M44 into a 1995 M42 318is

[Thoglan]

Bit of a newb to the M42/44 world coming from E46's.
Just picked up an October build 1995 318is with an M42. It's pretty high mileage but I can get my hands on a 100,000km (62,000 miles) M44 out of a 1998 318ti.

I know I will have to convert the M44 to OBD1 with the M42 parts and sensors which I believe is straight forward. Are there any other parts from the M42 that are better and I should carry over?

Is the head design better on the M42? Cams, oil pump? etc. Can you build a hybrid of the two out of the best parts of each or is it best to keep it simple?

[J!m]

Not sure how the DME and OBD is handles in NEw Zeland, but unlike the six, the conversion on te four may be a bit more complicated.

You MAY be able to "dumb-down" the later engine to OBD-I but I think "uprating" the DME to OBD-II is a better, albeit complicated, option.

I can provide the ETMs for both engines to help sort out the severity of the wiring if you are interested in looking at it closely.

Mechanically, it's not a big deal, although for the time energy and cost, you might as well go to a six...

[FunElan]

I think the M44 profile gasket design and timing chain tensioner/setup might have been updated for the M44, but I could be wrong.

[Thoglan]

Originally Posted by J!m

Not sure how the DME and OBD is handles in NEw Zeland, but unlike the six, the conversion on te four may be a bit more complicated.

You MAY be able to "dumb-down" the later engine to OBD-I but I think "uprating" the DME to OBD-II is a better, albeit complicated, option.

I can provide the ETMs for both engines to help sort out the severity of the wiring if you are interested in looking at it closely.

Mechanically, it's not a big deal, although for the time energy and cost, you might as well go to a six...

What makes the OBD1 conversion more complicated on the 4 pot? I just assumed it was straight forward since it has been done before by RBach here: https://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38474
They seem to mix and match all sorts of parts on M42club and get it to work as long as it has the correct OBD1 sensors so I figured it was do-able.

I already picked up the engine the other day so I'll make it work one way or another.

Going to a six cylinder is tempting but tbh I like the idea of a relatively economical racey 4 cylinder with the light weight flywheel and individual throttles. I already have two 6 cylinder cars, an E46 M3 and a M54B30 converted E46 compact so I wanted to have something a little different from those.