Need advice for project E34

I have decided to build a Forced induction E34 as my main project car. I have built a silvia and have done many upgrades with my 850 turbo wagon. My race car will be an SR20DET powered Datsun 510. For the street I need a large heavy 4 door with sick amounts of power!!!

After owning several turbo cars, I wanna stick with forced induction.

I need advice on whether I should turbocharge the 3.5L in the 535, supercharge the 540 V8, or turbocharge a late 90's M3 motor

My ideal combo would be to turbo charge a late 90's M3 motor and use that. As I think it would be huge amounts of power, and very clean looking under the hood. I hate the manifold on the early 90's 535. Do the later 3.5L's have a nicer manifold and valve cover?

Any insight would be appreciated.
I saw the twin charged turbo/supercharged 4 door M3 on Swedespeed. That would be a sick combo in the E34.

I belive all the manifolds on the 3.5 are the same, don't quote me though. I plan on doing a manual conversion here this spring and hopefully next year be runnin 15 psi intercooled. I love the m30 and can't wait to do the swap/turbo!!!

depends.. the 6 and 8 are designed for the car and are already in it.. would be easier than to swap in the m3 engine.. having said that turbo'ing an m3 engine is by far the most popular option and you would be more easily able to find a lot of info/parts online if you needed em.

there are some forced induction e34s around, but none of them are really putting down any real numbers (outside of that guy running 8's with the m5 motor). and depending on how much work you want to put in, i'm betting the m3 motor would have the best/most reliable bottom end

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Originally Posted by Incantation

depends.. the 6 and 8 are designed for the car and are already in it.. would be easier than to swap in the m3 engine.. having said that turbo'ing an m3 engine is by far the most popular option and you would be more easily able to find a lot of info/parts online if you needed em.

there are some forced induction e34s around, but none of them are really putting down any real numbers (outside of that guy running 8's with the m5 motor). and depending on how much work you want to put in, i'm betting the m3 motor would have the best/most reliable bottom end

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Thanks. I do believe that the turbo M3 motor would be the way to go as well. I don't need it to run 8's. I want this car to be street driven, but I also like to get a little carried away so I want at least 480 RWHP!!! The I-6 would be a better weight split. It would be nice to be able to drift it. I plan on spending a lot of time and money. I spent $15k on the silvia not including the car doing all the work with just my friend and I, including paint.

How do you like your E34? What other mods? I prefer a bit heavier car as opposed to the 3 series. I enjoy driving on back roads with lots of twists and elevations. The extra weight helps keep from flying off the road at high speeds.

I'm thinking Tein for the suspension and definately some big brakes as well as a 6 spd.

I also do my own paint work, so I would like to look into retrofitting the 99-00 7 series front end. I love the headlights on the 7 and the cars are very similar. I know it would take some body work and fabrication, but it would be sick!!!

as a 535 man myself, id say go m30, you can do it cheaply, and get awsome amounts of power, not to mention that the m30 is an engine that will last forever, and thus take a decent amount of power on stock internals. tcd makes a manifold for the m30, iv seen a twin turbo manifold also, and if you want to find one cheap, you can get a 745i turbo manifold manifold from the late 80's, its a log manifold flanged for a kkk turbo, but can be modified. lastly, you can have a tubular manifold made at a good exhaust shop for not too expensive. id say gto m30

hey jeff, when are you coming down here again?

I was thinking this weekend, we can get some santa presents ready and also tip the fine waitresses at the mall pub, anything special in mind?

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Originally Posted by lowell

hey jeff, when are you coming down here again?

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Remind me again what we're doing on the Bidolimobile?

I remember thrust arms and maybe shocks/springs? Or am I way off?

I've, literally, been living at the shop for the past month and a half (long story...poor me, huh). Fritz still doesn't have the engine or 5 speed in yet, and is currently under a pile of snow (related to that long story), supposed to pull the head currently on my car by the end of the week so I can get an E32 back together. Whatever, I'll get to it in due time. Taking time off at the end of the month, during which I probably won't want to go out there, so it looks like early January...as we discussed way back when.

that is, unless it's something quick and easy that we can dispatch of in a few hours on a sunday.

So what're we doing on that thing, anyway?

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Originally Posted by ProjectE34

I have decided to build a Forced induction E34 as my main project car. I have built a silvia and have done many upgrades with my 850 turbo wagon. My race car will be an SR20DET powered Datsun 510. For the street I need a large heavy 4 door with sick amounts of power!!!

After owning several turbo cars, I wanna stick with forced induction.

I need advice on whether I should turbocharge the 3.5L in the 535, supercharge the 540 V8, or turbocharge a late 90's M3 motor

My ideal combo would be to turbo charge a late 90's M3 motor and use that. As I think it would be huge amounts of power, and very clean looking under the hood. I hate the manifold on the early 90's 535. Do the later 3.5L's have a nicer manifold and valve cover?

Any insight would be appreciated.
I saw the twin charged turbo/supercharged 4 door M3 on Swedespeed. That would be a sick combo in the E34.

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So um you wander over here owning a twin turbo'd 850 (wagon, wtf?)... edit, oh, volvo...

Sounds fishy.

Welcome, i think.

Edit: Ok i reasd more, you want 480rwhp from an S50/52 turbo, you want a 6 speed, and you want an E38 front end on a E34 because they're similar? There's nothing similar about an E38 front and an E34 except the roundel. All you'd need is a new hood, new fenders, new bumpers, new headlights, lower facia, radiator, grills, and probably an entire front clip. IF that's similar, I guess its about as similar as an Envoy too.

^ dude.. the e38 front end would be awesome. i got some crappy headlight covers hoping that they would make the e34 look similar.. but they are junk ( airplex ).. i would probably follow you on that mod despite the fact i am giving the car to my sis pretty soon.

performance-wise i haven't done much.. i looked into it a lot but i just found it didn't make a lot of sense to put in the time/money to get the performance increase i wanted. it's just lame because all the shops i talked to around here weren't excited at the prospect of me basically handing them a blank cheque to do the work.. instead they told me why it wasn't a sensible decison and/or tried to sell me a more powerful bmw (540, etc).long story short i bought a bike.. lol

i did chip it, changed the suspension, wheels/tires (if you can call that a mod) and it handles very, very well, and the motor pulls very nicely however these days i drive like a grandma and just chill out.. i can't say that i wouldn't LOVE 450rwhp.. god that would be awesome. i suppose i am not interested in pioneering it.. if there were some cost/labour/parts template i would give it much more serious thought.

cosmetically i have done a lot.. everything is pretty straightforward but if you want any tips on how to do something, feel free to ask. and i look forward to watching your progress.. hope you have lots of photos to post