Where do you buy ///M motors?

[uflnuceng]

And I'm not digging ebay anymore, so do I find a local salvage yard to get an S50? Do I search the forums and hope to find an honest seller? And if I'm putting an ///M motor and tranny into a car on a "budget" (i.e. not looking to hit 5 figures on this swap), which one do I put in there? Euro S50 attainable at a reasonable price? Do I get an OBDI US S50? I would like about 300hp with a chip and maybe a cam.

Let me know your thoughts.

Thanks in advance.

[FredK]

For just the engine portion of the swap, it's hard to get to 5 figures with an S50 US. Even if you go to the dealer, IIRC, with a discount you can get a NEW short block (head, block, no accessories) for around $5000.

Salvage yards are sort of a dodgy situation unless they offer a warranty. Even with a warranty, your car will be out of commssion for a while.

I believe the Euro S50 can be had for around $5000 if you search high and low.

If you want to get to 300 crank hp on the US engine, you'd require Schrick cams, a chip, 24# injectors, 3.5" HFM.

I got my engine of Ebay from a guy with good ratings as a seller. I have yet to drop it in. Hopefully it's OK! If not, I paid a low enough price that parting it (assuming the head is OK) will only result in losing a few hundred bucks.

[Dave]

Good question. I know a guy who owns a local salvage yard - he does only late model domestics and common imports (toyota, honda) and no BMW. But, he has access to the salvage pools and other sources for wrecked cars.

He and I have discussed me getting a wrecked e36 M3 through him. With what he could get it for, and depending on the condition, it might be possible for me to get the whole car, part it out save for what I would want, and get most of my purchase price back.

Not sure if I am serious about doing it or not. But if you know someone in the business who has that kind of access to wrecks, you might consider it.

[KangamangusDriver]

Some salvage yards will make sure the engine runs, give you compression numbers and mileage from the donor.
some give parts warranty on their engines

I doubt with a salvage yard in NH and they provided me with all the info.
Also guaranteed the engine did not self destruct for 6months.
If it did, they would replace it.

Look around, try calling GreenLeaf auto recycling. huge company on the eastern side of the US, very large inventory.

[FredK]

Oh yeah I forgot, there's this BMW salvage operation in North NJ, called Motorsport Recycling. They're forum sponsors of bimmerforums. They have pretty good prices on M engines (~$3500 for a low to mid mileage S52). They sometimes part 95 M3s. Wiseguy ON and Bill are their user names at bf.c. Freight wouldn't be too much since you're in PA.

[uflnuceng]

I want to go OBDI though since I'm swapping into a 1988 E24 chassis though, right, or does OBDII not really matter, although I know there is more performance to be had out of an OBDI motor for one reason or another.

[uflnuceng]

I'm also going to need a tranny, and I guess I'll need to find a lower final drive other than the stock 3.91.

[Dave]

Where is the s38 from the M6 going?????

[uflnuceng]

Did some initial searching on forums and ebay, made some calls, looks like I can get a complete S50 with accessories, tranny, ecu, harness, etc. for between $3800-$4800 + shipping.

And rumor has it (i.e. and email I got last night) that TCD already has a prototype M50/S50 turbo kit coming out. That should put down the power. I just don't want to go over board because in honesty, all I'm trying to do is put a reliable fast motor into an E24 so that it runs and goes so I can sell it.

[SchnellerVert]

www.car-parts.com easy to navigate. Begining to believe you have cursed luck.

[uflnuceng]

S38 has gone to a guy in Washington (state). What an overweight, piece of crap, over priced motor that is to work on... I know, its blasphemy, but until you have stood over one and had one apart and looked at price lists for parts... you really can't say anything. The Euro S38/M88 was impressive... the ones that came to the US are not. They made the E24s/E28s front heavy and only put out like 45-50 crank hp more than the M30 motors which cost like $500 to rebuild, unlike a minimum of $7000 for an S38... what a horrible motor.

Anyway... flame away if you must, but if you haven't worked on one and driven behind one that was in need of work you just don't know...

[uflnuceng]

www.car-parts.com easy to navigate. Begining to believe you have cursed luck.

Meh... this shit wouldn't be so difficult if I didn't have to hide this shit from my wife. I was a postage stamp away from buying that AKG Motorsport V8 E30 (fantastic car for anyone who hasn't seen it in person) when she bitched about me spending $17k on a car that "Blue Books" at $3k. That was a year ago... I have since spent

$10k in performace parts on the E30
+$10k on the E24 M6
-$2500 back for the S38
+$4800 on Permit's E34
+$740 for transport
+$8300 on M30 turbo kit and rebuild
+$75/month on storage for E24 since I live with my inlaws and they would bitch about the salvage yard building in the back yard

= $31,340...

All in my search to have a unique fast enjoyable ride. Granted, I do have an assload of parts sitting on shelves in the garage that is worth several grand, but the E34 is still gonna get pimped the fuck out with a custom interior. I'm hoping to fix up the E24 and sell it for $6000-8000, cos nobody would even offered me $1k for a sound rolling, rust free shell.

Now... if my wife had just let me do what I had wanted in the first place this would have been completely overted... now I know just to not tell her anything about what I do with cars. She doesn't even know the E34 is here yet and probably won't even know it is parked in the garage for weeks. Thank god I make a rediculous amount of cash.

[Fidhle007]

Sorry if this is a little off-topic but if one were to swap a US S50 into an e30 ('90) would you NEED a new tranny or could you use the stock tranny and diff?

[FredK]

Wait, you're gonna drop this S50 into the E24? If you want to minimize the amount of money lost, just drop in a fresh or decent M30 and be done with it.

Why pour blood sweat and tears into a vehicle that you're going to sell and try to recoup your losses? That makes as much sense as dropping an S50 into an E30 in order to "recoup" losses. You're going to take a financial bath instead.

My 2 cents anyway. I understand the fun of project vehicles, and driving around in them a little before selling, but sometimes you have to take a long, hard look at your objectives for doing a swap.

[FredK]

Wow, talk about a thread jack. Yes you can use the same transmission and diff if you have a manual 325is. You have to use a custom engine mount bracket or combination of shims and mount to get the proper support on the transmission. Also the bottom bolts of the transmission won't line up so you'd have to drill and tap the 525i oil pan.