Virgin E36 318i

H8rlequin

New member
My new baby

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Gizmo

Banned
Its a M42 motor but with v belts instead of one serpentine belt, first I've seen in this country. What year is the car?
 

H8rlequin

New member
Gizmo said:
Its a M42 motor but with v belts instead of one serpentine belt, first I've seen in this country. What year is the car?

It's a 1993 model.. Uhmmm... I know nissan engines not BMW what does it mean that I have a M42 motor... is that not the original? Also, what are serpentine belts? I was told it's a one owner car and no major changes have ever been made to the engine...

Oh and thanks a million for the help!!!
 

H8rlequin

New member
Hmmm, Ok so as far as I can see, the M42 is the more powerful version with DOHC and 16 valves... And that it's supposed to use Serpentine belts since they are better... Not sure why this would have V belts... How hard would it be to change it back?

Also, I see certain models ( specifically north America and SA ) had the 318I badge but made use of the M42 engines... Damn this is confusing...

Excited to hear it's the more powerful engine though... I thought it went a bit quicker than the 80 od kw as stated on the Wikipedia page. Now I just need to check that the engine number matches the paperwork... Hmmm... Where is that?

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H8rlequin said:
Hmmm, Ok so as far as I can see, the M42 is the more powerful version with DOHC and 16 valves... And that it's supposed to use Serpentine belts since they are better... Not sure why this would have V belts... How hard would it be to change it back?

Also, I see certain models ( specifically north America and SA ) had the 318I badge but made use of the M42 engines... Damn this is confusing...

Excited to hear it's the more powerful engine though... I thought it went a bit quicker than the 80 od kw as stated on the Wikipedia page. Now I just need to check that the engine number matches the paperwork... Hmmm... Where is that?

The engine number can be seen behind the dipstick at the bottom of the engine.
 

splintheter

///Member
She looks super clean mate! I remember the first E36 I drove in was my friends dads 318i with Cloth seats, I was smitten :)
 

Gizmo

Banned
Our market was a little different to overseas, for one we didn't get the 1.6lt versions, only 1.8lt and above. Our 316i badged e36's have a 1.8lt 8valve motor, early models ran the M40B18 with V belts and later models had the M43B18 with serpentine belts. The M40B18 was the last BMW motor to run a cam belt, they then changed to timing chains from then on.
Our early e36 318i ran the M42B18 with v belts and around 1994 changed to serpentine belts. Lastly our e36 318is ran the M44B19 with serpentine belts.
 
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