S38 into Non M5? Best candidate?

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

How about an S52? I had one in my old 5 with a powerdyne supercharger. Crazy fast. I bet it'd torch an S38 M5.

Yup, and plenty of cheap wrecked M3s to pick a donor from

[Tiger]

Just change your differential gear ratio to get the pep you want. It is like putting a "sport" option on your car.

[shogun]

o.k., the E31 might be not the ideal car because of the weight, but that guy likes E31, he has a tuning parts shop and uses this car as his 'show room model'. Have seen it on the last meeting here we had in Tokyo, very nice and clean engine installation, also the other stuff.
The front spoiler it BTW from a Toyota Supra, modified to fit on the E31.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

Just saying I don't see the big deal about the S38. They're expensive & practically worthless under 4,500 RPM (feels like an M50TU under 4,500 RPM). The do sound absolutely amazing though. And if you keep 'em above 4,500 RPM they're fine. But try driving above 4,500 RPM all of the time. Not fun.

Check the resonance flap system, common problem with the lower RPM performance. If its not working the pre 4500RPM feels sluggish... It should feel like a constant pull and then an explosive jump in power once 4000-4500 RPM are reached

[Rick L]

Yep. A friend changed his diff to 4.10 on his E46 M3 and definitely feel the difference. I couldn't say it is actaully faster but wow, it sure is fun.

Just change your differential gear ratio to get the pep you want. It is like putting a "sport" option on your car.

[Tiger]

That's the key... it is extremely fun...

[CharlesAFerg]

Yup, and plenty of cheap wrecked M3s to pick a donor from

MY car is an M20 car, so this wouldn't work. Still, I see what you're getting at.

[Blitzkrieg Bob]

MY car is an M20 car, so this wouldn't work. Still, I see what you're getting at.

Of course it would work... you'd swap everything ...Motor, trans, wire harness, DME.

all you need is M50 motor mounts, oil pan and pick up tube, exhaust, and trans mounts, and a frankenstein driveshaft.

We have couple of guys who have even done this to E30s...much more work

[Ferret]

Why the heck is the 8 series so heavy, though? It's over 4000lbs!

E31
840i (1,890 kg) 4,167 lb
850i (1,945 kg) 4,288 lb

Compared to...
e34
525i (couldn't find) 189hp
530i (1,655) 3,650 lb 215hp
535i (1,619) 3,570 lb 208hp
540i (1,710) 3,770 lb 282hp
M5 (1,718) 3,788 lb 310hp

It's the roof - because the 8 series is pillarless they went a bit nuts with the roof reinforcement, it practically has its own spaceframe crammed into the roofliner.

Also the 8 series is a -big- car - it's easily coming close to the physical size of a 7...!

[repenttokyo]

yeah it's a very popular e30 swap.