I would vote LS- for so many reasons. reliable, aftermarket support, cost, plentiful.

Ford-  I have the FE 5.0 302 in my e36, and II must say, its cheap and dumb simple. But.... the LS does all of the things ford does but much better with a little more $$.

UZ's - Awesome power plants that sounds amazing(when I had open headers on my LS430 I couldn't the wipe a grin off of my face even at idle. You can find 1UZ's super cheap and 2/3UZ's for a little bit more, but wiring isn't the easiest walk in the park, plus using an adapter for a manual trans ups the price quite a bit. 

VH45- Awesome power plant that sounds amazing as well. You can have one for pennies, but again wiring isn't the easiest walk in the park or you pay to have a harness made, plus using an adapter for a manual trans ups the price too. 

Anything else would be cool, but with that comes more time and money unless it has a big carburetor on it. But that's pretty much giving up and saying I couldn't figure it out so hers some fuel and air, I don't care.

- also -

Chevy W-motor swapped into a 4-door e36

Rowleym said:

My argument was simply, a 2jz swap it just absolutely retarded for 99.99999999999% of e30 owners as the m50 bolts in and makes WAY too much power on stock internals. 

I know all about the links I posted. 

Both of these examples are using STOCK m50 non vanos rods. 

And e36 hater is using a complete 150K mile junkyard longblock, with a cut ring and arps... stock head revving to 7800 I believe. But he added vanos. 

I believe he trapped over 135. I don't care what dyno its on. 135mph IS FAST. 

Drag racing is dumb.  EDIT: You guys are getting off of topic.

I know all about the links I posted. 

Both of these examples are using STOCK m50 non vanos rods. 

And e36 hater is using a complete 150K mile junkyard longblock, with a cut ring and arps... stock head revving to 7800 I believe. But he added vanos. 

I believe he trapped over 135. I don't care what dyno its on. 135mph IS FAST.

HipMF said:

^This.

Anything over four or five hundred is beyond what any average mortal can handle in ANY car, unless you're just doing highway pulls and at that point it's just a bunch of dick-measuring anyway...

Why?  Because why not... Are you even American!?!?

Rowleym said:

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=118110&page=2

and here is another one with stock internals, 761whp

If you are talking about the widebody then it says right in the description it has an M52 crank on page 1 and later on the owner of the dyno says "stock parts built engine".  It's not some random stock m50 they just threw a bunch of boost on and made power.  Not to mention, the dynapack dyno's always read a lot higher than Mustang or Dynojet numbers.  Throw it on a Dynojet and I bet it drops below 700whp.  Now, that's still impressive but does not support your previous claim.

Not to detract from this thread but there is no arguing that the 2jz is a better engine to make stupid amounts of horsepower.  That's it, done.  I could sit here and find oddball examples of other engines as well but those are exceptions.

and here is another one with stock internals, 761whp

HipMF said:

^This.

Anything over four or five hundred is beyond what any average mortal can handle in ANY car, unless you're just doing highway pulls and at that point it's just a bunch of dick-measuring anyway...

I've got my ruler out!

Rowleym said:

But who would ever need more than 500whp in an e30? That's just insane even.

^This.

Anything over four or five hundred is beyond what any average mortal can handle in ANY car, unless you're just doing highway pulls and at that point it's just a bunch of dick-measuring anyway...

GunMetalGrey said:

This is wildly inaccurate. It is an m52 crank with H beam rodg in an m50 block. It was all fully rebuilt, not a junkyard motor anymore in my opinion. 

A stock bottom end in an m50tu or nv will never stand up to 750whp

Not true. Ill find you some more proof. he isn't using an m52 crank. That was part one, and it died. Hes on a junkyard m50nv block right now.

Rowleym said:

Look up franks e36 budget build part duex on bf.c

He's makinf 780whp 600wtq on junkyard m50nv with vanos convert on stock ecu/ e85.

This is wildly inaccurate. It is an m52 crank with H beam rodg in an m50 block. It was all fully rebuilt, not a junkyard motor anymore in my opinion. 

A stock bottom end in an m50tu or nv will never stand up to 750whp

He's makinf 780whp 600wtq on junkyard m50nv with vanos convert on stock ecu/ e85.

But anyways. If you look over the pond there is more people making that kind of power.

But who would ever need more than 500whp in an e30? That's just insane even.

Rowleym said:

Never understood this. Why 2jz when a stock junkyard 300$ 150K mile m50 nearly BOLTS IN and can make 800ish hp on factory internals, and on stock ecu, etc. 

Not that I don't believe you but please show me this 800whp m50 on stock internals.  It's much easier and cheaper to get the 2jz to 1,000whp than to get an m50 to 800whp.  Not to mention the volume of 2jz's out there already making north of 1,000whp and the amount of engineering that has been put into these products.  It's easy bolt in power.

Narcosis said:

Not a V8, but I think a 2JZ-GTE swap would be cool.

Never understood this. Why 2jz when a stock junkyard 300$ 150K mile m50 nearly BOLTS IN and can make 800ish hp on factory internals, and on stock ecu, etc.

HipMF said:

Flathead with Ardun OHV conversion.

Or...

A rover V8 in a 2002 or e21 would be neat.

Whoa! I was going to say that! Not about wasting a set of Ardun heads on a BMW but the Buick/Olds 215 Aluminum (which became the Rover engine). Back in the 80's we BS'd about sticking those engines in just about everything because of the low weight. Obviously it was all talk. Always thought one would be killer in a 914.

YoungCR said:

There is a guy in Madison that owns all the NOS Ardun heads in existence. Looking forward to seeing his collection sometime...

His name is Rich Munz. I believe he has 4 or 5 sets of original heads, not sure if any are NOS, pretty sure they are all built up engines. There was a set of the extremely rare V8-60 Ardun heads found NOS in the box 5 or so years ago, they sold for ~$35000 IIRC and pretty sure Mr. Munz did not buy them. Either way, his collection is quite awesome...as is his collection of British motorcycles.

I can't believe there is a discussion here on this forum about Arduns. Pretty damn cool!

Later,

Wally

YoungCR said:

There is a guy in Madison that owns all the NOS Ardun heads in existence. Looking forward to seeing his collection sometime. *hint hint Pat wake yo' ass up for C&C*

Haha! Gotcha. Trust me though, it is not that I am asleep. I have a small human rhat makes sure I am up between 6:30 am and 8 am every day.

patsbimmer1 said:

Thanks, I'll look that up! I heard the name once at a small cars and coffee gathering in Madison a few months back and one of the guys was saying that there is a Madison collector that has a few of them just lying around that he gathers as they come up for sale. I don't remember if Chris was there or would remember that but he may be able to confirm. Or I've had a long day and i'm just making shit up now.

There is a guy in Madison that owns all the NOS Ardun heads in existence. Looking forward to seeing his collection sometime. *hint hint Pat wake yo' ass up for C&C*

wasnt m3 said:

Yes sir. Pretty trick stuff for the time. If you don't know about them, look into the V8 60 that Ford made. It was a smaller flathead V8 used mostly in midget racers and race boats.

Thanks, I'll look that up!  I heard the name once at a small cars and coffee gathering in Madison a few months back and one of the guys was saying that there is a Madison collector that has a few of them just lying around that he gathers as they come up for sale.  I don't remember if Chris was there or would remember that but he may be able to confirm.  Or I've had a long day and i'm just making shit up now.

wasnt m3 said:

I am extremely impressed/surprised that there's someone else on here who knows about Ardun heads.

Are those the ridiculously rare heads for the ford's?  Weren't they like a race special?