M52 donor car: 328 vs 528, manual vs auto

[übersteuern]

(Sorry if this has already been answered, I did try searching though)

I have been offered a 1999 528i motor for cheap, which has got me thinking evil 24v thoughts! (by the way, my Aussie car is RHD)
1) are there any differences between the 328i and 528i motors that would make an E30 swap easier/harder?
2) M52 is for an auto, does this make things harder considering I'll be bolting it up to the getrag 260 (eg will I have the wrong ECU for a manual etc?)

Thanks.

[Adrian_Visser]

Yes, the '99 528i has an m52tu which runs dual VANOS. If you have a complete car and can snag all the EWS bits it isn't too bad as you can just stick with OBDII.Of course you could always run it with the exhaust VANOS disabled but you'd be missing out on some power. What year is the 328?

Read Hoveringuy's thread:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=116803&highlight=m54+foolishness+begin

He successfully converted an m54 which also runs dual VANOS to OBDI and kept the dual VANOS working, it can be done.