Gas mileage questions.... m50?

[ldzpstnr]

Hey people.


What kind of gas mileage does an E30 with an M50 motor get? How about just a E30 325i? I havent owned a 325i yet, just couple older 318i and my current 87 325 eta.

I want to do a motor swap eventually. I really dont like the gas prices of today and I know they will just get higher as times goes on. Considering just rebuilding the engine in my car, maybe putting a newer 4 cylinder out of an E36 into it, of course an M50. I might even consider seeing if it will be possible to adapt a hybrid electric drive to it also... but that is kinda far fetched. I have heard of people actually injecting small amount of hydrogen into the throttle body on the intake and getting better mileage also. I have even thought about putting the diesel version of the M20 engine into my car, then maybe making biodiesel.

I know some of these ideas are kinda out there. But I like my internal combustion engines.... electric cars just seem wussy. Later.

Aaron

 

[epj3]

4 cylinder out of E36 (M44) is a piece of shit, the M42 is much better (and MUCH more tuneable without losing gas mileage).

M50 in an E30 would probably get around 30 mpg (which is what I got highway with my e30 325is) but you would have to ask on a e30 forum, nobody here will know.

If you want economy, a BMW is not for you.

 

[Chesty Bonds]

Yeah Eric is right in relation to the M42 vs. M44. The '42 is really rev-hungry and quite peaky which is good when you want to cane it. Inner-city fuel consumption is probably around 10-11 litres per 100km, which is pretty good considering that I do quite a lot of hard driving. On the freeway I can get between 7 and 8 litres per 100km when travelling at a constant 120km/h at around 3,200rpm.

The M44 is more driveable and has more meat in the mid-range of the rev-band but loses out bigtime on top end fizz (which the M42 has stacks of). Tuning for the M42 is pretty good too, although you won't gain all that much extra power as in standard form it's a pretty tuned little engine. I know a bloke that has an M42 with a Schnitzer chip that raises midrange torque considerably and raises the rev-limiter to an insane 7,000rpm. It really screams at 7K... He also has a Kaiser cat-back exhaust system that releases a few extra ponies and makes the exhaust note nice and gruff, with plenty of popping and fizzing on the overrun. Nice.

In terms of the bigger sixes I'm not too knowlegeable about them. Eric is prob right with what he suggested. Good luck.