Hi all
I live in South Africa (a place where the E30 and E36 are revered). My dad had an early model E36 325i, and my grandfather had an E30 323i. I now own a Z4M coupe. So clearly BMWs run in the family!
I'm keen on getting an E30 and turning it into a project car. Ideally to redo the car, from top to bottom. I have extremely limited experience with working on cars, indeed all I've ever done is some oil changes and some minor work fixing small bits on my old Alfa 147.
My start is an E30 facelift (what we call the plastic bumper cars), I believe these start from 1987, but given how rampant lying is on the SA used car scene I'll probably have to check vins to confirm. I'd then like to do an N52 engine swap. I've browsed here and there are some discussion threads, but I don't see any thread linking this specific swap. In all probability I will need a complete donor car. Fortunately the N52 came in various cars that were popular in SA, so there should be a written off car I can get parts from.
The first point I assume would be "why N52 instead of S54/50/M54". If I could find a write off E46M3 I might consider S54, it'd certainly be easier. But my excitement is dulled (1) because I have an S54 car right now so there's a boredom factor (2) the N52 is much lighter and I suspect that this will suit the small E30 to a tee.
The end product ideally should be:
N52 swapped
6spd manual
resprayed and under-body recoated
interior redone (new seats, reconning the dash, new steering wheel
5 lug conversion + bigger brakes
17in rims (probably try to source some OEM E36 or E46 pieces)
Obviously in SA we dive on the left, so the car will be RHD - does anyone know whether this poses major challenges?
Sorry if this is the wrong section! I'm currently in the process of car hunting - I'm sure there's an FAQ on here on what to look out for, I'll get onto that ASAP.
Please do post comment and advise. Is N52 swapping simply far too large a job? I have a fairly solid technical background without extensive automotive experience. But if it's something only the most skilled should attempt - say so!
Cheers
T
I live in South Africa (a place where the E30 and E36 are revered). My dad had an early model E36 325i, and my grandfather had an E30 323i. I now own a Z4M coupe. So clearly BMWs run in the family!
I'm keen on getting an E30 and turning it into a project car. Ideally to redo the car, from top to bottom. I have extremely limited experience with working on cars, indeed all I've ever done is some oil changes and some minor work fixing small bits on my old Alfa 147.
My start is an E30 facelift (what we call the plastic bumper cars), I believe these start from 1987, but given how rampant lying is on the SA used car scene I'll probably have to check vins to confirm. I'd then like to do an N52 engine swap. I've browsed here and there are some discussion threads, but I don't see any thread linking this specific swap. In all probability I will need a complete donor car. Fortunately the N52 came in various cars that were popular in SA, so there should be a written off car I can get parts from.
The first point I assume would be "why N52 instead of S54/50/M54". If I could find a write off E46M3 I might consider S54, it'd certainly be easier. But my excitement is dulled (1) because I have an S54 car right now so there's a boredom factor (2) the N52 is much lighter and I suspect that this will suit the small E30 to a tee.
The end product ideally should be:
N52 swapped
6spd manual
resprayed and under-body recoated
interior redone (new seats, reconning the dash, new steering wheel
5 lug conversion + bigger brakes
17in rims (probably try to source some OEM E36 or E46 pieces)
Obviously in SA we dive on the left, so the car will be RHD - does anyone know whether this poses major challenges?
Sorry if this is the wrong section! I'm currently in the process of car hunting - I'm sure there's an FAQ on here on what to look out for, I'll get onto that ASAP.
Please do post comment and advise. Is N52 swapping simply far too large a job? I have a fairly solid technical background without extensive automotive experience. But if it's something only the most skilled should attempt - say so!
Cheers
T
Comment