E-21 4 cyl M10 Subframe Vs 6 cyl M20 subframe ???

[Jazziat]

Hello everyone,

Could you please tell me what is the different between the E-21 4cyl subframe & the 6cyl subframe.

I heared two different stories:

1- the first one stated that both are different, and to swap M20 engine in E-21, you need to change the subframe and get a 6 cyl one.
2- 2nd story stated that the engine subframe is the same, the only issue comes in the gearbox subframe which has 2 gearbox mounts in the 6 cyl and only 1 gearbox mount in the 4 cyl .....


which story is the true one ..... or maybe both of the stories are false

Kindly advice

BR
Jazziat

[nas80]

number 1 freind is correct.

number 2 is probably talking about later BMW?

[murran]

gearbox mount wise..... mine looks like this?

[Jazziat]

is this picture for a gearbox of M20 or M10 .... i assume its M10 .... i think its the same as mine (I guess) !!

[nas80]

nah its m20 but mounting is exactly the same.

[Jazziat]

i heared latley the the only difference comes to the left side of the subframe where the mount is a little bit higher than the 4 cylinder one ... and i heared that it could be modified to the 6 cylinder by putting a spacer to get the mount higher and thats it .... what do u think