e46 M3 engine into 1995 318ti

[AlaskaBlue]

Has anyone thought of swaping their for for a nice 333 horsepower M3 motor? Is it possible to do this kind of conversion? Will that motor fit in the ti engine compartment like an e36 M3 engine? Will computers be able to "mesh" together?

Thanks. Andy

[maurolin]

it's doable, but the cost would be incredible.
Dual vanos, means you'd pretty much have to re-wire the whole car.
custom drive shaft and the motor mounts are 2.5" more apart from eachother.

But hey... s friend just swapped a 357 small block onto a 94 325is.... 357is hehehe so everything is doable!. $$$

[Panzer_M]

I've talked to him.
with the 5.7 somewhere....

it's being done in Hollywood florida or near it IIRC.

[racepad]

Originally Posted by AlaskaBlue

Has anyone thought of swaping their for for a nice 333 horsepower M3 motor? Is it possible to do this kind of conversion? Will that motor fit in the ti engine compartment like an e36 M3 engine? Will computers be able to "mesh" together?

Thanks. Andy

Way too problematic for several reasons. 1. engines out e46 M3's come at a real premium - very expensive. 2. most of them are at risk of blowing up at high revs - known problem and why bmw puts a 100K warrantee on them. No coverage for a transplant. 3. the Engine is drive by wire and ti's are drive by cable. 4. electronics are imcompatible. 5. You don't get 331 any more BMW dumbed them down by 10-15hp to keep them from blowing up.

Best and known quantity is to transplant a euro motor if you want 321 hp. email Alex Lipowich ( a member on this digest ) for euro motor availability. These have been done several times and is a known process.

I put a euro 3.0l in a 95 M3 and it was pretty straight forward www.racepad.com under projects. Putting any 6 cylinder into a ti takes some more custom work for the exhaust and depends on what you want to do transmission wise.

Bottom line - forget the S54 and look to the euro 3.2l or 3.0l. Several of the folks on this digest have already put in 240hp US m3 motors into their cars.