M20B27 Chinese Food Delivery Build?

[einhander]

Change diff.

[E30 Wagen]

Change diff.

[mrcheezle19]

Change diff.

[frankie591]

put the 325e diff in your 325i for the time being. You will get much better gas mileage.

[fiveightandten]

You'll only be driving that much for the next 6 months or so. If your math is correct, you'd save between $2 to 3K in fuel over that time, as a very rough estimate.

It seems to me that it would be far easier to just fix whatever is wrong with the ETA car and drive that. Then you'd also have your 2.5 unchanged. You'd still save on cash over what you're doing now.

[anabolice30]

Hey r3v, I've been having some ideas bouncing around in my head, and I'd like to run it bye you guys and see what you think. I am 18 years old, about to graduate high school and moving on to college in the fall. I'm a delivery boy at a local Chinese joint, so between that, driving to school, hanging out with friends, my girlfriend, and any other running around town I may be doing I drive between 400 and 700 miles a week. Currently gas is KILLING me. I fuel up a few times a week between 10-50 dollars, but I'm too scared to add the cost up. Currently I have an m20b25 in my car with a lightened flywheel and (I believe) a 4.10 diff. Car hauls, but it's getting me like 17mpg, with a lot of highway miles. .

Anyways, I bought a parts car for $200 hundred bucks, an 85 325es automatic. The car runs good when it is started, but it needs to be jumped every time, (changing the battery does not help). So my question to you is this. Since the engine in that car is already mine, would it be cost effective to yank it out, refresh it, and throw it in my 325i? I've seen some people claim to get almost 40mpg highway with an eta, and 30mpg around town. That would be a godsend to me right now. Plus I've never heard of a late model with an ETA engine in it. What do you think r3v? Should I do it, or am I getting myself in way too deep?