The previous owner of my car (D. Clay on this forum) swapped a e36 into an e30 before I owned it. He posted a thread about this swap. I've included it below. Hopefully it helps.
There are a lot of other threads about this and guys here that can help.
Good luck!
E36 M42 into E30.
I recently put in an E36 318ti M42 with 85,000 miles on it into my 1991 318is.
I unplugged all of the wiring so I could leave the plastic box that sets under the intake in the car. I removed the A/C compressor and power steering pump from the motor but left the hoses connected to both. I used wire to hold them up so they wouldn't be hanging from the hoses.
After removing the usual remaining stuff, I pulled the motor. The E36 motor was dated 10/95.
From 9/95 up the M42 and all of the M44's use a different type oil pan gasket. It's similar to the valve cover gasket, a rubber with circles around the bolt holes that sits in a recessed groove. The groove is machined into the block. It also goes around the problem area at oil pickup. The old type gasket works with this block. I had several people look at it and they all thought it would be OK. None the less, I turned it over with no ignition until I got oil pressure just to be safe. I put locktite on the pan bolts that are covered with the lower sump. realoem.com shows this gasket on cars with the M44.
From the front back, I had to change the balancer and pulleys, water pump pulley, alternator bracket and alternator, valve cover, and motor mount arms. Thakfully, you don't have to remove the big crankshaft nut to swap balancers and pulleys. The front temp sensor is the same but I had to reuse the rear one from the original motor. Same with the cam and crankshaft sensors. From 9/90 and up the pilot bearing is the new larger type so no change was necessary. I also swapped the complete intake assembly, using the one from the E30. The flywheel and clutch assemblies are the same part numbers also.
It was a really straightforward swap. Just nuts and bolts. I thought about going to a serpentine belt but that would have meant water pump, P/S pump, and A/C compressor pulleys. End the end I didn't want to spend any more than necessary so I didn't do any performance mods either.
It runs quieter, smoother and has a bit more power. All due to age and miles on the motor. The actual HP increase is probably not noticeable if both motors had been in top shape. The old motor had really gunked up the intake from the blow by and other stuff from the valve cover/crankshaft vent line.
Topic: E30 engine to E36 (Read 4266 times)