Pre-Facelift Engine into Facelift Shell

[E30stz]

I had one of the rockers snap in my 320i and it seems it'd be better to replace the engine then pay the quoted repairbill for the damage done.

I've looked at a 323 today which I am very impressed by, its a 1983 M20B23 which came out of a 323i (dogleg + lsd). The ECU's are both L-Jetronics from what I gather, but I wanted to know if there would be any problems / differences that I may run into swapping a pre-facelift motor into a facelift shell.

The car runs sweet and the compression on the engine is as follows in no particular order.
160,160,160,155,155,164.

The engine runs very smoothe for an 83 and has 113,000miles on the clock. It is a UK Import as are all the other 323i's made.

The gearbox is very rare and being close ratio it was sold to one of the guys at bmw for NZ$2000 which I thought was amazing. So I am putting on my Getrag 240 gearbox conversion kit that I bought on it. I assume this will bolt up straight on as it is from an 87 pre-facelift 320. I have bought a Z4-M Short shifter and bushings to put in with it.

Anyway, if you have any information that might help me with my engine install that would be much appreciated, I'm working through it with a guy thats very much regarded as an E30 god, so with any luck it'll be up and runnign soon.

Thanks

Andy

[E30stz]

bump - have found out the following

distributor on the end of the camshaft whereas on pre-fl it isnt
plug to the fusebox is different
new radiator as the pipes are in a different place
o2 sensor not on 323.

[Madhatter]

Thats because your 320i is motronic not jetronic. Jetronic still uses the old vacuum distributor in the block. That explains why your plug is different

You can remove the cam gear parts and install them into the 323i motor though, you just need the timing cover, trigger wheel and sensor, plus associated parts from the 320i.

The motors are basically identical, the only difference is the 323i motor has a longer stroke (different crank throw). 323i's run fine off 320i L-jet ecu's, so as long as the injectors are large enough to support the extra 25-30hp of the motor, it should work with the motronic too.

Not all 323i's are UK imports, they shipped them to the euro, south american and austral-asian markets, they just werent delivered to North America.