Just weighing up options for a rwd project, been trawling ebay and there seem to be plenty of BMW318 4cyl 16v (M42) engines and boxes there for peanuts. A bit of digging reveals they are between 130 and 140 bhp. Is anyone using or looking to use one, is there a reason to avoid them ??
miks15 is doing a bmw one. don't know if its a M42 engine though. came from a e36 body 3 series, can't remember what engine they used
as blake says, im using one, but its the 1.6 M40 (think they are the same sort ofphysical size)
one thing is it leans over quite a bit, and is also quite a tall engine. so youd have to make sure your chassis will take it.
another is, well its the same with any strange engine, there arent as many readily available parts. So, just for example, there are many readily
available pinto/zetec tuning parts, where as there arent quite as many for the BMW engines.
I dont know if you are planning to use a BMW as a donor? If so the same applys for all the running gear, it is possible, but since it hasnt really
been done before ther parts/support/advice isnt as good as if you were using sierra for example. (altough everyone on here are MORE than happy to give
advice on anything no matter how strange)
Take a look at GKD Sportscars here.
Their kits use the M42 engine believe, and having seen it in person at the shows, they seem to be of good quality, and they do supply some parts to
aid with the building.
Let me know if you decide to go ahead with the project, would love to follow someone else doing it.
Mikkel
I think bmw donors will become more popular in a few years as all the sierra's will have dried up, much like the old escort.
There will be an abundance of donors but they may be a little more pricey than the donors we are used to because of the badge.
quote:
Originally posted by quinnj3
I think bmw donors will become more popular in a few years as all the sierra's will have dried up, much like the old escort.
There will be an abundance of donors but they may be a little more pricey than the donors we are used to because of the badge.