M30 in E30...tight fit alright

[azzkikr]

Well I have finally gotten to a point that I am able to start putting the motor in the car. The question I have is does the motor fit in the engine bay with the trans attached? I was barely able to fit the motor in there without the trans on it. M30 guys out there were you able to put the longblock with trans attached in all at once or did you have to mount the trans from underneath?
The reason I ask is am going to use jared squires technique and fab up some moutning points for the motor. He used the stock trans mount to line everything up. I am having difficulty getting the motor positioned correctly to take measurements. The main problem is getting the motor to stand at the corret angle. It leans to the passenger side because of the hoist points on the motor. Keeping everything level and aligned correclty is pretty tough to do.

Any of you guys out there make your own mounting brackets and have any suggestions and or measurements?

[george graves]

Yea, It's a tight fit. Remove your radiator, and get the motor in there. At this point you are only test fitting it.

We dropped my motor in from the top with only the removable bellhouseing attached - then we installed the tranny.

If you are going to drop the motor and tranny in together then you will need the car high up in the air - it's kinda like you drop the motor/tranny in tail first tilted back a 45-60 degrees so it goes below the car - then bring it back up and level it into position.(this is all much easier with a getrag 265 w/ removable bellhousing)

I'd recomend this plan of attack.

1.) Drop motor in with out tranny. Attach tranny with a bolt or two, attach tranny mounts. See if you need to do any clearencing (we ended up cutting a protruding mounting tab off the block before the motor would fit). Use jacks on the sides of the motor to correct the left to right tilt (use the oil pan/subframe clearence - and the intake manifold flat sections as a guide for level.)

Just get it approximate - remove the front grill work so you can eyeball the motor placement left to right(if you plan on a turbo, allow for more space on the passenger side)

Replace the radiator - make sure you have clearence on the front (radiator to rotor/cap should be 1/4" or more - further back you can put it the better(you will most likely need to clearence the firewall to be able to get radiator clearence - so the motor might need to be pulled - clearence the firewall and then put back in again)

Reinstall the hood - make sure you have hood clearence (TPS to hood) - mine rubs a tad bit with a late model hood panel.

Note where you want to clearence the fire wall(for the back of the head) and passanger footwell(for exhaust)

2.) pull motor, remove sound deading and get a BFH. Go to work. Respray any damaged paint aeras with 3m undercoating to prevent rust(once the motor is in you will never see it)

3.) Get the steel you are going to make the mounts out of. Cut the plates for the block, and the motor mounts. Dill them and mount them to the block and mounts.

4.) Put motor back in (by now you will be getting good at this sort of thing) Attach up tranny again. Just use lots of jacks, rope, spacers - whatever - to get the motor exctly where you want it. I had about 1/4 to 3/8" space between the subframe and the oil e34 pan.

5.) Build the mounts - and tack the welds. Now pull the mounts and finish welding them.

6.) reinstall the mounts and repeate steps 3-5 if you don't like the placement.

[azzkikr]

Thanks for the help. I am going to get started on all that this weekend. I let you know on Mnday how everything turns out.

[bmwmike]

Keep me updated, ill have to see your mounts when you get them ready, maybe you could help with mine

[azzkikr]

will do. I am always willing to lend a hand too....espescially since you are so close.