If you can rebuild an m20 head you surely have competent wrenching skills and area to work. I'm sure you can handle s54 maintenance. A few special tools might be needed but nothing crazy. Like Nando said, it's a common engine with known, solvable issues and extended support for all the tricky stuff.
As someone who daily's and self maintains (with family help) an even trickier euro S50 and who, before the swap was a very lousy wrench and e30 swap virgin, I see no reason why you couldn't handle an S54. I certainly have never for a second regretted my choice. And I know it isn't the same as an S54 but I feel it's similar enough such that I can talk from experience about the concerns you originally brought up. This is all especially true if you do your homework and address any specific S54 issues (rod bearings, which I have yet to do, and Vanos which I did myself). I think you'd be kicking yourself every time you saw an S54/E30 if you decided not to go that direction. It's really not that scary or unworkable.
Broadly speaking, I think the biggest issues go beyond S52/S54 choice and really lie in the fact that you're throwing a bunch of power and mismatched oem (preferred) and aftermarket parts into an old car and then beating the snot out of it. It's a recipe for constant issues but that's half the fun right?
So with that in mind it really comes down to preparation and execution. The success of the swap really depends on those 2 things regardless of which engine you go with. Also, go with the stock ecu. Don't throw away millions in R&D for some aftermarket potential headache.
As someone who daily's and self maintains (with family help) an even trickier euro S50 and who, before the swap was a very lousy wrench and e30 swap virgin, I see no reason why you couldn't handle an S54. I certainly have never for a second regretted my choice. And I know it isn't the same as an S54 but I feel it's similar enough such that I can talk from experience about the concerns you originally brought up. This is all especially true if you do your homework and address any specific S54 issues (rod bearings, which I have yet to do, and Vanos which I did myself). I think you'd be kicking yourself every time you saw an S54/E30 if you decided not to go that direction. It's really not that scary or unworkable.
Broadly speaking, I think the biggest issues go beyond S52/S54 choice and really lie in the fact that you're throwing a bunch of power and mismatched oem (preferred) and aftermarket parts into an old car and then beating the snot out of it. It's a recipe for constant issues but that's half the fun right?
So with that in mind it really comes down to preparation and execution. The success of the swap really depends on those 2 things regardless of which engine you go with. Also, go with the stock ecu. Don't throw away millions in R&D for some aftermarket potential headache.
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