What would be the best value contemporary straight six BMW engine to swap into it for street DD use? I'm sure an LS could be made to fit for less money and more power, but let's keep it in the family, so to speak...
What would be the best value contemporary straight six BMW engine to swap into it for street DD use? I'm sure an LS could be made to fit for less money and more power, but let's keep it in the family, so to speak...
M52 swap is pretty well documented in the E24/E28 platforms. Or you could just drop the E34-era M30 in for a 100% bolt-in dose of modernization.
M52 for WAY WAY less than an LS. E36's are cheap, buy a whole totaled car for less than 1k.
M54 is the modern modern, but that's several grand more.
A couple people have figured out how to use the S54 engine out of an e46 M3 or Z4M, but getting the computer and wiring set up properly is an involved process and not necessarily cheap. The M52 would be a lot easier, an M30 would be easiest.
There have been V8 swaps (using either a 540i engine, or a GM LS engine) but the brake booster and master cylinder interferes with the engine so it has to be relocated forward in the engine compartment, in a similar fashion to how they were installed in an e34 540i.
well if you could get a totaled or dead E34 540.. most of the parts you need are right there
Put two inline six's under the hood...
I have a 89 750il I would sell cheap. 
In reply to ronholm:
The BMW V12 is sexy, but actually one of their worst engines from a power to weight ratio standpoint...pretty far from bolt-in for an E24, too.
Cool BMW time? M8 my friends
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i say v12 for pure awesomeness. I have really wanted to stick a v12 in an older BMW for a while!
but come to think of it, what engine is already in the 635? I thought it was already an M30....
Per Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_6_Series_(E24)
either M30 or S38...
rcutclif wrote: but come to think of it, what engine is already in the 635? I thought it was already an M30....
They used the M30B34 through 1987, then switched to the M30B35 in 1988. The B35 had an updated Motronic fuel injection and some other improvements.
In reply to stuart in mn:
Gotcha.
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