Visual differences between eta and i motors?

#1

Are there any obvious visual differences between the eta and i motors??? I know of one person that thought they were getting an i motor and got an eta by accident. Another friend was looking at a car today that was advertised and an i car and after we ran the VIN it came up as an e car. The car had no designation on the back and the owner did not have the title on hand. That was the first clue to investigate further.

Just looking for some visual clues to help, especially if a good deal comes up and cash is in hand.

Thanks,
Jason

#2

It depends. I’m no expert at this but…
The first thing to note is the intakes. eta’s have a different intake, except for the super eta which was (I think) only been available in '88. The super eta shares the same intake and head as the i. So everything should be easy to tell except for the 1988. Except that…

Intakes don’t prove anything. If the owner like to screw around with things, anything could be different. I bought a 325 motor from a BMW only junkyard last year. I would later figure out that the motor had a 323 head on it.

#3

The ‘i’ motor has a large front pulley with teeth for crank position sensor whereas the “e” motor has 2 sensors on the left side on the bell housing.

The ‘i’ Has larger intake runners and the cam has 7 bearings and the valves have double valve springs.

The “e” motor has single valve springs & the cam has 4 bearings

I cheated I asked Jeff Ireland. :stuck_out_tongue:

#4

kgobey wrote:

[quote]The ‘i’ motor has a large front pulley with teeth for crank position sensor whereas the “e” motor has 2 sensors on the left side on the bell housing.

The ‘i’ Has larger intake runners and the cam has 7 bearings and the valves have double valve springs.

The “e” motor has single valve springs & the cam has 4 bearings

I cheated I asked Jeff Ireland. :P[/quote]

The '88 Super eta has the same head (and intake?) as the i so points #2 and #3 don’t distinguish them.

#5

Yeah I see them advertised… BTW I think they started in 87 and the trunks are badged “es” if memory serves me. Can’t remember what separated them from regular eta’s from the motor outsides though:

But refer to this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M20

But putting a 325i head on an eta block, super eta pistons, with a 5 series diesel crank is old school BMW Club fun! I can see the new SpecE30 motor I can build right now :stuck_out_tongue: