N52 Swap

[hubcapboy]

Hoveringuy knows I’m Gareth, just to clear that up for everyone ;)

A dry sump would be incredible but it’s just insanely cost prohibitive. I cant believe I’m saying that when compared to the rest of the potential budget for this, but not only would it break the piggy bank, there’s so way to locate the scavenge pump (that I’ve seen) that doesn’t delete AC... which is a dealbreaker for me. There’s zero info on electric scavenge pumps.

This approach would just be relocating the sump as people have successfully done on the m5x swaps forever.

The idea is exactly as HG summed it up: a fabricated front sump pan that mimics the e34 pan for the m5x engines and the m20 pan that was factory fitment. The goal would be to end up with clearances similar or better than the M20 pan, which I’ve learned to deal with and have a skid plate to protect. I tried to put my fist under the e34 pan on an s54 swapped e30 last week and couldn’t. That’s terrifying.

Modifying the rear sump pans and the crossmember sounds like it has been working well for people who’ve been doing it, but one wonders why it suddenly went out of production without comment. Looking at the subframe mod I don’t have any concerns. I’m scratching my head a little about the pan modification though. If the cast aluminum pan is structural (and since it appears to be bolted to the trans and block and gusseted in the case of the e34 pan) I’d be concerned that it would have an unknown impact on block stiffness and would affect the tensile capacity along the bottom of the engine-trans assembly that spans between the motor and transmission mounts.

The n5x engines are a completely different animal. There’s absolutely no reason to believe the pan is structural. It’s a simple flat flange against the block, it’s cheap stamped steel on apparently all of the 6 speeds (thanks for that fact Nando), there’s a huge structural girdle under the crank bearings, and there’s no connection to the transmission.

CWLO, why do you believe the engine arms would need to be aluminum? I know there’s a lot of corrosion math that went into this engine to begin with, and a lot of single use aluminum bolts, but it has a painted steel pan and other steel ancillaries bolted to it. The engine arms aren’t even a ground path because they’re isolated by the motor mounts. I was fully expecting to be able to piece them together from steel.

I have the m30 motor mounts in my e30 right now. They seem to be a good rubber upgrade for the originals. Can anyone think of a good reason to use one of the newer designs?

[hoveringuy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=679UReY5mwM

Around the 5:36 point. That's the idea!

[cwlo]

hubcap, the engine placement right now is pretty much perfect; right up against the firewall with small clearance. I would have liked to be able to move the engine further back because that would have eliminated the pan and pickup mods, but I didn't want to hack up the firewall, and go too radical. I am still using the z4 engine mount arms, that were sectioned and moved 1", with gussetts added since the existing gussets no longer lined up. Any fabbed mount would have to be aluminum, and that brings difficulty in that it would have some very thick sections welded to thinner ones, which gets tricky. Maybe I'll try it one day, but it doesn't offer much benefit. I'm using the green e28 engine mounts.



Hovering, I will check placement with a front pan this weekend. Not sure the lift would even work in this crazy Chicago weather currently.


Getting close to finishing the mk60 ABS retrofit, and then a better air intake. Garry should have the CAN converter configured soon, and I'll give an update on how that all turns out.

[nando]

Gareth had a really interesting idea the other day, one that I can't find any obvious reasons to dismiss.

There's no E34 front-sump pan for the N52, but wouldn't fabricating a pan with a front sump be a lot easier than fabricating a new subframe and then making adjustments to the stock pan and pickup to fit that?

Seems like it wouldn't be horribly difficult to design and build a front sump pan with a pickup that would hang straight down from the oil pump. The pan could be shallower than the E34 by 2", but have wings left and right for capacity. The only thing I hated about the E34 pan was the clearance.

The E34 pan made the M50 plug and play. We need the same for the N52...

you could I suppose. You'd still have to fabricate the pan and pickup. Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult with a steel pan to "reverse it" as it were.

I keep thinking about how the N52 RWD pan and the ix subframe mate up perfectly, and how I could build it without AWD while not hacking up my car..

[jeenyus]

I'd love one cause it's the best, but yeah a lot of work. I think arc asylum has one.

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[hoveringuy]

Yeah, dry sump is a whole different animal.

[jeenyus]

Dry sump would require a pump though, right? That seems like it would be a lot of effort.

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[hoveringuy]

Gareth had a really interesting idea the other day, one that I can't find any obvious reasons to dismiss.

There's no E34 front-sump pan for the N52, but wouldn't fabricating a pan with a front sump be a lot easier than fabricating a new subframe and then making adjustments to the stock pan and pickup to fit that?

Seems like it wouldn't be horribly difficult to design and build a front sump pan with a pickup that would hang straight down from the oil pump. The pan could be shallower than the E34 by 2", but have wings left and right for capacity. The only thing I hated about the E34 pan was the clearance.

The E34 pan made the M50 plug and play. We need the same for the N52...

[hubcapboy]

Hiya CWLO,

It sounds like your engine position is based on the Z4 arms cut and re-welded an inch forward. Did you end up going back to re-fab these? What motor mounts are you using, and what are your thoughts on clearances in general? If you weren't working around the arc asylum subframe would you have positioned anything differently? You mentioned that ideally you would have wanted 2" further forward.

[hubcapboy]

Hi everyone,

I have a little bit of a situation. I bought (in a rush because it was so easy) an engine and 6-speed from a 2006 330i. I’d driven hoveringuy’s m54 swap (hey bud) and was very excited to get my own underway. I was thinking pretty hard about how to fix the e34 sump sag with arcasylum being unavailable, but I figured worst case it was an inch less ground clearance with a lower skidplan than the one I have under my m20.

The truck arrived tonight just after dark, and as the door swung up I saw an aluminum valve cover. Then an intake that wasn’t familiar. Then a barcode sticker that said “e90.”

I’ve accidentally purchased an n52.

There’s two reasons this isn’t bad news. First, I was excited about this engine before I dismissed it as too bleeding-edge for a swap. Second... and I can’t believe this, but maybe it’s more common than I thought, the pan on the engine in my driveway is steel... which makes modifying it a whole lot easier.

I need a few “it’s gonna be ok’s” and recommendations to talk me out of putting this engine back on the truck and waiting for something easier.

Thanks everyone,

New Guy

[slammin.e28]

Wiring is pretty similar to an S54 swap (see attached for pinouts).

The WDS has everything else required. I don't think the TIS will help you?

Yeah I meant WDS, lol.

Cool thanks!
I'll hit you up when it's ECU time.

[nando]

Wiring is pretty similar to an S54 swap (see attached for pinouts).

The WDS has everything else required. I don't think the TIS will help you?

[slammin.e28]

I'm curious about the wiring. I have a N52 sitting at work I wanna slam into either my e28 or the Disco 2. Tried dicking around with the wiring diagrams on TIS but I'm a dummy with this one. Help?

[hoveringuy]

I'm still dying for a few dyno runs on this motor....

[jeenyus]

yeah, it clears the ix subframe by a country frickn' mile. I think there's even plenty of room to finally do the E46 xi rack.

A RWD ix is blasphemous, I know - but I just don't have the time/energy/resources to dick around with the oil pan, and I could finish the engine with what I need to spend on rebuilding my CV shafts. I would probably make it AWD again later, but it's not like I drive it in the snow anymore anyway.

I've thought about this a lot. Although it may be blasphemy, so is removing the m20 to a lot of people. A RWD 325ix would be awesome and you could modify it later like you're saying. I feel like after all your effort put into the n52 swap you deserve to spin your tires, at least for now.

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