» Site Navigation | | » Recent Threads | | | | | | | | | 07-09-2007, 08:30 AM | #1 | Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Cali Posts: 19 | Found a Donor Need Suggestions! Hey guys, I Found a donor car, my friend just crash his 95 325is, and fixing the car isn't worth it... therefore he's giving it to me. I was wondering what can I take from his car and put it into my 97 Ti and how hard is it going to be. Are the 325's brakes any better? can i use the 325's lsd? he also have Billstien coilovers and racing dynamic swaybars, can i use those? What kind of trouble would i run into swapping the motor because his is an obdI and mine is obdII. Thanks | | | 07-09-2007, 10:55 AM | #2 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Greenville, SC Posts: 9,356 | What happens when you get your car inspected and they look for an OBD-II motor? __________________ ...steven BMW CCA #146825 1996 BMW 328ti • 2003 MINI Cooper S • 2016 M235i www.bmwcca.org | | | 07-09-2007, 01:59 PM | #3 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Saint Paul, MN Posts: 3,244 | If somehow you do switch motors with him (which may not be kosher in CA but lower Ohio does not do emissions, cough cough, wheez) then you could use the front suspension bits, none of the back- ever. Not sure about the LSD but I think not, you need the smaller case diff. On the easy side, swapping motors would be physically straight forward, just have to convert your car to OBDI. I'm waiting for a 2.8 Z3 to crash in my front yard. __________________ My Former Rides 1999 318ti Alpine White, Cali Roof, Dinan goodies 1996 318ti Hellrot California Edition | | | 07-09-2007, 06:13 PM | #4 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 160 | As for the brakes, there is an advantage if your TI has the non-vented fronts. I did the swap on my TI to vented + calipers. The LSD is another matter. The cases are different, yet I'm not sure if you can transfer the E36 internals into an E30 Diff...? The larger cases that fit in the TI come form the E30, Z3, E24 635 (need to get E30 cover, but same factory TI ratio in some) and I think the E28 5 series. All the best. | | | 07-09-2007, 09:13 PM | #5 | Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: state college, pa Posts: 3,431 | I think the general consensus is that this will be a great deal of trouble, perhaps more than it's worth. __________________ I scream, you scream, we all scream for ZOMBIES. | | | 07-10-2007, 08:39 AM | #6 | Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Cali Posts: 19 | cossieturbo when you said "non-vented" means no break ducs? sigh... so the only thing the car would be good for is the motor but that would give me smog trouble? Anyone know a smog shop that would pass me in CA? | | | 07-10-2007, 08:41 AM | #7 | Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Cali Posts: 19 | Quote: Originally Posted by 1996 328ti What happens when you get your car inspected and they look for an OBD-II motor? | lol, i think i would get screwed. they would probably make me swap in a different motor that complies with CA crappy laws. | | | 07-10-2007, 08:47 AM | #8 | Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Cali Posts: 19 | also couple of other things that i was wondering if i could swap over: gauge cluster and cruise control God please say yes. i love cruise control | | | 07-10-2007, 01:48 PM | #9 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Saint Paul, MN Posts: 3,244 | guage cluster will also hold cars milage and tach will be for 6cyl, which will throw off your revs. Cruise I don't know. __________________ My Former Rides 1999 318ti Alpine White, Cali Roof, Dinan goodies 1996 318ti Hellrot California Edition | | | 07-13-2007, 04:55 PM | #10 | Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 160 | NON-VENTED rotors are thinner then VENTED... About three times thinner. See a "non-vented" or "solid rotor" has no space/vent between the front and back contact surfaces of the rotor. A vented has open cooling vents that separate the front disc contact surface and the back contact surface. The vented are a bit heavier due to the greater thickness and metal, but they cool better due to the vents and more metal for dissipating the heat. cossieturbo | | | 07-13-2007, 06:22 PM | #11 | Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,224 | There's a guy with an 86' 325i in my area. I'm thinking of buying the rear end from him (minus the diff - which he says is not lsd and that he's already separated out). Anything I should look for or keep in mind? I'm not making any major changes right now, but it could be an opportunity to pickup an e30 rear end really cheaply and easily. | | | 07-13-2007, 06:38 PM | #12 | Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 890 | All you need for the cruise is the cable from the donor car. The module is the same. The cluster will work as well, but your milage might show up differently which could cause all sorts of fun problems if you go to sell the car. My RPMs read really high with the 2.5 under the hood and the originial cluster. I figure if I don't go past the end of the gauge, I'm never going to have a problem. It is fun to peg the rpm gauge through the first three gears. Freaks my passengers out. __________________ SOLD!!! 1999 332ti //M Sport Titanium Silver M3 S52 3.2 I-6 Engine, M3 Clutch w/ ti Getrag Trans, Z3 3.15 LSD medium case diff and half shafts, OEM Hatch Spoiler, Eurosport HP Underdrive Pulleys, FDM, 17" DS1 rims, M3 Front Struts & Springs, M3 Instrument Cluster, 3-spoke //M steering wheel with tri-color stitching, SSK, CCFL Angels in Depo projectors with 5k HIDs | | | 07-16-2007, 02:01 PM | #13 | Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 1,224 | Quote: Originally Posted by campaiar All you need for the cruise is the cable from the donor car. The module is the same. The cluster will work as well, but your milage might show up differently which could cause all sorts of fun problems if you go to sell the car. My RPMs read really high with the 2.5 under the hood and the originial cluster. I figure if I don't go past the end of the gauge, I'm never going to have a problem. It is fun to peg the rpm gauge through the first three gears. Freaks my passengers out. | You can synch the mileage between the cluster and car's ecu's to whichever is greater. So, if the cluster has less miles, you'll be fine. | | | 08-18-2007, 10:14 AM | #14 | Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Cali Posts: 19 | I think I might have some time to do the swap myself. How difficult is it? I did a quick search and I only see write up for s50/s52 swap. Is there one for 325. Should I convert my motor to obdII or my car to OBDI. The thing that I'm worried about the most is the wiring and the ecu. What special tools do I need? thanks | | | 08-18-2007, 09:51 PM | #15 | Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Land of the Vikings Posts: 2,700 | i think i may have misunderstood a few things on this thread so ill just qoute a few to be sure Quote: also couple of other things that i was wondering if i could swap over: gauge cluster and cruise control God please say yes. i love cruise control | reply . Quote: guage cluster will also hold cars milage and tach will be for 6cyl, which will throw off your revs. Cruise I don't know | if he´s going to a 6 cyl, and changing the cluster over too, what would be the problem? the ecu harness and ancillaries should be of use if he´s going obd I to II Quote: NON-VENTED rotors are thinner then VENTED... About three times thinner | solid discs are approx. 12mm vented are 22mm Calipers are wider to allow for the extra bredth of the discs, but also the carriers are more pronounced to allow for the wider calipers . Vented callipers will NOT fit on solid calliper carriers. BE AWARE THE ET MESUREMENT WILL INCREASE AS THE DISCS ARE THICKER, ESTIMATE AROUND 6-8 MM OUTWARDS! Quote: You can synch the mileage between the cluster and car's ecu's to whichever is greater | correct, but you will get "red spot" when doing the obd check (deifined fake/altered mileage value) the simplest solution is to get a 6 cyl coding plug for the existing cluster. The swap isnt impossible at all, check out Riches 1.6 to 2.8 swap thread, it has all the info, and he and his bro are in the middle of a qwality Marlin Roadster build (2 seater classic track car, simmilar to a lotus 7 style racer) so they know their stuff and are good with the helpfull knowledge __________________ Vin Number decode and Retrofit Pdfs Available Free ! 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