Best budget-friendly swap.

[Raxe]

S38B38. If you get bored with that adding a bit of boost to it is cheap too. Altogether should only run you ~$15k.

[Rennsport]

m5x swaps are plain stupid. No more reliable than a m42 or m20 and not much power. If you want to go cheap find an m30, they can be had for a couple hundred bucks.

[trackjunkie21]

Wow that guy sounds like a fuckin fag.

Wish Danny lived closer to me, So he can make my shit run

[Danny]

Pm me what's wrong with it. Or give me your number and I'll text you, either way.

[trackjunkie21]

Pm me what's wrong with it. Or give me your number and I'll text you, either way.

It's more of an electrical problem, Found out some fubar'd with the engine harness.

[Mike The Bavarian]

200whp fairly easy? I thought the s50/52s were only good for about 220whp and cost like 2-3k more?

I said can easliy make. That means with some mods.

[gearheadE30]

if you want to learn something, M42 turbo. It can be done cheap, but you gotta make sure you do the research first. I taught myself how to build and tune megasquirt and assembled a turbo kit (that works very well) in about 6 months. It just takes a lot of time to do the research, if you want to do it right. On the other hand, M50s are cheap and easy these days, so long as you know how to search forums. Then again, everyone has them, and the gain isn't much unless you start modding things. Whatever you choose, pick a budget and make sure you have between 1.5 and 2 times that availiable just in case something goes wrong.

[Adrian_Visser]

Wow no one has ever asked this question before.




Seriously you are the first.


Seriously though this is a very subjective question. You have to look at what you are starting with to decide what you will need for the different options you have and how cheap it will end up being.

I.e. you can use an m42's transmission with an m50 swap so you could save some coin there if you went in that direction this will save you $$$ although only a few bucks. If you threw in an m30 you would need the getrag 265 trans to go with it and would also really need to upgrade the diff from the small case unless you have plenty of spare diff's to go through everytime you launch hard.

A D.A.S.C kit will get you into m20 territory power wise but you will keep the awesome handling characteristics of a 318 with nearly 50/50 weight distribution.




Honestly you need to use the search key and decide for yourself this question is asked way too much.

[XvillainousX]

For the price and complexity of doing a m50 swap, you're better off modding your m42 or installing a 2.7i m20. Enzo Ferrari once said that HP sells cars, Torque wins races. Remember that hp is a measurement of top end speed. How often do you plan to go past 120mpg? For the streets you want torque for the wow factor out of corners. A m50 with lighten flywheel, m3 cams and chip (200hp) is ultimately laughable in terms of amount of money spend and HP/TQ gained.

If you install a 2.7 SuperEta bottom end and 885 head, thats a extremely cheap combination that can had for a few hundred dollars. If you can find a Euro 2.3 and get the 2.3 flywheel, and cam, and get an m30 afm you'll have 190hp but TONS more torque than the above mentioned M50 and save a several hundred dollars.

A 24v swap is only worth it if you go m52 2.8 or higher. Swapping out for a m50 is NEVER worth it unless you go turbo.

If you keep your m42, you;ll retain your 50/50 weight distribution.
If you change to an m20 you;ll have 60/40..
M30/M50 extremely front bias. Do you think your sport springs can handle the extra weight?

m42 engines are baby s14 engines. You can get tons of power out of them.

[Mike The Bavarian]

m42 engines are baby s14 engines. You can get tons of power out of them.[/quote]

wrong. s14s were based off of m10s. Although you can get like 180-200whp fairly easy out of an m42. this is with a turbo of course.

[Danny]

Also M42 turbos are illegal in California.

[87e30]

Damnit freeride. Noob.

[3bvert]

you tellin me that they found that a turbo m42 causes cancer in california too ?

[freeride53]

Once again, thanks all. Yes, Danny, on the topic of that- smog is definitely a challenge round here. My car just *barely* passed with the help of Chris at German Autosport, I had done almost everything (sensors, exhaust, etc), and the car was "grossly polluting." Also, keep in mind, this is my daily driver, and I intend on holding on to it for another ten years or so. I've dumped so much money into it, and it ultimately gets the job done, and then some. However, the power department has been annoying recently, and I feel it's time for the next step [or two]. I suppose the S14 is out of the question now as well. I was doing a little bit of searching on s14.net today, and I've been discouraged at best. I do appreciate the 50/50 feel Adrian, and it's handy on the twisties. That's another thing I'm worried about loosing.
Danny, how would you say your car handles now, post swap? (or whoever whom can provide review)

[xwill112x]

danny, why the fuck are you so nice to freeride? does he give you a freeride?


i see how he runs this shit now :rofl: