Jesus man! you bought an E30 and now what? Well, this model was a 318i, with an engine M40B18 with a very nice sound and well, it was clearly performed for “race” driving. Car was awesome but it was a little bit old, so the first thing I had in mind was “Let’s change the suspension”, without even knowing what I was doing.
I decided to go for a Bilstein B12 (With Eibach springs), without even knowing about the 5 lug conversion and everything, so well, what the heck, at that time I didn’t know what I was doing, I only know that my dream car was taking shape! (Yeah, with just a minor modification).
So, new shocks and springs in, the car looked AMAZING! (sorry no pics this time).
After the suspension upgrade the car was already showing a noticeable performance, but it was just not enough!
The lack of power and a bent wheel (really bent) was not helping either, so I decided to check engines. I was going for a 325i or 328i swap, but what the heck, it was going to give me just 200hp more or less, what kind of swap is that for a fine 4cylinder 318i to a straight 6 enginge? Yes, you have more power but the car is heavier, I don’t think that power-weight ratio was really good, so let’s go for something with more power!
Checking my whishlist of enginges the first coming to mind was the RB25det! So I really dig in the internet and try to get an RB25 enginge…
Ended up in this website:
MotoresJDM
If you take a look to this website is full in spanish, because I’m from Spain LOL. Ok, we got the enginge supplier so let’s get in touch with them! (they have also a lot of JDM engines)
First think to ask was “Is this engine possible to make it legal here in Spain?” the majority of answers were a “No” or “Impossible”.
To explain this “strange” thing, the “tuning” or “car modifications” in Spain are almost dead, because they force you to do a checklist with all the modifications and if everything is correct you can drive your car freely on the roads, but if something is not possible, prepare for “Los verdes”, they are funny guys.
So, back to the main story line, if RB25 was a no-no thing, what next? A 2JZ of course! Was this possible? Heck yeah! Or thought/told so…
Ok! Time to buy shit then! Was it a good idea? NO! Will it be cheap? NO! Will you be happy? I DON’T KNOW! but at the end if everything goes ok, yes of course XD
So, after a loooooong wait for the engine(imported directly from japan) my engine was on it’s way for the swap!
Here is a video of compressions of my engine:
Pretty decent compressions right? Well, this has just begun!
Let’s find a mechanic able to do this!!!