As some of you know I'm once again an E30 owner. Two days ago I picked up a 1989 325i 2 door 5 speed with 169,xxx miles which needs quite a bit of work, mostly interior. Don't worry, I still have the E39 540i6, though it's up for sale. I drove the E30 over to Mr. Funk's shop the same day and we noticed it was leaking fluid from the steering rack - great. Bought a rack and a carpet kit from him and that night Mr. Copperwheat, Jenny, and myself stayed out at my dad's shop until 12:30 AM cleaning up the interior and swapping the racks (THANK YOU Mr. Copperwheat).
Yesterday I take the car through DEQ (Oregon emissions) and the car passes no problem. I take it to DMV to get my new plates and tags then to Subway for the best sub I've ever had (and I eat ALOT of subs). I get to my parents house and park uphill in their driveway. Come out 45 minutes later and there's a HUGE pool of oil running down their driveway. I pull up onto level ground and see that it's dripping from the bellhousing onto the shield then to the ground. I check the engine oil and it's about a quart low, leading Mr. Funk to predict my rear main seal gave up the ghost. I figured since it's part of a clutch job maybe I'll just have Clutch Doctors throw one in, probably won't be more than $300. I was wrong - it's more like $510 for the clutch and rear main or $335 for just the rear main replacement. I haven't called other shops but I'm sure it's not going to be cheap (~$200). I figured what the hell, I have the cash, why not just go ahead and swap in an M30? Well today I realized it may not be possible to swap the M30 and retain A/C. I know many of you will say it doesn't matter much, but it does to me.
SO, if there's no way for me to have the M30 *and* A/C, I'm going to need another solution. I was planning on spending under $2k for the M30 swap, so I'd like to keep whatever I do around that price. I've thought about fixing the rear main seal with the help of Mr. Copperwheat then turbocharging it, but it does have 169,xxx on it so I'm not sure how well it'd hold up. I wouldn't be opposed to rebuilding it beforehand but I'm sure that wouldn't fall within my budget criteria. I could also go with an M50 or M52 but honestly it doesn't really seem worth it for such modest gains, UNLESS (need some feedback here) one of those engines would be better suited for turbocharging than the M20.
Please tell me what your plan would be if you were in my situation and why...
Yesterday I take the car through DEQ (Oregon emissions) and the car passes no problem. I take it to DMV to get my new plates and tags then to Subway for the best sub I've ever had (and I eat ALOT of subs). I get to my parents house and park uphill in their driveway. Come out 45 minutes later and there's a HUGE pool of oil running down their driveway. I pull up onto level ground and see that it's dripping from the bellhousing onto the shield then to the ground. I check the engine oil and it's about a quart low, leading Mr. Funk to predict my rear main seal gave up the ghost. I figured since it's part of a clutch job maybe I'll just have Clutch Doctors throw one in, probably won't be more than $300. I was wrong - it's more like $510 for the clutch and rear main or $335 for just the rear main replacement. I haven't called other shops but I'm sure it's not going to be cheap (~$200). I figured what the hell, I have the cash, why not just go ahead and swap in an M30? Well today I realized it may not be possible to swap the M30 and retain A/C. I know many of you will say it doesn't matter much, but it does to me.
SO, if there's no way for me to have the M30 *and* A/C, I'm going to need another solution. I was planning on spending under $2k for the M30 swap, so I'd like to keep whatever I do around that price. I've thought about fixing the rear main seal with the help of Mr. Copperwheat then turbocharging it, but it does have 169,xxx on it so I'm not sure how well it'd hold up. I wouldn't be opposed to rebuilding it beforehand but I'm sure that wouldn't fall within my budget criteria. I could also go with an M50 or M52 but honestly it doesn't really seem worth it for such modest gains, UNLESS (need some feedback here) one of those engines would be better suited for turbocharging than the M20.
Please tell me what your plan would be if you were in my situation and why...
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