After the rust was taken care of and the car was ready to be re-sprayed and back on the road I wanted to take the opportunity of ditching the M20B25-27 engine and going with something better. I Had 3 options back then:
1. Stock S14B23
2. Rebuilding the M20B25 motor and FI'ing it (add some forced induction into the stream)
3. Euro S50B30 or S50B32 or S54b32
4. S62B50
5. Something different
The above options are in no particular order, so I started eliminating them one by one. I do have a stock mint condition E30 M3 sat in my garage and I don’t see the need to have another identical car. Being the second owner of this other "Mint" 88' BMW E30 M3 is as good as it can ever get to owning one of those classics. And yet I have 2 spare S14s that I've purchased over time. So the question is do I really need another one? Well the answer was "... no!"
Moving on to the 2nd point the I6 is a true masterpiece and would give the e30 some sort of a Twist. It's about the perfect output as per my requirements, the HP difference amongst each these I6 engines is really all within the same range obviously the latter B32s have a better output but for me they all are in the same league. Having sold my beloved E46 M3 in 2009 I knew for a fact that the i6 was not what I was really looking to get under the hood. I already had the privilege of owning one for a couple of years and since this kind of swap was already proven internationally and is a very common swap that I can visit sometime in the future. But not today, I'm still in search for something different.
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| My 2004 E46 M3, she deserves to be displayed here i guess... |
Moving on to the S62B50, I can only have praise for this particular engine. Not the most reliable out of the bunch though but as a current owner of a BMW E39 M5 which I daily drive, i must say that it is worth thinking about since I have access to a low mileage engine.
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| ....and this is the E39 M5 |
A S62 Swapped E30 M3 would sound and perform exactly like I would've loved my AW E30 M3 to be. Quickly moved on to do some online research and to see how much effort and money it would cost me to get the project over with. First, too many body panels should be modified to take in the 6 speed manual gearbox. 2nd the oil pan would sit too low which will put it at a high risk of scraping the humps and/or being damaged somehow, potentially i would somehow end up scrapping it. Finally, and which was the major reason why I didn’t go down this route is because Dubai and UAE does not have a qualified human being to take on this project. Yes there are some service centers, but none are capable of performing BMW swaps professionally. If I am to go with any sort of swap I would like my car to be handled and delivered to me in the most perfect way possible, I like it to be done right and to be perfect since it won't be a straight forward swap.
Having that said, I've been in some sort of dilemma, if BMW swaps are not possible in this country then what would be alternative option?
The most qualified shop in Dubai that would handle such a project from A to Z would no doubt be 1000 Dunes Garage http://otd-motorsports.ae/ . They have built 100s of cars over the past years, track, hill climb, drift, rally, autoX... they've worked on them all, but mainly Mitsubishi Evolutions and Stis. When i first spoke to the man in charge there, Sam, he got excited about the idea and straight on we went to the drawing board and drafted the engine build plan. It was to be an Evo 8 engine, the all mighty 4G63, powered with a Evo 10 Turbo.... details to follow.
