Bought One

[E46Twist]

Hey guys, I bought an 89 325i coupe yesterday. The guy broke the timing belt and I only paid $600 for it. So my plan is to do a rebuild on the whole engine. Plan is to do new valves and springs with a cam (272 or 288) maybe do larger valves. I want to do the seta bottom end cheap stroker and shave a little off the head to keep good CR. I am going to strip the car for rally prep. The plan will be to drive it on crappy days that I don't want to drive my e46 and take it to a couple rally events to have some fun.

I do have a question about the motor. To me it seems like it is cheaper to buy a whole eta block than swap internals and do bearings. Do you guys agree with this?

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[AndrewBird]

It would be cheaper to swap to a 24v motor out of an e36/e34. If you really want to keep the M20, I would just find a used head in good shape and leave the rest of the engine alone. Get the car running and driving and see what you think. Then if you want more power, go from there.

[deutschman]

The larger valves are not needed unless you are doing much more work to your engine. Just do a three angle valve job. The valves are already large enough for the engine. Get some double valve springs and have the valves matched to their valve guides individually. The angles my machinist recommends for the M20B25 head are 30/45/62 intake and 30/45/60 exhaust.
Run a good air filter with a heat shield, and then swap in the AFM from a m30 engine (swap the chip from the M20 AFM into the M30 AFM). The 272 cam is great, but you will need a chip/tune for the ECU to really get the power out of it. Even a stock M20 responds well to a good tune.

[E46Twist]

Yes I would like to keep the M20. I am not looking for big power, it just isn't needed. Also I do not want to mess with wiring. The point is cheap and simple. I want to spend the bulk if my money on suspension and reinforcement.

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[E46Twist]

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[flyboyx]

oy! she's gonna need some work. this one would be a parts car in my book. get it running first. just look for a good running engine in a junk yard and call it a day. you have a lot of rust to take care of. probably not a car worth dropping a lot of money into engine mods. if this is the car you are starting with, i assume your budget is limited. don't waste your resources on stupid shit.

[mr2peak]

Yes I would like to keep the M20. I am not looking for big power, it just isn't needed. Also I do not want to mess with wiring. The point is cheap and simple. I want to spend the bulk if my money on suspension and reinforcement.

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Good choice! Suspension is always the best bang for the buck with these cars.

[Nick_S]

You could do an m50 swap on the cheap and with an adapter you wouldn't need to mess with wiring. Regardless, looks like a decent project, good luck!

[Farbin Kaiber]

^^As long as pickup points are not rotted out of course.

[E46Twist]

Nope it is exactly what I was looking for. An e30 I wouldn't feel bad tearing apart. Aside from the rust under the door which we be removed and sealed over the car is in good shape. Sub frame looks good and the motor is in good shape other than the timing belt breaking. It was being daily driven up until last week. Again I am not looking for a bunch of power here and I'm just not interested in the motor swaps for this particular car. When I looked into building a street car it was going to be an S52. This is obviously a harsh crowd here haha

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[catalyst.]

Just buy another m20 and swap the head over. cheapest way. Machine work = money. It doesnt look all that rough to me... not a parts car.

[FLG]

Just buy another m20 and swap the head over. cheapest way. Machine work = money. It doesnt look all that rough to me... not a parts car.

Cant just "swap the head over" you pull the head due to timing belt or head gasket, get it resurfaced or your gonna pulling it again for the head gasket sooner or later.

[E46Twist]

Yep that's my plan guys. Asked several forum members on here already and hope to buy one today.

"Fast is Sexy"

[MINIz guy]

I saw this on Craigslist. Good to know that a R3v member picked it up!

[E46Twist]

Where are you at in MO?

"Fast is Sexy"