M42b18 differences between e30 and e36?

[deutschman]

i did a search couldn't find anything... also looked on Wikipedia but no very good info...
what if any are the differences between a m42 in an e30 and an e36? internals and displacement all that. if there is a difference which one is better to turbo? i know a lot of the e36 guys have their m42 with turbos. help me out here im a newb and know it...:stupid:

[LovableSheep]

I believe I saw a thread with info about the differences between the E30 & E36 M42 over on M42 Club somewhere, try searching there.

[deutschman]

thanks

[deutschman]

still cant find much good stuff. does the e36 version have a nock sensor, or do both have one? as far as i can tell turboing a m42 is very expensive. just the manifold from 666 is around $1,400. then you need everything ells and it adds up to be almost as much as if i did an engine swap myself. i guess the up side is its a lot lighter.
to run a turbo i think i would need lower compression...
or could i just get some more aggressive cams with low psi? so much info i need. i have been reading a lot about Roberts turbo 318 club racer. wish he had a better right up on his cardomain site!!!

[Danny]

I think the m44 was OBD2?

[PiercedE30]

Throw the M44 head on the M42 block (you get solid lifters for higher revs and I wan tot say slightly larger cc) and boost the crap out of it.

[deutschman]

cool. that helped a lot! i was looking at the wrong motor!!! god i feel like an ass. but i guess that come with learning... m44 it is. ok i guess my next question is do people stick these in their e30s?

[deutschman]

interesting... i like that idea. what kind of compression will this give me? my understanding is that you want low compression for a boosted car.

[Danny]

Throw the M44 head on the M42 block (you get solid lifters for higher revs and I wan tot say slightly larger cc) and boost the crap out of it.

[deutschman]

thats why im asking what kind of compression. doesn't it have around 1:10 stock? so you don't really want it higher if your turboing. stay with me here im a noobie!

[deutschman]

plus this is all theoretical to me. i don't even have close to enough money or time to make this into anything more then a dream for now. peircede30 said it took him two years of collecting parts for his build! dam.

[BBY1104]

intake and throttle body are different

Airbox

mounts

[E30nate]

head is different. the e30 valves have bigger stems whith double valve springs, and slightly bigger cams, not enough to notice though. and the e30 doesnt have knock sensors, only the e36.

i have also seen people piece together turbo kits for as little as 3k, but when you skimp on things, the reliability goes down.

[rallyegolf]

when I was big into vw's, to get lower compression for more boost, I would double up on copper headgaskets.

[trigun7469]

https://www.e30zone.net/e30wiki/index.php/M42 Found this which was helpful on the differences