technical questions...what motor do i have?

[sk8freakrt]

Okay, my cousin owns a wrecker/towing service and also has an impound lot. Long story short, he towed in a wrecked e36 and the customer had no insurance. They abandoned the car so he's selling it to me for $200. Deal of the century right? Well the more research I do, the worse it gets. Not sure on the year yet but its a convertible but badged 323i. Which makes me think its a pre-98 m52b25. That's without the TU. SO.....if I'm correct on that its a single vanos, obd1? Or obd2? And my real question is...should I sell this motor on eBay to fund buying an easier/more suitable motor? I.e. m50b25? And if I do, would I be able to keep the wiring harness or would I need to get the new motors witing harness?

[brent5631]

It's an m52b25 which is just like an m50 but is obd2. You would need a new harness to go to obd1.

[sk8freakrt]

Okay, I'll read up on that conversion. However would it be better to just sell it and get the m50? The m52b25 is only 170hp, could I fund one the 190ish HP motors by selling this one or would most people say the 170 is satisfactory? Im not looking for a track monster just a nice upgrade from my puny stock m20

[Poorboyz]

You can use a vin check or realoem to find out what the car itself is by using the vin number. Now if the car has had an engine swap or somewhere along the cars life another engine was put in it for whatever reason you are going to look at block codes and look at vin sticker in the back of the head between the head and firewall. The block code is on the drivers side on the bottom of the block by where the block meets the oil pan.

If you need any help identifying them I can help you. If you want to use a vin checker PM me. Its free but I just don't want to post it here.

GL

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

[sk8freakrt]

Alright, I'm pretty certain it's a pre98 323i. I don't have the car in my possession just yet, I went and looked at it last week and I should have it today or tomorrow. Really my main concern was I didn't want to have to mess with the dual vanos crap. I don't have a ton of money to throw at this swap so I don't want to have to do much past the 525 pan and pickup/dipstick stuff.

[Kevinl]

not a worth while swap at all you gain 0 hp and 15lb ft of torque

[moreoff]

part it out

[Cyrix2k]

Okay, I'll read up on that conversion. However would it be better to just sell it and get the m50? The m52b25 is only 170hp, could I fund one the 190ish HP motors by selling this one or would most people say the 170 is satisfactory? Im not looking for a track monster just a nice upgrade from my puny stock m20

170 hp because the 323i was restricted. It will be 190+ hp on your e30 provided you don't use the 323i exhaust. It is functionally identical to an M50TU.

[10Toes]

not a worth while swap at all you gain 0 hp and 15lb ft of torque

And better gas mileage, reliability, easier/less maintenance, car value.....

[10Toes]

Alright, I'm pretty certain it's a pre98 323i. I don't have the car in my possession just yet, I went and looked at it last week and I should have it today or tomorrow. Really my main concern was I didn't want to have to mess with the dual vanos crap. I don't have a ton of money to throw at this swap so I don't want to have to do much past the 525 pan and pickup/dipstick stuff.

It is only a single vanos the pretty much the same engine as a M50 VANOS with just a more restrictive intake manifold and OBDII. If you switch those parts they will be the same.

[sk8freakrt]

So what youre saying is, once i do the OBDII-OBDI swap, it should be around 190 hp just like the m50? Also this car in particular had aftermarket exhaust that appeared (from what i could see, it was in tall grass when i went and looked at it, and i STILL dont have the car just yet, waiting on my cousin to bring it up) to have a very nice exhaust on it. The website on the DOHC swap wiki page for the OBD1 conversion was down, i managed to find it thru cached web pages but its for a 3.2litre m3 motor, same deal tho, correct? Sorry for having so many questions but im really trying to have all my ducks in a row before i dive into this. Once i start i dont wanna have to do a shit ton of research in the middle of the swap. i wanna know what im getting into from start to end before i even start.

EDIT:
And to kevin, how do you get a 0hp gain? m20's pushed out 120 from the factory, my 87 is probably pushing 100 on a GOOD day. 170 is still quite a jump, and actually it makes the same torque as an m20 give or take 5 ft lbs. so idk where your numbers are coming from.

[IMSARS69]

BMW Engine and Powerplant Identification Codes

Here's a very comprehensive site w/ an embedded PDF of pretty much everything you'd ever wanna know about BMW Engine and Powerplant Identification Codes... i.e. the 'real' Block Codes not just the Engine Codes what everybody pretty much knows; e.g. M50, S50, etc.

http://www.rtsauto.com/bmw-engine-and-powerplant-identification-codes/

Hope this helps...