Why people go with Non-BMW Engine swaps?

[tjts1]

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

[jaye30]

to each is own. who cares

[daniel]

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

[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.

[kid325e]

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

[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]

word.

[bataangpinoy]

money. pockets dont run deep homie.

[e30slut]

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

lol...

[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.

[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.

[bimmer_E30]

My E30's pretty Reliable actually lol.

[nickpdx]

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.

Yep. My e30 has never come close to leaving me stranded (or given me any issues that I wouldn't expect from a 20 year old car). My family has owned 3 BMWs over the last 15 years or so - an e30, e36, and e46 - all have had high mileage on them when sold and the e46 currently has over 100k. The only time any have had a problem serious enough to not get us home was when the e30s fuel pump totally gave out. The 3 Ford Explorers that my dad has owned since brand new have given us FAR more problems than any BMW. My dad currently has a 2007 Explorer V8 that he bought brand new. It only has 24,000 miles on it and has already been into the dealer over 5 times for annoying little issues that they have been too incompetent to fix and none of our 150k+ mile BMWs have had.

[z31maniac]

I would put a small block in a 2002 or a more modern Vette motor in an E36 chassis though. In a heartbeat.

I want an E36 + LS7.

[Wh33lhop]

Pushrod packaging

LSx torque curve from 1000-6000rpm

/thread.