The E30 came with a tired old M20 motor, a 12v, inline six. Lucky for you, some really smart people figured out how to easily swap in the 24v series of motors from a variety of cars. It’s fairly cheap as well as fairly easy to do. A few weekends in your garage and you should have an updated E30.
- M50 – a 24 valve inline six. Introduced in 1992, it made 189hp and 181tq
- M52 – the replacement to the M50, introduced in 1996 as an OBD-II motor. Most swappers opt for the 2.8L version, at 191hp and 203tq. These are great forced induction motors if you’re planning on turbocharging your swap later.
- S50 – This comes from an M3, specifically the 1995 OBD-I M3. It’s power figures, 240hp and 225tq, make it a popular swap.
There are other swaps available. This is just the quick and simple list. If you’ve got a big wallet and technical know how, look at the S62B50 from the E39 M5.
E30 Swap Guides
Since most of the parts needed to do this swap are OEM, I won’t be talking too much about “kits” here. But there are a lot of great resources available out there for people interested in this swap.
E30 M50 Swap Parts
- If you’ve got large pockets and want things done right and easily, Project Orca by Zionsville Auto, is a complete E30 M50 swap kit
- AKG Motorsports has created a few products for the E30 swap. They have motor mounts and a plug and play wiring harness adapter to make things go smoothly.
- Treehouse Racing also manufactures E30 swap parts, such as a modified brake booster and swap harness.
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