Hey dudes.
Throwing this out there to see what y'all think. I've done some reading and found some good resources, but I'm curious if R3V has anything else to add...
I am excite. An opportunity has come up for me to trade my old E36 (with rough interior, tranny issues and 250k miles) for an M20B25 motor, including the swap labor.
I currently have a chipped, but otherwise stock, original ETA engine in the '86 ETA sedan chassis that I bought about six months ago. The ETA is slow and guzzles gas, but is fun nonetheless.
However, I purchased it at time that I really just needed some wheels and I didn't have time to wait for a nice 325i.
The 'new' i motor has less miles, by a good chunk, and it's a solid bottom end with a rebuilt head. It'll also have a TRM chip, and we may put a 272 cam in there too.
Anyway, my mind is made up, gonna do it. It'll be a solid upgrade (granted, without M/$5x power), and the 3.73 lsd from a 325i is already bolted in. And it should sound that much better with the custom exhaust that's on the car now.
So here's my question/request: I'll be helping with the swap, the mechanic is a bud of mine. What should I put on my "while we're in there, might as well do this too" list?
I plan to fit new air hoses (water hoses are pretty new); plan to Rusto paint the engine bay (some rust at the firewall), plan to clean up the PS system, plan to clean up the various wiring stuffs, plan to go over all the grounds (just ordered the beefed up main ground wire set that one of the guys here produces)..,
I'll might pick up a strut tower brace and a sump armor skid plate, but that isn't predicated on the engine-out opportunity. I may do a dssr too.
What else? Any other ancillary and/ or auxiliary items I should be thinking about? Anything specific I should get details on before I go through with it? Any issue I'm completely ignoring?
I should add too that the mechanic has done a bunch of swaps, including another e-to-i and plenty of S5x and a few M30s too. I trust him. The cherry - he's going LS1 swap on my old E36 sedan.
Thanks in advance guys, I welcome any advice and input.
John
Throwing this out there to see what y'all think. I've done some reading and found some good resources, but I'm curious if R3V has anything else to add...
I am excite. An opportunity has come up for me to trade my old E36 (with rough interior, tranny issues and 250k miles) for an M20B25 motor, including the swap labor.
I currently have a chipped, but otherwise stock, original ETA engine in the '86 ETA sedan chassis that I bought about six months ago. The ETA is slow and guzzles gas, but is fun nonetheless.
However, I purchased it at time that I really just needed some wheels and I didn't have time to wait for a nice 325i.
The 'new' i motor has less miles, by a good chunk, and it's a solid bottom end with a rebuilt head. It'll also have a TRM chip, and we may put a 272 cam in there too.
Anyway, my mind is made up, gonna do it. It'll be a solid upgrade (granted, without M/$5x power), and the 3.73 lsd from a 325i is already bolted in. And it should sound that much better with the custom exhaust that's on the car now.
So here's my question/request: I'll be helping with the swap, the mechanic is a bud of mine. What should I put on my "while we're in there, might as well do this too" list?
I plan to fit new air hoses (water hoses are pretty new); plan to Rusto paint the engine bay (some rust at the firewall), plan to clean up the PS system, plan to clean up the various wiring stuffs, plan to go over all the grounds (just ordered the beefed up main ground wire set that one of the guys here produces)..,
I'll might pick up a strut tower brace and a sump armor skid plate, but that isn't predicated on the engine-out opportunity. I may do a dssr too.
What else? Any other ancillary and/ or auxiliary items I should be thinking about? Anything specific I should get details on before I go through with it? Any issue I'm completely ignoring?
I should add too that the mechanic has done a bunch of swaps, including another e-to-i and plenty of S5x and a few M30s too. I trust him. The cherry - he's going LS1 swap on my old E36 sedan.
Thanks in advance guys, I welcome any advice and input.
John
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