hi everybody,

so,got a e21 315 and was wandering what motor will be the best to use.
of course,who does not want a v10?but on the other hand,what would be better,a straight 6 or a v8 for example?

thanks

How much money do you have.

Whats wrong with the M10? Build it up.

give a little help on this one!
what can i do do this motor?
what can i expect from it?

give a little help on this one!
what can i do do this motor?
what can i expect from it?

you can do whatever you want. Expectations are only as big as your imagination.

I'm guessing you are under the age 16? :confused

give a little help on this one!
what can i do do this motor?
what can i expect from it?

You help first, tell us your budget, and how much power you want to achieve, and what the car will be used for. Do you want NA, FI, 6cyl, 4cyl, etc...

The old m20 six fits, the newer m50/52/54 six fits, the big old m30 six fits with more work, the m60/62 v8 fits, even the m70 v12 will fit but I would only go that way if I was going to cut the firewall and set the engine back several inches....

As stated, what can you afford to do?? If I had the $$ to pull it off correctly I would do a 4.4L M62...

It's pretty easy to get 175hp out of the m10 4 cyl these days with programable EFI and that's pretty good power in these little cars. 300hp should be pretty easy on a well built turbo motor.

ken

I am also in the same boat. I am thinking a m50 motor, how hard is the swap to complete?


I only want to spend $1500, maybe more.


If i want to build up an e21 320is, where do i start? (with out a swap)

It never fails how we get this question every other week. There must be 50 threads on this and they all have the same exact responses.

How hard to do for you is different then how hard to do for me. On that note; just for you n00bs:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h7/00miata/searchfirst-vi.gif

/thread

On that note; just for you n00bs:
finaly someone explains it for me.:shifty
Jake

maybe you guys should sticky it then!

maybe you guys should sticky it then!

Why should we, you have a mouse right? Then use the search function. Your the new guy here not us...;)

I am also in the same boat. I am thinking a m50 motor, how hard is the swap to complete?


I only want to spend $1500, maybe more.


If i want to build up an e21 320is, where do i start? (with out a swap)

I don't think you can do that swap for $1500 even if you have all the fabrication skills to do everything yourself. You'll pay that much just for the motor.

You would have to fabricate/adapt:
motor mounts/subframe
new exhaust
wiring harness
guages
radiator
shorter drive shaft
transmission (I've read you can modify the getrag 245 or 240 to the m50??)

On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being an oil change, 10 being restoring a car from the ground up, I'd say it's an 11. It's one louder. :)

The questions you're asking are so totally open ended no one knows how to answer them. How much do you have to spend? What are your priorities? What you do to the car first depends on what's broken and what you want to do with it. If the car is clean and reliable with good brakes (it's very rare to find an e21 that is these days) I'd start with suspension and exhaust/intake. You can easily spend $1500 on those 2 alone if you go with H&R or Eibach springs, bilstien shocks, polyurethane bushings, ST swaybars, a decent header and exhaust (on the exhaust, anything decent will have to be custom, preferabley 2-2.25").

I've spent well over $15k on my car over the last 6 years, and I did ALL the work myself (minus paint), and scabbed many of my parts used off of ebay or bone yards. What you end up with depends on how much time and money you can spend.

It never fails how we get this question every other week. There must be 50 threads on this and they all have the same exact responses.

How hard to do for you is different then how hard to do for me. On that note; just for you n00bs:

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h7/00miata/searchfirst-vi.gif

/thread

CJ, I am a noob. Thanks for the Enlightenment.:embarrasm ;)

I have about the same in my car, Josh.
And I got some of my parts like the 524td crank and 325i head and mani out of junkyards.
The M20 2.8 swap will cost you some cash but its fun.

Well, I could do a M50 swap for $1500, I just passed on a M50 engine and trans for $800 here in the SF bay area. I can do all the fab other than the driveshaft and I already have MegaSquirt to make it run so I don't even need to mess with the electronics... If you have to pay someone to do any swap it will cost a ton!! Anyone remember the M60 car from Portland OR?? If I remember correctly the bill on that was nearing six figures and it wasn't done yet...

What can you do to a 320is?? Check out http://www.e21motorsports.com/kendanielson/bmw.html
and read it all. You won't get there for $1500 but you will get a decent start.

ken

You'll definitely want an engine with pistons and a crank, as well as a cylinder head and many other parts. If you have that, you have a good start.....

You'll definitely want an engine with pistons and a crank, as well as a cylinder head and many other parts. If you have that, you have a good start.....


was that supposed to be sarcastic?

if not, thanks, if so....what the hell is this "piston" you speak of?



also i know $1500 is low. but im getting the car for $500 if you know what i mean, and i want to spend a lot of money on suspension and brakes. this will be an autocross/drift/mtn road beast.:redspot

basically if i can get into mid 13's in the 1/4 im set. shit 14's will do with street radials.

so what would i need you think to get my 1/4 mile goal? say 180whp?

oh and yes. im young. this is gonna be my first project car

It will take a lot to get an E21 into the 13's. You won't get an NA m10 there for $1500. Hell, you'd be doing very, very well to get into the 16's. Keep in mind, bone stock 5.0's of the '80s were in the mid to low 15's. To ask a little 1.8L that does the 1320 in 18.7 seconds stock to compete with that takes a lot of persuasion. If you want a car that's easy (aka cheap) to make fast in the 1/4, you picked the wrong platform to start with.

For a reality check, I had a ported & polished head, 280 cam, stroked to 2.0L, header, no cat, cold air intake, ansa exhaust, ac delete, electric cooling fan. I clocked a high 16 on a hillbilly marked 1/4 mile on a back road. that rebuilt motor probably cost me $1500 to $2000 before it was all said and done.

The calloway turbo 320i did the 1/4 in about 15.6 sec, and it had about 170 hp (right?).

I'm hoping to be in the mid to low 14's with my turbo setup, and I hope to push upwards of 220hp. On top of my engine rebuild 5 years ago, my DIY turbo setup has already cost me around $1500. Keep in mind, that's fast enough to dust most stock and even mildly modified 5.0 stangs, buttrock camaro's, and even compete with late '90's chumpstangs. They won't know what hit em. Now that will be fun.

Edit: If you're serious about cheep speed in an E21, wieght is your enemy. Do everything you can to remove every extra scrap of wieght, interior, sound insulation, metal, ac, etc from the car. Think of drill holes in the panel between trunk and back seat. Even remove the side windows and replace them with lexan or gingerbread.

Getting your car in the 13's has absolutley nothing to do with what you want to use it for. You need to read up and do some research. Your all over the place on this one. One step at a time.

ah. thanks for the heads up. basically a nice corner carver is what i want.

any of you guys have car domains or something like that i could look at?

dude, taking a bmw to a drag strip is like taking a hooker fishing, its fun but its not what you paid for

dude, taking a bmw to a drag strip is like taking a hooker fishing, its fun but its not what you paid for


i'll keep that in mind. that is why i was also thinking of getting a B-Body impala ss with no motor or tranny. but i haven't gotten a price for it yet. don't know how many cars i can actually have at one time, lol.

ah. thanks for the heads up. basically a nice corner carver is what i want.

any of you guys have car domains or something like that i could look at?

check cj's and my sig.

i'll keep that in mind. that is why i was also thinking of getting a B-Body impala ss with no motor or tranny.

Well I used to drive one with a motor and tranny and it was darn fast. If you want good 1/4 mile times maybe that's the way for you to go?

Admission: the 320i w/ m10 feels faster than it is - as a driving car I prefer it immensely over the SS - and I'm pretty sure an m20 or turbo'ed e21 could blow the doors off a stock Impala at the line.

dude, taking a bmw to a drag strip is like taking a hooker fishing, its fun but its not what you paid for

If I hear this one more time my head will explode. It has ceased to be funny.

haha, sorry dude, it seemed like an appropriate time to bring it up...lolo