S54 into E30 318is?

[mjc85]

I have found an S54 with 3000 miles for $9000 in australia, how much would it cost to get it fitted into my 318is, would it even fit or would alot of work have to be done ? Do you think it would be road legal?

Mitch

[Jarvis]

I bet it would physically fit. Euro S50 motors fit with a bunch of work...
But you'd probably have to look into stand-alone engine management. There's no OBDI version of the motor to convert it to, and OBDII would be a bitch to get to work in an E30.
S54 would be bad-ass in a properly set up E30. Just keep in mind that it's a fairly heavy motor. Heavier than the BMW V8s at least.

[mjc85]

Yeh they are pretty heavy but the have the power to make up for it. I understand i would prob need standalone engine management which isn't a problem. Then i would need to upgrade suspension, change to 5 stud so i can get massive discs etc.

What else would i need to upgrade?

[Jarvis]

You'll probably need a custom driveshaft, unless you find some unique combination of old BMW shafts to match up.

A new/rebuilt differential wouldn't be a bad idea, since you'll have trouble putting all that power to the ground with fitting-stock-E30-body sized tires.

And since you already mentioned suspension and brakes, I can't really think of anything else you'd need...

[Jordan]

You will need to run Motec to control the engine and double vanos. Base Motec setup is $4,000. You would have to make a custom engine harness etc.

You can buy a ready to go out of the box custom Motec setup from the BMW PTG team for around $12,000.

You will have to fabricate custom headers and downpipes. The S54 units are beautiful, but won't fit in the engine bay.

The 6spd is too large, you will have to modify the transmission tunnel.

You will have to go with a remote brake booster and mc. Will not clear the plentum.

Custom very short driveshaft.

Wide wheels with sticky tires.

Big brakes, prolly gonna want to go 5lug.

When all is over, expect to pay $25-30k.

[Drew325is]

You'd be undertaking a serious project if you do it.

Does the S54 you found come with a gear box? If not, you can add a few extra $$$ there.

You wouldn't neccessarily need 5-stud for brakes. There's a number of good brake kits (300mm +) for E30 4 stud that'll be cheaper than the 5 stud swap (I priced the 5 stud swap up about a year ago in Australia, using parts from BM Spares in Melb...$5k at least in suspension parts, E36 brakes, and new wheels and tyres). I got a Wilwood brake kit instead. 5-stud would be nice (wheel choices etc)...but wasn't economical for me.

Aftermarket EFI will be a real challenge...you'll need something high spec to handle the dual VANOS. I looked into Motec for running my M52B28, and they got concerned about the VANOS...they started talking about needing oscilloscope traces and the like. Sadly, to run the S54 as intended, you'll throw huge money at aftermarket EFI. Not all bad news though, you could probably run the VANOS in a less elegant way than OEM, and still make big HP. Just depends how fussy you are.

It'd certainly kick ass if you could make it happen! But yeah, one hell of a project. You might be better off chasing a euro S52...at the end of the day it'll be a bit cheaper (less expensive might be a better way of putting it), and still seriously quick.

Let us know what you decide on!

[Dave]

You will need to run Motec to control the engine and double vanos. Base Motec setup is $4,000. You would have to make a custom engine harness etc.

You can buy a ready to go out of the box custom Motec setup from the BMW PTG team for around $12,000.

You will have to fabricate custom headers and downpipes. The S54 units are beautiful, but won't fit in the engine bay.

The 6spd is too large, you will have to modify the transmission tunnel.

You will have to go with a remote brake booster and mc. Will not clear the plentum.

Custom very short driveshaft.

Wide wheels with sticky tires.

Big brakes, prolly gonna want to go 5lug.

When all is over, expect to pay $25-30k.

You're getting into e36 LTW range at that point. Why bother???

[Addissimo]

You will need to run Motec to control the engine and double vanos. Base Motec setup is $4,000. You would have to make a custom engine harness etc.

You can buy a ready to go out of the box custom Motec setup from the BMW PTG team for around $12,000.

You will have to fabricate custom headers and downpipes. The S54 units are beautiful, but won't fit in the engine bay.

The 6spd is too large, you will have to modify the transmission tunnel.

You will have to go with a remote brake booster and mc. Will not clear the plentum.

Custom very short driveshaft.

Wide wheels with sticky tires.

Big brakes, prolly gonna want to go 5lug.

When all is over, expect to pay $25-30k.

You're getting into e36 LTW range at that point. Why bother???

ummm... getting into 2003 m3 range... why bother? Especially when you can get close to the same power out of a us spec s52 with cams and stand alone efi.

[///meric]

If you do do it, it would be very badass to use the SMG set up too. But that would probly complicate the problem to a whole nother level