Best budget engine + trans swap for E9? M30B35 and Getrag 260? Years?

HB Chris said:
M30b35 Motronic 1.3 and Getrag 265/6 is your answer.
Click to expand...
I lack your broad experience, but it’s hard for me to imagine a more reliable setup than a pair of Webers (32/36 or 38/38), an electric fuel pump. and a Pertronix equipped distributor. For spares, carry an extra pertronics and electric pump. This is stone aged stuff in its simplicity, and nothing that can’t be fixed by the side of the road with the a screwdriver.

Not the best for performance, but might be more reliable than EFI.
 
JFENG said:
I lack your broad experience, but it’s hard for me to imagine a more reliable setup than a pair of Webers (32/36 or 38/38), an electric fuel pump. and a Pertronix equipped distributor. For spares, carry an extra pertronics and electric pump. This is stone aged stuff in its simplicity, and nothing that can’t be fixed by the side of the road with the a screwdriver.

Not the best for performance, but might be more reliable than EFI.
Click to expand...
I use a M30B35 long block with a euro 4-bbl manifold and a Quadrajet fed by a VDO pump in the tank. No synchronization issues and every bit of the performance. I retained the points distributor to trigger an MSD-6 ignition. I can fix it anywhere it might fail, but so far it has been an extremely reliable setup.
 
I think it all depends on your mechanical skills, experience with the selected engine/trans/fuel delivery/ignition/etc, willingness to learn, and the time and money to keep one running.

In ALL cases, a 50 year old BMW is going to have more problems than a newish daily driver. There is no way out of working on one at least every now and then....even after you think you have all the bugs worked out.

To many of us, this is actually an enjoyable part of the hobby.

I'll get thrown off the forum for this, but I'd say the most reliable swap that would require the least ongoing "fiddling" would be a low mileage LS-x and a 4L60e
 
I think the thing that makes the motronic M30b35 the least troublesome alternative is the fact that BMW reference materials exist for maintaining and troubleshooting this particular engine. Because of this, an experienced BMW mechanic using BMW reference materials should be able to work on it. If you go to Webers (and I have), you no longer have BMW reference materials to assist with tuning and troubleshooting.
 
How about an aftermarket FI system (megasquirt?). Or a 4 barrel manifold like Mike uses and any number of hot rod aftermarket throttle body systems?
 
My M30B35/M1.3/G265 swap has lasted with no major repairs for 15 years. BMW still makes most of the parts, although some of the sensors are becoming more expensive.

I bought the whole set from a wrecker in ~2005 for <2000$ and installed it myself. It was my first major wrenching project.
 
I have an E12 with a M30B35 and five-speed swap - the whole thing came out of an '89 635CSi and I'm guessing the trans is a 265/6 but I'm not familiar enough with the flavors of 265s to know, though I am pretty sure it's a 265 (separate bell housing.) Diff is stock E12 LSD - earlier I was trying to figure out what ratio it would be, and I'm skeptical that the tach is reading correctly so I can't just calculate it using gear ratios and road speed. It feels short.

From my experience (3400-mile trip home with the car from the Bay Area to Bellingham to Chicago) it's an excellent powertrain swapped into an E12, and would be in an E3 too. Modern driveability and reliability, fuel consumption is good for what it is. Second the advice to pay attention to diff ratios to make sure it's well-matched to the torque chracteristics of the engine, but the power and torque curve profiles (if not peak values) of a B35 are not that different from a B30, I'd imagine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top