What would you do? LS or Turbo M20?

[E30Eric]

Hi Everyone,

I love my E30 4D and I'm at a cross-roads. I have a goal to make it a "Fun drift-track car,(Emphasis on fun drift)" as I already have a couple other vehicles. I do have collector plates and will keep it registered. I have been able to get a cool hounds tooth interior and ski-pass through leather seat, so I want it to still stay street-able, a little. I had a 2.7 stroker. It has a fun Shrick cam on MegaSquirt V3 that had wasted spark I actually wrote the write up on how to use a pontiac V6 coil holder with corvette coils and rewire for an M20 wasted spark setup long ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3M6W1Qzqvc

So where I'm at is should I go through with building the M20 for turbo if I have a kinda crappy 2.7, or just move on and do the V8? Or is there another BMW option to make around 450hp, with a turbo.

(I can fabricate things at home, and am a designer by trade, so it maybe alleviates some costs.)

Best Regards,

-Eric

[MrBurgundy]

If money/time is not a problem, a v8 has the cool factory for sure, but I think a turbo M20 is just more sensible and it keeps an m20 in the car.

[varg]

If you're going to drift it, it's going to get trashed over time, so keeping an M20 for reasons of purism or originality is pointless. Plus, a V8 will probably be handle drifting duty better than a turbo M20 boiling away under the hood with a turbo and an intercooler hampering air flow. V8 with a big radiator and a quality fan. Based on what I've seen of drift E30s I bet 450hp is probably a little bit too much for drifting unless you're going to go all out with the chassis upgrades to actually use that power.

[PEZ2]

Can’t agree more with VARG. When adding power to an e30 drivetrain and pickup points need to be considered along with engine HP. With that said pic below has my vote.

[Panici]

For a drift car, it seems the instant torque of a V8 would be what you want.

Be prepared to beef up all the subframes, diff, etc to deal with 3x the factory power.
The chassis will handle it, but it'll need some help.

[McGyver]

I'm building a turbo m20, but that's for the street and maybe light track.

[Northern]

I just have no interest in an LS swap, but for a drift car it makes sense.

[Dj Buttchug]

I have always had more interest in seeing what I can do with an existing engine. To each his own I guess. Makes things more fun for me. The LS swap is going to take time and money. The turbo m20 will likely take more time and more money in the end. I often thought I would track/ drift my cars more when the idea of drivetrain mods first started but my cars spend 99.5 % of life under normal driving conditions on public roads. Either way you'd have to justify the level of mods and what you lose/gain with each plan.

Personally, I think LS swaps are lame because it's an easy out. Big power with little fab work now that bolt in kits are available. It's not that I have less respect for the guys that have done it, it's just that the journey they took to get there has little hiccups. A factory engine modified to make 400 hp is much more of a head turner for me than a drop in corvette engine.

[AWDBOB]

A fabricator/tuner in Louisville had a turbo M20 in his drift car and went through something like 8+ cracked 885s at 450whp before he swapped to a different platform.

If it’s going to be an actual drift car I wouldn’t do a turbo M20. If it’s going to be mostly a street car I would lower your power goal a touch and do a turbo M20 since the rest of your car is set up very well for it. IMO you’ll have top end issues before bottom end, so I would send it on your current 2.7 and have another one handy to swap it if/when it goes kaboom.

[e30davie]

what about a turbo M52 or m54? almost like an m20, but way more modern.

hard to beat the V8 i suppose, but i dunno, why have an e30 if you arent going to use a straight 6!

[McGyver]

what about a turbo M52 or m54? almost like an m20, but way more modern.

hard to beat the V8 i suppose, but i dunno, why have an e30 if you arent going to use a straight 6!

Ya know, several did come with a 4 cylinder...

[varg]

A fabricator/tuner in Louisville had a turbo M20 in his drift car and went through something like 8+ cracked 885s at 450whp before he swapped to a different platform.

That's what I'm getting at, it seems to me that these old BMW I6s, being prone to cracking heads when hot, would have trouble coping with drifting and making that much power. It's really hard to cool something adequately when it's going sideways at full power with an intercooler reducing air flow too. I've heard from a local that the 24Vs have issues with heads when drifting too. At that point you're best off tube framing the front of the car so you can install a huge radiator and proper ducting for it. Cooling is really crucial for severe duty and it does not get more severe than drifting. Maybe Australian burnout competitions. Drifting destroys stuff, it's what always kept me away from it despite wanting to try it. Never owned a fun car that I was comfortable with totally destroying just as a matter of course because unless the place you drift is wide open with nothing to hit, hitting something is inevitable.

Ya know, several did come with a 4 cylinder...

I've only ever known one person to drift a 4cyl E30. ccsdo5 and there are some issues doing so.

[bangn]

Yeh an m20 isn't going to last in a drift car, LS isn't an easy conversion either, lots of exhaust work, brake booster location issues, and LS will be pretty hard on the back end. I'd personally pick a 1j or an sr20

[varg]

brake booster location issues

Forget the E34's goofy remote booster (Mercedes put V8s in the W124 without such a convoluted setup), if I was LS swapping a drift car I'd go full race car mode: twin master cylinder with a bias bar.

https://www.risefabshop.com/bmw/e30-e36-e46-dual-master-cylider-brake-booster-delete-kit

https://www.compbrake.com/product/bmw-e30-lhrh-brake-bias-servo-replacement-pedal-box-kit-hydraulic-dual-cylinder-kit-b/

[TobyB]

Race track and 'drifting' are two very different things...

but an N52 is cheap, the swap's well documented, and you're not adding much weight.

t