swap or turbo?

[kid325e]

M20 + boost!

[e30s52]

sell the 89' and buy an m50..

+1 way better motor then a m20.

[StereoInstaller1]

If I had an M10 and some of the turbo goodies, I would rock that in a heartbeat.

If I were broke as hell and had a wrecked M20 car sitting around that ran well, I would swap that in.

Otherwise, in a normal world, 24V then bewst.

[new2bmw]

turbo swap

well i do have some stuff for the turbo but i think in the long run it may be too expensive to do. i have everything already here for the m20 swap along with the 5 speed swap and the disc brake swap. dont get me wrong i would love to turbo the m10 , i dont want to waste my manifold and turbos, but m20 is instant power upgrade and cheap for me. i heard the m20 has crap intake, is this true? also someone said that as far as bolt ons for power the m20 is about as good as the m10 meaning that unless you turbo the power that came stock is as good as its going to get , the only bolt on that may get you some power is a chip? true or not? everything else for power on the m20 is big money?

[xwill112x]

m30b35 turbo

[new2bmw]

would be nice

very little cash, so i need to use what i have for now. i am thinking i will swap in the m20 , the 5 speed and the rear disc conversion and then in my spare time as a project, rebuild the m10 slowly and turbo it.
where exactly is the resriction on the intake in the m20? how do you go about bypassing it so it flows better?

[Jean]

if you are low on cash then why even bother doing the swap (twice) + turbo??

is your m10 in bad mechanical condition? have you checked it's compression / leak down numbers yet?

if the m10 is fine, drive that / turbo it and rebuild or the m20 or sell it and buy the turbo stuff you need?

[new2bmw]

turbo

hey jean. i am just thinking it may be a hell of a time running turbo and tuning the m10. and i am looking at maybe 200hp on a mild setup, with a huge learning curve, on the other hand i love the m10 and would love to see it run fast. but if i look at the m20, i get like 170 hp right off the pop, and i dont know enough about it yet but i am sure getting it to 200 hp wouldnt cost as much. can you shoot me any numbers off the top of your head on cost of turbo m10 to get 200hp and a m20 to get 200 hp?
Also do you have any m10 parts left over from the build you were doing? If i can get hold of some turbo/rebuild parts and a manual swap for the 318i i would definately look at going that route.
what engine would you rather own, for its ease of boosting, reliability and price of replacement/turbo parts m10 or m20? is one more expensive to turbo than the other, or more difficult?
anyways, good to hear from ya. hope all is well
Larry

[norwood e30]

Keep it simple with an m50 cant go wrong with it. As long as you follow the directions on this form.

[new2bmw]

m50

the only thing is i have a complete 325i sitting in my driveway. if i part it out how much am i looking at? how much is a complete m50 swap, everything included, along with a 5 speed swap that is compatible? i would love to do the best thing but cost wise i dont know.

[Jean]

Larry,

I think you should re-evaluate going turbo on a budget, you need to figure probably at least 2k. What condition is your m10 in? Can you just drive it and work on the m20 on making it nice before you drop that in?

I don't have much of anything left from my m10, just the radiator, some hoses, and ignition components. Crank I tossed since you never let me know if you still wanted it lol.

Going turbo on both is going to cost money.... I still think you need to check the m10 first, and if it's shitty then pull the m20 and get that thing nice and clean with new gaskets etc and drop it in.

No point in doing it half-assed OR twice.

my 2 cents.

[new2bmw]

m20

i have a winter beater, so the 318 and 325 will just be sitting ready for me to work on all winter.
your right i think m10 turbo may be too much right now. so i have all winter to get the m20 into shape. i know you found somewhere with a rebuild kit for the m10 after you had bought all the parts separately, cant remember who it was, but you said you wished you had found the place sooner. it would have been cheaper. Do you recall the name and if they sold a kit for the m20?
i see a lot of guys who say their motor was rebuilt and only has xxx number of miles on it. what exactly is what they refer to as a rebuild? is it just replacing seals, worn parts etc or is there more to it than that? what is a compression test going to give me on the m20? if i replace seals etc, will the compression test have any bearing on the final outcome? its a 300,000 km engine, not even close to what i have seen a lot of them pushing right now, but still not young.
thanks

[funcrew]

I'd acquire a non-rotted shell, then proceed with one of the power plant options already discussed. M10 turbo would give you the best cornering due to less weight and better weight distribution.