Why do people pick the E30 M3 to do an engine swap?

[Magnus]

merged threads.

[GMW-CSL]

Here's a reason not mentioned so far and one I stumbled onto before almost doing my project on a very nice garden variety E30. You can sell all of the highly sought after M3 drive train and other parts for almost enough to cover your original purchase price if you get a good buy on the car in the first place. The standard E30 parts are worth much, much less, i.e. M3 engine, several thousand, 325 engine, several hundred. This won't give any consolation to the purists among you and I respect your feelings I just don't share them.

[PPPP]

Originally posted by GMW-CSL
Here's a reason not mentioned so far and one I stumbled onto before almost doing my project on a very nice garden variety E30. You can sell all of the highly sought after M3 drive train and other parts for almost enough to cover your original purchase price if you get a good buy on the car in the first place. The standard E30 parts are worth much, much less, i.e. M3 engine, several thousand, 325 engine, several hundred. This won't give any consolation to the purists among you and I respect your feelings I just don't share them.

OK, I had not taken this into account - but acknowledge especially if the replacement parts are cheaper to maintain, and all in all it is a budget project to get into the clothes of an e30 M3.

To imitate is a compliment I suppose

[Dtm1992#43]

Re: Why do people pick the E30 M3 to do an engine swap?

Originally posted by motoyen
It shows lack of respect to the original creators of the M3. If you truly appreciate the M3, you should appreciate how the engineers designed it.

how about coilovers, lowering kits, different wheels, race seats, rollcages, big brake kits, non e30 paintwork? then that would also be showing lack of respect to the original creators...

[Reelizmpro]

I don't think so, like i said before, those things aren't on the same scale as swapping engines/drivetrains, etc etc. and besides, BMW race teams themselves used coil overs, race seats etc. Apples and oranges in my opinion.

[Dtm1992#43]

Originally posted by Reelizmpro
I don't think so, like i said before, those things aren't on the same scale as swapping engines/drivetrains, etc etc. and besides, BMW race teams themselves used coil overs, race seats etc. Apples and oranges in my opinion.

bmw race cars were totally different from the road m3...so they can't really be compared as well in my opinion.


for me any bmw engine is ok..as long as it has the same or more power than the s14..

[liquidtension]

do some of you guys have a deathwish ? posting that kind of stuff in here..


j/k i dont hate on anybody do whatever you like.. personally i wish the m3 had a bigger badder engine yeah i want to floor it and have a hard time keeping it going in a straight line so what! but anyways i love the s14 and it compliments the car very well certainly gives the m3 its true "feel" if we had tracks here i wouldnt change a single oem nut ! but i drive it in the city and torque is what makes fun so i guess ill have to do some modding to the s14 nothing drastic im not out to beat other bmw's i meet on the highways i just want to have fun by myself on the way home late at night no cars or people around so i could use more response and torque downlow

[Bennetts22]

Iam happy with my 2.5. always wish for more but the car is balanced and handels the smallest turns with ease. so now I will focus on the drivetrain now!!

[OZM3]

If people never fiddled with the original, there would be no M3. Some like history. Some like the future.

[GMW-CSL]

If no one ever fiddled with the AC ACE there would be no AC Cobra. I like and respect history and I like fiddleing with high torque in a lightweight chassis. There are plenty of E30 M3s for both.

[WBSAK03]

So, who here would take out the 260 from an original A/C Cobra and drop in a 500 hp 351? What, nobody? C'mon, all that HP!!!!! It would be a much better car, right?

The answer is, no, it would not. Sure, it would be faster, sound better and win more drag races. But, as we all know, the car would loose it's spirit the moment it lost that 260.

The original A/C Cobra and E30 M3 are both special cars and both should be enjoyed as their respective manufacurers intended..

[Harty]

Hmmmmmm.

Putting a heavier engine in the front is never going to win my adoration but I guess people have paid their cash for their car so it's up to them. I'd never swop an S14 out of a car. No way, never but there will always be plenty who will.

Part of the reason I love my M3's so much is for their unwavering willingness to dive into a corner. I love them for their 'up for it' nature and the amazing levels of steering feedback. Anything that corrupts that character in such a fundamental way is not for me. Straightline speed doesn't float my boat as well as a car that feels like it is 'my friend' does.

The fact the S14 is (putting weight and handling to one side now) such a revvy little blighter only adds to this feeling of the car being your willing partner in fun. A six potter is very unlikely to ever match the S14 for sheer grins per rpm. They're never going to react so readily to a blip of the throttle. They'll give you a bigger push in the back but I'm not a drag strip racer so that's not my buzz.

So I accept people will do it but I don't (for the life of me) understand why. The e30 M3 is one of the legendary BMW's. It's like it is for a reason.

[lefty]

I'm dong it for $$$ to hp ratio. I bought a rolling chassis with a race suspension and cage already installed. No motor, transmission or differential in the car. So in my situation I go buy a 2.5 litre S14 a dog leg trannie, driveshaft, radiator and a 4.10 limited slip for somewhere well above $8k. Or an S50, trans, radiator, diff and driveshaft for $3-4K and have a modern motor with more hp. As well in its duty as a race car all future motor replacements are around $2k not $5-6k. The weight difference is only about 45 lbs which has already been stripped out of the car. As well it is a full race suspension with coilovers and DA shocks so I can tune any handling problems out. More power and torque for half the price, why not?

[paintpro21]

i bought my m3 because it had an s14 but i would have bought a car with the swap done if and only if it was a really good deal. both versions interest me but ive had an e36 m3 before and i wanted something different not just a body kit. because the e36 m3 will out handle our cars and they can be had for cheap. so if your getting this car then even with a ton of other mods like wheels and suspension, you still got it because of that high reving little motor. shit damn near every car with a corvette motor in it would be the best option. I know i didn't pick the e30 m3 to get a bang for the bunk car.

and if i ever did a swap i would not do it on a perfectly good m3. the motor would have to be old and the rebuild would be the same cost as a swap or find some other rolling chassis that needs an engine. hell thats what my car was. no engine tranny or interior, but it has an s14 again cecotto motor even

[rallyguy]

Since I am "one of those" guys who is doing an engine swap on an E30 M3 I thought my opinion, or at least reasoning for why I am doing it might count for something.

Background, I bought my second M3 (still owning the fist one) because I really liked the way they handled. The motor never really turned me on, but I figured with two of them one would soon have a 2.5L. Much to my dismay however, the motor on the new one spun a rod bearing the day I drove it home. Long story short, I renegotiated with a "surprised" seller, but was still out more money then expected on the purchase.

Decision point:

Option 1: I bought both cars to have fun in, not show. I like that, even in Cali, you dont see three of these on your way to work every day. I will also point out that neither car is a show car. So, as I dont do anything half assed, I priced out a GOOD 2.5L rebuild. Even with my dad doing all of the machine work for me I was looking at about $6k in parts plus around $500 in shipping the finished product. This still didnt address the trans which had 145k miles on it, and I would have wanted the dogleg anyway. So, I was really looking at about $8k, a fair amount of work and no used parts to sell. Plus, I then have a slightly more rare M3, but there are still plenty 2.5L M3's out there.

Option two. Buy a pretty reliable S54 motor and uber cool SMGII trans for an undisclosed VERY good price (already purchased) and sell off the S14 motor and trans (see my postings in the FS section). This whole process should cost me less than 2k to get started and probably 4-5k to completion. It means a lot more work for me, but well over 300hp and about half the cost, no need for race gas, and long term reliability. As for weight difference, the S54 motor is only 94 lbs heavier than an S14. So, ditch the AC compressor, cruise control, ABS module and a few other items and you are really close to a 50lbs net difference. To rebalence the car I am considering a ATL well cell in the trunk (though I am not a fan of pendulum weight!).

So, there you have it, cost, reliability, power, oh and the coolness factor of an SMGII in an E30 M3 is pretty much unbeatable when it comes to mods!! Why not buy an E46 M3.... go ahead and tell me how many of them you see on your way to work tomorrow.