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Project Armo "330i" M-tech 1

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    Originally posted by Sh3rpak!ng View Post
    Nice work. You don't need those oil pan bolts. They're not structural.

    Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
    Yeah, it might be. Nevertheless, I'll drill them. It's such an easy job and I figured they are there for some reason.
    E30 Armo "330i"

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      The car is back on jackstands. Note the most official lifting equipment ever aka a couple of quarter inch drive socket extensions.
      ]



      The jackstands are tall enough for me to push the engine assembly under the car without lifting the body. Next I just grabbed the engine with the hoist and lifted it in position.

      I think I'll cut off the corner of the battery shelf. The battery will be in the trunk so it's just there taking unnecessary space. I'll leave enough to fit the plastic M3 cover in place nicely.





      Next I need to adjust the height and orientation of the engine. I think I'll put enough spacers under the engine mounts to lift the oil pan at least to the level of the subframe and see if it fits under the hood. For the transmission I need to make or modify the support crossmember. Any one have good tips on how to align the engine? I think the drive shaft is designed with a slight offset to keep the joints from seizing so I should not point the transmission towards the differential. Am I right if I assume that the support bearing is in straight line with the transmission output shaft? In that case I could fix the center bearing and line up the transmission to center point of the bearing
      Last edited by Skarpa; 08-07-2017, 12:11 AM.
      E30 Armo "330i"

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        Lots of mocking up, planning and visioning and finally I have the engine and plumbing positions pretty much figured out.


        With the M52 intake manifold tha inlet side comes together very neatly. I didn't happen to take photo of the itb setup but it's a bit more cramped. There's not as much flex in the Euro S50 rubber boot as there is in the M52 one so the intake setup doesn't have enough room lengthwise. I may need to shorten the MAF tube to match. Luckily I have two tubes so I can test it out.

        I put 13 mm worth of spacers under the engine mounts. With that rise the engine still fits nicely under the hood. Only problem is that the TPS connector will not be usable. I turned to connector up to avoid collision with the vanos solenoid but it doesn't work this way either. I may need recheck the solenoid thingy because in this pic it doesn't actually look like it would necessarily hit the solenoid. I also need to consider soldering wires to the sensor and moving the connector further away. (or making an adapter for the TPS or finding a suitable sensor with the connector pointed in another direction)


        Especially after raising the engine, the heater core hoses will fit nicely under the plenum. In S50 conversions they need to be modified but my adapter for ITBs raises the plenum enough for the hoses to fit under it. For brake booster it's pretty hopeless to think any vacuum booster with this setup. Hydroboost will fit okay once I move the hole in the firewall 30 mm further away from the engine. Booster fork will move to the centerline of the brake pedal and the pedal arm and the pedal frame will need to be modified to match. I lined up the drive shaft towards the center bearing. The transmission hit the roof of the transmission tunnel at the lowest point but it gave away when I jacked the transmission up. I will need to modify the transmission tunnel to make more space.

        The front exhaust headers pass the cross member with about 10 mm of gap. If that's not ehough, it's easy to make a small hollow in the cross member. The collector hits the sway bar. I think Custom sway bar is the easiest solution for this. I think I'll modify this spare sway bar with oxyacetylen torch or hydraylic press and have a custom one made accordingly. Although I've seen people modifying their sway bars themselves without much care. Don't know if that might cause problems later. I'm not that well educated in spring steels and the tempering processes of sway bars.


        As stock the Euro S50 headers will overlap the lollipop about 20 mm. I'm thinking of modifying both headers after the collectors to bring them parallel under the car with the front header on the inside. (much the same way as in M20 exhausts) That should give lots of distance to lollipop.




        After this studying session I'm left with two unanswered questions: Where whill I fit the hydroboost reservoir and will I need to raise the transmission tunnel in a larger area to fit the shifter linkages under it. My guesses are: Under the plenum like on the E36 and Yes. The center console thingy needs more research because I also plan to fit the E46 rear section with the center armrest and cup holders.
        Last edited by Skarpa; 08-07-2017, 12:05 AM.
        E30 Armo "330i"

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          I've decided to scrap the idea of modifying stuff to fit the Euro S50 headers to the engine. I doesn't really make sense to make several compromises to fit ill-fitting headers. I haven't completely discarded the headers but I've decided that they are not a defining element. After all I would have a plenty of space for right-shaped headers. I also decided to get rid of the spacers under engine mounts. I don't want to deliberately move the center of weight up since engine setup is such a heavy component. This way I may avoid modifying the transmission tunnel as well as the TPS connector.

          While at the garage I mocked up the hydroboost reservoir. It fits the E36 bracket perfectly and fits under the intake so that's where it's going to be. Only the hose connections point in a little odd directions. I'll have to see what can be done about that.


          Next I relocated the brake booster mounting point in the firewall. I cut off a rectangular piece of firewall and flipped it upside down to move the mounting point 30 mm towards the fender. That's the maximum without touching the clutch master cylinder position.


          I got a chance to test out my brand new butt clamps and I'm really happy with them.


          After the modifications the brake booster and master cylinder sit something like this:

          Here the booster has been tilted a bit towards the fender for maximum clearance. It fits but with just five to ten mills of clearance so I think I'll tilt the engine a bit towards the passenger's side to make more space.
          Last edited by Skarpa; 08-06-2017, 09:38 PM.
          E30 Armo "330i"

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            My idea for fitting the S50 headers without compromising other components was to bend them to the shape I want. I made a jig where the headers bolt up and welded that to a welding table.


            Then we started heating and bending the headers. I had tested that thin-walled tube can be bent with flame to a mild curve without deforming it much. A bundle of tubes is of course trickier but working with care and only bending a little in each place seemed to work fine. The idea was to bend the rear headers away from engine to have space for the front headers to go up at the collector.


            I'm pretty happy with the result. Now the collecors are positioned more horizontal with each other which will eliminate the need to cross the pipes. Of course the distance from the headers to the X-pipe will not be exactly equal but that doesn't concern me much.




            Some fine tuning may still be required. I think for example the rear collector may point too much outwards.
            Last edited by Skarpa; 08-05-2017, 02:49 AM.
            E30 Armo "330i"

            Comment


              6-speed transmission is about ten centimeters longer than the 5-speed. The transmission cross member required some modification. I lucked out on this one. My trasmission is from E90 and the E90 rear bracket fits inside the E30 transmission tunnel. I've heard that's not the case with the rear brackets from E46 or E60. For the transmission mounts I use the beefier E21 rubber mounts. I also fabricated reinforcement cups over the mounts but I decided to discard them after all. Main reason for using the cups was to prevent excessive engine movement and keep the fan from hitting the radiator. I decided to go with an electric fan and that takes care of that. Without the reinforcement cups the transmission noise should be quieter (even if I'll go with solid flywheel at some point)


              The height is correct with the stock crossmember mounted in the automatic tranny mounting points. The transmission mounts are positioned differently from the stock so I drilled new holes for them and welded shut the old holes.


              Okay, to be honest the left end of the cross member is fine but the right end is in completely different level. I cut the cross member, bolted the loose end where I wanted it and tacked a few pieces of steel between them.




              Then it was just a matter if finishing the shape and filling in the blanks.


              Finished except for paint:
              Last edited by Skarpa; 08-05-2017, 02:46 AM.
              E30 Armo "330i"

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                Do you want to make me one of those cross members? lol
                My Garage
                2001 Z3 2.5i Steel Gray/Black (Lexi)
                1988 325ix Diamond Schwartz/Black (Izzy)
                1989 325i Cirrus Blue/Houndstooth (Stitch)
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                  Originally posted by stonea View Post
                  Do you want to make me one of those cross members? lol
                  :D I'm sure you can find someone on that side of the pond to do it. Shipping it from Finland wouldn't really make sense.
                  Last edited by Skarpa; 06-03-2017, 02:23 AM.
                  E30 Armo "330i"

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                    Originally posted by Skarpa View Post
                    While at the garage I mocked up the hydroboost reservoir. It fits the E36 bracket perfectly and fits under the intake so that's where it's going to be. Only the hose connections point in a little odd directions. I'll have to see what can be done about that.
                    In case this might serve as inspiration or otherwise, here's my solution for the hydroboost reservoir. With that odd orientation of the hose barbs on it I found it made some sense to stick it next to the booster itself. The accumulator worked out decently enough being adjacent to the motor mount arm:



                    There isn't an obvious bracket for bolting the tank in that spot, but it's an otherwise nice fit. For now I'll probably zip tie it to the booster, and eventually a bracket can be made to share the top driver's side booster bolt.

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                      Originally posted by butters View Post
                      In case this might serve as inspiration or otherwise, here's my solution for the hydroboost reservoir. With that odd orientation of the hose barbs on it I found it made some sense to stick it next to the booster itself. The accumulator worked out decently enough being adjacent to the motor mount arm:



                      There isn't an obvious bracket for bolting the tank in that spot, but it's an otherwise nice fit. For now I'll probably zip tie it to the booster, and eventually a bracket can be made to share the top driver's side booster bolt.
                      It's always nice to see different options:up: Exact same position won't work for me, though since I've moved the booster towards the fender and I think I'll move it even further to get the maximum clearance. One of the things that dictate the orientation of the reservoir is the elbowed outlet at the bottom. I think I'll cut it shorter and use an elbowed hose instead. Then I'll have more freedom to rotate the other barbs to the direction that makes the most sence.
                      Last edited by Skarpa; 06-05-2017, 11:51 AM.
                      E30 Armo "330i"

                      Comment


                        Originally posted by Skarpa View Post
                        It's always nice to see different options:up: Exact same position won't work for me, though since I've moved the booster towards the fender and I think I'll move it even further to get the maximum clearance. One of the things that dictate the orientation of the reservoir is the elbowed outlet at the bottom. I think I'll cut it shorter and use an elbowed hose instead. Then I'll have more freedom to rotate the other barbs to the direction that makes the most sence.
                        Ahh yes I didn't think of that, you're right though it's already a pretty tight squeeze for me. Cutting back the outlet so it's straight down sounds like a good plan.

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                          Yesterday I mocked up the E36 exhaust under the car. As I was expecting: The fact that somebody on the internet says that part X fits the car Y doesn't mean that I agree with the fitment. The rear part is okay. I may need to change the orientation of the muffler slightly and I need to redo the exhaust tips to fit the M-tech 1 rear apron. From the front part I'll mostly be using just the resonator and the cats. The rest goes to bin. I did take pictures but more of that later because I left the camera at the garage. Instead, here's what I did at work today. I noticed that I'm missing the exhaust support for double pipes. The one that bolts on to transmission. However I do have steel and shop equipment.

                          First I made a last for bending the curved parts:




                          Then I took some stainless steel flat bar and a hand operated bender. We also have a machine powered one but this one is faster to use and easier to control.


                          I did the bends that go between the pipes and then started fiddling the part into hydraulic press just to see it doesn't really fit there so I had to get it started by hand.






                          When both of the curves for the pipes were ready I twisted the part 90 degrees to go with the transmission mount.


                          End result was something like this:


                          The second half of the clamp is pretty much the same shape and was a lot faster to make.


                          It still needs some holes to be drilled and a couple of nuts to be weld but I'll do the test fit first.
                          Last edited by Skarpa; 08-05-2017, 02:24 AM.
                          E30 Armo "330i"

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                            You Sir are a damn good fabricator.
                            Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. -Mark Twain

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                              Originally posted by Bearmw View Post
                              You Sir are a damn good fabricator.
                              Well thank you, kind sir.
                              E30 Armo "330i"

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                                Small preview of a thing to come.
                                Last edited by Skarpa; 08-05-2017, 02:26 AM.
                                E30 Armo "330i"

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