so....i have had an s52 sitting in my alpina b6 3.5s cabrio project for a couple of years now. presently this project is in storage at the moment and incomplete.
(my mtech2 car in the sig is my "miss now" car and i view it as just something to drive until i finish the alpina. this is something i will eventually sell)
for years i have had tons of plans for the project e30 that i will eventually get to. for example, i have the full compliment of alpina parts that are going on the car: vent gauge cluster, steering wheel, shift knob, dead pedal, diff cover, un engraved body tags/dash plaque, etc. for those of you that know, a b6 3.5s is the m3 version of the car. this being the case, i have a "hit in the rear" m3 that i am sourcing parts to make the cabrio an m3. I also have full mz3 roadster suspension and a set of 5 factory e36 alpina 17" hard line wheels.
another aspect of this crazy build is that i have been wanting to swap the car to all wheel drive. nando and i and a few other guys overseas have been working on the 24v e30 ix swap thing for a couple years using factory parts(not the frankinpan conversion from moonlight). i understand that lots of people here don't like ix's. we can save that aspect of the conversation for another thread. it has always been my dream since i was in college(early 90's) to take an m3, a cabrio, and an ix and build the best car from the three of them using as many factory parts as possible.
everything has been rolling along status quo until a couple of days ago, a friend of mine up north, called me to see if i was interested in his 1998 m62b44/6speed swap for 1300 bucks(plus shipping). it includes everything(drive shaft, wiring harness, dme, and even the complete harness under the dash. needless to day, this obviously gave me pause about the direction of my project. i started thinking about the benefits of a v8 vs the s52.
i expressed my concern that i didn't want a tu/vanos engine and he swears its non vanos. i checked wiki and apparently sometime in 98 was the changeover.
supposedly the v8 only has a little over 100k while my s52 only has 40,000 miles on it. in reality, the s52 is pretty much an r&d platform for an eventual s54. the m62 would be an r&d platform for the franken v8 (m60 heads on an m62.)
so, switching to a v8 will pretty much put the kabash on the all wheel drive option which is the part i am having a difficult time wrapping my head around. this said, i understand there will be a camp that says an awd cabrio is stupid anyway. that point of view isn't an issue in my mind because it is something that i would like to build to please myself. i am constructing the car for me-not to please my/your mom, my wife, nor the next buyer.
so....that pretty much sums up where i am at today. as i posted this here, i am looking for opinions. what would jesus do?
(my mtech2 car in the sig is my "miss now" car and i view it as just something to drive until i finish the alpina. this is something i will eventually sell)
for years i have had tons of plans for the project e30 that i will eventually get to. for example, i have the full compliment of alpina parts that are going on the car: vent gauge cluster, steering wheel, shift knob, dead pedal, diff cover, un engraved body tags/dash plaque, etc. for those of you that know, a b6 3.5s is the m3 version of the car. this being the case, i have a "hit in the rear" m3 that i am sourcing parts to make the cabrio an m3. I also have full mz3 roadster suspension and a set of 5 factory e36 alpina 17" hard line wheels.
another aspect of this crazy build is that i have been wanting to swap the car to all wheel drive. nando and i and a few other guys overseas have been working on the 24v e30 ix swap thing for a couple years using factory parts(not the frankinpan conversion from moonlight). i understand that lots of people here don't like ix's. we can save that aspect of the conversation for another thread. it has always been my dream since i was in college(early 90's) to take an m3, a cabrio, and an ix and build the best car from the three of them using as many factory parts as possible.
everything has been rolling along status quo until a couple of days ago, a friend of mine up north, called me to see if i was interested in his 1998 m62b44/6speed swap for 1300 bucks(plus shipping). it includes everything(drive shaft, wiring harness, dme, and even the complete harness under the dash. needless to day, this obviously gave me pause about the direction of my project. i started thinking about the benefits of a v8 vs the s52.
i expressed my concern that i didn't want a tu/vanos engine and he swears its non vanos. i checked wiki and apparently sometime in 98 was the changeover.
supposedly the v8 only has a little over 100k while my s52 only has 40,000 miles on it. in reality, the s52 is pretty much an r&d platform for an eventual s54. the m62 would be an r&d platform for the franken v8 (m60 heads on an m62.)
so, switching to a v8 will pretty much put the kabash on the all wheel drive option which is the part i am having a difficult time wrapping my head around. this said, i understand there will be a camp that says an awd cabrio is stupid anyway. that point of view isn't an issue in my mind because it is something that i would like to build to please myself. i am constructing the car for me-not to please my/your mom, my wife, nor the next buyer.
so....that pretty much sums up where i am at today. as i posted this here, i am looking for opinions. what would jesus do?
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