well, i've been looking for a project car for a friend and i to do for awhile, as both of us want to get our hands dirty with a full rebuild of something. the only initial parameter was that we acquired most of everything we need for less than a grand. after looking into a mkII golf i found a guy with an e30 that sounded pretty sweet. after talking to him this is what he had to say:
so wait, is he claiming that a chevy small block will drop right in ? that sounds strange, my neither of us (my friend and i) have done an engine swap before, so im not sure if this sounds like such a great idea. any thoughts on this ? is his price reasonable ?
if you actually read through this thanks a lot for your help and (hopefully) your insight.
best regards
Thanks for your interest. Yes, the car is still for sale. It's a 325i body with a 325e motor. If you know the difference, please bear with me. The e is high torque, lower rev motor, and the i is higher performance. I prefer the e's for the torque, drivability, longevity, and economy. The i has only 122K on it, and the motor blew up from the timing belt failing. The e motor, now installed in the car, has a new timing belt, water pump, and other upgrades and came out of a smashed 325e that I owned and loved. It ran perfect. The installation is not complete as many accessories and such need to be installed. I have not run it in the i chassis yet. With a few hours work and some TLC, the car would make a fine ride. I've owned over a dozen of these cars and once sold my favorite one for $2800, with 358K miles on it! Call me directly at ********** if you'd like to ask any questions or view the car. thanks again for your interest.
I have a lengthy response for you, so I may send it a few parts. My puter keeps crashing and it really pisses me off when I've typed a book, only to have to retype it. So, it's funny you mention a bigger motor for the E30. I'm building a Chevy 383 stroker and I entertained the idea of Frankensteining it into the E30. It would be an easy upgrade because it's RWD, has a center bearing load handler on the driveshaft, and there's just enough room for the V8 if you use a shortened water pump. The rear diff. can certainly handle the power, and this would be a wicked/sick/stupidfast application. You could also use a tamer 350 for cheaper as a possibility too.
The Chevy would best be used with a TH 350 Chevy auto as they are cheap, durable, and would fit right in. For under 1K with the car and everything, you'd have an incredibly fun ride that would beat the shit out of M3's of the same vintage. Better, you could buy parts at any place in the US, right off the shelf. The 325e motor stock is only 120 horse, with 140 torque. The tame Chevy 350 would be 300 horse, and 350 torque. I have a couple motors laying around I could throw in to get you started. Lastly, a good friend of mine has an older Chevy 4.3 V6 carbeurated motor that with some tweaking could turn 250 horse, and 300 torque. It has 30K actual, runs like a watch, and he wants a mere 3 hundy for it. Couple that with the same TH 350, or for free I'll give you a metric 200 (same trans. only lighter duty), and you'd have an excellent running car, easy on gas, easy on parts, and waaaaaay more power than stock. Also the V6 is much shorter than the 350 and would be an easier morph. Back to the car, it has only 122k, is nice red with black leather. Interior is mint, exterior is A-. It has magnesium rims, tight suspension, and is already set up with an auto trans. counsel, so you could spend a couple hundy and upgrade to a B&M shifter or such and really make it a race car. With a full-manual valve body and a stall in your torque converter (another 200 bucks) this thing could be streetable, and turn honest 12's in the quarter mile. That's fast Bob! Hope to see you on Pinks. Call me directly at ********** i but I'll be hunting all weekend. I can't send pics because my computer is possessed by the devil. Just look on traderonline or some shit like that for a really nice, red 1989 325i and it's kinda like that. Regarding price....my best price right now is 700. For that, I'll throw in a rebuildable Chevy 350, a metric 200 trans, and contact info on the 4.3. Cool, Shane
so wait, is he claiming that a chevy small block will drop right in ? that sounds strange, my neither of us (my friend and i) have done an engine swap before, so im not sure if this sounds like such a great idea. any thoughts on this ? is his price reasonable ?
if you actually read through this thanks a lot for your help and (hopefully) your insight.
best regards
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