I forgot you can cram a BMW V8 into an E46 M3

Kinja'd!!! "E90M3" (e90m3)
05/24/2018 at 12:46 • Filed to: unnecessary car shopping with E90M3

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That engine looks familiar, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ; however, the car it has been shoehorned does not. That’s right someone put a S65B40 into this:

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I got bored at lunch, so I started doing some unnecessary car shopping. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!  

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I bet it’s a riot to drive and the handling characteristics shouldn’t ruined given the fact that the S65 is actually 33 pounds lighter than the S54 is replaced. It makes me happy that someone put another BMW engine in it instead of the ubiquitous LS swap.

Edit:

I had forgotten about the E46 M3 GTR, which like this had a 4.0 V8 crammed into it.

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DISCUSSION (30)


Kinja'd!!! LOREM IPSUM > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 12:50

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Hope they scraped all of the carbon buildup out first. 


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > LOREM IPSUM
05/24/2018 at 12:53

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That would be the RS4 you’re thinking about.

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For this it would be either rod bearings or throttle position actuators.


Kinja'd!!! Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing. > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 12:54

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Let me know when someone puts that engine into an E21...


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/24/2018 at 12:55

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Looks like someone already has.


Kinja'd!!! BlueMazda2 - Blesses the rains down in Africa, Purveyor of BMW Individual Arctic Metallic, Merci Twingo > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 12:56

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Of course you’d know


Kinja'd!!! TheTurbochargedSquirrel > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 12:57

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The E46s that BMW PTG used to race also had a V8 crammed into them.


Kinja'd!!! Klaus Schmoll > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 12:57

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Hartge offered a similar conversion back in the day.


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
05/24/2018 at 12:59

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I had somehow forgotten about the M3 GTR.


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > Klaus Schmoll
05/24/2018 at 12:59

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I had somehow forgotten about the M3 GTR.


Kinja'd!!! Tripper > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 13:02

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Saw that, goofy looking shifter though.


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > Tripper
05/24/2018 at 13:02

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Thought the same thing, wouldn’t be the hardest thing to fix though.


Kinja'd!!! diplodicus > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 13:05

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Not suprising, inline 6s aren’t really space efficient. Which is why BMW is basically the only manufacturer that makes them still, I know Mercedes is bring them back now too. The S54 uses an iron block which is why it weighs more than the s65.


Kinja'd!!! LOREM IPSUM > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 13:06

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You’re right. I think I was thinking S62, actually.


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > diplodicus
05/24/2018 at 13:08

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Inline 6s are so smooth. Plus with how big modern cars are, it’s not like there isn’t room.


Kinja'd!!! e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > Full of the sound of the Gran Fury, signifying nothing.
05/24/2018 at 13:09

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Here’s a V10 e30 while we are at it:


Kinja'd!!! e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > diplodicus
05/24/2018 at 13:15

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Jag/LR is bringing it back as well. We may well see a resurgence in I6's thanks to engine downsizing. V6's gained popularity in part because you could cut down your V8 to make one. Now that we slap turbos on everything V8's are going the way of the dodo, and companies are looking to build I6's by slapping 2 cylinders on their I4. BMW was actually one of the earlier adopters of this with the B38/48/58 line of engines. They are an I3, I4, and I6 that share as many parts as possible and are built using a modular architecture.


Kinja'd!!! diplodicus > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
05/24/2018 at 13:25

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I didn’t realize JLR was bringing the six back as well. I thought the big reason v6 configs gained popularity was the ease of stuffing them into a fwd layout do to the shorter block. They did the same thing with the S65, lopping off two cylinders from the S85.


Kinja'd!!! e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 13:27

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I don’t like how he shows it has a cracked rear subframe, but doesn’t show that it was fixed.


Kinja'd!!! diplodicus > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 13:28

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It’s like the opposite of a black hole though, the cars keep getting bigger and shit just keeps filling up the new space! I certainly wouldn’t want to work on a modern car with an I6. Not that working on my e39 with the m62 is easy either.


Kinja'd!!! e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > diplodicus
05/24/2018 at 13:51

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BMW is big on lopping cylinders off of things, the e30 M3's S14 engine was an M88 with 2 cylinders taken off. Legend has it the OG prototypes still had saw marks on the backside of the block. And the ease of slapping a V6 into a FWD car was another big driver for the popularity of the engine type.

Also, working on an I6 is far easier than any V engine. Everything is constrained to just one side or the other, and because they are fairly narrow, there is decent space around the engine to operate. Modern V8's are moving to a reverse-flow setup as it helps spool a turbo faster. Reverse flow engines are a bear to work on, especially if you need to do anything in the V. Typically they have a header, 2 turbos and a pair of cats crammed into the valley.

I’ve turned wrenches on both an M62 and my current M54, and I have to say the M54 is far more pleasant to work on than the M62 was.


Kinja'd!!! diplodicus > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
05/24/2018 at 14:22

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Ya the m62 is a bitch. The m20 is nice except for the oil filter location. But plugs and shit is easy peasy, unless you can’t get the fan nut off then the distributor is a pain.

It’s the N5X I6 engines that look like no fun to work on to me. I imagine it’s not to bad once you get all the plastic out of the way, but thats a pain in the ass. Of course I’m used to the m20 where all you have to do to swap the alternator is loosen two nuts for the AFM and a hose clamp. Then two bolts on the alternator and the electrical connections.


Kinja'd!!! e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > diplodicus
05/24/2018 at 14:45

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If it’s anything like the N63's engine cover, it comes off by just pulling upward sorta hard. My father has a 750Li and the engine cover pops off that thing really easy. It’s about the only easy thing to do on that car.

The N55 at least looks pretty damn easy to do plugs, maybe only a little bit harder than on my M54 by virtue of the intake running over the top of the engine. looks like the forward cover just pops off, no screws, undo the clamp(worm style) on the intake, 4 clips to pull out the top of the box plus unclipping the snorkel and a sensor on the back, then lift out the intake and box, 4 bolts to undo the cowl, then lift that out, 3 bolts to undo the front brace, then it lifts out, and finally lift off the rear cover. My M54 is 4 bolts to get the cowl off, 4 to get the 2 covers off. If I had a strut bar, I’d have to unbolt that too.


Kinja'd!!! His Stigness > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 16:41

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But it looks like the engine sticks out father than the S54 does, which will RUIN the handling...

But seriously, I can’t tell for sure. I also don’t get why it would stick out further since it’s a V8.


Kinja'd!!! daender > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 18:11

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This is the right V8 swap for E46s. Those things sound amazing.


Kinja'd!!! Saracen > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 19:15

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He also trimmed out 240 pounds of fat from the car.

Yep, that’ll be a lot of fun.


Kinja'd!!! 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > E90M3
05/24/2018 at 20:40

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I love inlines, I have three! Technically I have 4 but one is transverse.


Kinja'd!!! AuthiCooper1300 > e36Jeff now drives a ZHP
05/25/2018 at 08:24

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If I remember correctly the block in the S14 engine is an evolution of the old-as-the hills block in the M10. It seems that in the S14 prototypes the head was indeed a shortened M88 one - but the block...?

As urban legends go, this one is most interesting (albeit unlikely). Any sources?


Kinja'd!!! Spanfeller is a twat > E90M3
05/25/2018 at 11:08

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Wasn’t the E90 ubiquitous for being slower than the e46 at the nurburing?


How can the engine be lighter than the old one, yet the car as a whole so much heavier?


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > Spanfeller is a twat
05/26/2018 at 07:55

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Not the regular one, it was around 20 seconds faster. The CSL is faster though, but the M3 GTS is faster than the csl.

The overall car is a lot bigger than the e46.


Kinja'd!!! e36Jeff now drives a ZHP > AuthiCooper1300
05/26/2018 at 18:40

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You’re right, it is the head. Dunno why I said block.