In order to get the whole picture, let me go back a few months. In January of this year, I purchased a 1991 318ic from another member with plans to swap an S52 into it. I did, along with more fun parts like Ground Control coilovers, urethane bushings throughout, euro trim, Personal steering wheel, upgraded brakes with stainless lines, yada yada, you get the point. I ended up with this:
Nice project. Ran like a champ, basically what you would expect with a TRM-tuned S52 with a race cat and straight pipes!
Well, if you know me, you know that I'm never happy with a project and have sold off a lot of cars that I regret selling over the years, simply because I get bored with the project and want to move on to something else. That never quite happened with this project; I simply didn't start out with the right car. Sure, a 318 can be made into something special and I've seen plenty of those kinds of examples on this board alone, but my car was just missing that "something."
Well lo and behold, that "something" kinda fell into my lap a few weeks back while searching for parts on Craigslist; a two-owner, completely stock 1992 M Technic Appearance Package automatic cabrio for sale outside of Chattanooga. 154k on the clock with a brand new interior and dash, with rear headrests and a whole buncha stock:
Didn't really have any concrete plans set for this thing, just wanted it as I got it for a song. Turns out the car was very clean and had all of the stuff that my 318ic didn't have: full OBC, heated seats, cruise, leather, power top...not to mention the badass interior and MT2 kit. So yeah, you can guess what happened next.
1. Make stock MT2 automatic cab a manual S52 cab with coilovers, bushings, brakes, etc.
2. Make 318ic S52 cab with all above parts into a stock M20 manual.
I commissioned a couple of very close friends (tabacso and enine9 on Bf.c) to drop their weekend plans and help with the swap. Along with my super badass technicians Jeff and David at Butler Tire, we started out on the project after hours, beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. We worked until 10:30 that evening and started right where we left off Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. Working until 8:00 p.m. that evening we got ~80% finished with everything. A couple of crappy iPhone pics from Saturday evening:
The cars looked like this after 18 total hours spent in 1.5 days:
Basically, we disconnected the front and rear subframes, engine mounts, tranny mounts, everything that holds the underpinnings to the car and swapped them around. It's just as easy as it sounds. Pretty labor intensive, mind you, but relatively easy with two lifts, a cherry picker and a plethora of air tools and jack stands, plus determined friends with 24V swap knowledge and coworkers with a strong work attitude!
Have a few more pics from the swap fun on Saturday. Unfortunately I didn't take any on Sunday as it was much more hectic.
Starting to dissamble the 318ic:
Look at the condition of the automatic's guibo and trans mounts!
M20 + cross member + steering pulled:
Yours Truly cleaning the engine bay of the M Technic:
Engines dropped from both cars:
Rear subframes + engines out of both:
So, both cars are running now and the M20 is actually already sold...had a buyer before the car was even running! I drove the S52 car for the first time today and it ran flawlessly. Gotta clean up some wiring in the engine bay and find the culprit behind an anti lock light on the dash and wire up the OBC so MPG and range reads accurately. Other than that it's about finished, except for a full detail and some wheels! Stay tuned!
Nice project. Ran like a champ, basically what you would expect with a TRM-tuned S52 with a race cat and straight pipes!
Well, if you know me, you know that I'm never happy with a project and have sold off a lot of cars that I regret selling over the years, simply because I get bored with the project and want to move on to something else. That never quite happened with this project; I simply didn't start out with the right car. Sure, a 318 can be made into something special and I've seen plenty of those kinds of examples on this board alone, but my car was just missing that "something."
Well lo and behold, that "something" kinda fell into my lap a few weeks back while searching for parts on Craigslist; a two-owner, completely stock 1992 M Technic Appearance Package automatic cabrio for sale outside of Chattanooga. 154k on the clock with a brand new interior and dash, with rear headrests and a whole buncha stock:
Didn't really have any concrete plans set for this thing, just wanted it as I got it for a song. Turns out the car was very clean and had all of the stuff that my 318ic didn't have: full OBC, heated seats, cruise, leather, power top...not to mention the badass interior and MT2 kit. So yeah, you can guess what happened next.
1. Make stock MT2 automatic cab a manual S52 cab with coilovers, bushings, brakes, etc.
2. Make 318ic S52 cab with all above parts into a stock M20 manual.
I commissioned a couple of very close friends (tabacso and enine9 on Bf.c) to drop their weekend plans and help with the swap. Along with my super badass technicians Jeff and David at Butler Tire, we started out on the project after hours, beginning at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. We worked until 10:30 that evening and started right where we left off Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. Working until 8:00 p.m. that evening we got ~80% finished with everything. A couple of crappy iPhone pics from Saturday evening:
The cars looked like this after 18 total hours spent in 1.5 days:
Basically, we disconnected the front and rear subframes, engine mounts, tranny mounts, everything that holds the underpinnings to the car and swapped them around. It's just as easy as it sounds. Pretty labor intensive, mind you, but relatively easy with two lifts, a cherry picker and a plethora of air tools and jack stands, plus determined friends with 24V swap knowledge and coworkers with a strong work attitude!
Have a few more pics from the swap fun on Saturday. Unfortunately I didn't take any on Sunday as it was much more hectic.
Starting to dissamble the 318ic:
Look at the condition of the automatic's guibo and trans mounts!
M20 + cross member + steering pulled:
Yours Truly cleaning the engine bay of the M Technic:
Engines dropped from both cars:
Rear subframes + engines out of both:
So, both cars are running now and the M20 is actually already sold...had a buyer before the car was even running! I drove the S52 car for the first time today and it ran flawlessly. Gotta clean up some wiring in the engine bay and find the culprit behind an anti lock light on the dash and wire up the OBC so MPG and range reads accurately. Other than that it's about finished, except for a full detail and some wheels! Stay tuned!
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