No seriously, V8 Swaps

[MrTom]

I am thinking you mean overhead CAM...not valve.

Northstars are pushrod, with hydraulic roller lifters. Overhead valve too, but few internal combustion 4 cycle engines today aren't.

I had to register for this one: the northstar doesnt have pushrods.

</rant>

[Jarvis]

Northstars are pushrod

Drain all of the oil and all of the coolant out of one, you can still drive it for 200 miles before it blows up.

Weighs about 100 pounds lighter than an M20, too.

No, DOHC 4 valves/cylinder... why do you think they're so smooth?

I dare someone to drain ALL the oil and ALL the coolant from any engine and drive 200 miles.

There is no way in hell that a 4.6L DOHC V8 only weighs 160lbs. Unless it's made of balsa wood and styrofoam, that's a bullshit claim.


I do like the idea of cheap, light and powerful pushrod motor swaps. An LS1/4/6/whatever in any sub-3000lb RWD car would be the tits. RX7, Miata, E30, whatever. Old volvo wagons with Ford 302's are a great idea, too.

But why in the hell would someone make the case for a Northstar swap? If you want an incredibly smooth high-tech V8 with good gas mileage and respectable power, it doesn't get any better than what comes out of Germany nowadays - or 10+ years ago.

[Insanity]

You're going to be able to get more out of a BMW V8 than you'll ever get out of an LS1 or the new not-actually-a-HEMI HEMI. Problem is, you'll have to get a custom ground camshaft to realize the engine's potential since it was originally build to be in a LUXURY CAR. You're comparing apples and oranges, folks.

Chances are you'll have to get a regrind, but I guarantee the DOHC V8s will trounce any pushrod one with proper work. How many people remember the Corvette ZR-1 with the DOHC LT5? They have those modded to be >800hp NA. I don't see any naturally aspirated pushrod small blocks putting out 800hp.

[Insanity]

Oh, and for reference, the 4.0L BMW V8 makes peak power at...

5400rpm. There's a shitton of potential there. A stock LS1 or dodge wannabe HEMI is at ~7000 stock for peak power.

Say you created the same torque at a 7000 rpm peak. That would give you 324*7000/5252 or 431 horsepower. And since it's DOHC, you can not only rev past that no problem (unlike the bigger pushrod engines), you will also be able to actually breathe past that and still idle.

In short: take the BMW engine.

[Bimmerfanatik]

Oh, and for reference, the 4.0L BMW V8 makes peak power at...

5400rpm. There's a shitton of potential there. A stock LS1 or dodge wannabe HEMI is at ~7000 stock for peak power.

Say you created the same torque at a 7000 rpm peak. That would give you 324*7000/5252 or 431 horsepower. And since it's DOHC, you can not only rev past that no problem (unlike the bigger pushrod engines), you will also be able to actually breathe past that and still idle.

In short: take the BMW engine.

Hm. Now you've got my curiosity raised in reference to a BMW V8 instead of an M30. I'm a big fan of the 4.0 v8, then and now, I'm just not sure what the cost, weight, power potentials, stock output, and fitment in an e30 are. Time to go looking, I guess.

I've personally worked on an e39 540 and an e38 740i, and didn't have much of an issue working on them, and I did the intake mani gaskets, oil separator (bitch to change) and a few other odds and ends. That is, however, in two much larger cars. I'm wondering how hard it'd be to do anything to this engine inside our cars.

[Jonathan M3]

You're going to be able to get more out of a BMW V8 than you'll ever get out of an LS1

Hahahaha!!


I've seen and driven several LS1/2/6s making 500+rwhp N/A on the stock displacement ends. Show me an M/S62 that makes that N/A for under $20k.


Oh, and stock LS1s make peak HP at 5200rpm and peak TQ at 4000rpm, where'd you get this 7krpm nonsense?

Seriously dude, stop spreading misinformation.

[Bimmerfanatik]

Hahahaha!!


I've seen and driven several LS1/2/6s making 500+rwhp N/A on the stock displacement ends. Show me an M/S62 that makes that N/A for under $20k.


Oh, and stock LS1s make peak HP at 5200rpm and peak TQ at 4000rpm, where'd you get this 7krpm nonsense?

Seriously dude, stop spreading misinformation.

Easy now, this is a discussion, not an argument. As a moderator and as a very interested party in this topic, I'd really appreciate keeping things civil.

[ping65810]

I thought about an ls1 swap, since they are nice motors. However, they are stupidly expensive also. For the same price as an ls1 you can buy a BMW v8. Which one would you rather have????? The ls1 is one of the best American auto motors out there, but I'd rather have a BMW engine under the hood of my car. My friend has an 01 Trans Am, and I cringe when I see how much anything is for the car- usually more expensive than even a newer BMW engine.
As for a 4.0 v8 swap, I would think that a BMW v8 would fit pretty well in the e30 chassis. A v12 can be fit w/out all too many problems in there, so I am just guessing that it could fit well enough. I would like to see one done, its a great motor.
I dunno know, I still think its a taboo to put a non-BMW engine into an e30. Now back to my m30 swap :)

[asubimmer]

did anyone notice the rear brake ducts on the windows?

[Jonathan M3]

Easy now, this is a discussion, not an argument. As a moderator and as a very interested party in this topic, I'd really appreciate keeping things civil.

No hostilities intended, I just hate seeing false information spread.

[gstuning]

BMW V8&#180;s are 4.0, 4,4, 4,6,5,0
Get me a 5,7L V8 BMW engine and I&#180;m sure it will easily be at 400hp using
70hp/liter, thats in stock form.

While a 275hp V8 5,7 is at 48hp/liter in stock form,
those specs speak for them selves

[boom-monkey]

A 275 hp small block is a very tame engine.

Also, for the most part, your arguments are nothing more than "German's have better engineering" with no real world facts to back it up.

Show me a German V8, and I'll show you an American counterpart that does it better.

[Insanity]

Oh, you mean the NON-Z06 LS1? Haha.

Considering someone quoted 400hp, that would be for the Z06 LS1 (well, not even, it's still a 20hp overestimate). The non-Z06 one basically proves my point because it makes ~10 more horsepower than the BMW 4.0, yet it's 1.7L bigger. Woo.

Point is, ANYTHING DOHC with a fairly comparable size has way more potential than something with pushrods. Just look at the new Z06 corvettes. Woo they made 500 horsepower. How? By adding another LITER OF DISPLACEMENT of course. That's all that's left for the small block: more displacement.

[SpecM]

-So? They still weight less AND get better fuel econemy than a BMW v8. Who cares if it 'needs' huge displacement to get big hp? It works, yeah?

-Oh, btw, "ZO6 LS1" is an LS6; and its underated, not overrated.

[boom-monkey]

The NON-Z06 LS2 is at 400 hp.

The LS7 is 500 hp.

BMW went to a V10 to achieve 500 hp.

Also, there are not a lot of NA BMW motors making 500 reliable horsepower.