Atypical E30 Engine Swaps??

any info out there on strange and wonderful swaps for the e30? I'm thinking engines that are easy to find and very cheep, with lots of performance potential. not necessarily BMW engines. I'm thinking on a budget of a grand or less.

Ford 5.0, usually easy to find with transmission for well under a grand. Light weight (about 400 lbs with aluminum intake set up for a carb). Shoudl fit ok, widthwise, too.

Turbo 13B. Plenty of room, plenty of pep! You can pick them up for under a grand all day. It's always in the back of my mind to do.

There's a shop near Boston with an SR20DET swapped into e30.

Sonic wrote: There's a shop near Boston with an SR20DET swapped into e30.

Local guy is in the middle of this swap... definitely not under a grand however...

Osterkraut wrote: Turbo 13B. Plenty of room, plenty of pep! You can pick them up for under a grand all day. It's always in the back of my mind to do.

I've seen that. Pretty cool.

Other than that, the 2.5 - 2.8 L 6 from the e36 would work well.

I always thought an L67 with a 5sp out of an f-body. would weigh the same as an m20, but better distribution and more power.

Then I think a VQ would be the way to go since it would be even lighter. They're SSSSSSOOOOOOoooo cheap in the yards around here. 3.0 ones are nearly free, 3.5 ones are 400-500 dollars. Use a G35/350Z tranny which semi-affordable....

7mgte out of a MKiii Supra Turbo should be fun.

I would also like to nominate the 1uzfe 4.0 litre Lexus V8 for massive brum with not a huge weight hit.

wannaberacer wrote: strange and wonderful swaps................ easy to find and very cheep, with lots of performance potential.

What is strange and wonderful about easy and cheap?

93celicaGT2 wrote: 7mgte out of a MKiii Supra Turbo should be fun. I would also like to nominate the 1uzfe 4.0 litre Lexus V8 for massive brum with not a huge weight hit.

I'm not sure what massive brum is, but I wanna say I'd rather boost the M20 that's already in there than go through the effort of swapping in a 7mgte... that is all.

M20?

Not $1000 but there is a guy on R3V that just finished an LS1 swap into an E30. Also a few guys that have swapped in the V8s from the old 7 series.

You want a motor swap in an E30 for a grand? Only thing I can think of that would come close is an M30 but even then....

I want a winning lottery ticket and the cute waitress from the restaurant yesterday.

I always thought the Vq35 would be nice.. but it might sit too high for the hood

I'm more scared of management than that.

Common choices are 1) an M50 engine out of a e36 325 or M3 (see www.e30m50.com), 2) turbocharging the original M20 (see www.turbochargingdynamics.com), and 3) dropping in an M30 'big six' from a similar vintage 5, 6 or 7 series. A couple guys in europe have swapped in the M70 V12 from a BMW 850, but that's definitely not a grassroots swap.

And for reference, even a basic M50 swap seems to run $2k minimum.

belteshazzar wrote:

93celicaGT2 wrote: 7mgte out of a MKiii Supra Turbo should be fun. I would also like to nominate the 1uzfe 4.0 litre Lexus V8 for massive brum with not a huge weight hit.

I'm not sure what massive brum is, but I wanna say I'd rather boost the M20 that's already in there than go through the effort of swapping in a 7mgte... that is all.

Eh.... maybe. I'm partial to a properly setup 7m, though... just opinion.

1uzfe would be awesome, though. Someone needs to do this. If i were still into bimmers i'd do it.

^A guy in New Zealand or Austrailia already has.....

z31maniac wrote: ^A guy in New Zealand or Austrailia already has.....

Oooooo.... got a link to the write-up?

93celicaGT2 wrote:

z31maniac wrote: ^A guy in New Zealand or Austrailia already has.....

Oooooo.... got a link to the write-up?

Not off hand, search www.r3vlimited.com, he is a member there.

there's an LS1 e30 and an LS1 e36 running around here.

In Lincoln freaking NE.

While I suggested the Ford 5.0 before, here's an interesting one, considering how cheaply these shoudl be able to be had now:

http://www.pbase.com/yelferrari/e30_v8

740i 4.4 liter.

But the 4 liter lexus 1UZ V8 is also a choice. it's very small and compact.

z31maniac wrote: ^A guy in New Zealand or Austrailia already has.....

The kiwis will swap a 1uzfe into anything w/ wheels.

I've seen that Boston-area SR20DET E30--it's a fairly radical track car.

Years ago, I saw an E30 from Malaysia w/ an F20C from an S2000.

LS1 seems like best bang for buck

The 1UZ v8 is an awesome engine, but it's really wide. I'm not familiar with the E30's engine bay, but the 1UZ in my LS400 stuffs the engine bay full. And that's a BIG car. I'd love to see it swapped into an E30 though.

Smooth as butter, good power and torque, (261hp/260tq) and under 400 pounds. Reliable as can be. I bought my wife's 1992 LS400 at 239k miles with a broken timing belt. Non-interference engine, so no problem. Well, it was the original timing belt, water pump, and idler pulleys. Still went together great and runs great.

Original Toyota parts aren't cheap, but probably no more than the BMW parts, and probably last longer.

Engines are available cheap. I bought the complete car for $500, and have seen similar deals for light accident damage vehicles. Add in scads of know-how and DIY labor, you might be able to get it done for under a grand.

The engines can handle forced induction great, no problem getting 500hp on stock internals. (6-bolt mains, forged crank. Get a 1989 - 1994, the rods are overbuilt and very strong.)