N52 Swap Discussion

[hoveringuy]

Since the thread has been so quiet, I have one new picture. This is the E46 M3 FPR. I fabricated a bracket for it and painted the engine bay while I was at it. Also Wilwood 260-12627 proportioning valve while I was at it.



Wilwood

[hoveringuy]

So I pulled and weighed the M54/G260 combo out of my car today. 475lbs, and that's with 6Qts of oil in the sump and the heavier M56 metal valve cover, without those it would be closer to 460, which is within a few pounds of the N52 with GS6-16 6 speed (458lbs)

It's also missing the AC, has the lighter M50 intake and a small alternator.

I should have the final weight with new motor mounts and pan, but with the lighter N54 intake and A/C removed.

[hubcapboy]

No groundbreaking updates. Mostly an opportunity for people to chuckle at MY welding. It sounds like Steve has his oil sump holding pressure. I'm waiting to borrow our sump closure pieces before I get too excited about mine. The whole think is seam welded, but I have at least three pinholes that I can see light through. This is the front corner of the "wing":



My pickup, tube, and expertly machined adapter look eerily similar to Steve's:



As does my pickup brace, which hasn't been zapped together yet:



The Rev-1 engine arms are nestled in the fixtures that I built from them here. Either side are the Rev-2 arms. On the port side (right side in the photo) the arm was widened to clear the center bolts to the block. On the starboard side (left in the photo) the arm was moved around 4" forward to clear some big tubey-parts that we might be adding on that side:



Here's the top side of the new starboard side arm... It's not as straight forward as the jump straight across to the motor mount, and unless you're looking for extra space for tubes I think Rev-1 works better. But hey. Some people like tubes:

[nando]

[hubcapboy]

What... ONE speed hole? ONE?!?

[hoveringuy]

Shouldn't we be on page 28 by now? hoveringuy where's that pickup, Steve!?!?

I get it. You want to make fun of my welding.

This started life as a Moroso #2480 pickup. There was some expert machining to turn the adapter bung and some minor fitting of the pipe.

Now that the pickup is done, I can fit the windage trays and close the open side of the pan.

[hubcapboy]

Shouldn't we be on page 28 by now? hoveringuy where's that pickup, Steve!?!?

[hoveringuy]

Looks like there's two different versions of clutch slave cylinder. An early version that appears compatible with e30 clutch line and a late version that's plastic and uses a different fitting. Too bad about ditching the delay valve...

The e36 slave is also reported as compatible, p/n 21521159045

[240zs30]

getting closer

[hoveringuy]

The stock steel pan is 8 1/2 lbs, don't know about the Al one. I'll weigh mine when I get it back in a few days, but the weight gain won't be substantial and it will have decent baffling and a dip stick!

We've been discussing final treatment regarding paint, or not to paint. The outside will certainly be painted, but there's mixed opinions on painting on the inside. I'll also look into having it acid dipped and cadmium plated.

Another detail to be determined is how the baffle gets attached. Tack it directly to the pan, or weld some tabs on and rivet to the tabs?

I think I've talked Gareth into having a pressure plate cut to bolt onto the pan. We'll pressurize with a bicycle pump through a Schroeder valve, look for soap bubbles.

Steel TIG is easy. I sometimes touch the filler rod to the tungsten and I can still finish the pass. I think Aluminum isn't as tolerant.

[nando]

I'm sure it's heavier - the aluminum pan is pretty light, and there's the stamped steel pan as well. But overall it's going to be nothing compared to the lighter engine overall.

Welds look fine. It's not structural, it just has to not leak! although, I would recommend doing a seal weld on the other side of your fillet to avoid potential cracks, if it's not fully penetrated.

It's been ages since I've welded anything - I was pretty decent at it, but it was literally 25 years ago. Been watching a bit of aluminum welding videos, doesn't seem to difficult - but I don't have the equipment. I learned aluminum stick welding first I think, definitely not the easiest thing in the world, but probably best for welding old crusty bits of oil pans together.

[kristov]

How heavy is it compared to the stock pan?

[hoveringuy]

I'm making progress on the first "production" oil pan. It's 14Ga, I had it bent on on an industrial machine and it folded together like origami The is my first time behind a TIG welder and I told Gareth "If I can fly a helicopter, I can TIG", but now he wonders how I get off the ground?

My biggest issue at the moment is that I don't have the proper steel slab to keep it straight, so after several small passes to weld the pan to the flange, the flange has gotten slightly warped. I can still push it into position by hand but I'll be dropping it off to have that done.

[Bored]

My UK field office has confirmed receipt of a serviceable RHD master cylinder...

And here's a juicy engine bay shot:



A quote from hoveringuy Friday night: "We're not using the stock exhaust manifolds."

This has resulted in a very minor setback and redesign of the starboard side engine arm (something LukeJ bought up a while ago, but I insisted that since we weren't using cats I'd have plenty of room). There's several possibilities here, and I'll update when I know if anything will pan out.

That looks really comfy in there... and I agree with Nando, aftermarket would suit you better I've seen some nifty header building foam-lego things... and you could use an OEM flange and get it set up. Make sure it'll fit.

[nando]

"UK field office" lol. I've been looking at that Australian one on ebay, but they want like $120 for shipping. You should get a box of 3 of them shipped at once, I'll take one!

and yeah, the stock N52 manifolds are not that great. they're fine for emissions but I wouldn't want to put them in the E30. you can still run a cat in the center section, like the stock E30 was. there's also euro N52 manifolds which are better, but for used stuff and the cost, you're better off just getting aftermarket headers.