Joey's iS by JinormusJ

4 minute(s) of a 76 minute read

M20 is dying.

Every day I feel like its putting out less and less power. Yesterday I just filled it up with 1.5 quarts of oil at 4000 miles (which, coincidently, I'm due for an oil change sometime soon anyway). My previous M20 only burned oil at .5 quarts every 6000, which means im burning oil like a mother(or at least, at a rate I am not happy with). Cold/morning starts are something my current m20 is not a fan of and will stutter/bog whenever power is put down for the first few moments of taking off; midday cold starts are no problem, but stone-cold starts suck. Plus, I have to floor it just to keep up to a Corolla; my previous m20 took Corollas all day. (and had extensive engine work done with receipts to prove legitimacy of proper maintainence)

Sokay..

Thinking about refurbishing a budget 2.7i build and swapping out this tired m20. If I have to live with this m42-like power in an m20 weight car, I will not be enjoying my future with this e30. Sorry to blow you m42 guys out of the water, but 100whp sucks, period. I have to romp my car just to keep up in traffic. I'm thinking a 2.7i build wouldn't be too expensive as I'll be do the work myself/know people that would hook me up and can be an attainable swap by next spring.

This isn't my "final" swap I have for this car, but I can't live with this dying m20 anymore, so I will be swapping it soon. I figured a 2.7i would be a decent budget swap that will give me a little more power to satisfy me until I reach the final goal.


What I've gathered so far (basic knowledge of a 2.7i build) is the one option that would be the way to go for a $1k budget build:
2.7i block
2.5i head
2.5i intake
173 ECU

From what I understand, the only difference in a 2.7i from a normal 2.5i m20 is the eta bottom end. I am assuming a 2.7i is exactly the same as a 2.5i m20 except for the complete eta bottom end. I'm assuming the rest of the engine is 2.5i build. The more I research this topic, the more the answer becomes less and less clear cut because there are so many options. I'm finding it hard to get a definitive answer without asking questions from my understanding.
Any thoughts r3v?

5-23-2013

So I finally had time to pass by my buddy's shop to get my lip painted with the Lachssilber Paintscratch.

Test fit

Yoska ended up having these cool goodies in his shop (sorry for the horrible pictures, my camera is all scratched up on my iPhone)

BBS RSes

S54B32

BOOM



Came out pretty well. Paint isn't an exact match, but its pretty close, and my valence is super faded and old, so the paint is pretty different than stock aswell. Need to find time to bang out the valence and get all the waves out of my lip