E30 M30 SWAP writeup.

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BMW E30-M30 SWAP COMPLETE

Frank Macaluso 7-2-2007

www.r3vlimited.com : m3fan4eva

AIM: M5crazzy

Phone: 631-291-5910

Email: f.macaluso@hotmail.com

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DISCLAIMER:

Just so everyone knows right off the bat. I performed this swap completely on my own. I had a couple friends come in one day to help me drop the engine in, but other than that, I turned every wrench on this car. In doing this, I took the chances that the engine could have dropped on my hand or that the exhaust could have burned my arm..etc. Fortunately, none of this happened, but it could happen to you. This is to enforce that this is the way I did this. Doing this swap is like a math problem. There are many ways to solve the problem that will give you the same overall answer. If you want to do the swap the exact same way I did it, then great. I hope I was descriptive enough for you to do so. But this guide is more like a suggestion, trying to open your eyes to the other routes you can possibly take with this swap. It is merely a suggestion as to what you can do in order to successfully complete this project. My contact information is on the title page, so please don’t hesitate to contact me for any reason if you are having trouble with a certain aspect of this project. I will not be responsible if somebody electrocutes themselves by grounding themselves to the starter power or getting their hand caught in the flywheel when their friend tries to start their M30. This is nothing more than a GUIDE on how I did this project. I received help from www.jaredsquires.com AND www.e30.de, so with this being said, take your time, wear goggles or gloves or long sleeves. Do whatever it takes do execute this swap carefully and safely. If I’m not clear enough on a certain aspect of this project, then ask. Don’t be a hero.



About the websites that I mention on for products on this writeup:

I have no affiliation with them for any financial gain whatsoever. The reason I state that they are a great company is simply because I have had a good experience with them. I am in no way plugging them for any personal gain. Just go to the website, take my word for it, and get what you need to get the job done. That is all. Good luck!

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PREPARATION TO DONER CAR
Picking a proper doner car is imperative for having a successful swap. What I did was use an ’88 325 super eta. I highly recommend any car from 88-91. If you choose to use a 83-87 E30, just know you will have some wiring issues, but nothing you can’t take care of yourself. I will illustrate and solve most of the wiring concerns in the electrical part. An automatic or manual doner car is not imperative, but important. I’m assuming that we’re all converting to 5 speed M30, so getting a 5 speed doner car is prime. If you have or find a good automatic car, then simply swap the clutch pedal with clutch master cylinder, hose and slave cylinder.

You must remove the following parts of the doner car and drain the following fluids to properly prepare it for the M30 drop in:
Engine/Tranny Removal Notes How many Fluids to drain
fuel lines (supply + return) 2 Gasoline will spew out!
coolant lines(heater core @ firewall) 2 coolant
*electrical (ECU and engine harness) C101 port, Engine Ground, Ignition coil…
brake booster vacuum hose 1
radiator 2 electrical sensors+ 2 hoses coolant
unscrew motor mounts 2
unscrew tranny mounts 2
driveshaft disconnect 4
shift linkage Unit
steering pump lines 2 steering fluid
alternator wires 2
throttle (cruise control) 1(1)
clutch hose/cable 1
exhaust after manifold 2
02 sensor 1 harness
Coolant tank hose(s) 1 coolant
Windshield wiper tank 1 wiper fluid
Hood 6 bolts + hinge
Drain Engine oil 1 Engine Oil
*For ’88-91 cars: Highly recommended to remove the COMPLETE engine wiring harness, disconnecting ALL sensors, ECU..etc and taking the harness off the engine as a whole. You will need this harness for the M30 engine, assuming you get an E32 or E34 M30.
*For ’83-87 cars: You can remove the wiring harness if you like to make the removal of the engine easier. For more details about wiring, please refer to wiring details and spreadsheets located in “electrical”.


If you are going to be doing any other preparations to the doner car such as cleaning engine bay or doing a steering rack swap, please do it now while everything is out. It is also wise to do any suspension modifications now while the car is still relatively nimble and easy to move around.

It is also highly recommended to modify the firewall at this stage of the swap. To modify the firewall, depending on your engine position, please refer to “engine positions”.

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PREVENTATIVE M30 MAINTENANCE

This is what I bought for my M30 while the engine was out (purchased from www.bavauto.com).
Accessory Belts
Oil pan gasket
Rear engine seal*
Valve cover gasket
Distributor cap/rotor
Spark plugs/wires
Clutch/flywheel
I cleaned it all up. Painted the intake manifold and valve cover bla bla bla. I would not worry about the Timing chain. They should last the life of the engine. If you wish, you could purchase a timing chain spring and tensioner. The tensioner located in front of the forward most exhaust manifold and I believe is connected by a 19 or 22mm bolt.

If you would like to upgrade, you can get 19# bosch design type III injectors, High-torque clutch and lightweight flywheel. I do not recommend the Bosch platinum 4 spark plugs. It’s a dumb ploy to make you think you’re actually going to get a more efficient spark. The reality is that if you’re running on the rich side, it’s more consequential because the plugs gum up faster.

Remove the M30 clutch fan. As much as you may need it for supplemental cooling, it won’t fit unless you position the M30 really rearward. For the most part, it won’t fit in the engine compartment unless you chop a huge amount away from the firewall.

*Funny story, the first time I installed the rear seal, I didn’t knock the seal in the housing enough. So I drove the car around for about a hundred miles and it was leaking at the tranny/engine area, so I’m like, It’s gotta be the rear engine seal. So I removed the engine/tranny again, took it out of the car and inspected it. I had to get a new seal and a new oil pan gasket. After re-installing a new one, I realized that I did install it correctly. The problem was that when I put the grease on the clutch assembly for the throwout bearing, It liquefied after it got hot from driving and leaked. It wasn’t the engine oil at all. About 3 weeks of work to fix it for nothing!

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OVERALL PROJECT COSTS
The following spreadsheet is as objective as I could get with allocating money to this project. Please don’t take it as “the word”. You don’t have to get any of the extra shit I got for mine, but it’s definitely an option if you can afford it. I got a lot of prices from www.bmaparts.com and www.bavauto.com. I used ebay for a lot of random parts like the tranny, electric fan, intake, hoses. Junkyards are your friend here too. You can easily shave off hundreds by doing bargain shopping…A lot of the fabrication prices are estimated as are the engines and motors. If you can find it for cheaper, good for you. You may get lucky.
Note: I was on the conservative side with some of my estimates.





# Engine assumed to come with the following: all accessories, belts, wiring, sensors, ECU, NO tranny, includes hipping
##Make your own brackets. If you can weld, this is where you can easily succeed. If not, buy from www.e30.de for $300.
###You can go to a junkyard and modify one yourself for cheap or a custom shift linkage built for you, which could cost a lot.
*E32/E34 M30 with '88-91 E30 cost: $0-$20 extra wire/solder..etc for misc wiring.
** These wires are for the E32 Engine with the pulse sensor wire. The E28 wires will suffice, but will not be as efficient
***Use E30 ignition coil
^Depends on what differential came with your E30 and which you choose to run.

Note: Driveshaft: $325+$60 deposit for refurb. www.wholesaleimportparts.com. Go to the driveshaft store on the website main menu.

Just spoke to Tino Treumer from www.e30.de. As of 7-2-2007, he still ships to USA without problem. Don’t be wary of the overseas transaction. I did it and it was at my door 3 weeks later. Tino is a very honest guy to work with. I got lucky and my engine had all wiring and accessories w/ ECU. Engine had 127k on it and I have pushed it to the limits and then some. I got a really great engine, so I think I paid good money for it ($1200 shipped)

There are many different ways to efficiently shop for all the parts you need. I’d have to say that after adding up all the numbers about the details with every aspect of the project, I put about $2500 including engine/tranny/driveshaft/radiator and A LOT of random parts such as hardware, hoses, battery, transportation costs. NOT INCLUDING EXHAUST. Exhaust was a whole different story.

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Cost excel spreadsheet available upon request

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CLEARANCES
Clearances to the left and right will be fine. Watch out for the oil pan, the radiator and the hood.
If you use the motor mount brackets from www.e30.de (I highly recommend them!), then you can position the engine forward/rearward however you please. I recommend the further back the better. The E30.de mounts accompany 2 positions, but I modified it to my liking anyway.
Don’t worry about clearances of the transmission. Worry more about the clearance you’ll have at the back of the valve cover on the engine itself. I also hear that if you have an older E23,E24, E28 engine, you will have to deal with the rear of the valve cover having a hose for head cooling. Another great reason NOT to use this engine, unless of course you get it for free J. Here is a picture of my car in the 2 ½ position. I’ll explain more in the next section. This is how my placement looks at the radiator.

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ENGINE POSITIONS /MOTOR MOUNT BRACKETS
Depending on the engine positions you choose, you can position the engine however you want. Like I said, I highly recommend the www.e30.de brackets from Tino. They are well worth the money. They are constructed with quality materials and the welds are really strong. I have been running them in my Turbo M30 for about a year now and have not had any problems! I used the type II brackets as pictured below:

Supplied 2 motor mount brackets custom from Germany. If you look at the picture on the top, there are 2 holes to mount to the urethane mounts. The hole that is circled is the hole position that would hold the engine further forward. In this position, the ignition distributor is actually pushing up against the E28 radiator. Not recommended on many levels, but if you must, then know that it is at least possible to do so. This way, there will be minimal firewall modification, and the driveshaft would either need to be “stretched” in order to fit, or you can always lengthen it. If you need to lengthen a driveshaft, then know that it’s a pain in the ass to do so. It’s expensive, and not worth the work and money when you can just move the engine back another half inch by doing what I did. What did I do? Actually, I drilled a hole right in between the two holes there and made a position 2 ½. No, it doesn’t compromise it’s strength. I actually have about ½” clearance from the distributor to the radiator. I’m compromising 50/50 weight distribution by not going all the way back, but it’s not going to make that much of a difference.

I have BMW E30 poly-urethane motor and hard rubber BMW E30 transmission mounts that are highly recommended. This eliminates a lot of the engine/tranny movement and gives you a more solid feeling when driving. Downside is it gives you a little bit more vibration transfer, but it’s really neglible. The Urethane mounts I purchased FOR AN E30 325I from www.bimmerworld.com for like $70, as well as the tranny mounts for $29. Bimmerworld takes a year and a day to ship though, so be aware.

Note: when dropping in engine, Put the engine in FIRST (with tranny attached), then put the radiator in.
Here are a couple pictures of my setup. I had my passenger motor mount bracket modified by Sweeny at www.turbochargingdynamics.com.

Passenger side Driver side

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TRANSMISSION
Use a factory E28 Transmission 5 speed as the flywheel/clutch that I bought is made for that specific transmission. The stock E30 tranny cross member is a perfect fit to hold the E28 tranny and should perform as a check for a square fit within the transmission bay in the car. I hear you can upgrate the tranny mount to the E30 M3 mount, but I don’t really think it’s necessary. Like I said, my car has 310hp and I haven’t had a problem yet. Unless of course you plan on tracking the car and really push it to the limits. If you get a transmission from an older E23,E24, or E28, remember that you will have the old electrical systems from those cars, so you will see the two spots for the reference and crank sensors on the flywheel area at the bell housing. You can still use this transmission anyway as the bell housing bolts WILL match up, but you can just ignore the spots for the sensors. They will not be used. Plug them up or leave them, doesn’t matter.
Your transmission will have the rear ouput shaft with the tri-prong holes appx 3.12” apart. THIS IS THE DIMENSION FOR THE BIGGER GUIBO that everyone talks about. The smaller guibo measures 2.6” apart for the tri-holes. That’s mainly found in 325i’s. This will play a big role in driveshaft selection when the time comes, so please read carefully.

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CLUTCH/FLYWHEEL
Using the factory E28 Sach’s clutch kit is fine. It should hold up to 250RWHP, but will start slipping at the highway speeds if you downshift and then floor it, for example, should you turbo. You can upgrade to a high performance organic clutch for about $409 including pressure plate, bearing, and clutch w/ tool from www.turbochargingdynamics.com. It should be a direct bolt on to the flywheel. You can use the E30 Slave cylinder on the Getrag 260/5-speed or use the slave cylinder for E28 tranny. It does not matter. Please torque to the specs highlighted in the Bentley manual for the E28 BMW’s. I would put the clutch and flywheel on during your M30 maintenance. You may have problems keeping the crank from spinning as you are loosening/tightening the flywheel bolts. In that case, I guess be creative and find someone to counter the force, or you can use a powerful impact gun. That’s what I did and it worked fine for removal AND installation of the new flywheel. Here’s what I did

E28 Transmission from ebay… w/ E30 tranny bracket (kept from my E30)
E34 M5 Performance organic clutch kit www.turbochargingdynamics.com
E28 535i 11.5# lightweight flywheel www.JBRacing.com
E30 clutch slave cylinder. Hooked right up to the E28 tranny and it feels great.

I hear about compatibility that you can use the any E23,E24, E28, E34, E32, M5 clutch/pressure plate combination and it will work fine. The tranny will still bolt right up to it and the stock E30 slave cylinder will still work fine.

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FUEL
Looking from the driver’s side of the car the M30 fuel send line is on the right (red tape) and the return is on the left.

You can use the stock E30 fuel pump (unless it needs replacing), even good for turbo applications.
I also think it’s a good time to replace the fuel filter as well.
I used 19# bosch design III injectors. It’s not difficult to replace.

Because I have a turbo, I added a fuel pressure gauge. It goes in the fuel send line right before it hits the fuel rail. Check out the picture and you can see if you want to do this. If you plan on upgrading the car for tuning capability, no better time than now to put it in the line. I just put a tee in the fuel send line and routed it to a fuel pressure gauge (0-100psi). See picture below.

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DRIVESHAFT
There are so many options for the driveshaft. Some people say to take the front half of E28 and rear half of E30 together, so it can handle the torque. www.e30.de says to use the M3 E30 driveshaft… mainly because it has the bigger guibo. Refer to “transmission” section for more detail about guibo and driveshaft size. Heres what I did. I went on www.wholesaleimportparts.com and bought a refurbished/rebalanced driveshaft for my ’88 bmw 325 supereta. The part number was 20680. It matched the bigger guibo (3.12”) perfectly. The part is $325 with an addl. $60 core deposit. Comes with a brand new center bearing installed already! When you get the driveshaft, you just send back the old one in the same box, free shipping back… you get your $60 back within 2 weeks credited to your card. They are a great company. So here’s what I did: I used the driveshaft that they gave me and installed it. With my 2 ½ engine position, the driveshaft had plenty of spline to match up, not to mention I still gave my center bearing that preload it needed as per the Bentley manual.

I have not had any problems with the driveshaft since. It is perfectly balanced up to 145mph and can handle up to 300rwtq and probably more, even on a hot day.

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OIL PAN/PUMP/COOLER
If you choose the E32 or E34 engine, then nothing needs to be done with the oil pan except changing the pan gasket while the engine is out. Other than that, it will be a tight clearance to the steering rack/subframe, but should fit nonetheless.

For those of you that choose E28, E23, or E24 M30 engines, the writeup simply calls to go to a junkyard, find an E32 or E34 oil pan AND pump and simply swap them out. That way you will be able to place the engine lower in the engine bay and not have clearance problems with your hood. Many E32/E34 M30’s didn’t even have an oil cooler. This simplifies the swap a lot too. Now you don’t have to deal with oil cooler line routing and mounting the oil cooler. I have not had a problem on my turbo application at all without the oil cooler. I wouldn’t doubt that it would be a good idea, maybe in the future.

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STEERING PUMP/LINES/RACK
Here’s the problem I had with the power steering on my swap. I got the E32 735i engine. The 735i had what was called suspension stabilization. This meant that the steering pump actually controlled the suspension ride height and what not. The bottom line. It was not compatible with hooking up 2 simple lines to it. There was actually a third hole, which I believe controlled the suspension. What’s important is that I realized that the steering pump that came with the M30 was not compatible, so I had to buy an E28 steering pump and was lucky because all the bracketry was included. I was lucky and found it on ebay. For like $40. It’s possible to find any e28 at a junkyard and take out the bolts (I believe the high and low pressure lines are 17 and 19mm respectively)

The Steering motor that is checked is the one you should use. As you can see in the first picture, there are 3 holes for lines to go. I tried hooking it up and plugging in one hole. DOESN’T WORK. It just sprays it everywhere. The pressure’s too high. Use the correct steering pump. The Banjo bolts are 17 and 19mm, so you can’t mess up which one is the high and low pressure lines.

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EXHAUST
Remember to please observe the laws in your state. Whether or not you need a catalytic converter in the line. I also got a ticket once like 4 years ago because the exhaust on my 325es was too loud and had to get a cheapo quiet muffler installed.

I’m letting you have fun with this. I was told that the front exhaust manifold needs to be from an E23 car in order to clear the motor mount bracket. If you go this route, you will also need the downpipes from the same car. For some reason, the exhaust headers from the E28,E23, E24 are DIFFERENT than the headers from the E32, e34. They have 3 bolts that hook up to the headers instead of 2. They are not compatible, so whichever exhaust manifolds you get, get the same downpipes. On another note. I tried to buy the downpipes used, but nobody sells them for insurance or safety reasons. Can’t sell used exhaust parts. At least in NY, but if there will be custom work done on it anyway, I don’t think it matters that much. Before I turbo’d my car, I had the shop guy press lines up to the downpipes and attach them to the headers with a couple exhaust flanges. He welded the two together and brought it to one 2.5” line, through a free flow cat, and out to a magnaflow muffler, which is very throaty, not raspy.

-Since then, I got my turbo on, which completely changed the exhaust system. The exhaust manifold was different and the kit I got from www.turbochargingdynamics.com had a 3” downpipe included, so it was easy to just weld a pipe right from that.

Note: if you let off the gas when coasting your car, and you hear backfiring, then more than likely you have an exhaust leak somewhere. Probably closer to the engine. When it sucks fresh air in when you let of the pedal, it backfires.