My 333i Swap: The beginning

[chadthestampede]

Ahh soon. I've been at work constantly but I'm off starting wednesday, so that's when I'm starting everything.

Also, to give anyone an idea so far I've spent about $1500 total on this swap, and barring any major problems I shouldn't have to spend much more than that. I figure I'll end up spending about 1700 tops. I'll get a price list as well as who I bought the parts from and where on here soon.

[chadthestampede]

Alright it's been started. Yesterday I spent all day disassembling the m20 and pulling a bunch of crap off getting it ready to pull. It's now sitting in my barn in the chassis.

Today I spent about half the day putting together my m30. I popped off the auto flywheel and inadvertently drained a lot of the remaining oil, as well as the coolant, all over my feet which helped keep my shoes well lubricated and cool.

I swapped out the oil pan and pump, and took off the mounts, as well as positioned the alternator so everything is more or less good to go aside from the thermo, water pump and hoses. Tomorrow I have to pull the auto wiring harness off the m30 and the throttle body, and replace them with the manual wiring harness and tb I have.

Two problems, one is I realized since the engine is from an e23, it's got the coolant hose on the back of the head on the passenger side. e30.de recommends like replacing it or some shit, but I was thinking I could somehow just run a hose around, but I'll figure out more of that when I come around to it.

The second problem is the wiring, of course. I'm going to have to rewire the c101, but I'm having trouble finding info about the harness since it's from a x33i. There seems to be very little info about those cars around...hell, there isn't even a bentley for them.

Anyway this is going as well as can be hoped, and I'll put the few pics I took up tomorrow.

Sorry for the book I just wrote.

[chadthestampede]

here's some pics. I didn't take a lot for fear of my dad calling me a homo.

stripped m20:


looks so small in there...



Just replaced the oil pan and pump, kind of perturbed that it doesn't have the surface rust to match the rest of the engine:




alright, I want to use my m20 harness, and it has no connectors for these (the two single plugs on top of the thermo housing thing):


I'm pretty sure I can just run it w/o them but I want to be positive

[speedhop]

You have to run those sensors. Swap them out from your m20.

They are your temp sending unit and temp switch.

[chadthestampede]

just to clarify i meant the two plugs that plug into the yellow thing in the mid-lower-left of the picture

[speedhop]

You are going to need to replace one of the sensors with the m20 sending unit, that's the only way that you are going to be able to see the temp of the engine.

I believe the sending unit is the sensor in the middle on the inner housing.

You can delete this particular sensor and plug it. Just make sure you have a temp switch and sending unit!

[Mclassy]

Time to get that engine bay shinin'.

[chadthestampede]

alright, thanks speedhop. I'm not real adept at the wiring, but I'll deal with it when I get the engine in.

haha yeah i will clean up the bay a bit, although the engine bay will prolly be nicer than the rest of the car when I'm done.

I plan on pulling the m20 tomorrow, so more pictures are to come. I have a 87 325e driveshaft coming in this week, and lord only knows if I'll be able to get all this done by the 25th when school starts :|

[Funkmasta]

Chad, you may need to run the 3.3 on an M20e harness...
I will look into it more tomorrow... I have more info at work.

[chadthestampede]

some pics from yesterday:








gotta love how high the front sits without the engine




I just got an email from the guy I bought the engine from saying that he just got a 90 parts car with a b35 in it...this could change everything...

[Doughnut]

That m20 is so gross. Keep updating this thread as I'm nearing the start of my swap too and need all the help and info I can get!

Also you are not "gay" for taking photo's of motor swaps, It'z teh shiz man!!

[chadthestampede]

That m20 is so gross. Keep updating this thread as I'm nearing the start of my swap too and need all the help and info I can get!

Yeah tell me about it. I looked and looked but I think there's only so much you can read before you just have to do it...I mean I basically know jared squires site by heart, have looked over almost every m30 swap thread on this forum and searched endlessly online, and i still seem to have to wing it a lot of the time (then again, maybe that's because the m30b32 is not the most popular m30 swap) Not that all this isn't helpful though, it's an awesome resource and i wouldn't have been able to do anything without it. i mean it's good to know I'm not alone in doing this too.

Anyway, today I cleaned out my engine bay, put the tranny on my engine, and figured out that my e30 rubber tranny mounts ripped in half some time ago, so I'm going to have to get new ones

[Funkmasta]

(then again, maybe that's because the m30b32 is not the most popular m30 swap)

The late 3.3 is no joke... it comes from the factory with a hot cam and a lightweight flywheel. It may not be the most popular, but you will have just as much enjoyment as everyone else. It is going to feel like the motor that the E30 was supposed to have.

[mattdk318i]

The late 3.3 is no joke... it comes from the factory with a hot cam and a lightweight flywheel. It may not be the most popular, but you will have just as much enjoyment as everyone else. It is going to feel like the motor that the E30 was supposed to have.

its too late to search, and well.... you are the M30 guru. So answer me this.
What cars and years did the late 3.3 come in?

[rs4pro3]

9/81 to 1/84 I believe are the years, I know my 83 633csi motor had the 12lb flywheel on it, and boy did it rev.