M50 swap feels sluggish

[plmichal]

I ran both the auto and manual NV ECU's I had to see if there was a difference.

No performance (butt dyno) differences but I do remember one of the ECU's back firing a lot more while downshifting. No idea why.

[OrangeFiero]

Yeah i was worried this was the case but im not going to be convinced quite yet. If i had a good running m20 and my m50 swap felt the same, then i prolly wouldnt think much, because 20 hp would barely be felt, but the fact that my m20 had 200k on it and dynoed at 135hp just months ago... and the m50 feels the same if not slower in some rpm ranges. My m50 only has 130k on it too.

Another point i will add, i am running an auto tranny dme and just though about that being the issue. I had a fiero v8 swapped and i had to fool the ecu to think it was in drive not park or else it would run a predetermined fuel map.

[plmichal]

I hate to say it but a NV M50 isn't going to make a huge difference.

I know what you're feeling. I swapped a NV M50 into a previous E30 that had a strong 165k M20. I learned the hard way that it wasn't a great improvement over the M20. Maybe slightly better top end. kindasortamaybe.

My current E30 has a great running M20 and I swear it's just as quick as my M50 swapped car.

Atleast you don't have to do a timing belt anymore...
And it has a drop-in filter which is nice...

Maybe I just had a shit M50. After you fix all your issues, I hope it's not the same.

[OrangeFiero]

I just completed my m50 swap and took it out for a spin when it had a couple heat cycles just to make sure everything was settled and working. It idles goodish, my old m20 had a vacuum leak and was slightly down on compression so i havent had a good idling car to compare. It wanders maybe a 100rpm or so and air fuel ratios wander from 13.8 to 16 when hot, not sure if they should. When i drove it, it felt almost the same as my 200k m20... felt really slow in lower rpm and picked up eventually, but not any harder than my m20 did.

I checked for vacuum leaks, intake booot was torn up so i temp fixed it with tape and there doesnt seem to be any large or even medium leaks, maybe small.
I checked for weak spark and it was not exactly strong, so i double grounded all my coils. Id say it improved slightly but not enough for me to stop thinking.
I did however notice that when i unplug the maf, idle doesnt really change that much, and it revs up exactly the same... this confused me. Although i didnt drive it with the maf unpluged, it didnt seem to do much.

Any suggestions on what to check?
M50nv, gearing stayed exactly the same, same tranny and diff, so no its not gearing. New plugs too.
Pic for people who cant contribute, just so im not wasting your time, people love pics...