Should i go for e30 or e60 535i ?

[jasonbk]

Why would you want 200 - 300hp?

150hp stock m20 that's been maintained properly that you can drive every day is much more fun than turbo build that'll be sitting at your garage before get parted out.

I would think about how you want to 'use' your car before thinking about any 'upgrade'. If you want to go faster, invest in your driving skill and tires.

[James Crivellone]

Thank you for your great answer. I want to go for e30 but ofcourse not leave it as a stock car. I would 100% swap a motor and make it more fun. Ideally i would want turbo e30, but it might cost alot. + getting no rust e30 is the hardest part. Here in europe they dont go as cheap as in US, for close to non rust model i should drop 5k+ cash alone. And then i need to do all the repainting, body work, tires, engine swap, interior upgrade. Idk. Any ideas how much would a motor between 200-300hp turbo would cost me ? And for which motor to go for that power? My friend would help me with motor swap.

I know many would disagree, but I have never driven a Turbo E30 that I'd consider enjoyable, yeah they are fun when they spool, but having gobs of power in an E30 really ruins the dynamic of the car in my opinion.

If I wanted 200 - 300 HP in an E30 I'd toss an M54B30 or an S54B32 in it and call it a day, yes the S54 is expensive, but N/A power is much more enjoyable than a turbo on a car that is meant to be smooth and enjoyable.

200 - 300HP is easy with a turbo, I get it, and you can do it cheap if you really want, but I enjoy the fact that everytime i hop into a car, turn the key, it starts, it works, and I don't need to worry about tuning... maybe I'm lazy these days, but I don't get much from "building" engines anymore.. if I did my mtech e30 again I would not have done the 2.8 M20 Stroker, I would have tossed a cherry M30B35 in it and called it a day.

[2mAn]

Whats wrong with the 2.8 M20??

OP, any 24v option short of a M50NV is going to give you the power that will make the car a blast and be dead-on reliable. My S52 cammed M52 made 225whp, got 25-28mpg and was a riot. I wouldnt want anything more, and now that Im back to a M20 powered 325i, I cant help but dream about either a M52 or even a M54 as the best option. Ive wanted to build a 2.8 M20 for a while, hence my question posed to James...

Im not a fan of the M30 because it throws off the balance and the MPG is horrible... mines a daily driver still after all

[Javier h]

Ah na ya don't

Why M30 and not S50 (S52)?

I don't want to make this a which is a better swap thread.

Just curious as to why the M30 especially from you James.

I suspect its just period correct (as in 333i) and the S50 is just too plastic?

I don't think it has anything to do with weight but please school me.

Me? I'm bent on the stroker only because when you open the hood it looks identical to how it left the factory (unless of course you live in South Africa).



Javier

[MPLFoster]

Why would you want 200 - 300hp?

150hp stock m20 that's been maintained properly that you can drive every day is much more fun than turbo build that'll be sitting at your garage before get parted out.

I would think about how you want to 'use' your car before thinking about any 'upgrade'. If you want to go faster, invest in your driving skill and tires.

This. Tires and driver mod plus IE race headers a miller maf with some bigger injectors and a tune and you’ve got a true to heart yet slightly pumped up E30 that will give you smiles for miles.

[James Crivellone]

Whats wrong with the 2.8 M20??

OP, any 24v option short of a M50NV is going to give you the power that will make the car a blast and be dead-on reliable. My S52 cammed M52 made 225whp, got 25-28mpg and was a riot. I wouldnt want anything more, and now that Im back to a M20 powered 325i, I cant help but dream about either a M52 or even a M54 as the best option. Ive wanted to build a 2.8 M20 for a while, hence my question posed to James...

Im not a fan of the M30 because it throws off the balance and the MPG is horrible... mines a daily driver still after all

Too much money for not a lot of gain, its a cool motor with nice parts and fits the era of the car (which is critical to me) but given the effort a mint M30B35 would be preferred and more 333i like.

[325e '87]

This thread is a good read and it’s cool so many are reasonably satisfied with the M20. I’ve been able to keep my wife for 24 years now and I’ve managed to drive an e30 (325i) for 10 years (2 different cars). I think there won’t be any changes the rest of the way for me. I dream of a minty e28 535i but my bank account isn’t that heavy....

[James Crivellone]

Why M30 and not S50 (S52)?

I don't want to make this a which is a better swap thread.

Just curious as to why the M30 especially from you James.

I suspect its just period correct (as in 333i) and the S50 is just too plastic?

I don't think it has anything to do with weight but please school me.

Me? I'm bent on the stroker only because when you open the hood it looks identical to how it left the factory (unless of course you live in South Africa).



Javier

Period correct, while the M50/S52 is a nice motor it looks like crap in the e30 engine bay, does not really fit the theme of the car (don't throw pitchforks at me) and does not really work for my purposes. I've owned and driven many stupid fast cars, and frankly the E30 does not need 300hp, hell it does not need 250 to be enjoyable. Its all about balance to me and frankly the M30 is simply a period correct engine that fits the bill nicely, S38 being the upgrade which I almost considered (built an E34 M5 Wagon instead with my B36 I had)

My only exception would be to import an Alpina M54 Equiv from Europe from an E46, it fits into the unique bill and gives it somewhat of a cool theme, but for me its more period correctness versus anything else.

I realize in this group its about power from wherever you can find it for the least amount of money (well for some at least) but I tend to look at cars a bit differently than most and really enjoy what BMW did in the 70's and 80's, so why not source a powerplant from that era.

Oh and LS1's are stupid ;)

[2mAn]

Yea I honestly wish there were more 4 cylinder options that made ~200bhp. There was a guy who had a 84 M10 car with dual sidedraft carbs on the M10... I loved it but theres no way that car is CA legal. a S14 would be great but thats stupid money now... theres just not too much in the way of period correct power thats not a I6 and with how cheap and plentiful M5x motors are now, its hard to beat... the trade off being the plastic in the engine bay.

[ELVA164]

Why would you want 200 - 300hp?

150hp stock m20 that's been maintained properly that you can drive every day is much more fun than turbo build that'll be sitting at your garage before get parted out.

I would think about how you want to 'use' your car before thinking about any 'upgrade'. If you want to go faster, invest in your driving skill and tires.

Every time I see a thread like this, this is my first thought. The car is plenty fun out of the box.

[E30 Wagen]

I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't totally hate e60s. I remember when they first came out everybody was hating on the Bangle design but I thought the "flame surfacing" and lack of belt line was kinda refreshing (however I can't really say the same for his other designs). The front end, especially the headlamp design, is a bit much; they really need mtechnic kits and nice wheels to look good. Mechanically and overall I've mostly heard good things about how solid they are .

[dnguyen1963]

I'm probably one of the few people who doesn't totally hate e60s. I remember when they first came out everybody was hating on the Bangle design but I thought the "flame surfacing" and lack of belt line was kinda refreshing (however I can't really say the same for his other designs). The front end, especially the headlamp design, is a bit much; they really need mtechnic kits and nice wheels to look good. Mechanically and overall I've mostly heard good things about how solid they are .

For some reasons, BMW cannot get away from Bangle design. I think it is too feminine, but then again, sales volume has been great for them so why change?

[mcdougal]

Period correct, while the M50/S52 is a nice motor it looks like crap in the e30 engine bay, does not really fit the theme of the car (don't throw pitchforks at me) and does not really work for my purposes.

Man, I completely disagree. I think the S52 looks perfect in the bay, and I also think it’s the perfect amount of power. I do, however, agree that 300 hp is completely unnecessary. I haven’t driven a 300 hp e30 but I imagine it would be nearly impossible to drive hard with spinning out/losing control all the time.

[nando]

Period correct, while the M50/S52 is a nice motor it looks like crap in the e30 engine bay, does not really fit the theme of the car (don't throw pitchforks at me) and does not really work for my purposes. I've owned and driven many stupid fast cars, and frankly the E30 does not need 300hp, hell it does not need 250 to be enjoyable. Its all about balance to me and frankly the M30 is simply a period correct engine that fits the bill nicely, S38 being the upgrade which I almost considered (built an E34 M5 Wagon instead with my B36 I had)

My only exception would be to import an Alpina M54 Equiv from Europe from an E46, it fits into the unique bill and gives it somewhat of a cool theme, but for me its more period correctness versus anything else.

I realize in this group its about power from wherever you can find it for the least amount of money (well for some at least) but I tend to look at cars a bit differently than most and really enjoy what BMW did in the 70's and 80's, so why not source a powerplant from that era.

Oh and LS1's are stupid ;)

That's why I ended up changing my mind on an S54 swap, and why I really like the idea of an N52 in an E30 - it's 255hp stock (with potential for more), weighs less than the M20, and the torque curve makes the M30 look silly. The only thing that it's not is period correct. It's enjoyable in a ~3300lb E90, I'm sure it would be even better in a ~2700lb E30. :)

On newer BMWs all that anyone cares about is dyno numbers; if you don't have 500+hp, then there's no point in modding your car at all. But it's not like these guys are even drag racing their cars, much less tracking them. They're just driving like assholes on their way to the grocery store. Meh.