The M30 Engine is probably one of the widest used BMW engines, It was the
basis for a majority of there cars during the 70's, 80's and into the 90's.
It was created in 1968 by Bernhard Osswald from Ford who oversaw the
development of the second family of BMW engines in the Sixties.
The M-30
6-cylinder engine was designed by Baron Alexander von Falkenhausen. The M30 was
developed to power the new E3 big salloons that where introduced in 1968.
The engine is a In-line 6 Cylinder engine, with a chain driven over head
cam shaft, 7 main bearings, 12 balancer weights, Oversquare cylinder dimenions,
and a Cast Iron Cylinder Block with a Aliminium Cylinder head.
It was a
Hemi-head engine -- a triple hemispheric, swirl-action combustion chamber
cylinder head -- to be precise.
There was improvements made to the engine after 1972, and where over seen by
Gustav Ederer, the M30 also formed the basis for M88 (S38) Four Valve engines.
It was also used in the first 745i (E23) which was a 3.5 litre running a
Triple KKK Turbo. this engine was designated M-102.
The engine was
phased out during the Mid 90s, the last cars it was used in where E34 5 series,
and E32 7 series.
It had been in production for 25years.
Here is a List of each Naturally Aspirated M-30 engine's capacity, Bore & Stroke, year, and model Used.
Early (1977-80) M30s suffered from a horriable EGR system in the US, that used Thermal Reactors into the Exhaust manifold to burn excess gasses before leaving the Exhaust, this created excessive heat and warped cylinder heads.
(the EGR was also in Europe and Australia, but without the Thermal reactors which was the problem causing cracked heads.)
There was a class-action lawsuit, and BMW replaced most of the heads with an
updated design that did not warp. The better solution was to remove the
offending EGR system and replace the U.S. smog exhaust manifolds with
free-flowing European exhaust manifolds. However, when the government of
California lost its mind years later, and other states followed, sometimes the
EGR system had to be refitted for smog testing
Aftter 1985 in Australia
the engine received a Catalytic Converter. (Most 1980s M30 with catalyzer where
3.5 and ran lower compression Pistons.)
The M30 engine is very durable
if well maintained. The problem is, most aren't.
Valves must be adjusted
approximately every 15,000 to 20,000 miles, and at the same time cam oiler bar
torque should be checked unless the cam oiler bar banjo bolts were replaced with
the new thread-locking style (pn 11 42 1 738 621, 2 required, 4 pn 11 42 1 252
343 washers also required).
Coolant needs to be changed at something
approximating a two-year interval, and phosphate-free original BMW antifreeze is
highly recommended.
Given these procedures, plus maintaining oil
changes, the M30 can last hundreds of thousands of miles without the need for a
teardown.
Click on link for Valve Adjustment guides:
There is also Known problems with Early cylinder Heads, after 1980 most had a
newer, better design.
Here is a Link on a guide to M-30 cylinder Heads:
NOTE: Go to - Technical FAQ then click on Cylinder head.
The only Turbo M30 produced was used in the E23 745i, Originally the car was
supposed to have a V12.
Karlheinzs Lange's Engine designers developed
the Turbocharged six using a Triple KKK turbo which appeared in the 745i.
This is a common Performance upgrade for Left Hand Drive (LHD) E28s and
other LHD BMW,s running a M30, like the 6 series.
The Turbo manifold
from the (E23) 745i doe's not fit on a RHD unfortunatly due to the postion of
the steering box.
I Beleive one of these engines produced 252bhp.
I would like to create the ultimate Power output databae for all versions of
the M30, With carby, K-jet, L-jet or Motronic.
If you have any specific
Data that i could use, i would be greatful.
At the moment i only have
Power outputs for each E28 model in the E28 history section.
HERE:
I would like to cover some of the internal modifications that can be made to
acheive a larger capacity, compression or stroke on the M30. Currently i do not
have much information..but am slowly collecting it, and try to put down a list
of diffrent styles of engine you could build sharing parts from each M30.
Im not %100 on all the combinations and you should look at the above M30
charts for possiable combinations.
The most desired is stretching out
the 3430cc version close to 3800cc using the crank from one of the 3.3litre
versions (3295cc version used in 3.3L, E3 Salloons) with the 88.4mm crank. and
or boring out for larger pistons.
(im not sure of the specific parts
required, but will be adding to this soon!)
Another Cheap power gain is
to use the Camshaft from a 3litre, as it uses a 272 degree cam. (most M30s have
the lower 264 degree cam....perfomance cams are up at about 284 and higher)
Im looking for as much information as possiable, to be able to list the
best combinations of M30 Engine parts and others for building a performance M30.
(Internal parts, Part numbers etc...are all helpfull)
Photos and some text
from the Book: Driving Machines "The BMW Story" - by James Taylor
Some
Text borrowed from these sites:
This Webpage is still under construction.
If there are any mistakes
you would like to point or information to add, please E-mail me.
Here:
