First E30, First motor swap. M50NV

[SkorcherX]

Here it is. Just got this sucker off craigslist for $300. I guess it runs if you jump it... didn't bother to try. I hope to make it nice again. I have a garage full of turbo stuff that might eventually make it on here as well.

Sorry some of the photos are blurry.

[SkorcherX]

Cleans up pretty good!







The Interior... Well it's going to need some work.

[SkorcherX]

Small update:

Spent like 7 hours on Saturday, and got the motor yanked out. I really took my time. It was first time I had worked on one of these things, and honestly everything was pretty "text book".

[SkorcherX]

Well Got the motor torn down some... Well I got the head off at least. How does this head gasket look? It is just me or do the water channels look all blocked? I guess that might be by design.

Think its time for a timing belt? lolz

[SkorcherX]

Well got the pan torn down. I think I will stop, and start getting things cleaned up and painted. I have a mechanic buddy that I will enlist to give me a hand with the pistons, rods, and bearings. I am not familiar with engine assembly, where he has built many. So I will post more pics once I make more progress. Here are some "before" pics.

[SkorcherX]

I AM EXCITE!!

Just found this thing has LSD! God damn this thing is gonna love boost.

[SkorcherX]

Well... bit of a change in plans. I was doing the math on what it was going to take to "freshen up" the ol' M20B27 and do the 325i head swap. It was going to be expensive... Like approaching $700 bucks, if not more.

So I did a bit more research and then stumbled upon something that would actually be worth putting some money into.

Behold... The beginning of my M50 swap.





So this came out of a wrecked 1992 325is. Looks like there is a hole in the "non vanos" cover. I am really hoping the cam and valves are not all rusted from condensation and moisture getting in. I will pull the valve cover tomorrow and assess the situation.


Also picked up the steering rack off the car.


And nabbed an E21 Brake Booster.


So who wants to sell me an E34 Oil pan, dipstick and oil pump pickup?

Got a pretty good deal on everything, cost me $450 for everything you see, plus another $50 just in gas to drive 200 miles (round trip) to pick everything up.

[SkorcherX]

Got the valve cover off.

Are there supposed to be an oil baffle over each cam? I need to download an E36 Bentley.


Also is this pretty common? For the coil runners to be all busted at the end? I imagine I can buy just the runners... right?



I was able to fish out almost all the broken bits of the valve cover. I hoping what little is left is in the pan.

[SkorcherX]

Hit some parts with the pressure washer. This motor is disgusting on the outside... Any how, here are some before and after photos.














So I got around to cleaning the engine. I went to Wal-mart and bought some Gunk engine degreaser gel, some Wal-mart brand degreaser foam, and some of this power purple stuff. I also nabbed a 94 cent painters plastic tarp.

Before/In Progress (Some of these pics suck, they were taken with an iPhone) :








After:




Anyone got any tricks for taking the clutch fan off? I have the 32mm wrench... I do not have the tool that holds the pulley. Any Shade Tree tips would be appreciated.

[SkorcherX]

Painted the block. Took forever to mask everything off it felt.

Before/Masking:




Sprayed:



Unmasked:

[SkorcherX]

So here is the money shot I guess? The obligatory shot of fresh parts. Nothing too fancy here, gaskets and belts. Set of eBay headers.

[SkorcherX]

Got a few things installed... The oil pump pickup, loc-tited the oil gear nut, got the oil pan on, and then got the headers damn near all bolted up. Could not find my 11mm spanner to tighten the last two bolts.




What am I doing wrong here?


Got it figured out from a guy on the R3vlimited forums.

[SkorcherX]

I was finally able to get those nubs on the valve cover unscrewed so I could screw in the coil pack cover rubber mounts. After i got past that obstacle I spent an hour or two getting all that gold flaky coating shit off the cover. That was a pain in the ass. I hit it with some GUNK and then hosed it off in the drive way. Then I used the wife's hair dryer to dry it all off. Finally I hit it with a few coats of hi-temp wrinkle black. It came out "Okay".

I didn't take any process pictures. Here it is all back on the motor.






Time to move on to cleaning up the intake manifold and throttle body. Simple Green for the win!

[SkorcherX]

Been working on the wiring. Got all the easy stuff wired up. Need to get the old E30 temp sensor re-threaded to fit the M50 head. Also need to make the plug for the Oil Level sender, since that is non-existent in the M50 harness.

Here is a crappy iPhone pic


I have not gotten my flywheel back from being resurfaced yet. When I get that done then I will have to get it re-balanced, and I got about $400 more in parts I need to order. This it will just nickel and dime me for vacuum lines, fuel lines, and little things to bring it all together.

[SkorcherX]

So I finally ordered more parts!

Picked up a clutch kit, got my flywheel back from my buddy and got all new stuff for the shift linkage.







Here are some pics of what I have done so far with the wiring. Still have to figure out where the rest of these wires go... Some just get deleted.





I installed most of the linkage parts to confirm that everything was going to work. Yes thats a Z3 shift lever, I read that its supposed to reduce the throw by almost 30%!



The shift joint that I got was a different size. I had to use some extra washers I had to take up the gap.