Oil filter housing mod - little help please

[Drew325is]

I was hoping someone with a completed twin cam swap could help me out. I'm in the process of prepping my M52B28, and fitting euro 3.2L ITBs (http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=59179).

Now today we got the CAD work for the adapter plate to prototype stage (yay). However regardless of what we do, the oil filter housing will have to be modified in some way.

We have two ideas at this stage:

1. shorten the oil filter housing, and run an M40 oil filter (this has been done before by a friend with ITBs on his M52).
2. Make a spacer plate to move the housing away from the block (will probably require messing around with different drive belts though).

For idea 2, I need some idea of the space available in the E30 engine bay for moving the oil filter housing away from the block...can some people get some pics or measurements for me? Would really appreciate it.

The other thing that could be a bonus about idea 2, is the oil filter housing adapter plate could easily include fittings for oil coolers or gauge senders if space allows. Could be a handy device for that reason alone (would be a lot cheaper than a euro M3 oil filter housing).

Many thanks for any help!

[Drew325is]

From doing some asking around, I think the main issue will be clearance between the alternator and the chassis...so can a few people tell me how much room they've ended up between the alternator and the chassis?

[Drew325is]

Someone...anyone?

[MitchFong]

option one will be the cheapest/easiest imo.

[Drew325is]

Yeah that's true...but easy & cheap doesn't always mean best. We want to make everything bolt-on/bolt-off. We prefer to customise the parts we add, not the existing parts. It also means using a smaller filter than spec, which I'm not entirely comfortable with.

Cutting and welding is a last resort.

So any chance you know how much clearance there is between the alternator and chassis?