wtf is up with m42swaps?

[iamsam]

holy sack of balls, you guys argue like a bunch of women!!! who the crap cares?? they both make the car get out of its own way, why would you care to argue beyond that?

M20s and M42s are great engines that allow you to drive your car by providing torque to the rear wheels, and are great placeholders for other motors worthy of further argument, such as M60/M62s, LSxs, other V8s, and of course turbos on motors with less cylinders.

sheesh...


That said, here is what I do with my 318is:



oh yeah, and it has an M20B25 in it, because I blew up the M42 doing more of the above.

[Cletonius]

M20 >> M42
Plain and simple. More low end grunt, better top end, power band is smooth throughout, and sounds loads better than the m42. M20 all day!

No way is it smooth throughout. My car pulls pretty good up to 4k but right at 4k is where the magic happens. The power comes on hard and rips to redline.

Is this normal power delivery?

[gtdragon980]

No way is it smooth throughout. My car pulls pretty good up to 4k but right at 4k is where the magic happens. The power comes on hard and rips to redline.

Is this normal power delivery?

I'm not gonna say it is perfectly smooth throughout, of course most of the power kicks in around 3.5k, but as far as power from idle to redline, the m20 is far better than an m42. It delivers power much smoother than its 4 cylinder variant, which produces real power higher up in the rpms and a lot less torque.

[gtdragon980]

a Prius also does this...........

I love you M42 guys!!! M20 FTW

M20= best motor ever built. end.

I wanna do a swap on my e39 and e46 now M20 in everything!

This had me rolling!!

[mikeedler]

and I'm "stupid". 'Kay, genius.

awww are we butt hurt? I didn't call you stupid btw. I can swap your car to an M20 too if you would like.
even if it is 100% more weight, and 100% more displacement, it is still 40hp.

just remember the old saying "no replacement for displacement"

no ned to get all worked up, I'm just having fun here, I don't hate the M42, just prefer more power.

[downforce22]

still only as fast as a cammed 2.7i m20... Unless crazy boost, but I heard the m42 cant take on large amounts of boost?

Why would you say that? 4 valves per cylinder, fuel injected. On a proper tune with some head studs I think the m42 could take quite a beating. If it could swap into a 325ix idk if I wouldnt be building a stroker m20 with plans for turbo. Its much lighter than the m20 so best of both worlds.

[325ix]

Why would you say that? 4 valves per cylinder, fuel injected. On a proper tune with some head studs I think the m42 could take quite a beating. If it could swap into a 325ix idk if I wouldnt be building a stroker m20 with plans for turbo. Its much lighter than the m20 so best of both worlds.

I think it runs into flow problems pretty quickly.

[slammin.e28]

LAWL M20.....just LAWL!

DOHC FTW all day. M42s are awesome little guys. I love the version where they put two at a 90 degree angle from each other.

Seriously, you can't hate M20s more than I do, and I HAVE owned a couple.

[e30trooper]

m42 ix would be a big fail lol.

[CrusherCurtis]

When I had my 318i I was surprised at how bad the gas mileage was compared to my civic. The m42 is rated only 1 mpg better than m20 on both city and highway and that's what I'd guess. The only good thing about the m42 is that there's no autotragic.

[obes]

i love m42s....for life...

[unevolved]

I like this thread.

[irish44j]

You're all bitches until you daily a stock M10.

Suck. My. Knob.

You're my bitch until you rallycross a stock M10 :)

ok, don't. It's pretty slow.

of course, I did beat 3 6vyl e30s at EVERY event last season. And an M42 car. :)

[acolella76]

I like girls

[peytonracer4]

the m42 is buzzy and doesn't feel like a bmw. yes its definitely fun ESPECIALLY above 4k rpm but it feels like a buzzy 4 banger. because it is.
m20 is much smoother and has a better power delivery. it also sounds better and feels classier.
neither is really a "performance" engine. an s50 swapped into an e30 is about as close as you're going to get to a fast performance e30.