M30 into 318?

[stas]

well,
im about to buy an E30.
i want to get a 318 because its the lightest
and swap an M30B35 in it...
is it possible? what are the parts that i need concerening brackets etc..?
and i want it to stop too, so what about a 5 lug conversion?

are all these possible on a 318?
i know they are on a 325 but i want it to be as light as it gets


thanks

[Rob]

I have to ask, why buy the lightest car then swap in the heaviest motor?

[stas]

so what engine do you recomend?

[rs4pro3]

The m30 isn't that much heavier.

[uflnuceng]

an E30 318 with an M30 swap will be no lighter than an E30 325 with an M30 swap.

M30 is a good engine... I have a complete swap kit for sale if your interested and want to pick up.

[azzkikr]

Do you make swap kits or just have one lying around? I would be interested in the motor mount brackets.

[X2theZ3]

Do you make swap kits or just have one lying around? I would be interested in the motor mount brackets.

he has one from the m30 e30 car he built: check out his website in his site.

[uflnuceng]

I custom fabed the motor mount brackets. The materials are fairly inexpensive. I don't make them for other people as I welded mine directly to the car unibody. Other people go with angled motor mount brackets which I have found leads to severe lurching of the engine during hard braking. I would recommend using the stock M30 motor mount brackets and just making straight plates coming off of the E30 subframe like what Jason (bmw335ist) did. I have pictures of his brackets on my M30 writeup. I would then take the subframe to a reputable shop with a good welder and have them weld it to the subframe for added strength.

Anyway, that's just my opinion... the angled brackets al-la e30.de are pretty and fancy but make the engine slap back and forth in the engine compartment. My engine still had a little bit of front/back movement with urethane bushings but it was mild in comparison to the beating Chris of BMWWholesale.net radiator took.

Anyway, the one I have is just lying around minus the motor mount brackets. If no one goes for it I'm probably going to get an E28 or E34 next year, swap it in and turbo charge it :D Right now though i have to work on my E24 M6 which I have now decided to swap an LS6 (example) into until I can sort out this S38 rebuild expense crap.

Edit: Also... although George Graves will disagree with me, I wouldn't bother moving the engine back. Put the tranny in the position where it fits so you can use the stock tranny cross member and the stock E30 shifter arm and lever. The added cost of moving the engine back and having to fab a whole bunch of other parts isn't worth it. We aren't in Formula 1 here folks... I was taking turns at 70+ mph and felt no pushing from the extra 75lbs on the front end... also remember that not all of that 75lbs is in front of the suspension... maybe half of it is, and that can be controlled with heavier springs.

[SpecM]

-Yeah, the 318 is only lighter because of the smaller engine, but it seems you want to fix that anyway...

[stas]

thanks for the info
i prefer the 318 not only because its lighter, the 325 costs 45K in my country
the 318 is about 14K :dot:

the other is enough to get an M30 and fule for a long time.... so what would you prefer?


about the 5 lug conversion-
is it done the same as the 325 conversion or would i need any other parts?


thanks again and sorry if i have any spelling mistakes...

[SpecM]

-45k.... geez 45 000 what? What country is that?

[stas]

"-45k.... geez 45 000 what?"

its about 10K$

[SpecM]

-Where do you live?
-$10k is WAY to much for an e30.