Any BMW nolligable(sic) peeps?

[tigran]

Hey there, well as the engine has finally given up the ghost in the rover I am going for the engine work and am going to take it to the garage who will do the work, soon. But I need to work through the miriad of BMW straight six engines available and work out which one to hunt down and get hold of.

Would prefer one of the slightly newer ones which wouldn't need a rebuild. But any input would be helpful. Ta lads (and ladettes).

Or if anyone else has a powerful, modern i6 alternative which is get-holdable of add it to the mix.

Don't think a i12 would fit tbh:



Don't think this cool i16 would fit either, shame:

[Marc]

Dude what Bimmer is this you're talking about? Depending on the model there are dozens of variations on the same thing!

Edit - I think I get it now - you're putting a BMW 6 in a Rover? Whats the budget? If you're on a tight one, try and find a late 3.5 M30 lump from an E34. Should be lots available, very tough, cheap and easy to tune.

[tigran]

Which is exactly what is doing my head in! I can't figure out what engine to go for from what year onwards, with what vanos set up and what nikasil content. Gaaargh!

I was thinking perhaps a 528/328 engine, but these were the engines with the nikasil liner issues, if I'm not wrong.

*walks off confused*

[Marc]

The sixes with the nikasil issues were the M52's I think. Any issues should really have been resolved by now. They were available in capacities from 2.0 to 2.8. If you're going for one of them, go for the 2.8. Its a good engine, don't be put off by the nikasil probs. Theres also the M50 to try for as well, which replaced the M20 "little six" in the very early 90s.

How much do you want to spend? If it were me, I'd just spend a couple of hundred on a big old 3.5 M30 mill and have done with it. Cheap, tough and practically indestructable (really!). The one in my M535i has done over 210,000 miles and still managed 216bhp on the rollers.

[Blown_Imp]

I'm of no help on the BMW front, mine is a lowly 1.8 M42 engine

But the top of your two pictures is an allison V12 (48 valves with seperate ports, hence the 12 exhaust stubs. And the bottom engine will be a bugatti straight eight with twin spark

J

[bodieanddoyle]

yes, m52's had nikkasil liners.
but not all, just the ally block ones. 2.5 vanos and 2.0 vanos upto 95-6 ish are iron blocks and have no liner issues. all 325i/525i's are iron block.
lets talk basic ally blocks.
2.0 is a crock in an ally block, just don't go there.
323i/523i is an alloy block 325i (its 2.5l in capacity) and is restricted in power.
328i/528i/728i is restricted to 192 bhp for tax issues, it is derestrictable, about £500 makes 215bhp.
now; nikasil-
as a rule, all S1 blocks are nikasil's. S3's have thin steel liners. some S1's have steel liners, too, just too confuse!
what you're looking for is a bolted blank or crank sensor just behind the starter motor, if its there, its got proper liners. some just have a steel blank plate, because they have a front mount crank sensor, some have a cutter ring on the 5th journal and have a block mounted sensor.
one problem that ALL alloy blocks have is the stud threads are very weak. if you get one that needs a head gasket, most likely the block will have got hot and when you tighten the head down, the threads pull out of the block. helicoils sometimes work, sometimes they don't.
also all alloy block engines will have the EWS ignition coding system. I think its just one activation wire to the ECU. IIRC I have bypassed one before, but i can't remember how
BMW m30 like pugboy says, is the winnAr here i think. 3.0 is silky smooth, 3.5 slightly rougher at idle but up on horsies. 215bhp from an m30 735i engine, 1987-93 vintage, also 535i 88-94. runs on just 4 wires too . manuels are not so common, but I have some manual flywheels and 'boxes at work. autobox is a nice 4speed switchable auto, has its own loom, but I don't know how to wire them.


alternatives would be a senny/carlton 12v or 24v, i'll leave them for bastardchild to enthuse over

anything you need, feel free to PM me

[tigran]

Thanks for that, seems the old skool 3.0/3.5 is teh winnar at the moment. I know this is a pansy question but what they like on fuel in a 5 series? Do they scrape into the 20's?

*eyes up complete 535 engine bundle on teh bay*

[tigran]

p.s. stand corrected on the engine pics J. Damnit i really thought there was an i16 for a car kicking about n all.

[Blown_Imp]

Is the 3.5 the same as the one that chap is using in PPC for is home brew turbo?

J

[Marc]

tigran said:

Thanks for that, seems the old skool 3.0/3.5 is teh winnar at the moment. I know this is a pansy question but what they like on fuel in a 5 series? Do they scrape into the 20's?

*eyes up complete 535 engine bundle on teh bay*

Yeah, my M535i usually manages it.



*just!

James - Yes it is mate, the very same.

[bodieanddoyle]

yes, it is the same lump as the PPC one.
and yes, they will do mid 20's if you carress them along. 3.0's are better on fuel obv.
and another thing, m30' have a FRONT drop sump, be aware of this when considering a swap.
earlier 3.5's in the e23/12 have a mid dropsump.

edit- beaen to it ;D
and my keyboard is throwing a spelling spack!

[tigran]

Thankfully the Rover has a front subframe that looks like this \_/ from the front - not straight. So some measuring will be in order methinks.

Why is nothing ever simple?

[Marc]

It'll be worth it dude. The M30 even sounds good, especially with a decent 'zorst!

[VW]

HAVE a read here
www.fritzsbits.co.uk/

[tigran]

vw said:

HAVE a read here
www.fritzsbits.co.uk/

Hmm that could be handy, a-fankoo.

[Marc]

Fritz's are excellent chaps. Most helpfull.

[bstardchild]

for 50p you could stich a 24V Opel six in there

[tigran]

Yeah that's the obvious alternative i'm pondering. The only one I can find is a complete senator. Kinda feel guilty ripping the engine out.

Ho hum, choices and decisions. But then I'd have the complete car to pillage for bits. As you can tell I'm beyond caring what the anoraks think.

[kyteler]

My recommendations,

Nissan I6
L28 SOHC EFi
RB20,25,26,30 DOHC EFi NA/Turbo

or,

Toyota I6
1JZ
2JZ
5M, 7M
1GGTE

[Lewis]

If you're going to go the whole hog and do an engine swap and are paying for it, make it a good engine you put in Just my 0.2c. Seems a bit pointless if you just put in an older, less efficient straight six and the P5 is not light by any means so it will dampen what performance there may be.

Hell, you could just buy a P5B front end (or a scrap P5B, only cost you about 500 quid), put in a 4.0 EFI motor and be done with it. ~30MPG, 220BHP with the right bits, 250lb/ft, right noise, no box problems, no heavy modifications required, all parts off the shelf, not much custom work required....Compared to having to hack about a load of stuff to try and get something nonstandard working...

Just a thought really