Noob as hell questions, putting my flame suit on.

[iamsam]

Swap in a real motor ....

I would also like to point out that a "real motor" costs about 10x more than an M60. Of course that may change w/ the growing following for the M60...

[lolcantturn]

to the OP:

If you have fab skills, why would you buy someone else's fabbed motor mounts? Also, isn't the M60 lighter than the S52? It's all aluminum...

And Jean, while I agree with you, it does seem like a quick and angry response. I also enjoy the information "density" of this subforum, and the useless drivel that goes on in other subforums does get MY panties in a bunch, that's for sure.

to the OP again, don't get into a pissing contest w/ a moderator. Just do the research, read up until your eyes hurt, and then pick up an M60B40 and get to it. imho, the M60 sounds heavenly, and that coupled w/ the light weight and MORE power and torque than an S52, AND the fact that they cost about 1/10th of an S52, I would say why the hell not??

While I trust myself and my friend's welding skills to fab up the exhaust on my car, selector rod, oil pan (cracked the E34 one, welded it up, held up awesome), and brake rod shortening on a 944 booster for a 24V swap, these are all crucial welds to a swap that don't really require much mathematics, just measure, cut, and weld. I don't have the engineering required for angling needed for motor arms, well, I do, but I wouldn't mind paying someone else to go through the trouble for me :D But now you're thinking "you don't want to use your brain power to make motor arms, how the hell are you going to do the brake booster?" I'll just save the time I would use making the motor arms and put that instead towards figuring out the booster situation ;) Don't have MUCH time to do the swap as the car is my DD (not necessarily rushing it) but if I can cut the time down and have someone else make me motor arms, why not
Additionally these are the only questions I have really. I've been reading up on the brake booster situation and exhaust of the M60 swap which really seems like the only "tricky" part.

[Jean]

I'm in class right now so I can't thank everyone else for their contribution, but don't get your waffleswaffleswaffleswaffleswaffles in a knot. I know this forum is rather dense in info but there are still a bit of jumbled threads between V8 swap and M30 and other swaps forum which makes it a little harder to search.

The problem is, you are asking things you should not even have to ask if you are capable of doing swaps as you've said before. 90% of what you've asked is BASIC INFO you don't even have to search for.

Here we go with the OMG WHICH MOTOR IS BETTER but, as far as debating between an S52 and an M60, which would be most preferable in terms of power, reliablity, MPG, and fun?

Power/mpg is basic common info available on any BMW/car site - did you really look and not find anything?

Reliability is best determined by reading about the cars that these engines came in (such as 540/740/840) on a non E30 forum. Have you not seen any posts on the 540/740 cooling system/valley pan/intake manifold gaskets/oil pan bolts/early nikasil/valve cover gasket leaking oil and shorting ignition coils/spark plugs issues at all? Really?

Fun - well, what is your defintion of fun? If you are comparing an I6 with a V8 with more hp and torque per dollar, then I would imagine the latter would be more FUN to most people? That's of course once you cover all the areas that are needed to be covered to make the SAID swap reliable?

I have (among a few others as well) provided info (and pictures) showing the common issues AND weight of various engines on the same scale, and many pictures of areas that one would want to at LEAST inspect to save yourself the trouble with things leaking or breaking.

Why should we spoon feed you when you are not even bothering to look for simple things and then formulate better questions? Waste of time.

[Jean]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=184809


found it

Still want to know the reliablity aspects of an M60...24V motors are basically bulletproof unless you really suck at life. Ive had zero mechanical problems at all owning 3 or some motors..2 of them from the junkyard. Like i said I wouldnt be doing a HG replacement but I'd replace all the upper gaskets and sensors.

That's good, you did a couple of junkyard swaps and they've been reliable for you. Have you done compression and leakdown tests, are they working in 100% top working order or are they just running w/o any visual / glaring problems?

To say they are bulleproof isn't 100% correct either, they REQUIRE less maintanance than a V8, it's a simple FACT. Think about it - you have TWO heads and many more gaskets/seals and timing guides etc on the V8 than a I6. That alone should tell you that a V8 will most likely REQUIRE more attention from someone who is considering to swap one in. Spend some time at a local BMW shop and you'll see many cars with Inline6 engines come in for cooling system/wp/timing/vanos/hg/gasket issues, just like V8 cars do.
(I've taken maybe 4 bmw inline 4-6 engines apart and 3 m60/m62/m62tu's down to the bare block now myself).

If all you want to do is grab a v8 from a junk yard and swap it in after replacing valve cover gaskets, go for it. But don't be ignorant to the fact that this is a half-assed way of doing a swap , V8 or 24v and you've ignored to SEARCH/READ anything on them to this point.