I've been pondering this for a while now. When i prove myself a decent driver my dad is going to let my drive/have/buy his nice 78 bmw 320 2door. Its been set up for autocrossing and is very lightweight and very sportscar feeling. Right now it has the stock 4banger in it with some upgrades im guessing. Im kind wondering if a 13b turbo engine would fit in there and if the drivetrain will hold up/can be upgraded to handle more power. If i go through with it im thinking use one from a heavy rear-end damages fd and use the stock twins or a small single turbo on it. The 4bangers hp is about 140 im guessing right now. The good thing about it is thaty it gets great fuel milage. The car is a historic vehicle asof this year and doesnt have to pass smog testing. Anyone have dimensions of a 13b? This may be a fun project to dow ith my dad once he recovers from his open-heart surgery.

 

I think it would be really hard, you'd probably need to rig up a mazda tranny and custom driveshaft.

I would consider the old school M3 engine (200hp? - 4cyl) it would probably bolt right in.

 

Maybe, I just kinda enjoyed the thought of making it rotary powered somehow. Considering i've never driven it it may be pretty fast with the 4banger in it now.... My dad hasnt really let it loose anytime i've been riding in it.

 

I have a friend that is like a Vosko in the BMW world. He has one '86 m5. for a 3.5L 6 cyl that thing moves.

If you wanna go crazy, some company makes a turbo kit for the newer m3 engines. you'd be alllllll set.

 

Use a 86-89 M5 engine in it then you still have the straight six torque.They make about 210hp and ran 14.5 stock.I love those earlier BMW's.Don't destroy it with a rotary swap.Find a light POS car to drop one into if you have your mind set on a swap.If you do the swap you'll need custom mounts for everything you could prolly use the BMW rear seeing as they're built tough need to run the EFI with hi flow fuel system and a drive shaft.Good luck.

 

Hmm i was just pondering a little with it. So a 86-89 m5 engine and rear drivetrain would fit in it? Its not exactly mine yet like i said just pondering some more. Whats the mpg numbers on those m5 engines? I could always just add to the motor thats already in it.

 

its been done before, it saw one in a magazine once in the early 90's



mike

 

cant be that hard. i saw an old beemer in the autotrader down here in S. Fl with a 13b-t in it...

 

The E30 M3 motor is the way to go. But a rotary would fit, with a fair bit of custom work of course.



J

 

Hey 'Slacker!

Whaddup! I've done the BMW/rotary swap... in a '69 BMW 2002 ('87 T II set-up) a few years ago. Not to mention, helping a friend do the swap on a '78 320 (13B NA).

You gotta wanna do it if you are truly considering it 'cause like 'Chainsaw said, some custom stuff has to be done (i.e. driveshaft, eng./trans. mounts, hole for shifter). Other than that, it is totally "do"-able & fun to drive.

Though, if I were gonna do a 320, I'd go TURBO to make it worth the work.

By the way, my '69 BMW '02, I'll just say... TOO MUCH FUN!!!

-==nvr2mb