1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

[st.petebiodiesel]

I think you mentioned it a while back but remind me why you went with an m30+boost over an m60? I remember you said you had an m60 swapped car before. Was it the brake booster problem that most people face with v8 swaps?

Don’t get me wrong, I love M60/62 swap e30s. It’s just that I’ve done 3 in the past 5 years. V8 swapped cars are super fun and really fast. My friends M62 pulled a 8.40 at the local 1/8 mile (equates to a 13.0 1/4 mile). However M60/62 have virtually no aftermarket aside from $6k superchargers or $3k cams. So you should make sure you are happy with just a 300hp e30.
Truth is I really wanted to do something else, and M30s are cool engines.

To answer your other question.
All the cars that I’ve V8 swapped I used my own booster delete using a VW master cylinder. (Which received much criticism on r3v) mostly because I made/engineered it myself and didn’t buy it from a vendor like Garagistic or WillWood. I didn’t have $700 to spend on a pedal box, pedals, and master cylinders. So I built my own setup that achieves exactly the same thing.


Say what you want, but I can flat-spot 205 front tires during heavy braking.(no abs)

I guess you could say I just want to do every e30 BMW engine swap.
[x] M60/62
[x] M30
[ ] M70 V12
[ ] S50/52
[ ] M88/S38
[ ] S54




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[wworm]

I think you mentioned it a while back but remind me why you went with an m30+boost over an m60? I remember you said you had an m60 swapped car before. Was it the brake booster problem that most people face with v8 swaps?

[st.petebiodiesel]

Are you going to be doing anything for n/a power, or straight to turbo?

Originally I was thinking of doing a 272 or 282 cam, but I don’t really want to pull the head back off. As you know squeezing more power out of a N/A 2 valve motor is expensive and doesn’t yield that much power.
This summer I’m just going to enjoy the car for what it is, get the A/C working really well, and slowly buying turbo parts.
I did find Dan Miller’s e34 turbo thread on bimmeforums.

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1355294-The-Red-Monster-MS1

He made 400whp on the M106 turbo exhaust manifold. Kinda thinking of using my m106 turbo manifold and modifying it like he did.



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[AWDBOB]

So before I decide to add more power to the car I need to swap in the stronger G260 transmission.

Are you going to be doing anything for n/a power, or straight to turbo?

[st.petebiodiesel]

So good to know! My i cluster in my eta car seems to work but rather inaccurately (reads as full until i get to about a half tank then fluctuates around half until its very close to empty and then reads almost empty). I still have the e cluster, would swapping the tachs and putting the e cluster back in solve my floppy gas gauge issue?

Not guaranteeing anything, but I remember reading that the e gas gauge is different then the i, and I know they use 2 sending units instead of one.
Or you might just have a stuck/wore out sending unit.


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[wworm]

So good to know! My i cluster in my eta car seems to work but rather inaccurately (reads as full until i get to about a half tank then fluctuates around half until its very close to empty and then reads almost empty). I still have the e cluster, would swapping the tachs and putting the e cluster back in solve my floppy gas gauge issue?

[st.petebiodiesel]

1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

Found a 88 e30 sedan in the junkyard and got first pick on the car in the yard. ( I check LKQ daily for new cars)

I know what most of you guys are thinking. Grab the ellipsoids and late model bumpers. I left all those goodies for the other e30 guys to harvest. When a e30 hits a yard near Tampa it’s usually picked clean within a week. I just grabbed the instrument cluster and a few interior trim pieces.
Out of the 4 e30s I’ve swapped every one was a eta, and having the 5k tach is super annoying when you now have a engine that revs to 7k.
I picked up the entire cluster for $36!

You can’t just put a i cluster in a eta car. The gas gauge is different since it uses 2 sending units. The solution is to switch the tachometer and coding plug from the i cluster to the eta cluster.
Also my eta cluster odometer is at 216k miles and the odometer still works.

Pulling the clusters apart is easy money.
Just remove the 7 screws.

Then the 3 tachometer screws.

The tachometers look almost identical.


Then just reinstall the tachometer and bezel.

Works great in the car, even went on a test drive hitting the rev limiter in 1st and 2nd.

This is the first e30 swap car I’ve had with an accurate tachometer. I just got used to knowing what each gears redlines in on the speedometer.


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[st.petebiodiesel]

Summer is around the corner and A/C is going to be necessary in Florida with a infant.
I decided to make another thread just for my A/C installation. Check it out.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?p=4884038#post4884038

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[Good & Tight]

This looks like a much better option. It seems like everyone is using Rapid Spool’s manifolds. Price seems more than fair.

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Just an FYI, that's not a Rapid Spool manifold.Our M30 manifold has only a T4 bolt pattern. http://rapidspoolindustries.com/orde...4-turbo-flange

We've seen other copy cats use our name or design, have it made with cheaper & thinner material that ends up cracking.

Our manifolds are only sold through our website or Ebay store.

[st.petebiodiesel]

^the m30 trans bolts up the the m20 shaft no prob is yours not going in?

I have a 88 325i driveshaft which uses a small guibo. I’m just swapping output flanges from a M20 g260 onto a M30 g260.
Only the 1987 325e or e30 M3 came with a large guibo driveshaft, those shafts would bolt up to the M30 g260 no problem.


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[LowR3V'in]

^the m30 trans bolts up the the m20 shaft no prob is yours not going in?

[st.petebiodiesel]

1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

So before I decide to add more power to the car I need to swap in the stronger G260 transmission.
Now I know I said I had the hookup on a G265, but my brother needed that transmission for his replacement e28 635csi which came delivered with a super busted/worn out G265. 4th gear and the input shaft were trashed causing a lot of noise. Cost to replace just those parts is $560.
My junkyard M30 G260 was covered in oil so a re-seal was in order. Yay more tranny work!

M30 G260s are easily identified by the cooling fins on the lower part of the case.

First order of business is to swap over output flanges. The M30 G260 uses a large guibo, my car has a small guibo driveshaft. I don’t really want to find/pay for another driveshaft, so swapping a small guibo output flange from a M20 G260 is required. Luckily I had one laying around (don’t judge me, I hoard parts).

Getting the output flange nuts off is a giant pain in the ass. On the M20 trans I had to use a torch and a impact to bust it loose.
M30 G260

M20 G260

The splines are the same but the M30 G260 has a longer pilot for the driveshaft.
M30,

M20,

I’ll probably have to cut 3/4” off the M30 trans shaft pilot guide to fit my M20 driveshaft to it.
Here you can see the difference between the small guibo output flange(red one), and the large guibo one.

In the meantime my G240 is holding up great!


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[LowR3V'in]

i'm using g&t chinafold as well.
Very thick stuff don't see it cracking.

2 things i don't like about it.
the engine needs to be deep in the firewall to fit a decent air filter
the flanges came warped. not crazy, but they wanted to turn into a banana

[wworm]

Oh man! This gon be good.

[st.petebiodiesel]

Turbo the thing now. :devil:

I’ve been reading a lot of m30 turbo threads and there seems to be 2 routes to go as far as turbocharging these engines.
Run low boost with a turbo chip, larger injectors and a rising rate fuel pressure regulator. Sounds pretty simple but is also a very crude mechanical setup. Any failure of the RRFPR or related vacuum lines could result in a lean spike.
Or... run a much higher level of boost with mega squirt or maybe even a war chip. It does sound more intimidating, but in the end I think it would be more rewarding. Mega squirt does offer PNP kits for the motronic 1.3.
I do have a 745i manifold, but am quickly finding out it’s not very optimal. No other turbos bolt up to the K27 flange. Even with a custom adapter it will never really flow all that well.
This looks like a much better option. It seems like everyone is using Rapid Spool’s manifolds. Price seems more than fair.





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