24V AWD Swap Knowledge Base

[The Dark Side of Will]

I took some mount measurements on the iX crossmember last weekend, but hadn't gotten organized enough to post them up until today.

The tops of the mounts are about 35 degrees apart (each one tilted in 17.5 or so).
The tops studs on the mounts are 21 5/8" center to center.
The top surfaces of the mount towers appear to be 40 degrees apart (each one tilted in 20 degrees) HOWEVER, mine have been pretty abused... maybe by AWD clutch dumps, maybe by some idiot jacking it up on the oil pan. The part of the tower that's supposed to be flat for holding the mount was pulled up a little around the bolt hole. RealOEM shows them as discon, unfortunately. :(

The holes in the mount towers were 22 13/16" center to center.

The was 0 degree longitudinal inclination difference between the crossmember face that bolts to the frame rails and the mount locations on the towers.

So with my previous measurements:

Measuring my wrecked E34 535i...

On top of the mounts, the studs are 23 7/8 center to center at the interface plane, with the mounts in the M30 position. The upper and lower studs on the mounts appear to be concentric, even though the mount studs are off center from the mount pads.

On the crossmember, there are no less than FIVE pairs of mount locations, at three different lateral separations and two different longitudinal planes.

The M30 locations are 25 1/8 center to center at the interface plane.

The other locations are 23 9/16 and 22 7/16.

On each pad, the holes are 13/16 and 1 1/8 apart.

The M30 mounts are right at 2 1/2" tall.

On my dad's iX automatic, the engine mount stud centers appear to be 16 1/2" forward of the bellhousing face.

The E34 engine mount pads on the crossmember are EACH inclined about 15 degrees inward.
They are about 4 degrees front high (tilted back) compared to the FRAME RAILS. As my E34 is wrecked, I don't know the inclination of the frame rails when the car is on its wheels. I'd guess that BMW would design similar frame rail angles into both E30 and E34.
The E34 M30 mount is 2.580" tall.

The top studs on the E34 M30 mounts are almost an inch wider than the E30 mount studs. Not that that matters...
The angles are slightly different, but I can change the heights of the mounting pads on the crossmember to fix that. The tower should be able to take a little misalignment when the nuts are tightened down.

The E30 mount tower holes are slightly wider than the narrowest pair of E34 mount holes. I don't know which pair the 24V e34's used, so I'll have to wait until I can get my dad's S52 on the engine stand with a pair of E34 mount arms to check it out.

When I have that, I'll also be able to tell how far forward of the bellhousing face the mounting studs are on the E34 arms. That will give me two of the three dimensions I'll need to locate the mounts on the new crossmember.

[The Dark Side of Will]

my trans is done! $1500 but it has all new internals (synchros, bearings, shifter forks, etc). the funny part is now I have a brand new transmission for an ix but it only works with a 24v motor. haha. So I guess I'm pretty much stuck with a swap unless I decide to sell everything. :p

Still gotta pay for it and ship it here. But possibly this summer I can make progress on mockups, modified oil pan, and motor mounts. maybe next year I can start thinking about picking up a motor..

Cool... I'd ask for pics, but it would look just like most other G260's I've seen :p

[nando]

it will, except it should look brand new and the bellhousing is a bit different. :p

Gotta call them to arrange shipping today. It cost a little more than I wanted to spend but I also am a little tired of having a 26 year old worn out transmission..

[The Dark Side of Will]

I've rebuilt Getrag 282's and it definitely makes a difference.

[The Dark Side of Will]

But possibly this summer I can make progress on mockups, modified oil pan, and motor mounts. maybe next year I can start thinking about picking up a motor..

Use one of these:

http://www.drysump.com/BMW.htm

And just build some bracketry from the pan rail to pick up the diff.

[nando]

meh

[The Dark Side of Will]

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showpost.php?p=4104029&postcount=18

-Owners are reporting that outer ball joints on the iX seem to need replacement at 120K-150K miles. Replacement ball joints are available (Zygmunt Motors, 215-348-3121) which can be pressed into the lower arms at a cost of about $40 each. BMW only sells the whole assembly lower arm assembly at a cost of $250-350 for parts for each side. Bekkers (800-624-5410) sells the arm assembly for around $180.

Anyone have the part number for the inner? I need to snag one to cut up for the QC/CMM guy to get the pivot center location from my crossmember.

Edit: Lemfoerder outers: http://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw-...x-31121701077l

Edit again: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...6#post15456196

325iX Inner ball joints - Lemfoerder PN L1054301
325iX Outer ball joints - Lemfoerder PN L1054402

As for Beck-Arnley parts. They are simply a distributor. As far as I know, Lemfoerder is the only company that makes these so if the part number matches then it's probably a Lem part.

BTW, the Beck/Arnley parts listed at APW are for the regular E30. I crossed check the PNs with the online BA catalog.

I double checked my research and found that the actual PNs are as follows. (This is from the ZF/Lemförder web catalog.)

10543 325iX inner ball joint replaces OE 31121701063 (NLA)
10544 325iX outer ball joint replaces OE 31121701077 (NLA)

Quite often a vendor will decorate the names. NAPA online currently has the inners for 95.99 each and the outers for 65.79 each. There's a vendor out of Canada (eliteparts.com) that has the inners for (Can$ ?) 63.80 and the outers for 55.20.

EDIT:
According to http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sk...n+%26+Steering
The outer is: Lemfoerder W0133-1623357

NAPA:
Outer:

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx/Ball-Joint-Lower-Front-Susp/_/R-ATML1054402_0257413123

Inner:

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetail.aspx/Ball-Joint-Lower-Front-Susp/_/R-ATML1054301_0257413122

EXTREMELY USEFUL:
ZF Online Catalog: http://webcat-services.zf.com/index....2,14,1632,1614

AWD Inner (10543-02):

http://webcat-services.zf.com/index.asp?KHERNR=16&KMODNR=290&KAT_KZ=P&ARTNR=10543+02&EINSPNR_ART=35&LASTPAGE=nc2_teile_info.asp

AWD Outer (10544-02):

http://webcat-services.zf.com/index.asp?KHERNR=16&KMODNR=290&KAT_KZ=P&ARTNR=10544+02&EINSPNR_ART=35&LASTPAGE=nc2_teile_info.asp

RWD Inner (10518-02):

http://webcat-services.zf.com/index.asp?KHERNR=16&KMODNR=290&KAT_KZ=P&ARTNR=10518+02&EINSPNR_ART=35&LASTPAGE=nc2_teile_info.asp

RWD Outer (10519-02):

http://webcat-services.zf.com/index.asp?KHERNR=16&KMODNR=290&KAT_KZ=P&ARTNR=10519+03&EINSPNR_ART=35&LASTPAGE=nc2_teile_info.asp

[nando]

yeah I've long known NAPA had them but I've never tried to order them. Probably because $170 is pretty close to what I paid for new arms.

I keep thinking I should buy a set to rebuild some of the extra arms I have though..

[The Dark Side of Will]

You (Or anyone reading) have any extra M20 iX mounting arms (and maybe an M20 block) hanging around?

I've been thinking about how I'll get the relative elevations of the E30 iX and E34 engine mounts.

I can measure relative to the crankshaft centerline if I pull the oil pan (which I'll have to do to swap to the E53 pan anyway) and a main cap.

When I do it, I'll post pics of the setup I use to measure on the S52 w/ E34 arms so that someone with the right M20 parts can duplicate it.

Almost have the fab work for my AMC swap done. Once I get the last bracket welded & painted, I'll put that engine in the corner and put the S52 on the engine stand to get serious about the new crossmember.

[nando]

I wish.. I'd like some myself for mockup purposes. I had some but I recycled them. stupid stupid stupid..

my assumption was the crank is centered on the subframe. from my E34 mount arm mock ups, that seems accurate.

[LJ851]

my assumption was the crank is centered on the subframe. from my E34 mount arm mock ups, that seems accurate.

I'm curious where it is, all the other bmw's i've measured (mostly 2002's) have the crank nose offset to the drivers side. The whole drivetrain is in the chassis at an angle, meeting the diff input offset to the passenger side.

Edit: just did a rough measurement on my rwd e30 and it appears centered between the frame rails.

[Northern]

You (Or anyone reading) have any extra M20 iX mounting arms (and maybe an M20 block) hanging around?

I may have a spare set(if I can find them,) the passenger side is worthless except for mock up or scrap value.

Shipping from here may be a lot though (~$50)

[nando]

If you sent them to langley, bc i could pick the up from my inlaws house.

[spdracrm3]

yeah I've long known NAPA had them but I've never tried to order them. Probably because $170 is pretty close to what I paid for new arms.

I keep thinking I should buy a set to rebuild some of the extra arms I have though..

yes NAPA get them from Altrom, purchased a set thru our shop last year and redid my arm's (Lemforders),can't remember the price
got the outers from Worldpac

http://www.altrom.com/cgi-bin/altapp.sh?&PGM=altapp~~~~~~~~~~~~~~&CIN=00000000&YEAR=1989&MAKEID=00000006&MODELID=00000095&CARID=69541262119881991&APPID=00002300&PF=&MEM=0000000000::C:8904:N&CD=8904

[Nisse Järnet]

You (Or anyone reading) have any extra M20 iX mounting arms (and maybe an M20 block) hanging around?

I've been thinking about how I'll get the relative elevations of the E30 iX and E34 engine mounts.

I can measure relative to the crankshaft centerline if I pull the oil pan (which I'll have to do to swap to the E53 pan anyway) and a main cap.

When I do it, I'll post pics of the setup I use to measure on the S52 w/ E34 arms so that someone with the right M20 parts can duplicate it.

Almost have the fab work for my AMC swap done. Once I get the last bracket welded & painted, I'll put that engine in the corner and put the S52 on the engine stand to get serious about the new crossmember.

Bad pics but i measured this way the M20 had theese measurments. (and this is how i mounted the M50 too)

34,3cm


9,9cm