"new" E30

[BlueM60]

Hi guys I just picked up a project car since the E34 is my daily driver and runs so well it never needs anything.The E30 is an 89' 325i 2 door. Its got 150.000 and has a broken t-belt. Ill have to put a head on it at least. The body and int are perfect. Hard to beat for $250. What do you guys think are the best ideas for this car motor wise? Get a new head and put it back togehter? (Bottom end is fine) Go with a new M20, s50 swap etc? This will be a corner carver and maybe a track car. Thanks in advance for the ideas.

-Ben

[winfred]

check out the head as it may only need some valves, look at the towers where the rocker shafts go through if theres no broken spots the head can be built with with some new valves and maybe some rockers if any are broken and be fine

[kyleN20]

its trash, give it to me, ill only charge you 50 to take it off yer hands:)

[Karl]

The e30 has gotten to be the standard project car, so there's lots of ideas and go fast parts. Since the bottom end of the engine is OK, you don't want to mess with it now but when the time comes Pete McHenry has worked out several combinations of cranks/rods/pistons that give serious power increase. He's the mix and match guru for M20 engines.

In the mean time, shorter springs, wider wheels, sway bars for cornering.

[BlueM60]

I actually just got done pulling the head. ALL rocker shafts for the intake valves are broken. 4 exhaust valves bent. Amazingly, the pistons look fine, not even a scratch. Doesnt appear to have a bent rod either.

-Ben

[ILoveMPower]

Sounds like an awesome candidate for a euro s50 swap.

Of course, it wouldn't be that fast... ;)

[SC David]

Really fun cars to drive. You'll love it once it's up and running.

[Kalevera]

I really like my iX. An extremely cool little car with lots of pep and good driveability. Didn't very much enjoy it when I bought it and had to do about a months worth of work to get it back on the road.

Here's a pic (not my particular car, but mine's an '89 diamond black on black four door 5 speed):

http://www.bimmer.info/~lowell/2e75.jpg

Ben, you might want to dump the M20 altogether. M50s are cheap and the swap is inexpensive. I assume it has a G260 and not an auto.

http://www.e30m50.com/_e30.htm

Mark lives in the vicinity and I've seen his car.

Either way -- nice choice :)

best, whit

[Kobe Diesel]

Check out r3vlimited.com, it's a dedicated E30 forum and has lots of info on engine strokers, swaps, suspension, etc.
The only problem with that site is the maturity level.

[Andrem5]

Hi guys I just picked up a project car since the E34 is my daily driver and runs so well it never needs anything.The E30 is an 89' 325i 2 door. Its got 150.000 and has a broken t-belt. Ill have to put a head on it at least. The body and int are perfect. Hard to beat for $250. What do you guys think are the best ideas for this car motor wise? Get a new head and put it back togehter? (Bottom end is fine) Go with a new M20, s50 swap etc? This will be a corner carver and maybe a track car. Thanks in advance for the ideas.

-Ben
This only depends on your tolerance for $$ pain, your intentions for the car and your time horizon. Rebuilding the head itself would cost more than a used M20 while M50 swaps have become routine.

[BlueM60]

Thanks again for all the replies, guys. I think Im just going to replace the busted rockers and throw the motor back together. We have a parts car out back with an M20 I can get all the needed head parts from. It doesnt appear there is a bent rod at this point, and the engine spins smoothly while the head is off. Im wondering if I should just go find a used block or trust The crank/ rods werent damaged when the valves contacted. Lowell, Whit, I know you guys know these motors better then anyone here, I know there very strong too, any opinions?

-Ben

[Kalevera]

Ben, I'm no expert on the M20, or any BMW/motor, for that matter. Haven't been doing this long enough to call myself anything more than a dilettante.

Anyway, the M20 is a great engine for what it is. See tons of them with lots of miles, we even have an ETA loaner car (that, for some reason, people tend to really like). Up here in Ohio, it seems like the body dies before the motor does. Cheap and easy to find parts for/work on. I'll wager that it was a feat to get such good power out of such small and simple technology when these things were new (168hp out of a 2.5l? The AMC 6 is a 4.2l with worse gas mileage and had roughly comparable numbers during M20 production years). Stupid people just neglect the timing belts. Otherwise, with some care, you can get serious horsepower out of the thing, or an extremely long service life. I still like the M30 more, though.

best, whit

[wingman]

You're lucky not to smash some pistons! I've busted a belt on an early Subaru (thought I was Colin McRae!!!)Au$1200 and that was one side of a boxer 4 cylinder!!! If the rest of the car is sweet get the M20 up and running. The M20 in the E30 is a blast and heaps cheaper than transplanting an M50 (which never came in the E30) and should retain some resale when you get bored.

[Rustam]

Hi guys I just picked up a project car since the E34 is my daily driver and runs so well it never needs anything.The E30 is an 89' 325i 2 door. Its got 150.000 and has a broken t-belt. Ill have to put a head on it at least. The body and int are perfect. Hard to beat for $250. What do you guys think are the best ideas for this car motor wise? Get a new head and put it back togehter? (Bottom end is fine) Go with a new M20, s50 swap etc? This will be a corner carver and maybe a track car. Thanks in advance for the ideas.

-Ben

I think best thing to do is take apart existing head if the valves are bent and put it back together with good parts - saving $ for later. That's what I would do. I would also swap in manual transmission with smaller rate rear end if this is not the case at hand...

You may want to look into my website for a tool to take apart the head on your own if you consider DIY.

Can you do big favor for me by taking pictures of throttle body setup on your engine? I am particularly concerned with the hook up to the accelerator cable, the throttle body arm, and general way of things around there since I want to reorder to same design for my m30...