Worth It To Swap It??

[m32go]

I have a 92 325ic M20 with an Autotragic.

All I really wanted was a donor car with a G260 to do the swap but ended up with a 92 525i with an M50NV and a 5 speed.

Question:

Is it worth the swap to go NV?

Should I just sell it all and look for a Vanos motor and 5 speed?

Thanks!!

[Hey_You]

Pretty sure I would rather have an m10-g240 combo than a m20-auto combo...so that makes an m50nv-zf combo well worth the time to swap.

[m32go]

I get what your saying.

I was thinking of either swapping in the M50NV or just finding a G260 to mate to my M20 or just scrapping the whole M50NV thing and finding me an M50tu.

[Sputnik]

Go vanos. Otherwise you're wasting your time.

[328ijunkie]

Vanos ftw

[Jafxod]

M50NV are awesome, Ive driven and worked on a bunch of swapped e30s with them. I think they are simpler becuase you dont have to worry about vanos and trust me they pull very nicely in an e30.

[m32go]

I thought there would be a few differing opinions. This is why I'm asking. It is for my dd so I don't need anything extravagant. My M3 is for that.

[Hey_You]

Then in that case, leave your m20 an auto

[m32go]

It's going to be a 5 speed one way or the other. I have the M50NV. It came attached to the $400 car.

I just wanted to know if everyone thought it would be worth the swap.

I really have 3 options:

1: M20 with a G260 and the rest of the required swap equipment sourced from the yard.

2: M50NV with a ZF which I have.

3: Sell the M20 and the M50NV (keeping the oil pan and related equipment) and get an M50tu or possibly an M52 converted to OBD1.

When I meant not extravagant, I didn't mean useless. All my cars are toys to me. The auto is coming out.

[Wanganstyle]

or:

sell the M50NV
sell the auto trans

install ZF into your e30 with the M20 engine.
this way you do the least work, get the most efficient package with minimal parts.

ZF transmissions bolt right up to M20 engines, you will need to do some custom work on transmission X member and shifter linkage but that is not terrible.

G260's are evil grumpy bear transmissions in the e30 chassis + m20 for some weird reason. Hate going into 2nd when turning.

[iceman]

Go vanos. Otherwise you're wasting your time.

The non-vanos seems to fit better.

[Danny]

The whole car was 400? Fuck it, swap the damn thing.

[Killacortes]

Nothin wrong with non vanos love swap it dude

[AndrewBird]

I have never understood why people like vanos so much. Basically the same power, but with vanos, you have all the possible (and likely) issues that come with it.

Swap the bitch!

[rThor432]

The non-vanos seems to fit better.

You mean the 2.5" bulge on the end of the intake cam causes fitment issues? I don't understand the arguement against VANOS because of potential problems.. The E36 system is strong and simple.. I've worked on these for a long time and haven't really seen any serious issues other than maybe the internal seals wearing and bleeding off pressure.. My 200k S52 VANOS has never been touched.

I'd keep the M20 and convert to manual, since you have an M.