wtf is up with m42swaps?

[pmat]

I am still in awe of how long this thread is over such stupid bickering about outdated engines.

Same. Like i said before, why is everyone arguing about the more powerful engine when we are comparing a 1.8l I4 to a 2.5/2.7l I6?? The winner is obvious, it all comes down to preference as stated before. I love my rev happy little 4 cyl.

[willy-guldager]

Sometimes i feel my m42 is a little slow. But ive accepted that it isnt a racecar and it has 295.000 km on the clock. But when i take it down a twisty road with a lot of hills i cant stop smiling. That is when it is really fun. The M42 isnt really fast from 0-60 but from 60-100 you can really feel it going that is when its fun.

[RUFFLZ]

I think it's time for all the oh so knowledgeable RUFFLZ to chime in on the topic.
This is simply my perspective; leaving all numbers aside.
m20's sound great, m42's dont.
m42's are ridiculously r3v-happy, m20's are a bit more sluggish in comparison.
Also, I feel as if m42's are almost on par with m20's as far as speed and on the twisties; m42's will win everytime stock v. stock.
In the perfect world, I would own both an alpine slicktop and '89.

[10Toes]

I think it's time for all the oh so knowledgeable RUFFLZ to chime in on the topic.
This is simply my perspective; leaving all numbers aside.
m20's sound great, m42's dont.
m42's are ridiculously r3v-happy, m20's are a bit more sluggish in comparison.
Also, I feel as if m42's are almost on par with m20's as far as speed and on the twisties; m42's will win everytime stock v. stock.
In the perfect world, I would own both an alpine slicktop and '89.

No it wouldn't

[RUFFLZ]

well when sina and I schmobbed the twisties together I couldn't keep up.
he got's a 4 dr 318i, I haz '89.
I'm just talking from my experience d0e

[JinormusJ]

I nominate RUFFLZ for r3v's 2013 Member of the Year Award

[agent]

d0e

Ban.

[MF DOOM]

m42 turbo >m20

thats unfair. how about:

m42 < m20 turbo

but:

m42 turbo > m20 turbo

m20 turbo will make easier power than an m42 turbo. there is no argument there. but an m42 turbo is an m42 turbo. you get weird faces when you tell people you turboed an m42. ;)

[series88]

I have way more fun in my m42d vert than my m50d e36 or the m20d e30 i get to drive once in a while. Yes, there's no debate that it's not the fastest motor on earth but definitely lots of fun. Something i could smash on and feel the kick while staying decently within speed limit or around there. that "buzzing" reminds me of old carburated 4 cyl cars, wpuld last longer than every other car i own and on top of all this, i feel think the gas mileage is amazing. Its way better than the e36...it definitely gets the job done.

[325ix]

well when sina and I schmobbed the twisties together I couldn't keep up.
he got's a 4 dr 318i, I haz '89.
I'm just talking from my experience d0e

Because motor is the only variable there.

[HarukoE30]

I have way more fun in my m42d vert than my m50d e36 or the m20d e30 i get to drive once in a while. Yes, there's no debate that it's not the fastest motor on earth but definitely lots of fun. Something i could smash on and feel the kick while staying decently within speed limit or around there. that "buzzing" reminds me of old carburated 4 cyl cars, wpuld last longer than every other car i own and on top of all this, i feel think the gas mileage is amazing. Its way better than the e36...it definitely gets the job done.

I am really liking my 318i over my 325i. Maybe it really is the light and nimbleness of it. Ryann drove the living piss out of mine with Keith M & myself in it and I had a *holy shit* face the whole time.

[RUFFLZ]

Because motor is the only variable there.

obviously not, I'm not saying it is.
but sina and I haven't had any track time between the two of us and I'm pretty sure our driving is on par with one another.
when we switched cars, I was right behind him the entire time.
when you can keep the r3v's on a m42 up, it's pretty quick.

you can think what you want but I feel like m42's are quicker in the twisties with what I've experienced.

[bmwman91]

Oh god, not another one of these threads.

You fruitcakes are arguing about which antiquated engine is better than another when both make less power per liter and get worse gas mileage than any modern 4 or 6 cylinder engine. To top it off, the cars that those engines are found in get shat on by new minivans and sub-$20k econo-hatches in both straight line performance and handling.

E30's are outdated machines with no relevance today in terms of handling, safety, reliability, economy, features or comfort. Get over it. I have owned and loved E30's for the last 12 years, and will continue to, but I am under no illusion that it is anything more than a car that I have my own personal reasons for driving, despite it being an awful daily driver / primary vehicle.

As an example, my wife's 2003 Civic LX does damn near everything that my 318iS can in terms of handling and acceleration, while getting 50% better fuel economy and costing a grand total of $1800 in maintenance over 180k miles and 10 years. The E30 costs that much in a year just to stay in the same kind of condition that my wife's Civic is in. Now, the Civic is scary as fuck when driving it through corners fast, but at the end its traction limit is close to the E30's, stock vs stock.

At least my 318iS is faster now...but it took a fully loaded Metric Mechanic 2.1L M42 to do it, and it cost an unreasonable amount of money by any sane standard. Frankly, the 205bhp 2.1L engine I now have in it is what BMW SHOULD have put in there in the first place. Instead, they put in a merely OK 1.8L and detuned the shit out of the software so that the 318 models were complete slugs, thus getting people to buy the more expensive 325 models.

Fuel economy wise, I was pulling 30-33MPG in heavy highway commute traffic, and 25-27MPH around town. That was with the stock engine. I don't have enough data points with the new engine to really say. Also, by now the M42 is generally a finicky maintenance nightmare. The timing chain setup is a MAJOR weakness, mainly the idler sprocket thingy. The oil sump inlet is also a trouble area, and the vacuum line system causes everyone headaches with code 1222. Once you are familiar with it, it is not so bad, but many people get confused by it. At least the profile gasket thing is a non-issue now since most remaining M42's are either long dead or had it fixed.

With all of that said, I still love my 318iS. It's fun by my standards, kind-of unique, and mainly it is a great muse in terms of getting me interested in starting machining projects and new embedded control projects.

Oh and stock for stock on two equally well maintained cars, an E30 325i will be faster than an E30 318is in a straight line and around corners. Deal with it.

[James Crivellone]

I hate M42's. Hate working on them, driving them, etc.. The only joyful thing I have related to an M42 is ripping it out of the engine bay and shitcanning it.

On the argument of which one handles better who cares? With modern suspension, springs, shocks, sways, etc it simply does not matter. Yes they are lighter in the front stock for stock, but who is still running 100% stock shocks/springs?

My Pro3/Race car is a 6 cylinder, turn in is amazing, handling is amazing, all due to shocks/springs/sways.

The only 4 cylinder worth a damn in an e30 is the S14, because of its heritage, and how it delivers power up high, they are a joy to drive, M42's are slow as hell, don't handle any better than a M20 car at the limit on a track and are essentially made out of glass.

Sure the purists like them, but I have worked on more M42's with shitty timing systems, shit compression, and cracked-hoses-galore under the intake manifold than I wish to count.

The M20 is a better engine in the E30, period...for stock E30 engines anyway.. Those who disagree, I appreciate your opinion, but I'm not changing mine.

[E30 Wagen]

The only reason I replaced my M42 with an M20 was convenience. The M42 was toast, and I obtained a complete M20 drivetrain for free. There was no question.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to direct my m20 swap comment at you. If I got a free m20 driveline I'd do the same in that circumstance.

I don't care about the argument, so don't flame me, but now I'm curious about the potential of the 1.9l m44 engine? It seems like these were updated to solve some of the wear problems that m42's had. If somebody was bent on keeping the feel of a rev-happy, "lightweight" 4 cylinder, would these be worth a look? How well and for how much can they be built to be comparable to a "fast" e30? Note that I don't care about hp numbers b/c I'm firm in my thinking that there's more to the driving experience than that. If there's really no benefit over a built m42, then I guess I'll forget about it...