This was probably the easy swap I’ve ever done. The hardest part would have been the wiring but I decided to just buy the harness adapter off a guy on Rev and be done with it. Only thing I had to wire was switched power for the abs. It also helps to have a complete parts car.
So after finally getting the exhaust done I was able to drive the car I finally enjoy it. Thankfully, the swap was defenitly worth it, since there’s a noticeable gain in power as well as having a motor that has a lot more future potential. Unfortunately though, after driving it around for a while the battery light came on and now my battery is not getting charged. FML
So after driving around for a while now theres been one issue thats been bothering me. Ever since I swapped the motor my temp gauge hasn’t been working. I read on r3v that e30 temp sensor needs to be used instead of the e36 one for the e30 gauge to work. Is this the case or does this just mean the stock sensor is shot?
Yes you need the E30 temp sensor. I ordered a new one (they are cheap), I installed mine in the head near the front. It should be well documented on r3v.
I want to to find a cheap gauge that uses the stock sensor reading and mount that in my car. the gauge in the dash is not so accurate but is good enough to let you know when you’re in trouble.
tell me about your exhaust… where did you go, what kind of exhaust did you get, how much did it cost etc… I want to do a full single pipe exhaust at some point.
I ended up using the exhaust I made for my e30’s ebay m20 headers. Basically consists of a bunch of universal exhaust tubing and a magnaflow muffler, fully dual pipe. Cost about 160$ in materials.
did you have exhaust clearance issues with the control arm bracket or did you use THR eyeball arms?
ebay m/s50 headers? if so from which vendor, and how did they look (I’ve purchased a few sets for various cars with varying results).
what he said ^^^ moar details please.
Zero issues with control arm clearance. I bought mine from m2performance for around 80$ shipped. The quality was suprisingly decent. The section where the runners are welded to the flange
was welded evenly and had the welds on the inside smoothed out. Unfortunately they’re already beginning to lose their shine but that’s pretty much expected.
do you have a link on that or was it ebay? I can’t find anything on http://www.m2performance.net for anything like that price.
I bought it off ebay but I can’t remeber the sellers name. Only thing I have to go by is my paypal reciept which lists him as m2 performance inc. I don’t know if all the headers sold by the different vendors are the same, but these ones here http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1992-95-BMW-E36-325i-M50-I6-DOHC-6-2-1-HEADERS-EXHAUST-/190393023816?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2c544efd48 are identical to the ones I have.
damn thats cheap for 6cyl headers