e30 Engine Type

[Bangalorre]

Yep, you got it! I'm a noobie :-) So, not a 2.7l stroker LOL.

Off to do some research on things I can do to a 2.7l that is already installed in a 1990 e30 originally produced with the m20b25 engine.

[Bangalorre]

Ok, so this is making me a little nuts. I put the car on jacks and was looking all around the engine block. On the exhaust side I don't see any numbers at all. On the intake side I see BMW 1278 921 231 86. Any thoughts?

[digger]

pull a plug and insert a borescope to look at the pistons crowns

otherwise look for the ID code to atleast find out what the block is

http://www.ge39.com/files/zeigeinfo.pdf

[Bangalorre]

I can't find any numbers that resemble the numbers from the Engine and Powerplant Identification guide. I see 8 digits stamped on the engine block on the driver side near the alternator block - 22166216 - see attached photo. Any chance it is a remanufactured engine so it would have a different set of numbers stamped on it and not match the guide?

I will get a borescope as suggested and look at a piston.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[digger]

both the m20b25 blocks i have lying around say 25 6k, where as the eta block (old casting) doesnt have anything like that ID in the same way yours does not have the ID

[zaq123]

2 216 6 216 - engine number

2 -M20
216- serial number
6- Steyr (Austria)
216- production day


is there any other numbers? Like 27 6E W or similar? If so, first two numbers would specify the displacement (27 - 2.7 or 25 - 2.5) and second number - # of cyl. Kind of like digger's number 25 6k - 2.5L, 6cyl, K - cat.converter

I can't find any numbers that resemble the numbers from the Engine and Powerplant Identification guide. I see 8 digits stamped on the engine block on the driver side near the alternator block - 22166216 - see attached photo. Any chance it is a remanufactured engine so it would have a different set of numbers stamped on it and not match the guide?

I will get a borescope as suggested and look at a piston.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Bangalorre]

As you can see from the photo no other numbers are visible. There are some numbers in the casting of the block (cast not stamped) that I listed earlier - BMW 1278 921 231 86. These are on the intake side, about 1/2" tall and just below where the head attaches. They are grouped like I show above but the 231 and 86 are spaced apart a couple inches. I'll borescope and post a photo of the piston heads once I can get that done.