Buying a Z3 M Roadster

[YORK J-G]

Hello,

I live in Panama and I have a 1997 Z3 1.9, but I realy would like to get a bigger engine and I was thinkin of eather the 3.0i or 3.2 but after cheking both out I deside on the M 3.2L but then I came across with the fact that in order to get at least 315HP it would have to be a 2001 Bimmer......so, for those of you who have both of them is there realy a big diference between the 2 of them ??

[e30m3]

Hi,

I don't want to sound negative, but from the point of view of fitting an M roadster motor into an original 1.9l Z. You are probably better off saving your pennies and buying an M roadster. There are significant chassis and drive train differences between the two cars. The body is actually much wider in the M to allow for bigger tyres and exhaust. I presume that the chassis is much stiffer to cope with the significant more power and torque. This is also the case the the gearbox. You would probably need a different diff too, as the M roadster had an LSD and I believe that the 1.9l Z relied on its traction control to reduce wheel spin.

E30M3