Birth of a 340I

bmw328

Member
Hello all,
I'm posting so pic’s of my almost completed project. I’m driving her this week just to diagnose possible future problem & minor issues that needs to be address. The car sound great, drives great, sheer driving pleasure in every way!!!
Curious about the comments.
















 

maximus

///Member
I like it. Although it's a pity you didn't put in a BMW 4L V8 :)

Will you be doing 360's? hehehe :thumbs:
 

Ga-3M

Well-known member
Yeah was also hoping to find a BMW V8 in there but all good, I'm sure you gonna have a lot of fun!!!!:thumbs:
 
P

Psymon69

Guest
awesome man! uiteindelik! Glad you went spits, whats the pros and cons so far? must be an absolute hoot!:thumbs:
 

bmw328

Member
Bazza said:
Should change thread to "BMW GETS RAPED"

:nonono:

Hello Bazza, Thank u for your response (All responses welcome), If someone would have told me a year back that I would be fitting and LEXUS engine into a E36, I would have told them to go and f@ck themselves. But during the course of building the car (from scratch up), I had an M50 325i in it, had an M52 323i in it, and then a M52 328I in it (Had the best service with the 328i engine) BUT there were always something going wrong with the engine (Always oil pressure related or ECU map issues, Transponder issues) So at the end I started comparing prices LEXUS vs. getting BMW issues sorted and at the end the LEXUS engine won because of economy, power, reliability & last but not least engine replacement amount (a good BMW M52 engine costs more than double what I paid for a low mileage V8 engine)
I rather RAPE the car, than see her end up in a junkyard like MANY E36 does when their engines, electronics give in.


Sabretooth tiger said:
how does it pull?
Hello Sabretooth, Thanks for your reply.
She doesn’t “pull”, she absolutely is flying LOW, and I haven’t driven her very hard yet, because I just want to “drive the engine in” first. But the first time I stepped on the accelerator I nearly k@ked in my pants. The acceleration is mind-blowing, that V8 noise coming from the exhaust made all of the issues worthwhile!!!. I absolutely adore this car NOW


maximus said:
I like it. Although it's a pity you didn't put in a BMW 4L V8 :)

Will you be doing 360's? hehehe :thumbs:

Hello Maximus,
I would also have loved fitting a BMW 4L V8, BUT after doing my homework on BMW v8 problems and the fact that the engine is VERY VERY VERY expensive & had to run on a VERY VERY VERY expensive ECU, if that wasn’t an issue, I would have had the issue fitting it into the e36 (I would have had to relocate the steering coulomb as well and upgraded the front suspension because of the weight difference), the exhaust manifold would have been a b@itch to solve as well.
And NO, no 360’s with her, but very tempting :biglol:
 

bmw328

Member
hotchocolate said:
:bravo: Must have been tough to get the V8 in there.

Hello Hotchocolate,
Actually there was NO need for Vaseline;:roflol: the engine fits like it’s made for the car. The exhaust manifold just had to be made custom to fit around the steering column.


Sabretooth tiger said:
a BMW V8 would have cost muuuuuch more to do.

A LOT MORE!!!


Sankekur said:
Its a V8 so all is still good, though I would only call it a 340i if it had an M60 in.

Manual or auto?

BMW E36 3 Series + 4.0L V8 = 340 + fuel injection = 340i?

I’m so glad someone asked this question, the guys who normally do these conversions fit the LEXUS V8 engine with the LEXUS auto box you GET FREE with the purchase of the engine.
BUT I actually had the original MANUAL Getrag Box of the M52 fabricated with a new Bell-housing to fit the V8 engine, Custom flywheel made with BMW E36 M3 pressure & clutch plate fitted. Prop-shaft totally original as-well (Nothing modified YET) with the original 328i Diff (2.93 Ratio - May change it in the future)
 
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