My experience with a teenage son says otherwise :D

Wow, that's cool. Neat exhaust setup.

This is your reminder to buy a half-dozen S54s now.

:mad2::mad2::mad2::lol::eeps:

I'm particularly looking forward to the last shifter components arriving so I can get the driveshaft and exhaust and heat shields reinstalled. That'll free up a LOT of room on the floor. "Luckily" it hasn't been a real issue since the roads still have salt on them and we only drive two cars in these conditions.

Epic:bigpimp:

What is the weight difference between the s14 and 54?

It's hard to get an accurate count on the delta. But probably about a hundred pounds. Not much different from the S50US, though.

You can definitely tell that it's heavier on the nose than an unswapped car. I don't mind, given the power delta.

I was admiring this funky setup this afternoon.

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/attach...9&d=1609170954

Yes, there was an invasion.

Ha! Forgot to include a major pre-installation component of the story.

So. The engine. I was regasketing, rebuilding vanos, etc, because it sure is a lot nicer to do that on a stand than in the car. I also decided to do a leakdown test. Unfortunately, it failed leakdown.

It turned out that the valve seats got contaminated during storage. It's amazing how much air you lose to even the slightest contamination (see the black spots on the uncleaned valve). Some cylinders were as high as 30% leakdown. Which is not ideal. Fortunately, after cleaning the valves and lapping them in, everything went to the 1-2% range where it should be.

Bonus headers content in the last picture. It turns out that the stock US headers actually work really well when they aren't plugged up by cats right at the merge. Since you need to cut the headers up to fit them in an E30 properly, these are a really easy, cheap, great functioning option. (Especially cheap when you already have them.) Some aftermarket headers kind of fit, but they usually don't clear the control arm bushing and hang down too low. Also, the HUGE advantage of the stock headers is that BMW clearly designed them to be easily removed and replaced. Aftermarket headers usually require a painful amount of time with small turns on a wrench.

This thread makes me miss the s54. Not great sounding without help but a great engine nonetheless.