Why people go with Non-BMW Engine swaps?

[rThor432]

we all know that BMW+Reliable doesn't mix.

Yeah, whatever you say.

I drove my 250k+ eta for two years trying to kill it, with no maintenance to speak of ie. never changed the oil. I had an S52 ready to go in, and it was on the stand waiting for ages. Finally, I gave up. I've only had an E30 give up on me once (years ago), and that was a water pump failure that I still could have limped home with. My E36's and E46's and the 2002 have never given me any problems either..

I just dont understand it when people complain about the reliability of BMW's. I've had great experience with them. As long as the little maintenance bits are kept up with, there will be no problems.

That said, I wouldnt put a non-BMW engine in an E30, because I dont know why you would want to. The S50 family engines are perfect for these cars. I would put a small block in a 2002 or a more modern Vette motor in an E36 chassis though. In a heartbeat.

[firstRWD]

the thing I notice about older BMWs in *general* is if you do the basic maintenance, they rarely have catastrophic failures. Sure, sometimes things break - but you can almost always limp home somehow. It's not like the transmissions suddenly fail (almost every american car has this problem), or the engines throw rods, or the complete electrical system melts down.

maybe your window switched stopped working, so you pop the one out of the passenger side of the console, roll your window back up and when you have time, swap in the extra switch you found at the junkyard. But you still made it home fine. ;)

Haha, not disagreeing or agreeing with anyone, just thought this was kinda funny. In ~5months my car develped a Bad rod knock on a trip about 1 1/2 hours from home, got it home, did an engine swap. The electrical wiring harness I got with the new engine was crap. ~3 weeks later I'm driving and all of the sudden the car coasts to a stop. Trans randomly just went out, all gears. NO signs leading up to sudden failure. Also my drivers window switch is going out. I must say, I would swap in most any decent engine with more power and a 6spd trans.

[e30slut]

i'm not even going to reply to this thread.

lol...

[bataangpinoy]

money. pockets dont run deep homie.

[kid325e]

word.

[tjts1]

Once you replace the slow and heavy M50 with an LS1, the E36 chassis really comes alive as a dedicated autoX machine.


BMW has never build an engine that can match the LS series in terms of power and torque to weight.

M62



LS1



DOHC V8s are massively inefficient in terms of size and weight.


And you thought pushrods were useless old tech.

[kid325e]

proof that non bmw swaps are a viable option for a swap. :o

[bimmer_E30]

its like owning only an e32 and no e30 and hanging out in an e30 forum all day...

some people are just funny

WTF?

can't you even read and see? you could clearly see a red vert in my sig.

[daniel]

i'm not even going to reply to this thread.

[jaye30]

to each is own. who cares

[tjts1]

LS2 powered E36 is fucking HOT! Only a salad tossing vagina could disagree with that statement.

[Beach Bum]

The only reason I ever got into BMW's was because of my love of their I6 motors. The pinnacle of my motor swap pyramid is an NA S54 making enough power to keep the rear end loose in third gear. I just love the sound and character of the I6's.

[balooshinakus]

What's so cool about that? isn't the fun part about a BMW is it's Engine and charecter? an E30 or a BMW with a non Bmw engine, has no charecter or whatsoever.

i think it's pretty lame...i see tons of people going with no BMW swaps, and spending tons of money just to make there bmw "Reliable", we all know that BMW+Reliable doesn't mix.

Discuss:p

Maybe because BMW engines are not only expensive but don't putout nearly the power that American v8s do for the money they cost. If I had the skills to pull of an LS1 swap then there is no way in hell I would waste my time with an s50 swap, for just a bit more money you could have a much much much more capable motor that ways maybe 50lbs more and is more modifiable.

It's a 20 year old car, get over it. Shit, I'd put an LS engine into just about any BMW, because while BMW makes engines that are technically advanced, they aren't generally all that powerful (stfu, I know some of them are). LS engines make power the old fashion and cheap way, displacement.

This isn't a Ferrari we are talking about.. Jeez down here in the Bellevue area all I see are BMW's/Audi/Merc's, theres not very much special about them to me, I think they are nice cool cars but I don't put them on some pedestal.

[nando]

the thing I notice about older BMWs in *general* is if you do the basic maintenance, they rarely have catastrophic failures. Sure, sometimes things break - but you can almost always limp home somehow. It's not like the transmissions suddenly fail (almost every american car has this problem), or the engines throw rods, or the complete electrical system melts down.

maybe your window switched stopped working, so you pop the one out of the passenger side of the console, roll your window back up and when you have time, swap in the extra switch you found at the junkyard. But you still made it home fine. ;)

[87e30]

you mean how I change the oil and put gas in it?

the only things I've had to work on in ages were entirely related to tracking - brake pads, fluid, and a couple wheel bolts that sheared off from getting too hot, etc. So I have to adjust the valves once a year, big deal?

Fair enough. Mine is just older and was in rough shape when I got it. Now that I sorted a few things it hasn't given me any problems. :)


But yes, oil changes are optional on old honda's. haha.

e30 does seem to be very reliable. And in issues it might have are not related to the engine. So swap for reliability is stupid.