need some advice for E36

[blkm3]

I am talking to someone who has an E36 whi is not working for some reason or another . He gave me the excuse that his car is a 320 and he put a 325 engine in it then it never worked? is this possible? will the computers be the same for both engines? would anyone know how to see if the engin is a 2.5 rather then the 2.0 . Also if this worst case was that it didnt work how much should I pay for the car so maybe I could fix it up complete rebuild.

[Soldo]

well first of all, YES the computers ARE in fact different between the 2 engines, and the only way you can tell (well at least the only way I can tell) is if the car has a single tipped muffler (the 325's had DUAL TIP). I wouldn't expect it to cost too much for just a simple rebuild like that, but i'm not a real mechanic so don't go by my advice!

[blkm3]

how much would a complete engine swap cost and does anyone know a good person or shop to do it?

[thinair]

Originally posted by blkm3
will the computers be the same for both engines? would anyone know how to see if the engin is a 2.5 rather then the 2.0 .

The computers (ECU's) are different, and there should be an engine code stamped somewhere on the block (I don't remember now, I think it's either on the front of the block, on the bottom of the intake manifold side ofthe block) that would say M50B25 for the 2.5L and M50B20 for the 2L.