First off I have a 95 3.4 m5. I've been thinkin bout doin an engine swap; but would like to know from "experts" if it would be more cost effective to just install a turbo or supercharger.

 

If your just worried about cost, the turbo/supercharger rout will cost less than a V8 swap.

 

A well thought out forced induction setup can tally a good amount as well. There have been some people who have been lucky in finding their parts and done v8 conversions for around a grand or a little more.

 

I was in the same boat as you. I had a 1995 A4 3.4L. I have a nasty 5.7L Lt1 in its place. It's been a year and I'm almost finishing the project up. Very costly.. and it doesn't help when you want all the perf. parts lol.

 

Second that, I've almost got everything I need for my swap and I'm doing it the hard way (piecing everything together). I bought the motor and trans, then the computer and all wiring, and now all of the other stuff- radiator, springs, front swaybar, fans, etc., etc. Like JooneJune said, you get to thinking and figure "I might as well upgrade some stuff while I'm at." I ended up buying coated pc lt's, magnaflow, msd opti, 52mm ported tb, polished fuelrails,custom tune and the list goes on. I plan on getting an aftermarket stall converter and upgrading to a walbro255 fp, also new shocks and a bunch of other stuff. Plus, to top it off, my lt1 was out of a vette so I had to convert all of the accesories to f-body spec. That alone cost some coin, not to mention all of the miscellaneous hoses and sensors and crap that you may have to replace. Sure there are a lot of guys that say they've done it for around $1000-1500, but if they used parts from a 100k+ car, how long will it last before it starts nickel and diming them to death. If you are able to find a lower mileage wrecked z, by all means snag it. That would be your best route. As far as supercharging or throwing a turbo on the 3.4, I thought about it long and hard. I figured it's not going to substitute for the torque and awesome throaty sounding exhaust of an lt1. Just my opinion. Good luck and if you decide to go forward on the swap and have some questions, feel free to pm me. I'm no expert, but I've been doing my homework.

 

thats the answer.. just buying all the parts and whatnot seprately just gets way to pricey and complicated.. unless you want to go all out and can afford a stroker 383 but thats 2K for the crate alone well we've got to dream of something

 

Thx for the feedback; soon as I get some $$ saved up; my hunt for a wrecked z or ss will begin.