conrod

I think the added work of standing the engine up far outweighs the extra work require to squeeze an exhaust manifold in there. I would think it only becomes a practical option if you are going to build an all out race/drag car. There is a pic on E30 Zone of one such conversion, I can't find it at the moment though.

I think the M42 is one of the most underrated BMW engines around, and would love to see one tuned up. A good friend of mine has turbo'd his E30 318is, and it makes really good power, quite a car. I must ask, why would you want to stand it up? It would be a lot of work to modify the sump, exhaust, engine mounts etc. I have seen it done to the sixes to give more room to fit a turbo, and BMW did it to the S42 for better packaging reasons, but a lot of work for a road car? Gear shift mechanism is probably one of the easier jobs to do, just requiring the linkage and aluminium reaction rod to be cut, twisted and welded back together.I'm sure the manifold will clear the bonnet, as you stand it up the inlet will tend to drop down, again why? Can't answer the question about gearbox fitment, as I don't know. Perhaps someone else does. cheers .

A 16 foot boat is going to be 900-1000kgs on trailer, which might be a bit much for the Bimmer. I used to tow a boat of this size with a 2 litre manual wagon, which was no problem.If your car was manual I'd say no probs, but an auto, I dunno!......

Those M3 cams you refer to are US spec. M3 cams (S52) The Euro spec. M3 (S50) cams definitely won't fit an M50 or M52.

318i master cylinder any use to you? was working fine, and you can have it if it will help?

Yeah man that's a great forum I have made a haines manuel type book to help me with my swap. Was just looking for sum local knowledge. You know what americans can be like.... There are alot of cool e30s around the net. I went for the cheap m50 as I have basically no budget but a 320i with a tired motor. Basically what you need is a 5 series sump and pickup (off an M50 engine 5 of course) You can use the M20 gearbox from what I have read, but better to get the M50 unit if you can. Engine pretty much drops straight on mounts (5 series) Then it is just detail stuff, like sorting wiring, exhaust, propshaft etc. Not a difficult conversion by any stretch. Having said that, I have driven one with a 2.5 litre M50, and it didn't feel THAT much quicker than an M20 2.5, probably better to go for an M52 2.8 ali block if you can,or even an M54 3.0,it gives you a better base to start modding from.

Yes you are right, it is not a reversed m/c setup, and has the shorter master cylinders, even with these it only just snuck in, as the original throttle pedal was still used, and the brake and clutch pedal needed to stay in line with it. The car it was fitted to had an M50, now has an M54 3.0. I am making a pedal box as we speak (type?) and will post pics in my thread in the next week or two of progress. Fairly sure I saw this car at Ruapuna during Skope Yes it was there. Has some naff looking E46 wheels on it now, and someone in their wisdom has changed that pedal box setup back to a top-hung unit. Last time I spoke to the owner he was having brake issues. (If it aint broke, don't try to fix it!............ )

What ARE you on about?!!!!!

Yes you are right, it is not a reversed m/c setup, and has the shorter master cylinders, even with these it only just snuck in, as the original throttle pedal was still used, and the brake and clutch pedal needed to stay in line with it. The car it was fitted to had an M50, now has an M54 3.0. I am making a pedal box as we speak (type?) and will post pics in my thread in the next week or two of progress.

Yeah that is one I fitted a few years ago, worked really well too.

I spent a lot of time trying to improve the brake pedal feel on a race car I built a few years back, and only managed a small improvement. A lot of it comes from the play in the linkages, and even with new bushes there is still quite a bit. If you have ever had a look under the dash, there are a lot of linkages and pivots between the brake pedal and the master cylinder, so its a case of a little bit of play in each linkage, adding up to a large amount in total. Floor mount pedal box would only really work in a road car if you were running larger than stock brakes, otherwise you would probably end up having to stand on the pedal very hard to stop, I have never tried it, but pretty sure that would be the case.

I have binned all the standard brake setup, and will be fitting a floor mounted pedal box, which I am in the process of getting made. Yes the CF intake looks pretty cool, I am in touch with someone who is fitting one to his E30 S50, as I am interested to see how much difference it makes power wise, as it is hellishly expensive.....

Ahemmm!....... S50 thank you very much! The M50 swap is so well documented on sites such as R3V it is almost pointless going through the whole scenario here. Have a look here:http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=129

Fine if you want to go to an M52 conversion, I was just referring to capacity stretches for the M20 though. And if I was going to use a regular production engine (ie non "S" 6 cylinder) I would go the M54 - alloy block, 3.0 litres and 240 horses from the start, can't be bad!

Not one to knock a Beemer, but from the race footage I saw there weren't too many at the pointy end of the field, even in the wet......... And the lap time sheet I saw reflected that too......... And yes, boost is definitely a possibilty in the future, I certainly haven't ruled that out, first thing will be get it going and sorted - the car AND my driving!...........

I have just glanced through it but a very good article, I will read it properly later. Did you know that a Euro M3 crank pretty much drops straight into an M20 block, bearing sizes all the same, same bore spacing etc. Which means that there is a fair chance an E36 crank out of say a 328i will probably fit too. Only really an advantage if you HAVE to run the M20 engine, as it will cost more to build one of these than to go and buy an M50/52 or S50 engine.

I am confused by this,why do you say it is unmanagable, do you think the motor will tear itself from its mountings and fall on the road in a smouldering heap?!!! Or do you mean YOU could not handle 300hp? Or is your car unmanagable in the wet because you have some low profile Nankangs, lowered springs giving it lots of negative cvamber and no tyre footprint, and a set of buggered shocks? And what is the dynamic of the E30 that you refer to? I am building an E30 with an S50 3.2 engine, it will have 321hp(stock) and to be honest, this will be the limiting factor as to how fast the car ultimately is on the racetrack.It should/will handle better than most of the cars running in the muscle car class, but will get dusted off on the straights, and I am under no illusions about that. It would get its ass kicked if I were to run in this class.:confused:

correct on all counts there. A friend of mine who is a fabricator has made several sets of inlet manifolds for triples for the M20, initially because they were going on to an E21 which was originally fitted with a carburettor, and had to retain the same form of induction. Another friend of mine (hell,just realised I have TWO friends!) subsequently bought one of these manifolds (c/w full house 2.7) and is in the process of fitting triple throttle bodies (weber pattern) to it. He hopes to have it ready for the 6 hour race at Puke, and so do I cos I'll be driving it! Alan down at Bavarian has a set with manifolds made up already. Carburetion has one "T" Gus........ Are these fabricated from steel? If so, these are the ones I am referring to, that my friend has made up. A lot of work, I think they were about $1500 for the set of three. I almost think there is a market for having some cast out of aluminium.Hmmmmmm......... :confused:

correct on all counts there. A friend of mine who is a fabricator has made several sets of inlet manifolds for triples for the M20, initially because they were going on to an E21 which was originally fitted with a carburettor, and had to retain the same form of induction. Another friend of mine (hell,just realised I have TWO friends!) subsequently bought one of these manifolds (c/w full house 2.7) and is in the process of fitting triple throttle bodies (weber pattern) to it. He hopes to have it ready for the 6 hour race at Puke, and so do I cos I'll be driving it!

If it is an M10 engine (pre-facelift) then it will handle pretty much anything you throw at it, given the correct setup, these blocks were the basis of the Formula One turbo engines. Don't bother with an M40 (facelift) engine, not a good choice. Slushbox and turbo- you are kidding right?! If you are looking at buying, then get a manual from the kickoff, cheaper in the long run, unless you are getting an auto for next to nothing.

If you don't have a lawyer already, give Michael Harte a call 09 3793230, he is pretty good on this sort of thing. Basically, if you don't have a lawyer the police will f$%k you over in court. If you have a good lawyer, you will get your work licence, and a minimal sentence, but the lawyer will f%#k you over with a large bill, that is how it works. I've been there many times (although not for drink driving, all speeding offences) Good luck, I know the feeling and it is probably worse than the actual reality of what will happen! :beer:

So first you insult all of the potential helpers by calling them "know it alls" (grammar and spelling corrected) and then you expect them to freely give their advice - GOOD ONE DUDE! :finger: Suggestion: seeing as this is your first post, start a new profile with a different name, wait a week or two so we won't know it is you again, then try asking the same question in a less offensive manner, you will be amazed at the difference in response! :jap:

I have an old copy of "Motor UND Sport" a German magazine that has a road test on four E21's, two 320i's, one with the overdrive box and one with close ratio, and two 323i's again one with the overdrive box and one with the close ratio part. Interestingly, the 323i was SLOWER through the gears with the close ratio box, while the 320i was FASTER (than with the overdrive box) Which only proves, that a close ratio box must be matched to the power delivery characteristics of the engine, or else you may end up spending a bunch of money to go slower. And as for the asking price of the gearbox on TM, well, I think the seller is being VERY optimistic on his asking price!

You would need to do a bit more than just transfer the number plates, but I am not going to go into details, you would need to use some imagination on this one. And I wasn't talking about getting dodgy warrants either, but I am not going to say any more on this or tell you how, obviously if you want to try something like this, it is your choice and risk. Only reason I mentioned it, as I was thinking about this for my project car, M3's can be had cheap out of Japan, and as mine will need to be road registered(even though it will be mostly used for circuit racing, tarmac rallies require a car to be road legal) that is what sparked this line of thought. On a slight tangent, about 3 years ago I had a 1990 Sierra wagon that I had fitted all Cosworth running gear into. Got testing staion warrants for years (without certification) before someone finally tweaked that the car wasn't standard, then it was just off to a garage who didn't know better for the remainder of the time I had the car!........

check out that torque figure- 450 nm! And 5000rpm is humming for a diesel. Doesn't get the juices flowing like the Z4 though..............