It's been a long time coming, and years of waffling between which swap I was going to do. Originally it was going to be an M50, then a stroker M20, then an M30, but I came back to the M50 in the end. I picked up a NV M50 with almost a full swap kit and harness adapter for a price I simply could not turn down, and managed to sell my M20 for almost the same price.
* Please read before proceeding. I am not interested in your arguments/theories/reasons why I should have "spent a little bit more and gotten an M52/S50/S52. These options were not available at the time when I had the money to spend on an engine, for the money I had put aside for it, etc. I may turbo this engine down the road, I may supercharge it, I may leave it NA and do something else with it. If you got an S50 or something else, and it's faster, that's awesome for you. I'm perfectly happy with what I got, and having driven a handful of swapped NV M50 E30s, I'm going to have plenty of fun with this one. And keep in mind, this is a swap from an ETA. *
Alright, now that we've gotten that bibbity-babble out of the way, how's about some pics?
A last look at the M20B27. I will still never talk trash on the M20. This is a great platform in any configuration, and the mods I did it to it over the years made for great fun.
The new lump, a stock NV M50B25. I've begun the process of meticulously cleaning and detailing the engine, and I have lots of cosmetic and mechanical plans for it both immediatley, and later down the road:
Another part of this engine swap will also be a moderate engine bay shave/tuck. Just about every bracket, stud and mounting provision you see in this pic will be shaved, and possibly most of the holes patched/smoothed:
Same for the driver's side, obviously I won't be able to hide as much over here, but the airbox and relay block brackets will be shaved, and most/all of the harness that runs along the fender will be run inside of it:
I've also gotten started on cleaning the engine bay. The M20 was always leaking oil/fluids, but here toward the end, it was getting really bad. This was part of the motivation to swap. Those piles of grime on the drip pan are from the front subframe and rack alone:
* Please read before proceeding. I am not interested in your arguments/theories/reasons why I should have "spent a little bit more and gotten an M52/S50/S52. These options were not available at the time when I had the money to spend on an engine, for the money I had put aside for it, etc. I may turbo this engine down the road, I may supercharge it, I may leave it NA and do something else with it. If you got an S50 or something else, and it's faster, that's awesome for you. I'm perfectly happy with what I got, and having driven a handful of swapped NV M50 E30s, I'm going to have plenty of fun with this one. And keep in mind, this is a swap from an ETA. *
Alright, now that we've gotten that bibbity-babble out of the way, how's about some pics?
A last look at the M20B27. I will still never talk trash on the M20. This is a great platform in any configuration, and the mods I did it to it over the years made for great fun.
The new lump, a stock NV M50B25. I've begun the process of meticulously cleaning and detailing the engine, and I have lots of cosmetic and mechanical plans for it both immediatley, and later down the road:
Another part of this engine swap will also be a moderate engine bay shave/tuck. Just about every bracket, stud and mounting provision you see in this pic will be shaved, and possibly most of the holes patched/smoothed:
Same for the driver's side, obviously I won't be able to hide as much over here, but the airbox and relay block brackets will be shaved, and most/all of the harness that runs along the fender will be run inside of it:
I've also gotten started on cleaning the engine bay. The M20 was always leaking oil/fluids, but here toward the end, it was getting really bad. This was part of the motivation to swap. Those piles of grime on the drip pan are from the front subframe and rack alone:
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