engine swaps on E85's

i don't need to be as good as an M, and i think the rear of end of the M isn't as nice as the Rear of the pre facelift. but i just cant afford an M in lhd. mods can be done overtime, and when you have some money you mod.

and i don't think you did under stand me, in holland it's gonna cost me AT LEAST 23.5 K in pounds ( witch is 30k € ) money i just don't wanna/can't spend on the moment.
an upgrade with turbo's of an Supercharger are more of an option because of lower cost in adition to an M . if i was a UK resident i would buy an M because of them costing less than an power upgrade. but i'm not and thanks to dutch legislation an M even costing €25k in germany would cost me aroudn 30k to get on the dutch roads, money i just can't/ dont want to spend.

and for that money i'dd rather buy an R34 GTR :fuelfire:
 
no, don't rock my boat and i stil love my BMW Z !
if it goed out i probably buy an VW scirocco or and bwm E46 M3/135i sedan.

until then i'll be hungry for more mods and power ! :evil: , and modding is having z4itis so, i'll probably keep searching for mods in every way,

althoug if i don't come up wit a simple solution for power i'll just buy a cheap turbo monster, like a rhd evo or a 1.8t quattro a4 ( 1.8t can be tuned easily) to make a power monster and just keep the Z for simple touring and driving around.
 
THIS FITS :)

bmw-z4-v10-engine-2.jpg
 
If you want big power gains for your existing engine for anything close to a reasonable price, a bolt on engineered product is really the best alternative (ESS etc.). You spend your money, spend a few days for installation, and you're up and running with big power.

Converting an M54 to an N54 would be an interesting project, but it's a project. Your car will be out of commission for weeks, if not months. There's a lot of unknowns to research. Even if you think you've researched everything, things will still come up which were not anticipated, requiring creative solutions and likely additional expenditures. It may look like an affordable approach by adding up the parts costs, but that's only part of the picture. Does anyone know if the parts are really bolt for bolt compatible? All it takes is one bolt hole being changed a mm to cause lots of expensive custom machining. How do you handle fundamental differences like direct vs. port injection? And there's one of your original questions, are the electronics a problem? YES! Not insurmountable, but something you'll have to deal with, costing more time and money.

Will the N54 maps even be proper for your solution? It may run, but may not be ideal, remapping = more time and money. The N54 ECU will run the engine, but will it interface with the car? Maybe, but probably not plug and play. More time and money. It's not just the engine ECU, you also have the immobiliser module to interface. There's seemingly endless interface issues to deal with, mechanical and electronic.

What do you really want? A project? Or just more power?
 
@ koolchris look at this guys, i think the built the hornisse also : http://www.manhart-racing.de/english/pages/z-series/engine-tuning.php


@bcw, thanx for the imput ! i want somekind of project/more power, zo both, but the problem is i can build on the car in the winter month's s ofrom Oktober until half way march, but it's not going to happen this winter. and i'll keep researching al options.
 
Iam toying with a turbo conversion , the machanics side is faily easy its the electronics side that will be a problem but not imposible . Using a T25 turbo you could relise 320 to 350 BHP with shed loads of touqe, a M beater.Running around 6psi so pretty safe power gains with out detroying your engine .
Iam no expect but the best way to turbo any car is to work in reverse . 1st decide how much horse power you want than choise a turbo to reach that power gain etc.Strapping the bigest turbo that will fit will result in terrible turbo lag and all or nothing power and your engine would probably last for a week.
 
there for it might be good using the tubbies from the N54B30, wich are low presure turbo's max 8psi i thought just like the ESS TS2.

but keep me updated on your turbo porject.
 
@ Lightning,
The ESS TS2+ kit will get you at more than enough power for your 2.5 I'd say. Or if you want it to be sporty, swap in a 3.0i M54, add some hot cams, exhaust system and you'll be looking at 275-280 hp without turbo.
 
thanx tommy ! but a turbo adding would be nice thoug, as it makes the car more special then just a swaped 3.0, but as i said before i have enought time to research, and decide what to do,


tommy are you a member to on z3forum.nl ?
 
Tommy_hf said:
@ Lightning,
if you want it to be sporty, swap in a 3.0i M54, add some hot cams, exhaust system and you'll be looking at 275-280 hp without turbo.
Click to expand...
and why not sell the 2.5 (the whole car) for a 3.0si. Probably be able to do that and be quids in. Some prefer the smaller engine for economy.

Just trying to save you some money. :poke:
 
Well the 3.0i M54 is prefered above the valvetronic engines if you do any sort of forced induction.

Not a member on z3forum.nl (yet... should I? :))
 
I was looking into putting a 4.4 M power V8 into my Z ......and converting to hydraulic power steering but to stand a chance of it being cost effective I'de need to buy a crashed M3 to use as a donor..... anyway , I decided its just not going to happen now, getting the engine and trans into the Z wouldnt be a problem ..... its retaining the ESC and TC in the conversion and removing the electric steering motor while keeping the yaw sensor and steering sensor ( both situated in/on the steering coloum)..... all complicated even more by the can bus electrics :cry:
 
@ tommy, any way your welcome ! althoug some times it's like an "old boys" club :P

@ slick sounds nice ! but doenst the Z4M steering collum have those functions ?

i don't fancy selling the car as i now know what i have, a good car with no dammage, and buying a other car it would be an z4 3.o pre fl but those are hard to find in the spec i'd like, and it would be a guess if it would be as good as my 2.5, so engine swap/turbo'ing the car are the only serious options for the future, as i'm first going to do ad an M front, Aero side's, and aero rear diffusor. besides, if it would be posbile i would keep it as long as i can keep it, so resale valuble doen't itrest me



from what i heard ESS also uses parts from the 3.0i to make the 2.5i TS3 ready. so it probably will be worth while to use the forged parts from the 3.0i before turbo'ing/supercharging the 2.5



main plans are this winter body and some interior stuf, and later on next year i want to upgrade brakes and other mechanical stuff.
later on as every thing is done, of course the power has to match up with the rest of the set up, so then i'll be making my final descision.

an other option is to buy a wrecked Z4m in the uk and then use those parts to make the ultimate sleeper, Z4m in pre facelift clothes :P
 
thanx have seen that to, i'll keep out watching for all options.
great that this forum ( all thoug sceptic about swaps) keeps supportive instead of keep yelling buy an M.

is there change needed in the wiring for the M ? or would it hook up to the wiring of the non M's ?
 
How much power is your goal anyway? I do understand what you mean by keeping the Zed, I've been thinking about possible replacements, but just couldn't. The 987 Boxster S is just too girly too look at, the E89 too heavy and fundamentally wrong by moving a 30 kgs roof into the boot when open. Also don't like the roof taking up the bootspace. And the E85 was an instant classic.
You do know that the 3.0 has the forged crankshaft right? That's the main difference between the 2.5, along with the bigger intake manifold+LMM+TB. But you can't just swap out the crank as the cylinder walls are mated to the stroke of the 2.5 crank already, unless you get it honed and replace piston rings which isn't too bad of an idea. 3.0 crank, honed cylinder walls, ported cylinder head while it's already out of the car and consider supercharging it vs mechanically optimized with cams etc. (I prefer N/A tuning though).

ps I'll look into the z3forum as well :) Already on several dutch sites. (driving-fun, nurburgring)
 
Lightning87 said:
@ tommy, any way your welcome ! althoug some times it's like an "old boys" club :P

@ slick sounds nice ! but doenst the Z4M steering collum have those functions ?

i don't fancy selling the car as i now know what i have, a good car with no dammage, and buying a other car it would be an z4 3.o pre fl but those are hard to find in the spec i'd like, and it would be a guess if it would be as good as my 2.5, so engine swap/turbo'ing the car are the only serious options for the future, as i'm first going to do ad an M front, Aero side's, and aero rear diffusor. besides, if it would be posbile i would keep it as long as i can keep it, so resale valuble doen't itrest me



from what i heard ESS also uses parts from the 3.0i to make the 2.5i TS3 ready. so it probably will be worth while to use the forged parts from the 3.0i before turbo'ing/supercharging the 2.5



main plans are this winter body and some interior stuf, and later on next year i want to upgrade brakes and other mechanical stuff.
later on as every thing is done, of course the power has to match up with the rest of the set up, so then i'll be making my final descision.

an other option is to buy a wrecked Z4m in the uk and then use those parts to make the ultimate sleeper, Z4m in pre facelift clothes :P
Click to expand...

Yes the Z4 already has the steering and yaw sensors in/on the column........the challenge would be to integrate the V8 engine wiring into the Z's and retaining the steering sensors while also converting it to hydraulic power steering......not forgetting the can bus which is the part that put me off
 
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