Another N52 swap attempt!

[JRowe]

Great progress so far. Do the headers you ordered allow room for the AC compressor?

[Striker01]

Great progress so far. Do the headers you ordered allow room for the AC compressor?

It looks like they will, the first runner goes straight back. They won't fit with the 328 engine arms so I won't know for sure until I get the Z4 arms. Been waiting on them for almost 2 months. I will get a photo of the headers mocked up when the arms arrive.

[Striker01]

Finally got a chance to test fit the engine. It went in easier than the M20 came out. I'm sure it will be much more difficult with all the accessories attached. Test fit the hood, the oil filter lid hits the hood insulation, so that will require some trimming. I'm using the revshift 24v mounts, not sure how they compare to others. Other mounts may get the engine a little lower but then I will have issues with the exhaust I chose hitting the sway bar, details on that in the dedicated exhaust thread.



Next step is to measure for a driveshaft and get the headers sorted, then pull the engine and get the bay cleaned up and fix a few rust spots.

[Striker01]

I got the drivehaft sorted. I though I could just have a shop cut off the G260 flange, weld on the 96mm one and shorten as required. I guess it's not that simple. I couldn't find anyone willing to cut and weld the BMW shaft, not many can balance a 2 piece. I called multiple places and a few recommended driveshaftpros in CA. They were the only ones I could find willing to do a custom 2 piece drive shaft, 1 piece would be doable, with adapter plates, but I don't have any issues with the stock one and don't want to mess with a one piece.

The pros from driveshaftpros:

Communication was great, they were very quick to respond to emails, willing to do a custom build and sent exactly what I ordered. Price was $660 shipped to OK from Cali.

U joints are serviceable.

Driveshaft was shipped the day after I ordered it.

Cons:

3 differential studs had to be pulled straight with nuts. This isn't a huge deal but disappointing because it indicates poor QC.

The paint is terrible, I'd rather wait a couple days for shipping and have decent paint adhesion.

I measured 23" from the back of the flex disc to the center of the support bearing bolt hole, using the short N52 6 speed (GS6-17). 22 3/4' probably would have been better as you can see in this pic. You can also see some of the poor paint issues.



Here is the worst of the 3 studs that I had to straighten, none of them were pressed in all the way.




A few more of the driveshaft.

[projectJTv4]

I called multiple places and a few recommended driveshaftpros in CA.

Do you happen to know which location you contacted? Their website lists 6 locations: Ventura Oxnard Whittier Gardena Garden Grove San Diego

Whittier and Garden Grove isn't too far from me.

[hoveringuy]

I have 1/4" between the level and each fender across the OFH.

[Striker01]

I’ll check mine if my level is long enough, not an issue for me. Plenty of clearance for the actual hood but my insulation has a bubble thing that sticks down really far there, maybe 1.5”. Thanks for checking.

[Striker01]

Do you happen to know which location you contacted? Their website lists 6 locations: Ventura Oxnard Whittier Gardena Garden Grove San Diego

Whittier and Garden Grove isn't too far from me.

I worked with Brian at the Garden Grove location.

[Striker01]

I have 1/4" between the level and each fender across the OFH.

Steve,

I've been thinking about this too much. None of you guys that have worked on this swap have mentioned OFH being too tall, kinda worries me. I measured mine today, it's 1/4" above the fender line. I double checked that I have the revshift mounts on the correct sides, unless left means left when standing in front of the hood and looking towards the back, then they are correct. Reminded me that when we put the engine in I had to pull the tail of the transmission pretty far towards the passenger side to get the transmission mount bolted up. The combination of those two makes me think something isn't quite correct.

I ordered AKG mounts to try and see if they will fit any better. Stopped exhaust work for now because if the AKG ones drop the front of the engine down the e90 headers will probably have sway bar clearance issues. Kinda stuck for the time being. I guess I need to harass my brother to finish welding up the oil pan so at least I'm making some progress.

[Striker01]

Last night I checked my engine position after wondering why my oil filter housing is so high and I couldn't get the N52 intake on with the Bosch booster. I made the mistake of assuming any DOHC e30 engine mounts would place the engine in the correct position. I don't believe that is the case. With the revshift 24v mounts my engine sits about 1/2" higher than what hoveringuy's does and the crank is about an inch closer to the driver side frame rail, not even close to center.

Unless I overlooked something else, trying to save a few bucks over the AKG mounts that work is going to cost me more time and money in the long run.

FYI-AKG poly mounts are about 6 weeks out right now so I have the aluminum ones on the way to finish fabbing up exhaust. I spoke to AKG and they confirmed that the aluminum and poly have the same engine arm to subframe geometry.

Here are poor pictures of the crank in relation to each frame rail.



I switched the left mount to the right side and vise-versa. Here is the result, too far to the other side.




Here is one of how the transmission sits on its mount with the mounts swapped to the wrong side.



Both engine mount positions took quite a bit of pulling left or right to get the transmission crossmember to lift up onto its studs.

I could try switching the mounts back to the correct sides and rotating them so the guide pin goes through the hole and the stud goes through the slot on the subframe but that I'm not willing to go that route because it will make it way too difficult to tighten the mount nuts with subframe reinforcements.

I'll just chalk this one up as a rookie mistake and use the mounts that have already been proven.

[hoveringuy]

I'll just chalk this one up as a rookie mistake and use the mounts that have already been proven.

wow, I just used the AKG mounts because that's what someone locally had, I thought all DOHC mounts were the same. I would love to see a side by side comparison between what you have and the AKG ones!

[Striker01]

wow, I just used the AKG mounts because that's what someone locally had, I thought all DOHC mounts were the same. I would love to see a side by side comparison between what you have and the AKG ones!

I'll get a picture when the AKG ones arrive.

[Striker01]

Comparison of AKG and Revshift mounts here, starting with post #20: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/for...-z4-arms/page2

[Striker01]

Progress has been slow lately, busy time of year and temps aren't very garage friendly. I did get the fuel pump sorted, I hope.

I went with the Walbro GSS340, I chose it over the GSS342 because the sock matches the stock E30 one better and can be oriented in any direction.

I had an old fuel pump assembly that I modified for the new pump. I used thin walled 1 1/4 pipe, cut in half and spread slightly to fit the pump, and a small piece of sheet metal to hold the bottom in place.



Prepped and coated with POR-15 fuel tank sealer. With the lip on the bottom of the bracket and hose connected it sits in the bracket nicely.




This pump has a smaller diameter than the stock one and with the sock it just slides into the tank.

[E30budget]

Are you in SoCal? would love to see the car and pick your brain and maybe give you some ideas too perhaps. I have lots of experience pulling power from the n52 and building e30's. Im actually looking into this swap for one of my current e30 projects but to be paired with a DCT. Im in Los Angeles