looking to go "e" to "i" swap...

[JustinG60]

so i recently got my 87 325 given to us from my fiance's father who bought it new with cash. now it has 284,000 miles and while kept at a conastant speed it feels like compression is lost past the rings. i also think this may be the case because it takes a good few seconds of turning the car over to pump up compression to start the car... anyways... a friend just blew his trans in his low milage 91 325ix and said i can have the car... normally i would just fix it, but the body is BEAT! he had a remote start in it and he ran it into and over sooo much stuff, the last time when he gae up on the car was through a garage door and did a good number on the car...

so what i am looking to do is take his engine, ECU, engine harness, and cluster for my E30... my questions are...

will the ECU work being his is an ix... i assume the BMW AWD setup is mechanical and not computer controlled like the current day AWD like haladex and such... i know VW around the same time had an AWD setup they called Syncro and it is completely mechanical so i assume the same for BMW. which leads me to think no ECU problems, no problems with trans bolting to the car... so if the ix AWD is mechanical then the harness for an AWD and RWD i engine should be the same... and if that being the case what is the difference between the e and the i harness, must be changed? it's been my daily driver for a few months now while i am completely going over my yellow Corrado making it reliable again and i gave my fiance my Audi TT, and as well sold my 2003 supercharged Mustang Cobra, so i've given up alot of my cars haha need to have something... would like to do the whole swap in a week or two... sorry if this has all been asked but i looked through the FAQ and DIY and did a little bit of searching but i rarely have luck and i'm no stranger to message boards since i've been registerred to VWvortex since 2001...

[jerods87e30]

I'm ready and just about to do the same. I don't know about the ECU's difference in terms of an 'ix' and just an 'i', but the harnesses are quite different between an 'e' and an 'i'. You'll definitely need the entire engine wiring harness from his car...as for the instrument cluster, there is a small chip/plug-in unit on the lower right side in front that is specific to your 325, you may need to use that on the 'i' cluster, or get one from an 'i' or 'is' the same year as your car, not sure which one, I've gotta find that out myself. For a quick rundown of the engine swap, check out www.strictyeta.net, go to technical, go to "e to i conversion." Here's a few more links on here of the swap, none of which involve ix's I don't think:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...highlight=swap

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...highlight=swap

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...highlight=swap

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...highlight=swap

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/show...highlight=swap

let me know how it goes, good luck!

-J

[nando]

the harness is unique to the ix, but it should work in a 325i anyway. the ECUs are the same.

also, you can't use the ix block without a lot of work, a new oil pump, and a different intermediate shaft. There are even more differences in the castings that I just learned about recently.. before I thought they were just machined differently, but the block casting itself is different.

however, you could swap all the "guts" from the ix block (except oil pump and intermediate shaft) into your e block. have the e block honed, new rings and bearings, and you'd have a refreshed i bottom end. probably a similar amount of work to retrofitting an old ix engine into your car..

[JustinG60]

ouch... thanks for the info... maybe i'll look into a different swap then when it comes time... i was gettign the car for free, since i am laid off cause i do construction my income is enough to pay bills and extra money comes when i get under the table work...

[nando]

part it out - assuming the drivetrain is in good shape, you could make a few grand on the ix specific bits.

[JustinG60]

yeh, it mightjust end up getting parted and he and i will split the money since he knows nothing about working on cars so i would do all the work and he just owns the car...

new oil pump needed you mention... i assume cause the oil pan hits a lower cross member, and then they can not be swaped because of strut lower angles i assume eh? if nothing else, we could atleast make this thread useful to other people who might be thinking to do the same as i was...