I'm looking to find out what people have found to be the best engine to put in a E30 that has good power/weight and most importantly is relable. I was thinking of either a M42 turbo, a big old M30 or a M52B25. What yall think?
It depends on budget really. M50B25 is a solid, reliable, great sounding engine. Occasionally a full conversion with mounts, gearbox etc comes on the e30 zone for between £500-£1000 (depending on quality of exhaust system). The M30 is a good old donk, but wouldn't bother over a M50. Personally, i would stick a M50 in it, thrash the fuck out of it and when you want more power fit some ARP studs, a MLS head gasket and a dirty great turbo.
The M50/M52 conversion can cost allot, I think the exhaust system from fritzbits is very expensive (you need the manifold too) but they're the only ones that do it off the self as far as I know... however if I was going to the trouble of fitting an M50/M52 then i'd turbo charge it which wouldn't cost much more. Big old M30 3.5 or a M2025B imho, unless you've got lots of time/money then go for an E36 engine. M52 is the 2.8
no, the m52 was 2.0. 2.5 and 2.8. i have the 2.5 aka m52b25 BMW M52 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
M52 comes in 2.0, 2.5 and 2.8 The 2.5 comes from the 323 Edit: Too slow Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
that said you cant beat the v8 4.0 in an e30. or turbocharged m50 2.5. depends on budget. an sr20 is great in any car too
could be intrested in you 325 lump mate n im only over in glos to fit my 318is, what does it come with exactly? milage etc?
Thanks for all the replys lad. My budget is none existant, i'm mean really. No job = plenty of time but no money so this really would be built on a low budget. Good thing is i can do it all myself so that'll help. I would prefer the M50 over the M52 due to the alloy block over cast iron as i know after a short while it'll get turbo'd. Are the M50's any stronger than the M50, even before a turbo is bolted on? The bad bit about the M52 is it's out of the car, has the engine loom but no ECU. It's not seezed but whoever had it before has took one of the coil packs out and all the spark plugs. This to me doesn't seem like a "good" engine" so i'm trying to get it for about £80ish. Is getting rid of the EWS as easy as getting a loom and ECU from a early M52 without EWS?
You've done a typo, the 2.5 M52 is from the 323i not the 325i as you posted, I assumed you ment you had a 2.8.
I was just looking at a conversion somebody is doing to a Lexus IS200 with a SR20 engine and was wondering again why it wouldn't be the best choice as the two engines are remarkably similar. Both run timing cains instead of belts and i know for def that the M42 can take abuse as i know of an E36 318is that was used for drifting/diffing for about 5-6 months, then turned into a stock car for over a year and now back to drifting and this on an early E36 with near 200,000 miles!!! The reason i keep thinking of the M42 is because it was part of the inital design for my E30 as i wanted to make a BMW to rival the AE86 in lightness and the S14 for power. Plenty of power can be got from the M42 with the turbo on it and i can get maps made to suit by a boy a know over here. What youz think?
The M42 isn't anywhere near as tunable, you'll also spend a fortune making it reliable. But you could get a 2.8 M52, put an M50 2.5 throttle body on it and you should net over 200 ft/lbs of torque which is plenty with scope to turbo it for mega powerz. That's why you don't see many drifters using them, if you really want to do it then go for it... it's your car at the end of the day.
It's not the throttle body that really needs changing, it's the inlet manifold. The inlet manifold on the 2.8 and the 2.3 is a smaller unit with smaller openings, where as the inlet on a 2.5 has larger openings and is quite a bit bigger.
I've had an e30 with a 2.7 (525e bottom end, 325i head) and it was fantastic, loads of torque. I've also had an e30 with an M52 (2.8) and I thought it was naff, no where near as good as the 2.7. I think if you're on a budget then you should go for an M30b35, they're cheap, powerful and there's loads of off the shelf parts available for them including turbo kits.
