place Pukekohe.

It's a dark blue 318 4 door auto. It broke down over 2 months ago, the owner had it towed home (25km's) by putting a tow rope in one brake duct and out the other, so wrecked the valance. It turns over on the starter too freely (maybe broken cambelt) It was a fairly tidy original example, bottle caps, CD player etc, Reg on hold, WOF until mid April. He wanted $1500 for it but would probably take anything for it at this stage just to get it off his front lawn. I think $500 would probably take it away now, maybe less.

Is this what your one looks like?..... If it is I would like $60 for it. PM me or call 021 136 7007 or (09) 299 7942. Cheers Graeme.

I know of one in Pukekohe with a blown motor, interested??

I have a pump for a mid 88 and later E30. The single "in tank pump" system. Early cars (83 to around mid 85) run just one pump, outside the tank. The others (85-88) run 2 pumps, one inside and one outside the tank. Which system do you have?

Thanks, I'll PM you my account details.

Can you send my one back then, its already on its way?

Is this the one? Part number is 0 280 202 031 graeme.tif

I'm not exactly sure on the postage but to give you an idea, I sent a dashboard and some other bits to Christchurch for $30 so it wont be much.