1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

[st.petebiodiesel]

The b35 manifolds are excellent.
can't you just remove the mount to fit the coupler then reinstall or still in the way?

i was running those puppys to 30psi the flow good.

Yeah at this point I’m already committed. I cut the flange off already.

Hopefully they weld up alright. I’m betting they are cast steel and not cast iron.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LowR3V'in]

The b35 manifolds are excellent.
can't you just remove the mount to fit the coupler then reinstall or still in the way?

i was running those puppys to 30psi the flow good.

[st.petebiodiesel]

1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

Today I had some minor set backs with the swap. The guy I bought the swap from included the exhaust manifolds with the down pipes. The B35 manifolds use a ball/socket type flange, which is great but my forward manifold was hitting my engine mount arm.

Aft Manifold.

Fwd manifold.


I had several options here.
-cut the Engine mount arm
-use B34 exhaust manifolds
-modify the fwd exhaust manifold.
Options 1 & 2 kinda suck. Don’t really want to hack up my engine mounts or run a more restrictive exhaust manifold.
You can see here the difference in outlet diameter between the B34 and B35 manifolds.

Even though the port flanges are the same size.

The B34 manifolds are much shorter and provide excellent clearance.

Plenty of room for a flange followed by a bend to clear the Engine mount arm.

I am going to attempt removing the collector flange off the B35 manifold to shorten it an inch or two and welding a pipe straight to the manifold. This ought to be interesting.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[st.petebiodiesel]

Tell me more about the e36 radiator. What engine was it designed for?

It’s a e36 M3/325/328 radiator. They can be bought on eBay for $100 shipped! Just don’t expect the quality to be top notch.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CorvallisBMW]

Tell me more about the e36 radiator. What engine was it designed for?

[wworm]

should have a pretty well balanced car with those mounts holding the engine so far back. Please give lots of details about early model wiring. Im about to undergo this and havent found a ton of info about wiring m30s into earl models.

[st.petebiodiesel]

Today I installed my cylinder head timing cover, and mounted my distributor to check my radiator clearance.


The e36 radiator fits great.


I haven’t read too much on the forums about using e36 radiators on M30 swaps. I think most guys run e28 535is radiators.
I like the e36 radiators because they are larger, and you can buy aluminum ones for cheap.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wworm]

Lookin good! Can’t wait to get my swap underway. This is keeping my stoke high


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[st.petebiodiesel]

dope. turbo?

I do have this M106 manifold laying around collecting dust.



Finally I had all my parts to assemble my cylinder head! If you carefully inspect this photo of my head before rebuilding it, you can see most of the thrust rings on the rocker shaft are in the wrong spot. The snap ring was the only thing holding the rockers there. This confirms my theory the last person who worked on this engine was fairly incompetent.

Here is the head fully assembled. You can see how the thrust rings are against the rocker arms as designed.



I gapped my rocker arm locks with .012” clearance as specified by Ireland Engineering.

Ready for cylinder head installation!

Installed.

Setting cam timing is ridiculously easy on these engines.

I just realized I forgot the cam oil tube supports under the head bolts. Good thing I only applied the initial 60nm of torque.

Plenty of room.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LowR3V'in]

dope. turbo?

[st.petebiodiesel]

1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

Today was the day I mounted the bottom end in the car. I’m still waiting on a few things before I can reassemble my cylinder head, and I didn’t want to wait to put the engine in. Not only that but I don’t know if you can tell but I don’t have a garage. Keeping the Engine covered and the deck from rusting was becoming a chore.

Welded some 1/8” steel reinforcing plates on the Engine mount tabs. I know I’m doing it wrong, but I don’t care. It’s better than the stock subframe.


Engine/trans ready for install.


This thing is long. I had my load leveler maxed out and had to jack up the front end to get the angle right.


I wanted the Engine as far back as possible to fit an e36 radiator I already had. I won’t know if it fits till I get the head and distributor installed.


Which led to more firewall beating.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[st.petebiodiesel]

Things are progressing nicely.
I got a set of new HD rocker arms from a R3V member for half what they cost new.

I also ordered some cheap rocker shaft collars from eBay. Just a regular 5/8” collars P/N SC062D.

My clutch setup is a stock E30 318i M10 flywheel, with a cheap eBay 6 puck clutch.



I’ll be using a getrag 240, also from a M10 318i.

My brother just recently totaled his euro 635CSI. Sad I know, but I did get a deal on the getrag 265 from it.

He drove that car for 11 years before a careless driver in a Mitsubishi pulled out in front of him. Kinda makes you think about all the work we put into these old cars.
It would be another couple weeks before I could get the trans so I just decided to run the getrag 240 setup till it blows up. People have ran 240s behind a M30 for years without issue.





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[st.petebiodiesel]

1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

Today I mounted the engine mounts. I bought these mounts off of R3Vlimited Facebook for $135. I think they are E30.DE mounts.

These mounts looked super strong, however I found several welds cracked completely through. I took the mounts to work to tig weld them during my overnight shift.
The previous owner of this swap tried to make mounts from the original M20 mounts.


Pretty hideous mounts. I’m sure they would of broke on the first aggressive drive.
Here are my mounts mounted.


Hopefully I’ll have the Engine mounted in the next 2 weeks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[st.petebiodiesel]

1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

The engine survived the storms under the tarp! Finally I had all the parts to put the bottom end together.
While I re assembled the bottom end my dog carefully inspects my rebuilt head.

First I started with the rear main seal. My crankshaft had a pretty significant wear groove from the original crank seal which was flush with the housing.

To prevent a potential leak I inserted the new rear main seal 1/8” deeper in the housing.


The only part I was waiting on was the oil pump chain tensioner. I test fitted the oil pan and discovered I could change the oil pump chain tensioner with the oil pan on. I ended up installing the oil pan.




I had ordered a new camshaft chain tensioner guide and thought the quality of the part was pretty crappy. The plastic guide material felt super soft and not well bonded to the steel backing. I could peel it up fairly easily.

I chose to use the stock OEM tensioner which showed very little wear.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[wannaBMthree]

Yea great work saving that "turd"!

Funny I've rocked the m30 swap for a while and have been tempted to go m60 but I just love God's old engine and can't let it go.