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S50 Swap in a Weekend

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    S50 Swap in a Weekend

    All of this happened back in October of 2011. I picked up 87e30's S50 swapped car for a nice price, and soon contacted LuckyHenrickson down in Oregon for helping move the newly acquired S50 into my 1991 325i. The swap went smooth for the most part.



    On Friday, Lucky drove all the way up from Sherwood, OR to Bellingham, WA, nearly 4 hour trip, in his Audi. The plan was to drive both cars down to his shop in Sherwood, then we would drive mine with the S50 back on Sunday night. The trick was that the clutch had gone out on the silver s50 car, so I drove the car all the way down sans clutch. It wasn't much of a problem except for a few rough spots near Portland when traffic got a little heavy. But we made it to his place all fine and dandy.



    My car on the left, S50 car right behind, all other E30's are Lucky's. We took a smaller breather and went straight at stripping the S50 out of the silver car.



    Me posing in the background like big foot being photographed for the first time.



    Off with the front suspension.



    Another one of me not too sure what I'm getting myself into.



    Out goes the engine with subframe, and full exhaust. The connection from the headers to the catback was so corroded and screwed up we couldn't disconnect the full exhaust, so we just left it on.



    Obligatory sitting in engine bay shot, in this case we have the front of the car resting on a beam of wood and the lower half of a shopping cart for easy pushing of the shell.



    We had some extra time and energy to burn on Friday night, that I thought it would be no problem to replace the subframe bushings and replace the current sub frame with an adjustable camber and toe kit one. Took a little longer than I thought, but for the most part we were able to get it done without much trouble.



    Old vs New



    Finishing it up



    All done by Saturday morning for a dyno meet nearby in Portland.
    instagram

    #2
    After a fun day at the dyno meet, and later a night with the locals at the local Red Robin, we returned to finish the swap.





    M20 already out.



    S50 waiting to be put back in next to one of Lucky's parts car.



    S50 being lined up to have my car connect up with it.



    Had some locals come by to give a and hand and some advice.



    Messaging the M50 intake around the E21 brake booster.



    After some forceful help we got the subframe to bolt on and the engine in its final position. Decided to take an extra day to figure out why the car wouldn't start, after much head scratching and troubleshooting, I found out that I had connected a positive wire for the relays to the ground, so the fuel pump wasn't pumping any fuel to the engine. Got that situated, and drove the car back up to Bellingham without a problem. I love this new engine, a really nice complement to the chassis.

    I would like to thank LuckyHenricksen at Vintage European for the help in the swap, it was a learning experience for both of us. It took a couple of long nights without much sleep, but we finished it within most of the weekend.
    Last edited by Big Willy; 02-27-2012, 04:59 PM.
    instagram

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      #3
      Nice, Next weekend I'll be doing almost the exact same thing. I bought a 1991 318is with a M52 swap. So i'm putting that in my E30.

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        #4
        Where'd you get that black E30 shirt if you don't mind me asking? I've been looking for one of those for a while.

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          #5
          Originally posted by E3DaMeX View Post
          Where'd you get that black E30 shirt if you don't mind me asking? I've been looking for one of those for a while.
          Was from a group buy on the forum nearly a year ago.
          instagram

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            #6
            Wow good hustle! Wish my swap was as speedy as this one lol

            All cars look good :up:

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              #7
              You kept the mechanical fan? nice.

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                #8
                marathon swappers
                E30 buildy things
                http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=195286

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                  #9
                  Damn, so happy and sad all at once to see this. Your car looks incredible and I hope you're enjoying it. (Sorry again about the clutch slave)
                  Originally posted by z31maniac
                  I just hate everyone.

                  No need for discretion.

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                    #10
                    Stumbled upon this thread a few minutes ago. Nice work man. That rear subframe is sweet.

                    I bought the old delphin shell a week or so ago, so it'll have one last hurrah!
                    '72 2002 pickup | '88 M5 | '89 330is | '89 M3 | '01 Z3M | '11 328xi-t

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                      #11
                      Pretty impressive that you got it all together in a weekend, and it works right.

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                        #12
                        I would love to have my M-systems back.
                        _________

                        Rep Savannah Crew

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                          #13
                          Just found this thread, thanks for the shout out Will :)
                          Marathon engine swapping isnt As easy as it sounds haha. I don't function well with no sleep


                          Bahama Beige E23 Project
                          Bluebird Bus Conversion
                          New Oregon Trail

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