N52 Swap

[hoveringuy]

I love that idea ^^^.

[cwlo]

Thanks Will. I considered that option, but decided to go this route instead because of 2 issues. 1. It will limit any flexibility in the sump inlet location without messing with the plastic mounts. 2. A 2nd o-ring and added leakage possibility.

I will fasten the plastic tube to the rear bolts and see where the outlet ends up exactly. Maybe the location will work. I seem to remember it might have impinged on the oil level sensor, but I never did check.

So, instead, here is a rough model with what I have come up with. After looking at the machined piece w/o-ring, I concluded my concerns with weight and potential o-ring damage were overblown. I'll probably use the 3/4 emt as well. So 3/4 emt, bent and cut to fit, welded M54 inlet end, and the other end will have the machined end w/o-ring. I will have 2 mounts welded to tube (Yellow marks), and fastened to block. Should work well.

[cwlo]

2nd photo

[nando]

That looks great! Can you make more of those adapter peices?

On mine, I need to squish the tube down a little bit where it crosses the front axle, which is one reason the plastic one just won't work.

As far as your concerns about the O-ring leaking - remember, this isn't under pressure, it's sucking oil up from the pan. And even if it did leak (which it probably does anyway), it's just going to leak to/from the inside of the pan. Imagine how many people replace that O-ring over the life of the engine - probably nobody - and I know of many of these with well over 250k.

BTW, I got your DME on Friday - hoping to turn around yours and another one I have soon.

[2mAn]

You should make like a dozen of them

[cwlo]

My machine (1938 craftsman), is sort of on its last legs, and takes a long time to make something a newer machine could knock off quickly. I'm going to make one for Nando, and then we can see how it all works.....still have a bit to go before this is all together, and whether changes or other obstacles will crop up.

Chris

[nando]

honestly I think if you get the oil pan/pickup tube worked out the rest is fairly straight forward. :)

[cwlo]

So the pickup tube is complete, I have fitted the oil pan patch and tacked in, and so next step is to put engine back in car. After doing a final check on the oil pan clearance, I will then tig weld it complete, paint, and move onwards to assembly of the rest of the engine, and wiring.

[nando]

looks great - man I wish the ix used a steel oil pan, that looks so much simpler to modify!

[nando]

I have two N52 swap DME's going out today (thanks for your patience) - can't wait to see some progress!

Also, maybe you can convince RHD to make more of these -


I think he said it's ~7lbs (stock is like 38 or something silly). I actually got it by a total fluke - they don't make a flywheel with a 6 bolt pattern, but their shop accidentally made this one which fits my application exactly (N52 with Getrag 260). Actually without this part, my ix/N52 swap would have been completely impossible - there are light flywheels for the N52, but they only work with the N52 transmission (pilot bearing in the flywheel instead of the crank).

It needs paired with the ATI damper for harmonics reasons, but I can't wait to get this thing in the car..

[hoveringuy]

What kind of trickery does it take to mate a G260 to the N52? I thought it had a different bell housing pattern.

[nando]

Nah its basically the same. The 4 main bolts are identical. The smaller bolts are a bit different but they're mostly for the dust cover. The 4 larger bolts take all the load.

And if you want the 20 degree tilt, there's a short window where a euro 525i M50B25 came with a Getrag 260. I have a fully rebuilt one sitting in the garage waiting for me to finish. :(

If you have a RWD car, just get the 6 speed from a 330i - its smooth as silk and shifts sublimely.

[cwlo]

Yes, that's what i'm using...the 6 speed. It requires a custom driveshaft, which is essentially a z4 front, and an e36 M3 automatic rear. Then the shift carrier and selector rod need to be shortened. There are a few threads on the details.

[wazzu70]

Will the ZF320 transmission "bolt up?" The lower bolts may be a bit different, but I am mostly curious about the flywheel/clutch interface. Will a clutch splined for the "old" setups work or will the flywheel/pp have to be custom like the RHD unit (old style pp mount/clutch diameter on a flywheel machined with a different bolt pattern).

Just curious. I have a decent ZF320 and am interested in an N52 swap if I can grenade the M42. The 6spd makes a ton of sense if I didnt already have the other parts. Probably still worth it to sell the 320 and get the proper trans for the engine. I always seem to spend more to keep what I have versus just getting a new setup that works out of the box!!

[cwlo]

Wazzu, the primary problem is that the N52 uses a 6-bolt flywheel, while all of its predecessors used the 8 bolt. So you can't use a flywheel from an older engine. Going the other way, the flywheel that comes with the N52 is a different setup in that the pilot bearing is part of the flywheel, rather than it being in the crankshaft, so that prevents it from being backwards compatible. So you either need to use the 6 speed trans that came with it, or find/fabricate a flywheel that has 6-bolts and is setup for a crankshaft pilot bearing. (Like Nando's)