Ford 5.0 302 in my 86 325e?!

[bimmerboy709]

Looking into doing this swap lately.. (weighing out my options) but everything on e30v8.com makes a lot of sense vs keeping the bmw name and paying for it too...

Does anyone have any experience with this swap? I plan on throwing this in my 1986 325e to replace my 220k mi m20b27 and it will be my drift car.

I want power on a budget and it seems like this is the route to take.

Please keep in mind, I'm not building my car to your liking. I am doing what I want considering it is my car. Non ignorant comments and input are greatly appreciated though.

Please don't get me wrong. I love bmw. If I had the money to do the m52 s52 head hybrid and turbo it, I most definitely would, but I dont, so here I am.

So the plan is to find a 1989 mustang 5.0 v8 302 (efi) with a 5 speed t5 trans. e30v8 sells a complete guide to the swap and sells all necessary items to make this swap possible.

Once I get tired of the stock 190whp I could drop some aluminum heads on it, get some mustang shorty headers, some forged rocker arms... maybe a cobra intake manifold... if I get real ballsy I can find a supercharger or turbo for pretty cheap too. Theres roughly 400whp in my amazing handling, 2000 pound weighing, german beauty, e30 that I paid under $1k for my drivetrain!

http://youtu.be/HwJdJt0hNw0

Cant tell me this doesnt look like a bunch of fun.

[iamsam]

Why would anyone trash you? I think a mustang 5.0 swap would be awesome, considering the cheap power you can get out of those things.

...do they really only make 190 hp stock?? I didn't know the original hp numbers until now, but I do know you can build those things to be insane. A good buddy of mine has a Mustang 5.0 that runs 12s on a built original engine that's naturally aspirated.

[IronFreak]

Low hp....HIGH torque.

This swap is awesome, ask me how I know....

Do yourself a favor.....save your money with all the aftermarket crap and boost it.

Read the turbobible at turboforums.com. 302's are boost monsters. I'm doing a build now that will have a stock 94 302, TP38 turbo and a tremec tr-3550 transmission. This swap is truly awesome power on a budget wallet!

[mbonanni]

Only two swaps I ever really consider are m30 swaps, and the 302 swap.

Go for it, I think they sounds great, and don't look too bad in the engine bay.

[bimmerboy709]

pretty stoked you guys are up for the idea. I was almost sure I'd get a bunch of pissed of purists ranting about how I'm taking the heart away from the car by no staying inline!

I havn't looked up anything about boost specifications and what the 302 can handle as far as having stock internals but I will defintly check it out and I'd love to check out your build on that 302 if you have it posted somewhere! Why would it be easier to skip the "bolt on modifiations", if you will, and go straight to turbocharging?

That's funny that you say that about the m30 swap actually. My friend has a 1990 e34 535I m30b35. He's the one that actually got me thinking about the 5.0 swap. Lol. He was considering doing it for a little while before he started paying off his turbo manifold..

[Killacortes]

Do it! Also buy my motor mounts and tranny xmember for cheap

[bimmerboy709]

Do it! Also buy my motor mounts and tranny xmember for cheap

You've done the swap before? I'm just starting to plan everything out but If i take action soon I will let you know!

[bimmerboy709]

Low hp....HIGH torque.

This swap is awesome, ask me how I know....

Do yourself a favor.....save your money with all the aftermarket crap and boost it.

Read the turbobible at turboforums.com. 302's are boost monsters. I'm doing a build now that will have a stock 94 302, TP38 turbo and a tremec tr-3550 transmission. This swap is truly awesome power on a budget wallet!

build thread link for your current 302 build?

Please tell me how you know the swap is awesome!

[eurotrash]

Hang out in these for a while then ill answer any more questions you have. Killa i may be interested in the mounts. been thinking about doing a daily 5.0. message me.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=268104

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=273199

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=233691

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=231221

[IronFreak]

You'll see my build thread in a week or two. I like being well into my build before I start throwing a thread up.

Why skip the bolt ons.....because if you EVER plan on boosting a 302 in an e30 you won;t need them. E7 heads or gt40's flow decent, a little home polishing and they will allow you to create 500+hp with a tp38 garrett turbo easy.....Which will blow a stock block. That's a lot of power. I have my motor/tranny/turbo combo, but I'm dumping easily two or three times more money into the suspension and steering to handle it. Trying to get that kind of power to hook in a car thats made for turning not drag racing isn't cheap. So unless you plan of drifting, I'd really focus on suspension, and tires haha.

There will be a lot of custom fabrication in my build, including custom motor and tranny mounts. not at all impressed with some of the stuff out on the market, especially the price tag. It could be designed much better, and cleaner for less money. That's just my opinion though.

[eurotrash]

Please get heads. E7s flow terrible and gt40s are still steel and still dont flow great.

[IronFreak]

With a little clean up the will flow enough air to be very dangerous. Look at some builds on turbo forums, guys running completely stock block pushing well over 500hp to the wheels.

http://www.theturboforums.com/content/158-Stock-Block-Chronicles

Granted these are drag cars, but I want to emphasize the the power that was made on stock setups. fuel pump, injector and turbo are what got it there.

[eurotrash]

What your forgeting is the added weight over the front axel. The extra weight of the heads isnt much 40# or so but when u jam intercooler piping and the turbo weight in there it adds up quick. Plus the money it costs to go turbo. By the time everything was up and running you may as well of bought the heads and not had all the weight. If you wanna throw boost at it after that then rad but from a performance standpoint its 6 of this half dozen of the other.

[bimmerboy709]

Not going to lie. I'm a tad confused.. So just get some gt40s and polish them a little, or just boost it, or get the e7 or gt40 heads, polish them, AND boost it? lol

[IronFreak]

To each his on is how you should take it. Both motors that we described will make power. Keep one thing in mind when planning on boosting 1. A motor that wasnt boosted stock, and 2.that same motor in a car it was never in from factory......your cost of custom fab will sky rocket if you don't have the means or ability to fabricate stuff. Just a stock NA 302 swap will cost money if you cant fab. You'll have to pay someone to do welding to the pan and exhaust system. Something to think about. Keep doing research, there is no one right answer. Its all personal preference.