bmwe21.net forums

Hello to everyone on this forum; and with that, I would like to say I am glad to be a new member to this forum. I would also like to thank everyone in advance for their help and input.

Anyways, I recently purchased a 1980 320i 5-speed with 224,XXX miles on it. Seen it's purchase, I have been searching for another engine to rebuild and install. I've scoured several websites trying to answer my question, I'm wondering if a engine from a 1984 318i fit my in my e21. I do know that they are the same engine number (m10b18), but is the bell housing different between the e21 m10 versus the e30 m10?? I've read that the motors are exactly the same, the main difference being that a new m10 has fuel injection versus being mechanically injected. My other question is regarding the injection system itself... can one just switch the ports to be mechanically injected versus electronic? I know this is possible on older watercooled vw engines, but I've never done it on m10 engines (or any bmw engine for that matter).

My thought was to buy another engine (and depending on the condition) and just swap it in over a weekend. If not, I will most likely be posting a thread for my car for your viewing pleasure.

Thanks to everyone for their inputs.

why not just swap over to full efi versus mechanical injection? just about completed my swap over from a 320/6 carb to 323i with efi off an e30.... swap was relatively easy if you are comfortable with soldering a couple of wires and making a hole in the bulkhead to install the ecu inside the car...

will definitely be more hassle free in the long run and more reliable apart from probably actually running better under efi vs mechanical injection....

I had thought about switching to full efi, and I easily could have as the guy that I bought the motor from had a full harness that he was going to give with te purchase of the motor... I ended up not taking everything he had, mainly so I wouldn't have to deal with more stuff; and because I decided to switch to a carb set up. Upon dismantling the engine I bought from him, I found out that the injectors are mounted on the intake manifold itself versus being screwed into the head. Today I finished disassembling the entire motor and organized it to be ready to take to the machine shop. I'll post pictures in another thread of engine reassembly and other stuff.