Few pre-swap questions.

[splinn]

I’m getting ready to do my first engine swap (m52 into an early model 325 vert). Never done anything even remotely close complexity-wise, so please bear with me.

Picked up an m52b28 from a member here, came with ZF gearbox, DME and proper oil pan.
I believe the engine came from 1996 328is based on the vin# of off the transmission, however couple of things just don't add up.

Engine block is stamped as 28 6S 1 - per wiki it’s from the m52b28



Oil cap is located towards the windshield. Per google’s image search, m52b28’s oil cap is located towards the front of the vehicle





Engine came with m50 intake manifold (

part# 1 735 728

) already installed and the DME is chipped by AA Tuning, not sure if this means anything but it has 8F53 or 8FS3 written on the chip.



So what am I dealing here with? This is going to be a Cali car and I’d like to get it BAR’ed etc., plus knowing what preventive maintenance should be done while the engine is on the stand would be great.

Any help on this is appreciated.

[Rdreas]

I can tell you that is for sure looking like a m50 valve cover. M52s came with a plastic one and that looks like the magnesium one which would explain the oil cap.

[splinn]

Thanks for the reply. I think you're right. A complete m50 head was swapped on to m52 block? Anyone has info on how this is beneficial?

[gazellebeigem3]

Looks like a complete OBD-1 (including cam cover) swapped m52 to me. It has the m52 plastic cap oil filter housing and that block stamp going for it.

[mpowerful]

It looks like you have an m52 that has previously been obd1 swapped as someone suggested. Most likely they didnt swap the entire head rather they just used the obd1 metal valve cover because it is easier to run the obd1 coil wires using it.

[splinn]

That's great. Should make things easier as far as BAR goes I hope. Thanks for the feedback gents.


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[mcdougal]

Regarding preventative maintenance while the motor is out. I did the following:

Valve cover gasket
Oil pan gasket
Secured oil pump nut
Auxiliary belt
Thermostat housing but yours looks new
Water pump

Oh and an E36 steering rack swap while the motor is out is a good idea.


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[splinn]

Regarding preventative maintenance while the motor is out. I did the following:

Valve cover gasket
Oil pan gasket
Secured oil pump nut
Auxiliary belt
Thermostat housing but yours looks new
Water pump

Oh and an E36 steering rack swap while the motor is out is a good idea.


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Installed e36 rack while back, might have to change the lines as they had to bend them a little to make it work with m20. Thanks for the suggestions.

[splinn]

Well, this does not look good.
Drained the oil and here is what it looks like:


The oil itself is really watery, smells like diesel fuel as well. There is a lot of built up, pic quality is not that great but it should give you a general idea of what I’m dealing with:


Oil pan looks horrible as well:




I would like to get it cleaned up. What would be the best way to approach this?

[Zekerbox]

Without knowing what the running condition on the engine Its hard to say.
Did you see it running?
Do you trust the PO?
Do you have compression or leakdown numbers?
Do you know the mileage?

If I had that engine I would pull the valve cover and see what it looks like in there. My guess is this car didn't get regular oil changes.

[Poeman446]

For oil pan cleaning, I got paper towels and wiped as much oil as I could out, then used some heavy duty engine de-greaser that I got a 4 can bulk pack of from advance auto and washed it down with that and a water hose. Let it dry and reinstall with a new gasket. For the tough spots, I used a brass or stainless steel brush and scrubbed it a bit. Not sure if this is what is usually done, but it worked well for me. You probably wont get all of it off, unless you're a perfectionist (which is perfectly fine), but just get the majority and make sure there are no loose pieces.

[splinn]

Without knowing what the running condition on the engine Its hard to say.
Did you see it running?
Do you trust the PO?
Do you have compression or leakdown numbers?
Do you know the mileage?

If I had that engine I would pull the valve cover and see what it looks like in there. My guess is this car didn't get regular oil changes.

I haven't see it running, per PO engine/car was running fine however, no compression or leakdown tests were done.
This engine was in an e36m3 which PO purchased from an auction a while back with intentions of dropping it into a m50 swapped e30, I was going to pick up that m50 after PO pulled/swapped to this, however, after he realized it was not an s50/s52 he decided to abandon the project. He sold his e30 and I pulled the trigger on this m52. I have no reason not to trust the guy I got the engine from, seems like a nice guy. Having said that, I should have asked for compression/leakdown, guess I got a bit to existed

No way of telling what the mileage is either, vin sticker from the transmission suggests (per google search) that it came from 1996 328is with 165K.

As you suggested, I've pulled the valve cover and picked inside. It actually looked pretty clean until I removed the crankshaft cover:




This scares me a bit :( Crankshaft cover removed:


Those rust looking spots clean up with some/little effort, I'm just curios what might have caused it.


Thanks.

For oil pan cleaning, I got paper towels and wiped as much oil as I could out, then used some heavy duty engine de-greaser that I got a 4 can bulk pack of from advance auto and washed it down with that and a water hose. Let it dry and reinstall with a new gasket. For the tough spots, I used a brass or stainless steel brush and scrubbed it a bit. Not sure if this is what is usually done, but it worked well for me. You probably wont get all of it off, unless you're a perfectionist (which is perfectly fine), but just get the majority and make sure there are no loose pieces.

Thanks, was thinking of doing just that and power washing the hell out of it.

[Poeman446]

Those cam lobes look scary. Not sure how much damage is there, if any, but it looks scary. Gently clean them up and oil them to keep them protected so they wont rust again.

As for the oil pan, power washing sounds great.

EDIT: You might want to research what to clean those cam lobes with. I would look into fine #00 or finer steel wool. Definitely no sandpaper, or anything remotely coarse.

[Paradox]

This is just my opinion, but if it was me I'd remove and repair the head. Most likely more damage if the cam lobes are rusty like that. Those lifters are probably dead or the whole engine was stored outside and got wet somehow. Doing the head gasket, cams and getting new lifters can be considered preventive maintenance when doing an engine swap.

[splinn]

This is just my opinion, but if it was me I'd remove and repair the head. Most likely more damage if the cam lobes are rusty like that. Those lifters are probably dead or the whole engine was stored outside and got wet somehow. Doing the head gasket, cams and getting new lifters can be considered preventive maintenance when doing an engine swap.

Got a local mechanic to come out to check the condition of the engine today. Fortunately it was just a little surface rust which came off quite easily. He also said that head gasket has been replaced recently. Really happy about that. Here is the end result: