★ ★ Project Glacier | Make the E30 a Daily Again ★ ★

[LowR3V'in]

ya kinda dumb trying to talk him out of putting in an m50/s50.

keeps it simple.
good on gas.
NO POWER.

i was going to talk allot of shit but no. :P

lambo have you gotten a ride an a m50/s52 car?
how disappointed where you when it didn't live up to the forum hype?

[2mAn]

24v is better in almost every way. more power and more efficiency

this is just Lambos tactic of distracting us from the real news ie progress.

Get back to work :hitler:

[e30austin]

I'd rather have an M52 than a high miles M20...just saying. Unless you plan to completely rebuild your existing engine, stick with your M52 plans. Each has their pros and cons, but if you basically have everything to do M52, then I'd do that.

That being said, I have done 24v on basically every other E30 I've decided to keep for a while...I do have a really nice '88 schwarz car that I can't bring myself to do a damn thing to. The M20 looks so nice in that particular engine bay to me. The others? Meh, ain't care.

[F34R]

this
so that theres more m30 swap info/experience on r3v ;D

The m30 is such a crap engine :grin:

Stick with the M52 man... it doesn't look like you're building this for Concours d'ENTlegance.

Fixed tee hee

[MPLFoster]

...

I have a stock m20b25 with a nice exhaust system and it's just a pleasure to turn off the stereo and roll down the windows.

This.

I have IE long tube race headers with two vibrant resonators (catless) and a vibrant muffler and it sounds fucking glorious. Dont care that im not fast. Puts a smile on my face just hearing that m20.

ok im back on the M20 train again...

[MrBurgundy]

I've gone back and forth between the two quite a bit. I love the sound the M20 makes, but I really don't understand why they're so hard to get power from. There seems to be no shortage of people getting 300hp from the L series motors that came in my Datsun (not cheap, but not outrageously expensive), whereas it seems like no one, save for a few Aussies, has gotten that kind of power from an M20, despite it being better on paper. I don't really see the point in building an NA M20 for what most people get out of them. But the M20 does seem to do well with boost, which is the current plan for my E30, assuming it doesn't grenade itself again.

As for the M52, well, it seems to be pretty easy to get good power out of it, and it responds even better to boost, but - and I might be in the minority here - it sounds like shit. It might be the worst sounding inline six I've ever heard. The sound the engine makes is a large part of what makes a car enjoyable to me, so that's just not going to work. Also, in terms of weight, I would think an NA M52 would weight about the same as a turbo M20, and in that case the M20 has way more power potential.

Then, of course, there's the timing belt vs timing chain argument.

I agree with it sounding like shit. I'd rather go slow and have a good sound track than to go faster and sounding like crap.

I have a stock m20b25 with a nice exhaust system and it's just a pleasure to turn off the stereo and roll down the windows.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wworm]

M30 swap?

this
so that theres more m30 swap info/experience on r3v ;D

[LowR3V'in]

turbo m20

[Staszek]

Damnit. That makes a lot of sense too... I already have the S52 cams and M50 intake for the M52 as well...

I still go back and forth, thinking I could have made this car so OEM stock and probably would be worth a bit more in the future, but I already bought the S54 and to be honest I am looking forward to all the extra power.

If I had an M3 I would absolutely keep it stock. If my IS was in mint shape when I bought it I may have kept the M20, but since I needed to go through such an extensive overhaul I figure go all the way and get the power I wanted.

Anyway tough decision, but if you are keeping the car forever I would do the swap.

[stonea]

M30 swap?

[rturbo 930]

I've gone back and forth between the two quite a bit. I love the sound the M20 makes, but I really don't understand why they're so hard to get power from. There seems to be no shortage of people getting 300hp from the L series motors that came in my Datsun (not cheap, but not outrageously expensive), whereas it seems like no one, save for a few Aussies, has gotten that kind of power from an M20, despite it being better on paper. I don't really see the point in building an NA M20 for what most people get out of them. But the M20 does seem to do well with boost, which is the current plan for my E30, assuming it doesn't grenade itself again.

As for the M52, well, it seems to be pretty easy to get good power out of it, and it responds even better to boost, but - and I might be in the minority here - it sounds like shit. It might be the worst sounding inline six I've ever heard. The sound the engine makes is a large part of what makes a car enjoyable to me, so that's just not going to work. Also, in terms of weight, I would think an NA M52 would weight about the same as a turbo M20, and in that case the M20 has way more power potential.

Then, of course, there's the timing belt vs timing chain argument.

[MrBurgundy]

Having an m20 in an e30 helps you stand out :rofl:


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lambo]

I had the same battle as you and this is what brought me to 24v land:

I really think that if this is your forever car, then doing an M52 swap is creating yourself a foundation upon which everything in the future for your car will be "better". Your modifications will go further with an M52, and your car will be entirely set up for 24V so the sky is the limit, really. Doing an S52 in the future (from an M52) will be as simple as dropping it in. Even doing an S54 is a simple swap once your car is already 24v (gas pedal, harness, etc). Turboing the M52 you have a stout-er platform to work with, too IMO (spool, power capabilities).

Going with an M20 and putting performance parts on it (high milage at that), seems like a good idea now, but there isn't much of a place to grow from that foundation in the future (besides turbo, but you don't want to turbo a 300K motor (maybe you do, I donno)).

Say two years from now you want to upgrade, spend $3K and build a stroked M20 to make 200whp, spend $2K more and buy ITBs to make 215whp and then realize you could've just bought a $1500 S52 if you were 24v, plugged it in and made 240whp, while scanning your fault codes on your phone.

When I did the motor on my iX I went the "full bolt on w/headwork and cam" route that you're contemplating and wish I would've M52 swapped it, which is one of the huge reasons why I decided on 24v with the iS.

Another thing too, you don't have to nickel and dime yourself on the M52 swap with small mods that cost a ton that don't really do much. If you (like me) open the can of mod worms it gets crazy expensive, but don't forget that a stock M52 will rip compared to an M20 all day, and that part can be done extremely cheap.

just my .02

Damnit. That makes a lot of sense too... I already have the S52 cams and M50 intake for the M52 as well...

[AWDBOB]

I had the same battle as you and this is what brought me to 24v land:

I really think that if this is your forever car, then doing an M52 swap is creating yourself a foundation upon which everything in the future for your car will be "better". Your modifications will go further with an M52, and your car will be entirely set up for 24V so the sky is the limit, really. Doing an S52 in the future (from an M52) will be as simple as dropping it in. Even doing an S54 is a simple swap once your car is already 24v (gas pedal, harness, etc). Turboing the M52 you have a stout-er platform to work with, too IMO (spool, power capabilities).

Going with an M20 and putting performance parts on it (high milage at that), seems like a good idea now, but there isn't much of a place to grow from that foundation in the future (besides turbo, but you don't want to turbo a 300K motor (maybe you do, I donno)).

Say two years from now you want to upgrade, spend $3K and build a stroked M20 to make 200whp, spend $2K more and buy ITBs to make 215whp and then realize you could've just bought a $1500 S52 if you were 24v, plugged it in and made 240whp, while scanning your fault codes on your phone.

When I did the motor on my iX I went the "full bolt on w/headwork and cam" route that you're contemplating and wish I would've M52 swapped it, which is one of the huge reasons why I decided on 24v with the iS.

Another thing too, you don't have to nickel and dime yourself on the M52 swap with small mods that cost a ton that don't really do much. If you (like me) open the can of mod worms it gets crazy expensive, but don't forget that a stock M52 will rip compared to an M20 all day, and that part can be done extremely cheap.

just my .02

[TeXJ]

#lsswaptheworld #justsayin