I bought this 86 325eS a few months ago and have been slowly working on improving it. Step one was replacing the old, leaky Eta motor and trans. I bought a 86 325i Convertible Euro for the donor motor and other goodies. The rest of that car was parted out and scrapped. Here are some photos of the E to I swap I did over the weekend.
Donor car.
Euro m20b25. Previous owner had just replaced everything, timing belt, water pump, all coolant hoses, etc. so I didn't have to do much to it.
My car before the swap. I like this pic, the I motor is just sitting there teasing it.
Out with the Eta!
Engine bay cleaning.
While I had the engine out I also swapped in the front sway bar from the vert (21 vs 20mm), and an e36 steering rack I had been saving. The rack went in very easy. There were no modifications to the steering linkage necessary, it just needed to be repositioned a bit higher. The rack itself only needed the addition of a few spacers to make it secure.
E36 steering rack and convertible sway bar.
m20b25 and m20b27
This was kinda cool...apparently euro motors have aluminum motor mount arms. Didn't know that.
Anyone ever see these before? They weigh like a quarter of what the US steel arms do.
Motor in, just gotta connect a few things yet.
Catless euro exhaust with new Ansa muffler!
Its alive! First drive, hoodless. Gotta love the funny looks you get. Not to mention the cool factor of watching your throttle open and close!
One thing I did not swap from the Euro car was the differential. It was an open 3.64. I opted to keep my 2.93LSD that was in the eS. Most of you would say these gears are too high for a m20b25 motor. I personally love this combination, I've done it before on my 2.7i stroker. I find it quite enjoyable really winding it out in each gear before shifting, not to mention the MPG increase by keeping rpms lower. Maybe I sacrifice a bit of acceleration, but to me its a more driveable car.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the swap. This motor is easily the strongest m20b25 I've ever driven, and I've driven quite a few e30's. My next goal is to replace the shot suspension. Stay tuned for an update in the next week or so!
Donor car.
Euro m20b25. Previous owner had just replaced everything, timing belt, water pump, all coolant hoses, etc. so I didn't have to do much to it.
My car before the swap. I like this pic, the I motor is just sitting there teasing it.
Out with the Eta!
Engine bay cleaning.
While I had the engine out I also swapped in the front sway bar from the vert (21 vs 20mm), and an e36 steering rack I had been saving. The rack went in very easy. There were no modifications to the steering linkage necessary, it just needed to be repositioned a bit higher. The rack itself only needed the addition of a few spacers to make it secure.
E36 steering rack and convertible sway bar.
m20b25 and m20b27
This was kinda cool...apparently euro motors have aluminum motor mount arms. Didn't know that.
Anyone ever see these before? They weigh like a quarter of what the US steel arms do.
Motor in, just gotta connect a few things yet.
Catless euro exhaust with new Ansa muffler!
Its alive! First drive, hoodless. Gotta love the funny looks you get. Not to mention the cool factor of watching your throttle open and close!
One thing I did not swap from the Euro car was the differential. It was an open 3.64. I opted to keep my 2.93LSD that was in the eS. Most of you would say these gears are too high for a m20b25 motor. I personally love this combination, I've done it before on my 2.7i stroker. I find it quite enjoyable really winding it out in each gear before shifting, not to mention the MPG increase by keeping rpms lower. Maybe I sacrifice a bit of acceleration, but to me its a more driveable car.
Overall, I'm very pleased with the swap. This motor is easily the strongest m20b25 I've ever driven, and I've driven quite a few e30's. My next goal is to replace the shot suspension. Stay tuned for an update in the next week or so!
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