My M52TU Swap

[Mr.SWISS]

Well it is ASC and as far as I can tell it is working. I literally finished all the minor details on wednesday night and then drove the 1200 miles to CA on thursday morning. My car is being stupid though. I greased the crap out of my urethane bushings with Prothane grease, but apparently it all came off during the drive and now my chassis squeaks like mad. My brake booster is making a funny sucking noise as well. Furthermore there is a slight engine misbalance which I believe is due to my m20 flywheel. Just today I noticed a slight engine valve clatter. So in summary... Long trip on untested vehicle=bad idea!

LOLZ good and exciting times! So if it's ASC this must be a pre 9/99 M52TU with teh manual throttle cable and ASC.

I bought a pre 9/99 E46 323i for the wife. It was the only one I wanted to maintain.

[Lawson509]

So is the DSC 100% operational?

Well it is ASC and as far as I can tell it is working. I literally finished all the minor details on wednesday night and then drove the 1200 miles to CA on thursday morning. My car is being stupid though. I greased the crap out of my urethane bushings with Prothane grease, but apparently it all came off during the drive and now my chassis squeaks like mad. My brake booster is making a funny sucking noise as well. Furthermore there is a slight engine misbalance which I believe is due to my m20 flywheel. Just today I noticed a slight engine valve clatter. So in summary... Long trip on untested vehicle=bad idea!

[straight6pwr]

What's up with this?

lol insanity would have insued had he ran it this way, but you can see in the other pics he put the correct hose (not kinked, and running to the right place) there.

[bernzpeed]

subscribed BTW, I am truly impressed.

[bernzpeed]

What's up with this?

[Mr.SWISS]

So is the DSC 100% operational?

[Lawson509]

Finished putting the car together and took it for a 400 mile drive on sunday. Ran strong, but ate a little more fuel than i would've preferred. I am using the m20 flywheel, but i am getting some vibration from it at the low end rpms. otherwise it is really quick and a fun drive

[accident]

yeah, that definitely looks terrible the way it is, but hey, i wouldnt even get that far. :P

[Lawson509]

Thanks. It took me a while to get as close to perfect as I could. Spent a little more time at it and installed the instrument cluster column and cover pieces. Looks like it was meant to be that way. The only thing that is pissing me off, is the LCM. I don't have enough time before I leave to CA to fabricate a good looking piece for holding the LCM in the dash and not look like crap. For right now it will hold, but I will have to fix it soon cuz it will drive me crazy looking like it is.

[accident]

wow that almost looks factory. good job

[Lawson509]

Hey guys I just finished my instrument cluster and was hoping to see what you guys thought. I think it turned out ok, considering the limitations. Since I didn't have any nice new plastic to use, I had to use the original clear plastic front and it has a hole in it that I couldn't get rid of. Oh well, I guess I will just have to deal with it till I can make a new one later.

[Lawson509]

I used a black fiberglass wrap from Prosport gauges. The advantages are it helps keep the heat in the exhaust and away from my wiring and a/c lines.

[AirplaneBuilder]

Awesome Build, i would never have the patience (or skill) to do such a swap! what did you use to wrap the headers and what are the advantages?

[Lawson509]

Other things I have been working on today were wrapping my headers and getting my A/C compressor in. The headers were a bitch to wrap while in the car. Even with a lift, I still had to take off the right side engine mount arm to get at them. They didn't turn out as nice looking as I would like, but I hope to turbo not to far from now, so I am shooting for functionality rather than looks.

[Lawson509]

Interior mods

Hey guys. So I have been putting my interior together and at the beginning of my thread I started posting on a conversion of my instrument cluster. I haven't really touched it since I last posted about it. I started again and have made some progress. Here is what I started with and what I have so far. I will finish it tomorrow.







I also have been working on some gauge setups. I bought some plastic gauge pod cutouts from some guys off the forum. I can't remember the name of the company, maybe someone out there has better memory than me. Just like the instrument cluster I have been using Fusor 143 plastic epoxy and Fusor 114 "bondo" to shape the plastic and came out with this for my fuel pressure gauge, oil pressure and temp.