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Magnanimous · 08-20-2015, 11:18 PM

Sorry if this is in the wrong subforum

So I've never actually owned a car. I have two motorcycles, but I'm getting to the point in life where I actually need a roof and an extra set of wheels.
I've never been crazy about BMW's, but the old 318ti's have caught my eye. I love the fact that they're a small, lightweight real wheel drive car that still has a functional back seat. However, they do seem to be a bit underpowered stock.

I've been thinking about picking up an old 318ti to use as a commuter, buying an m52b28, slowly rebuilding the engine in my garage, and eventually swapping it into the 318.

From what I've read, all E36's are more or less identical from the firewall forward, so it sounds like swapping in an engine from another E36 should be a lot simpler than other commonly perfomred engine swaps, and there seems to be an enormous DIY community out there that can help out where needed.

However, I don't have a ton of experience working on cars. I've done a LOT of work on my bikes, and a decent amount of work on other small engines like marine outboards, so I figure that I should be able to figure things out given time. Also doing my own maintenance on the 318 should help give me some experience as well.

So, how crazy am I?

Also, I've searched around and seem to be getting conflicting results, If I were to replace an M44 with an M52, would the transmission/driveshaft/diff need to be replaced as well? Or are they the same parts that are used in the larger E36's?

08-20-2015, 11:18 PM	#1
Magnanimous Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2015 Location: Florida Posts: 5 iTrader: (0) Photo Gallery	Sanity Check Sorry if this is in the wrong subforum So I've never actually owned a car. I have two motorcycles, but I'm getting to the point in life where I actually need a roof and an extra set of wheels. I've never been crazy about BMW's, but the old 318ti's have caught my eye. I love the fact that they're a small, lightweight real wheel drive car that still has a functional back seat. However, they do seem to be a bit underpowered stock. I've been thinking about picking up an old 318ti to use as a commuter, buying an m52b28, slowly rebuilding the engine in my garage, and eventually swapping it into the 318. From what I've read, all E36's are more or less identical from the firewall forward, so it sounds like swapping in an engine from another E36 should be a lot simpler than other commonly perfomred engine swaps, and there seems to be an enormous DIY community out there that can help out where needed. However, I don't have a ton of experience working on cars. I've done a LOT of work on my bikes, and a decent amount of work on other small engines like marine outboards, so I figure that I should be able to figure things out given time. Also doing my own maintenance on the 318 should help give me some experience as well. So, how crazy am I? Also, I've searched around and seem to be getting conflicting results, If I were to replace an M44 with an M52, would the transmission/driveshaft/diff need to be replaced as well? Or are they the same parts that are used in the larger E36's?