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I tried a search but came up empty.

Can I use the ignition switch (electrical, behind the barrel) and starter motor from a 1980 E21 318i on my 1976 E12 520?

Anything else from the parts car I should be keeping?

Thanks.

Probably the ignition switch, they pretty much all used the same one for a long time, and maybe on the starter. Is the 520 a 4 or 6 cylinder? If it's the 4, it should work just fine, they would both be M10 blocks with the same flywheel ring gear. You could even use one off an M30 car, just not an M20 car.

i'm pretty sure all m10, m20, m30, and s14 starters are all interchangable. The part number on the later starters are different (i.e. 1988 m3 starter), but they work and are smaller and more powerful than the stock early m10/m20/m30 starters. You should be fine.

crazyfastman wrote:i'm pretty sure all m10, m20, m30, and s14 starters are all interchangable. The part number on the later starters are different (i.e. 1988 m3 starter), but they work and are smaller and more powerful than the stock early m10/m20/m30 starters. You should be fine.

M20 starters are not interchangable, M10 and M30 are. A S14 is really just an M10 with a 4 valve head so it should be as well as S38s.

Mike W. wrote:

crazyfastman wrote:i'm pretty sure all m10, m20, m30, and s14 starters are all interchangable. The part number on the later starters are different (i.e. 1988 m3 starter), but they work and are smaller and more powerful than the stock early m10/m20/m30 starters. You should be fine.

M20 starters are not interchangable, M10 and M30 are. A S14 is really just an M10 with a 4 valve head so it should be as well as S38s.

Mike is right. I don't know what I was thinking the other night.

Thanks for the info guys.

Parts car turned out to be a dud but I have a lead on a M10 starter from an '86 E30 and I can put up with using my DIY starter button for a little while longer.

Mine is a M10 520 (not an i - its got the twin carbs)