Now that the honeymoon is over...

[senorcarey]

Since a lot of you have actually completed your swaps and have been driving them, what's your honest opinion of the it?

Since many of you are coming from, or spent time in M5x/S5x/turbo swaps, how does the V8 compare?

If you had to do it over, would you do so?

Not trying to beat a dead horse here, I've got my engine ripped down and was wondering if the swap was all that you hoped.

[Cletonius]

Also interested in this. I would like to swap my car and I'm curoius if it's been worthwhile for those who've done it.

[battlecattle]

Torque on demand is a wonderful thing. The only thing I wish was that power upgrades where a little cheaper. Otherwise I am completely happy with it.

[MattAvino]

Also curious. I had a dream about that orange m60 turbo that was at bimmerstock.

[tcvd]

Someone with info reply lol

[dirty30]

Wouldn't go back to a 6cyl in my opinion. Only engine I would consider swapping after this would be an LSx engine and only because of the aftermarket support. The M60 is smooth, relatively lightweight and powerful given their small displacement. Bottom line: Skip the M50 and step up to a real motor!

[senorcarey]

Does your opinion consider including a modestly turboed M5x/S5x?

[Cletonius]

What M60 did you guys use? The 3L or 4L?

[nrubenstein]

What M60 did you guys use? The 3L or 4L?

The only thing people use the M60B30 for is as a parts donor. That's a huge amount of effort for not much engine.

[Cletonius]

The only thing people use the M60B30 for is as a parts donor. That's a huge amount of effort for not much engine.

That's what I figured, just checking. You never know.

[iamsam]

Now that the honeymoon is over, we need some dang dyno graphs and quarter mile times!

(I know 1/4 mile is a bad method of measuring how "fast" a car is because it is so dependent on traction at launch, but it would still be interesting)

Also, if they exist, kill stories. yeah yeah not legal blah blah... it still happens.

[JGood]

Now that the honeymoon is over, we need some dang dyno graphs and quarter mile times!

(I know 1/4 mile is a bad method of measuring how "fast" a car is because it is so dependent on traction at launch, but it would still be interesting)

Also, if they exist, kill stories. yeah yeah not legal blah blah... it still happens.

OK, I'm bored and have nothing else to do besides drink beers, so I'll bite.

I posted a time slip in another thread. Quarter mile ET alone isn't very helpful, but trap speed absolutely is, especially combined with ET. And if you are familiar with 60' times, you can get a good idea of how fast a car is based off of ET and trap speed. You can get a lot of info from a full 1/4 mile time slip if you know how to read it, regardless of who's driving.

If you want kill stories, I can probably write up a full page. I've come across about every car you can imagine over the past 2 months / 2k miles since I did my swap. Everything from a stock prelude to a c6 vette. Today I played with a 510whp '03 Cobra on my way home from work. Real cool guy too, ended up talking to him for a bit, I think I surprised him. He still destroyed me, but he was interested in the car and was surprised how it took a little while to start putting real distance on me. I have some video of me pulling on my buddy's s52 e30. It's actually fairly close, and I think the s52 is probably a better HP/$ value. But the sound and torque makes the m60 worthwhile to me. Any gear, any RPM, it doesn't matter. It just goes.

I came from a stock auto 325e w/2.79, that's my current m60 e30 that I bought 12 years ago. Did a 5 speed swap, chip, then a 3.25lsd. Got it to a 16.3@87. Then did the m50 swap, s50 cams, software, g260, 3.73, ended up with a 14.4@95. Then swapped in the m60, got a 13.6@103. My other e30, an 87 325is ran a 15.4 stock. Took 300lbs out of it, threw on a set of r-comps, and ran a 14.6@92. It was my road race car so it never got any power upgrades, I was building it for spece30. My buddy's s52 e34 ran a 13.9@100. Another friend's s52 e30 ran a 14.4@101. Obviously the e30 was faster on the highway, but he couldn't drive for shit, so he spun through 1st and 2nd. But the trap speed tells all... same ET as my m50 e30 but 6 MPH faster.

So, I have all kinds of experience with various e30 swaps. Many of my friends within 5 miles of me have all kinds of BMW's. In the past year, we've had: A cammed m20 e30, 3 s52 e30's, an s52 e34, e38 740i, e39 M5, e34 M5, e36 M3's, e36 325i's, e36 328i's, e36 305ci sbc, m52 318ti, 500+hp e90 335, the list goes on. If you want to see some video about how the m60 stacks up to any of them, just ask. I'll make it happen, if it hasn't already.

[Jean]

m60/m62 no doubt, the only other engine I would even consider over it (from bmw that is) is s54 or of course the Vx m5 engines.
if you can boost, then inline 6s can be faster still for less $, but for those of us who live in CA / smog states v8 is the way to go N/A.

imho

[Jonsku]

Honeymoon has been over for me for couple of years now, so the biggest "wow" has disappeared. Nevertheless, the V8 still makes me smile every time I get the cabrio on the road on a beautiful, sunny day :)


I had previously M30 engine in it, drove for ~7500km but then decided to go for "something more exotic" (at that time there weren't many V8 swaps around).
Now I've driven slightly over 10 000 km with the V8, and haven't regretted a second that I went this way. Power, torque, sound, "wow-factor" - they all add up to a "perfect power plant" for my E30 cabrio.

What comes to other engines;
-I'd say M30 has slightly better low-range torque (from idle to 1500rpm) than M6x, but its main "problem" is that after 2000...3000rpm the power disappears. S38 would of course "fix" that problem, next summer there should be one E30 S38 with which we can compare performance etc.. S38 lacks the looks and sound, though.

-M5x, they don't have "any" power under 4000rpm. Yes they are light (M52 / M54), economical, and make decent power and gas mileage (not a valid point in "summer / hobby car"), but still they are something totally different than M6x. Maybe they would be ok with forced induction, though that wouldn't help the low-rpm torque.

-M7x, more "wow", but the technology is old-fashioned and they don't provide too much power / torque over M6x. Maybe with properly built engine and M73 heads (with hydraulic lifters etc..) it would be a nice swap. One E30 V12 is under construction nearby, will report how it compares when we get it ready.


If I would upgrade my cabrio / engine, I'd probably go for built M60. 4.6 block with S62 crank, worked M60B40 heads and cams => should result somewhere around 375...400hp and 450..500Nm :)

S62 would be one possibility as well, though very expensive and would face some legal issues here in Finland..

[iamsam]

very good info from Jgood and Jonsku.

Jgood, it would be interesting to see how your M60 E30 stacks up to other contemporary fast cars.


i want to get my M60 in my E28 soooo bad.....