M3 engine into an E34?

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Originally Posted by Rick L

Sold your M3??? M3s are not the fastest car out there but their handling is second to none unless you go with a pure sports car like P-cars (Porsche)! Still the power is enough at 333 H.P. to keep a smile on my face. I have 6 speed manual but SMG is faster. I don't care how fast anyone can shift but it will never be as fast as SMG. One of my buddy has SMG and sometimes when it comes to driver's race, you could win or loose by not shifting fast enough or missing it... I purchased 6 speed manual because I enjoy the more sporty feel of shifting gears even though I would loose to a SMG equiped M3s.

By the way, my M3 is faster to 110 m.p.h. (or two car lengths to 1/4 mile) than this 928 S4 (photo - next to the M3) which puts out over 400 H.P. (many mods). Of course, after 110, it will pass me up with ease.

My Mase (heavily modded) puts out more torque than H.P. I think around 245 H.P. and 260 torque. Yeah, blast to drive since it is only 2380 lbs. :D

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Rick, Everything you say about the M3 is true, is an absolute gem of a car, but I started to hate the SMG after a few months, if I got the manual I might have been happier. I have always Porsches/BMWs and I would usually modify them. After a while, my idle hands were yearning for something to tinker with. I sold it and bought a mint 944 Turbo s which I modified with a lot of goodies (T04E turbo/standalone etc....350+hp). I guess the E46 M3 was too 'perfect' for me as truth be told, I'm a bit of a power junky come weekend tinkerer. I never got to exploit the brilliant chassis of the M3 to the fullest but there is no doubt is one of the best there is. I also had an E36 M3 before and I must say, I liked that car a lot.

One of my friends used to have 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo S. Wow! That thing was a beast! I'm not sure the H.P. it puts out with several mods but it sure was fast. What's amazing is that it was 4 cyclinder and the power it puts out was endless. And of course, it was very light weight and handled great! :D

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Originally Posted by beetos

Rick, Everything you say about the M3 is true, is an absolute gem of a car, but I started to hate the SMG after a few months, if I got the manual I might have been happier. I have always Porsches/BMWs and I would usually modify them. After a while, my idle hands were yearning for something to tinker with. I sold it and bought a mint 944 Turbo s which I modified with a lot of goodies (T04E turbo/standalone etc....350+hp). I guess the E46 M3 was too 'perfect' for me as truth be told, I'm a bit of a power junky come weekend tinkerer. I never got to exploit the brilliant chassis of the M3 to the fullest but there is no doubt is one of the best there is. I also had an E36 M3 before and I must say, I liked that car a lot.

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So....anyway.

Back on track here for a moment, imo its not really worth it. That being said im pretty lazy. I helped an aquaintence go OBD-1 on his 97' E36. Alot of small steps. I've forgotten at this point if your an M50 or M30 E34. Unless you can snatch the motor + accessories for an amazingly low price, don't do it.


I honestly don't have much complaints with the M30 except it has some pretty bad dead spots, very tall gear ratios also.

I have a S50 out of a euro e36m3 (3.2, 321 hp) which I am also thinking of putting into an e34 (s50, automatic transmission). The s50 originally was mated to a SMG but I dont have that.

Ultimately I want to convert it to manual trans, but for the time being, I want to put it in with the auto. I think it will mate up with the auto trans mechanically but I think the auto ECU needs to communicate with the engine ECU.

Has anyone done this, what needs to be done to the auto trans ECU for it to work with a manual ecu engine?

Thanks.

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Originally Posted by kllimkl

I have a S50 out of a euro e36m3 (3.2, 321 hp) which I am also thinking of putting into an e34 (s50, automatic transmission). The s50 originally was mated to a SMG but I dont have that.

Ultimately I want to convert it to manual trans, but for the time being, I want to put it in with the auto. I think it will mate up with the auto trans mechanically but I think the auto ECU needs to communicate with the engine ECU.

Has anyone done this, what needs to be done to the auto trans ECU for it to work with a manual ecu engine?

Thanks.

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I put a 96 S52 into my 92 E34 Touring last June. I used the stock GM automatic but a fresh one. You have to use the TCU that matches the transmission or it will have Trans Program Lights. The 96 engine came from a 50k mile manual trans car and I used a 95 M3 ECU also from a manual trans car. The ECU TCU communication was not an issue. Of course I had to convert the engine from OBDII to OBDI and have a special Turner EWS delete chip to make things work. No problems.

Paul

Hi gtopaul,

Thanks for your reply. Is your S52 the US M3 version or the Euro version (6 throttles)? If you have the US version I am not sure if the Euro would be the same. If you had the euro version I would be confident to go ahead and very interested to know how your touring goes with this engine in it, how much fuel it uses etc.

Thanks again.

kllimkl

how much could one expect to pay for a euro s50?

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Originally Posted by kllimkl

Hi gtopaul,

Thanks for your reply. Is your S52 the US M3 version or the Euro version (6 throttles)? If you have the US version I am not sure if the Euro would be the same. If you had the euro version I would be confident to go ahead and very interested to know how your touring goes with this engine in it, how much fuel it uses etc.

Thanks again.

kllimkl

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It's the US version but I don't think it would still be an issue since these automatics aren't vacuum driven but rpm driven. Mine gets 33mpg @ 80mph on cruise control and with the Touring 4:10 differential. With the euro S52 with over 300hp it would be even better although the automatic I used would be at it's torque and hp limits at 310hp.

Paul