BMW E30 SR20DET Swap on E85

Back in 2011 we started doing a lot more business and customer support around Asia often times tuning cars or supporting touring car teams in Korea and Thailand. While in Thailand we quickly realized it would be a good idea to have a fun project car to play with and long story short we ended up with a 2dr BMW e30 and a S14 SR20det.

E30 SR20det Engine Swap

Thailand is home to a very unique tuner scene. With a seemingly endless supply of JDM engines and parts available every swap you can imagine happens in this great land. It’s not uncommon the see big body VIP Benz and Bimmers with 1JZ or 2JZ swaps nestled in the engine bays, 1UZ powered American muscle cars, or SR20det-swapped Miatas. Honestly more surprising if a car has the original engine in it.

For some Thailand could be considered a dream land with secret hidden circuits tucked away in the mountains that can be privately rented out for the for less than the average cost of a track day in the US. This is a great place to be if you want to get some affordable seat time. With the perfect excuse to build another car and take advantage of these tracks we started hunting. After some searching we found a 2dr BMW E30 and got to work adding all sorts of chassis support, mounting the SR20det and wiring everything together.

E30 BMW Mod List:

S14 SR20det (stock internals) Looking forward to adding some BC SR20 stage 2 cams soon!
EVO 8 twin scroll 16G turbo internal waste gate
Custom tubular turbo manifold by Velocity Element
Over sized SR20 oil pan and custom external oil cooler kit
Velocity Element S14 Intake manifold, throttle body and fuel rail
Sparco Prodrive seat (old school used WRC seat from Japan) Updating to a new Sparco bucket seat**
BC Sports front coilovers customs TOMS rear coilover conversion
AEM Infinity Plug n Play SR20det ecu package
VE Flex fuel sensor kit
Speed density conversion
Anti lag hardware
VE wide band knock sensor and harness
E34 complete sub frame/Rear coilover conversion
Injector Dynamics ID1050x injectors
AEM Inline 400lph fuel pump
Copper core NGK BKR7e’s