Upgrade to engine

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Michaelj32963

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I have a fully restored E9 imported from Germany. I have been thinking about upgrading the engine to a modernized set up. Two questions:
1. Who is best to advise
2. Should it be done

Love opinions
 
Talk to @sfdon. What engine do you have currently, give us some more specs on the car - transmission, carb vs injected, etc. Different options for upgrade. What are you looking for - rebuild, more power, racing vs street driving, etc.
 
Beautiful car! With a CSi your upgrade options are a little different since you already have more power than the US base carb version. I would ask about the answers to the other questions. Debate can ensue but for many of us the first upgrade is 5-speed and diff change to make the highway cruising a bit more comfortable with lower rpm. I am also considering an engine upgrade and have a CSi, it then becomes a question of upgrading to a 3.5L engine like the M30b35 or an M90 (rarer and more expensive).
 
Great looking car! Good question on the upgrades. In addition to what E9L says, I notice you have a 5 blade cooling fan. You can easily upgrade to an 11 blade fan to help make things more efficient in that department. Regarding upgrading to a 3.5L, that's up to you. You already have a CSI, so that's great. My ride has an M90/B35. It's a torque monster, not a revvy engine. So it really depends on what you want for a driving experience. Food for thought!
 
+1 on @sfdon. highly recommended for a couple of reasons. 1. he knows more about the CSi engine than probably anybody else in the USA. 2. he has done more engine replacements than anybody else.

i would think that you might be able to rebuild the CSi engine with an upgraded cam and upgrade to megasquirt and it will look like a true CSi and have almost the same performance as the 3.5L, whether you go with b35, b34 euro or m90 engine. fyi, the standard CS is 8.0:1 compression and the CSi is 9.0:1 ... so it is already a rev happy engine. the euro b34 is 10:1, the m90 is 9.3:1 and the b35 is 9.0:1 ... all 3 in stock trim run about 205 to 215 hp. whereas with upgraded cam + megasquirt they are all about 245 +/-
 
You have gotten some good advice here. I'll toss in my 2 cents...

Before you ditch your current engine, perform a leak test on it. That will tell you a lot about its condition, and what, if anything is weak (valves, rings, etc). If the test looks OK, and compression is good and even on all cylinders, then rebuilding with higher compression pistons and a cam might make sense. If the engine needs to be bored, then it is probably easier to find a good replacement, and build from there.
 

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As someone with a euro CSi, I will say that I am folllowing @rsporsche ’s thoughts above. I have been gathering parts to do a megasquirt conversion this winter with the idea that this gets me an upgrade and if I eventually decide to upgrade the actual engine I haven’t gone backwards. Depending on whether you’re doing the work yourself or having others do, as well as your budget, doing things stepwise may be more tenable. Fully new engine and megasquirt may be pushing $20k, while megasquirt upgrade is probably in the $2-3k range depending on options and assuming you are doing the work.
 
Jimmi said:
Great looking car! Good question on the upgrades. In addition to what E9L says, I notice you have a 5 blade cooling fan. You can easily upgrade to an 11 blade fan to help make things more efficient in that department. Regarding upgrading to a 3.5L, that's up to you. You already have a CSI, so that's great. My ride has an M90/B35. It's a torque monster, not a revvy engine. So it really depends on what you want for a driving experience. Food for thought!
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Your package arrived yesterday from Germany-let me know what to do with it!
 
Should it be done is up to you.

I agree with the comments here that you should evaluate your engine before making a decision. The auction for this car indicates that the engine was "refreshed" in 2020. It is unusual for everything to remain totally stock when an engine in a coupe requires work, so I suggest you first evaluate what may previously have been done.

If you determine to change the engine, I know and have known several coupe owners who have installed M30b35 motors in their cars. This is a relatively inexpensive replacement because thousands of these engines were imported into the US. The primary advantage of this upgrade is plenty of low end torque. A secondary, but important, advantage is that any competent BMW mechanic can work on it.

As noted above, @sfdon is highly recommended for a consultation on this topic.
 
Well, I’m sure this discussion could go on for days.

My advice on a car that is that nice in presentation is to drive it for a year and come back and have the same discussion one more time.

You might just be perfectly happy with what you’ve got.

The engine according to the ad was refurbished only six years ago.

I just finished a job in Spain, where I took out the Csi Engine and put in a 3.5 L euro engine with mega squirt. The results were great, but the cost was high.
 

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sfdon said:
Well, I’m sure this discussion could go on for days.

My advice on a car that is that nice in presentation is to drive it for a year and come back and have the same discussion one more time.

You might just be perfectly happy with what you’ve got.

The engine according to the ad was refurbished only six years ago.

I just finished a job in Spain, where I took out the Csi Engine and put in a 3.5 L euro engine with mega squirt. The results were great, but the cost was high.
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That's a pile-o-parts!!!
 
Look before you leap!


Car sold in Poland, German registration and now in Florida?
 
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Michaelj32963 said:
I have a fully restored E9 imported from Germany. I have been thinking about upgrading the engine to a modernized set up. Two questions:
1. Who is best to advise
2. Should it be done

Love opinions
Click to expand...
Does the engine number match the chassis number? If so, it might be good to keep the engine and store it for any eventual sale.
 
Having done Don's first or second engine swap in 2010 we went through several stages to get the Euro M30/B34 10:1 CR engine optimum. Mine has recently been Dynoed at 250HP and 300 lbs T. It's great car but it is not matching numbers nor did it come out of the Factory as a CSi. Here's another future upgrade possibility. Like Don said drive it for a while and see how you like it stock. If you don't and have the coin pull and keep the engine have it bored out to a larger size, say 3.4 or 3.5L, get new Piano pistons (10:1) etc, upgrade to Schrick 284 cam, swap out ECU to MegaSquirt, Link or Emtron ... plus other. There is value in having the engine and body with the originals.
Regards, Jon
 
sfdon said:
Well, I’m sure this discussion could go on for days.

My advice on a car that is that nice in presentation is to drive it for a year and come back and have the same discussion one more time.

You might just be perfectly happy with what you’ve got.

The engine according to the ad was refurbished only six years ago.

I just finished a job in Spain, where I took out the Csi Engine and put in a 3.5 L euro engine with mega squirt. The results were great, but the cost was high.
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The car is absolutely amazing as is and has no issues. I have seen a number of people upgrade to an M3 or M5 engine with rebuilt suspension brakes and modernize the technology. What I wants to understand is who is best to discuss this with. Sfdon everyone points to you be it on this forum or BAT.
 
Talk to Don but I would tell you don’t try to upgrade to that much of an engine. It’s not what the car was built for and you’ll have to make compromises that I would argue will be at odds with the character of the car. The ones all mentioned above would be viewed as upgrades, doing that type of mod woukd be somewhat more Frankenstein unless done perfectly within a very narrow band of options
 
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