N20B20 in an E30?

[hozzziii]

The man started in July 2013 and is still going! Talk about a simple job...
He also got a Getrag 420G tranny from an E39 M5, and welded the bellhousing, which seems difficult to say the least.
Props to this man, what a job.
This isn't a project you would do on your daily car though, looks more like a project car. Hmm, just, wow.

[hozzziii]

Gentlemen I found this build on youtube, and under one of his videos, he posted a link to the thread he was doing. Look at this wonderful build! 380 at the wheel??? My God.
I think I'm going to do this build. Just look at this. Wow

https://bimmers.no/forums/topic/766095-ole-martins-e30-m10-turbo/

[hozzziii]

He's saying that despite your desire to stick with a BMW motor that you should consider going with something else because it's vastly better than the available options from BMW. KMiata is also currently working on a swap kit for the Honda K series.

Oh right.
Honestly I totally agree that Honda inline-4's are great, just looking at the s2000 shows their genius.
But unfortunately Honda is not very much available here where I live.
And it would be much cheaper to do the M10 project. Althought Megasquirt and turbo won't be cheap. But the S2000 never came to my country, nor any type R models, so, will be more expensive to bring an engine in. Unfortunate to say the least.

[rturbo 930]

Forgive me but I'm a little confused, I think I'm missing the point here.
So you know I'd rather keep it BMW, and you're saying Honda is all good and everything but it will also be difficult and custom fab is required and so on?
So do you have BMW recommendations? Or Honda?
I'm confused

He's saying that despite your desire to stick with a BMW motor that you should consider going with something else because it's vastly better than the available options from BMW. KMiata is also currently working on a swap kit for the Honda K series.

[hozzziii]

A Honda K swap is honestly a great option. I understand wanting to stick with a BMW motor, but the 4-cylinder options are either not that powerful or very expensive/difficult to do. There are better BMW options in the 6 and 8 cylinder varieties, but you're stuck with 4.

Lots of people swap K series motors into rear-wheel drive platforms. Check out BoostedBoiz and PFI for some examples, such as Hondaru and lots of S2000s. There's also KMiata. Turbo is the easiest way to make power with them (ebay turbo for 600+ wheel all day), but if you can't go that route, you can still build a 300HP NA K20 pretty reasonably. The downside is that not as many people swap them into e30s so there's probably going to be a fair amount of custom fab, but it's not like no one's ever done it either.

Forgive me but I'm a little confused, I think I'm missing the point here.
So you know I'd rather keep it BMW, and you're saying Honda is all good and everything but it will also be difficult and custom fab is required and so on?
So do you have BMW recommendations? Or Honda?
I'm confused

[cscracker]

A Honda K swap is honestly a great option. I understand wanting to stick with a BMW motor, but the 4-cylinder options are either not that powerful or very expensive/difficult to do. There are better BMW options in the 6 and 8 cylinder varieties, but you're stuck with 4.

Lots of people swap K series motors into rear-wheel drive platforms. Check out BoostedBoiz and PFI for some examples, such as Hondaru and lots of S2000s. There's also KMiata. Turbo is the easiest way to make power with them (ebay turbo for 600+ wheel all day), but if you can't go that route, you can still build a 300HP NA K20 pretty reasonably. The downside is that not as many people swap them into e30s so there's probably going to be a fair amount of custom fab, but it's not like no one's ever done it either.

[hozzziii]

I know it's not a bmw engine but I always thought a Lil ecoboost 4 cyl would do great in these cars.

I know they came in rwd on mustangs too and you can buy kits from Ford to make it run in pretty much anything.

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Also add to that, I don't live in the US, and in my country Ford is pretty much non-existent. But thanks for the idea, maybe someone reading this might find it helpful.

[hozzziii]

Sorry - thought you wanted fuel injection, but I missed the 200 hp.

I do! It's just that doing a swap and going from 90hp to just 130hp, is kinda mehhhh. But I found a nice thread I posted it on M42, the gains are nice, just not that much more than M10, which is super cheaper to find and build.

[kickinindian]

I know it's not a bmw engine but I always thought a Lil ecoboost 4 cyl would do great in these cars.

I know they came in rwd on mustangs too and you can buy kits from Ford to make it run in pretty much anything.

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[cory58]

It's DOHC too, huh. I don't know really, I'll look into it, TBH I'm looking for something north of 200hp, and I understand that means some mods are to be done. I'll have to see what kind of projects have been done with the M42 see what kind of power it's capable of, you never know.
Thanks! I'll look into it.

Sorry - thought you wanted fuel injection, but I missed the 200 hp.

[hozzziii]

An M42 isn't that much better than an M10, and it costs way more to rebuild - not only are the parts more expensive, but you have twice as many of them. While the M10 is indestructible, the M42 has a number of issues that are expensive to repair. You could probably build a whole M10 for what the M42 timing chain & rails cost alone..

Did some mild searching, looks like with turbo you can get pretty much the same results with M10 probably, depending if you wish to push the boost high enough.
Here's the M42 thread, interesting builds:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=224803

I do believe I agree with Nando that M10 will be cheaper and can take more abuse. Plus it's simpler and which makes it easier to troubleshoot.

[nando]

An M42 isn't that much better than an M10, and it costs way more to rebuild - not only are the parts more expensive, but you have twice as many of them. While the M10 is indestructible, the M42 has a number of issues that are expensive to repair. You could probably build a whole M10 for what the M42 timing chain & rails cost alone..

[hozzziii]

What about M42? Seems about as easy as possible for a more modern 4.

My first Bimmer was a 92 318i vert. The M42 + 5-sp was FUN!

It's DOHC too, huh. I don't know really, I'll look into it, TBH I'm looking for something north of 200hp, and I understand that means some mods are to be done. I'll have to see what kind of projects have been done with the M42 see what kind of power it's capable of, you never know.
Thanks! I'll look into it.

[cory58]

What about M42? Seems about as easy as possible for a more modern 4.

My first Bimmer was a 92 318i vert. The M42 + 5-sp was FUN!

[hozzziii]

There's also the dual weber setup, 1200$ I think pretty good and offers roughly 10hp over mototronic. My friend has a e21 with a 2.1L and it sounds nice and it's quick.

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Honestly I think fuel injection has wayy more upsides and more control than this setup.
Maybe I'm a little pessimistic because I cannot touch anything on the Pierburg I have right now.