Which m20 motor is this??

[ethree]

What about the casting # on the head?

[SpecM]

What about the casting # on the head?

this is the only sure way to tell

[napabavarian]

Look at the engine from the passenger side, there should be a brace from the intake manifold to the valve cover, if it attaches to the high side of the valve cover it is most likely a 325i engine, if it goes across the valve cover and bolts to the low side it is likely an etta engine, then again I have a parts car with an engine that I will need to tear apart and measure to confirm what it is

[slo325i]

First my '87 sedan


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I hope this helps out, guys. Thanks for helping me out.

Justin

[Erick]

it's an eta motor, that probably came out of an automatic.

[kronus]

Whatever you have has 'i' electronics in it.

Is that nipple off the right of the intake boot capped off? Hard to tell in the pics, but it would be quite odd if it was, because then you wouldn't have an ICV.

[napabavarian]

Difficult to tell for certian from the drivers side, can you shoot it from the passenger side? The runners on the etta intake are smaller, but that can be deceptive in a picture. It does have the 88-up electronics.

[rThor432]

Nice idle control valve.

[slo325i]

I'm fairly new to these motors so please help me out:

Thanks to rwddrift we now know that this is an eta motor.

Kronos: How do you know that it has I electronics on it?

rThor432: I sense sarcasm. I'd like to fix what the PO did an half-ass job on. Please help.

[napabavarian]

Do you know what the build date is on this car? Is it possible this is a super etta engine?

[Erick]

He says that the motor is from '86, and the car is an '87. Super ETAs came in '88.

[rThor432]

rThor432: I sense sarcasm. I'd like to fix what the PO did an half-ass job on. Please help.

Yes, a bit :D.

You really need the right hoses, intake boot, and accessories to match the wiring harness. If it's an "i" harness (appears to be..) then you will need the "i" idle control valve setup, because with the eta setup the plug will be in the wrong spot.

Ideally, with the "i" engine harness, you should have an "i" engine. You'll have to fool around with the vacuum hose routing to get the hoses for the "i" idle control system to work with the eta intake boot.

Also, do you have a vacuum line to your brake booster? Cant tell in the pictures.

[napabavarian]

He says that the motor is from '86, and the car is an '87. Super ETAs came in '88.

He says that the po said it was an '86, but based on the pictures the PO was sloppy, so I'll take that with a grain of salt and recheck everything.

I see what looks like an early etta intake manifold and 88+ wiring, look at the plug bolted to the front left of the manifold. If the installer was using whatever was lying around to make this run there is no telling what is what without looking at each individual piece, I'd like to know what ECU it has.

[SamE30e]

Looks like a ETA.

Could it be a SETA?

[napabavarian]

rThor-

I see what you are getting at, but I believe the '87 325i should use the smaller plug, 88-up I and s-etta wiring looks similar.