E30 M52 swap

Marneus · Post by **Marneus** » Fri Jul 18, 2014 11:36 pm

Evening all,

The wife is out, my daughter is in bed & I'm surfing the bay of E again.

There's a nice 4 door 320i E30 on there & as I've just been reading Jeroen's 320is thread I was wondering how much work is involved in swapping an M52 engine & box in it?
Would it be just a case of fitting the engine & wiring up? Or would everything else need upgrading? (Besides the obvious suspension, brakes etc) I understand that it would be best to get a full E36 328i Donor car but would there be any other parts I needed like M50 inlet manifold?

I'll have an easier time getting a 4 door car past my wife than a 2 door.... And just toying with Ideas lol.

I know this is an E21 forum but you're all really helpful & not set in your ways so I thought I'd ask here.

Regards

Jamie

nas80 · Post by **nas80** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 2:37 am

It's way easier to do on an e30 there's plenty of guides on the net.

Marneus · Post by **Marneus** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 7:31 am

Yeah , thanks Nas. I've spent the last 30mins reading a few while trying to convince my daughter it's not time to get up lol

polov8 · Post by **polov8** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:27 am

I Believe an E34 5 series might be a better donor due to having the correct oil sump, which seems very costly to buy seperately, as everyone knows people doing these swaps need one and price accordingly. I would imagine the wiring is more similar to the E30 as well, being a similar generation car.

nas80 · Post by **nas80** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:01 am

Tbh. I'd leave the engine in the e34 and just turbo it.

E34s are cool. E30s are a bit meh.

polov8 · Post by **polov8** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 10:30 am

nas80 wrote: E34s are cool. E30s are a bit meh.

You should go on the zone and mention this....

jimbob · Post by **jimbob** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 11:51 am

He did

nas80 · Post by **nas80** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 4:35 pm

Lol one of them accused me of being a druggy for "modifying a turd" Lmao. It's possible

TopCat · Post by **TopCat** » Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:44 pm

nas80 wrote:Lol one of them accused me of being a druggy

mind you they should know!

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Sun Jul 20, 2014 9:29 pm

lol, well if you want a drivers' car a M50-ish conversion in an E30 will do great. Problem: the 2.8 M50 would be the best one but it was not available in the E34. If you find a sump then get an E36 donor!

Marneus · Post by **Marneus** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 9:12 am

That's the plan Jeroen,
I'm just waiting for a decent 4 door, manual, M20 car to turn up for sale at a decent price. Then I'll start looking for a sump & once I've found one if them I'll get a donor E36 for the swap.
Probably take a couple of years to complete though.

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 9:49 am

Doesn't have to be too much work, you don't have to re invent the wheel so if you find a sump and an engine things might move forward pretty quickly!

Marneus · Post by **Marneus** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 5:08 pm

Just put a deposit down on a nice 4dr 320, will put some pics up on Thursday for whoever is interested

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:28 pm

We live by pics lol

uwbuurman · Post by **uwbuurman** » Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:50 pm

Lots of pics

bmwe21.net forums

E30 M52 swap

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