A buddy of mine is gonna put a M50 in his e30 318is. He will give me his M42 and all the items needed for the swap for no more than $500. The engine does have many miles, about 250k(or more possibly). I do know he takes very good care of it. My question is, are the performance gains that much better than the M10? And about how long will the M42 last? Or should i hold out and save up some money and do an M20 swap.

Also which would you guys use, Eibach, hr sports, or bavarian autosport springs? I will be using the springs with bilstein sports if that makes a difference.:help

hmm.. if it were me, and the m10 had less miles on it, i'd hold out for the m20
as for springs, jbob has h&r's
and i just ordered eibach...
i just did all the research on the springs so hit me up for here to get what at the cheapest price.!
check www.bavauto.com / www.tirerack.com / www.supremepowerparts.com

i know people that have used all 3 types of springs... everyone likes the setup they have..

k, thanks Fast E21. My M10 only has 40k on it. I am considering the M42 because i know the owner well and the engine IS in good shape. Plus im only 16 so its hard to make a lot of money other than in the summertime. Plus the M42 would be cheaper and i would have money to do other stuff. Does anybody know about how much everything would cost(labor and all) to do the M20 swap)????

hopefully nic will see this thread, he just did the m42 swap into the e21 chassis. checkout his website at www.bimmerboys.com

i actually got to ride in his car, it's a lot faster than my pretty much stock 81 320i.....his 3rd gear pulls just as strong if not stronger than my 2nd gear. we actually lined up once, and eventho he bogged the launch, he walked by when i was still in 2nd gear and kept pulling faster. and this was before his dinan chip and he has a 3.6 differential vs my 3.9!!!

but 250k is a ton of miles......if u keep the engine in good shape it'll probably last +300k miles (no guarantee); but if u have the money u should get it rebuilt to last longer.


the m20 swap (and possibly a m50 swap) would require an e21 6-cylinder front subframe (from a 320/6 or 323i)........u may be able to modify and fabricate something for ur current front subframe, but i'm not sure.


another option: you could get a performance rebuild for ur m10. checkout www.racetep.com if u have'nt already......or u could go turbo :D

oh yeah, i just put on H&R sports w/ bilstein touring shock on my 320i......and love 'em :D

and yea, everyone who has H&R's and Eibachs seem to like their suspension setup.......probably cuz there's no more e21 bodyroll.

i'd also reccommend getting some 205 width tires.....they make the car stick even better.

Thanks a lot jbob, for all the info. I still havent decided what to do but i dont plan on doing it till at least the end of the summer. I think i have decided to go with the eibachs and i already have 205 tires(P700Z). They came with the Zender challenge wheel package i got from Bavarian Autosport.

sweet, can u post pics of ur car w/ those rims pleassseee! :D hehehehe. i wanna get 15's or 16's, but am kinda stuck as to which one i want.

Evan,
Jbob gave you the link to my website. I spent about 3 months swapping in the M42 and 260/5 transmission into my 81 320i. Please read my website before you take on the M42 swap. It's not easy and requires access to a welder of some sort and plenty of shop tools. Hopefully your car is already a manual, and you won't have to take that hurdle.
The M42 is pretty bullet proof when it comes to maintenance. As long as the profile gasket has been changed you should be ok. The tapets (that actuate the valves) are hydrolic, so no valve adjustments are needed, ever. Also it has a soft rev limiter (ignition based, not fuel cut) so running it up against that wall isn't too much a shock. Talk to your buddy and find out how many miles he thinks is left in it.
I'm at the library right now studying for my Fluids test so, I must be a little brief. I will post more later.

Jbob -- I have a 3.91 LSD in the mail... so you'll have to catch a ride when I come up next time.

cheers,

I will post pics as soon as possible,i hit a curb a couple of weeks ago so im getting some work done to it. I should have it back by the beginning of next week, ill try to post some then.

Oh yeah, jbob i have 15" wheels and i like them a lot. It looks real good and the ride isnt to bad. Im sure it will look a lot better when i lower it as much as possible. If i were you i would consider Kopis(alpina replicas). They look pretty good and are really cheap.

Ok, so here's the skinny on the M42 performance. With the dinan chip and my 3.64 rear end I can keep up with my buddies E30 M3. Of course this isn't blistering acceleration, but it'll let you smoke v6 camaros and intake/exhaust hondas until you're blue in the face. With my 3.91 LSD I'm hoping to improve straight line acceleration a little.
Here's the thing though. I'm not a 1/4 mile racer. I enjoy the drag races as much as the next guy and am looking forward to doing some launches in the near future, but I am building the car for autocross. SO, the 4 cylinder is perfect. Not too heavy and shooved as far back and down as low as possible. If I wanted to turn 12's at the 1/4 mile track I would have gone for a 3.5 liter (which is possible).
So Evan, you need to ask yourself. What do I want to do? Do you want to have a stop light warrior? Or are you interested in E30 M3 type performance where you can pull .9 g on the skid pad. I'm more interested in carving up canyon roads but that's just me.
Here's the skinny on an M42:
The GOOD:
140hp
135lb/ft
Redline = 6500rpm with dinan chip I'm spinning 7000+
Adjustable cam gears from the factory.
Exhaust header from the factory.
Solid state ignition (never need a cap and rotor again).
Dubbed the "maintanance free motor" by BMW when released.
The BAD:
No Knock sensors... which means no boost without SAEM
The M44 does have knock sensors, but oilpan is harder to fit in E21
It is a 4 cylinder. So you don't get that grunt torque pull.


My honest opinion:
I am extremely happy with the swap. It offers so much more than the M10 ever could. To get 150 horse out of an M10 you'd be investing in Cams and valvetrain (which is exspensive). I bought a used dinan chip for 50 bucks. Tit for tat. A newer M20 would be nice, as well as an M50. The only thing that frightened me about doing this swap was all the weight I would add. And BRAKES. If I put one of those heavy ass motors in my car I'd need to get BIG BRAKES. Because who's going to have 240 horse under the hood and not use it?

Hope this helps man,