Frank's E30 M60 V8 Swap Build Thread

[bmwmech1]

Right, well instead of a piece of FLAT plastic, you get CONTOURED plastic!

duh...

I know... I didn't want to sound like a douche, but it just struck me as a funny thing to say, considering...

Garey

[iamsam]

Lol... not to knock your choice of not using the engine cover, it's your car after all... but you do realize that under that "vast expanse of plastic" are plastic valve cover covers and a plastic intake, right?

I just laughed out loud when I read that...

Garey

Right, well instead of a piece of FLAT plastic, you get CONTOURED plastic!

duh...

[battlecattle]

I'm way ahead of schedule.

You should know better than to ever say that!

[Garageaholic]

Not to DP but yes. I modified the location of the other mounting point for the accelerator linkage. It will be relocated to the exact distance over that the linkage has been shortened, which I believe was ~60mm ish. The master cylinder outlet directly interfered with the farside acc linkage mounting bracket.

[Garageaholic]

So after sizing up the pedal assembly, I knew that the accelerator pedal would need to fit somehow. after moving the master cylinder over, the accelerator pedal no longer fit, so i had to shorten it. But shortening it wasn't enough. I also had to re-locate the connection of the throttle cable. The picture I showed doesn't depict that quite yet, but it will. I cut the rod (which is solid aluminum by the way) to the correct length and the guy needs to big it together. I'm also having him relocate the throttle cable connecting rod.

As far as the heater core pipes go. I know that the picture makes it seem like it's pinched, but there is plenty of room in there for flow. You can still get your pinky finger in there without a problem. I think it's just the angle.
The rubber hoses will not run through the firewall. I determined that there's enough room for the bends in the engine bay, however the shortened heater core pipes add a good amount of room for these hose bends to take place.

FYI: the coolant reservoir hose will go into the top pipe. The rear cylinder head hose will go into the bottom pipe.

[JGood]

Accelerator pedal (which is also aluminum) needs to be shortened and relocated. The instructions are shown as well, but I need to formalize them.

LOL, this is EXACTLY how I'm modifying mine. Funny we both came up with the same idea without discussing it. How were you planning on stabilizing the side of the rod that was shortened? I drilled the spot welds on the factory bracket and was going to weld it in place over further, so it should act just as it was stock.

I'm going to wait until you get yours installed to make sure everything will work properly, in case there is anything to be learned. So please keep me updated :)

Is that rod hollow, and if so, how thin are the walls?


Also, that bend in one of your heater core pipes looks like it kinked it, it looks almost completely closed off. I assume it's just a weird angle in the pic? I was just going to cut the ends off the pipes to shorten them and then run the rubber hoses through the firewall... any particular reason they needed to be bent?

[Garageaholic]

Some more updates

Some updates. Got some stuff in and am ready to get more stuff welded.
Carpets came back from having been professionally extracted & shampooed.
Carpet for my 335i


Carpet for the up and coming 340i. Looks and smells great.


Heater core back from welding - I had them shorten the aluminum pipes and put a slight bend in them to conform to where the hoses will hook up.


Closer look


Accelerator pedal (which is also aluminum) needs to be shortened and relocated. The instructions are shown as well, but I need to formalize them.


Steering column. I decided to use 2 E34 U joints and cut each of the steering rods to length. The overall length of the welded rod will be 4 3/8" end to end. I am not welding this myself because my welder won't go through to the core of these rods.


Here is a relatively useless (haha) snapshot of where the E34 coolant tank will be mounted to the firewall. I simply used QTY:2 M10x1.00 - 40 bolts and created an assembly that will fit nicely in the engine bay. I am not sure if it will require hood modifications. It likely will. No big deal.


Tomorrow I will complete the C101 wiring. Not bad, only 16 pins to solder and heat shrink. Shouldn't be too bad.


I know I'm posting more pictures of piece-part stuff and less of it installed in the car. By day's end Friday, I'll have many more "interesting" pictures of the car and progress on the engine.

Driveshaft should be coming back on Tuesday next week latest. $575 total for the shortening & rebuilding. My goal is to have this thing fired up at least once on Friday. If it starts, then I wait for the driveshaft to come in, test fit it, and then remove the engine to start the engine rebuild.

perhaps I'll make it to Gutenfest after all. I'm way ahead of schedule.

[bmwmech1]

Definitely using the cover. Much cleaner.

100%... just look at my sig...

Garey

[Garageaholic]

You wont have a problem installing it for the most part. Kink it down with trans drooped. Get diff studs in and get center mount on front driveshaft on the output flange of trans and push DS and trans up into place together. Thats how you have to do it with most of the 6 bolt rears from the factory.

What are you talking about? I already sent the shafts to get rebuilt to the plan I laid out last week.

Lol... not to knock your choice of not using the engine cover, it's your car after all... but you do realize that under that "vast expanse of plastic" are plastic valve cover covers and a plastic intake, right?

I just laughed out loud when I read that...

Garey

Definitely using the cover. Much cleaner.

[bmwmech1]

Why not lose the engine cover altogether? That is what I will be doing, I would rather look at intake runners and valve covers than a vast expanse of plastic.

Lol... not to knock your choice of not using the engine cover, it's your car after all... but you do realize that under that "vast expanse of plastic" are plastic valve cover covers and a plastic intake, right?

I just laughed out loud when I read that...

Garey

[iamsam]

Why not lose the engine cover altogether? That is what I will be doing, I would rather look at intake runners and valve covers than a vast expanse of plastic.

[328ijunkie]

You wont have a problem installing it for the most part. Kink it down with trans drooped. Get diff studs in and get center mount on front driveshaft on the output flange of trans and push DS and trans up into place together. Thats how you have to do it with most of the 6 bolt rears from the factory.

[Garageaholic]

Mounting the compressor and allowing room for the hookups...... The flare outs toward the front of the car are for the use of the 540i wide radiator.

[Jonsku]

What is the reason for cutting the frame rail on LHS and why you need to take the cut-out so far back on RHS?

[JGood]

I know....its all 1 piece....I think thats why its $35.

But nobody in their right mind would pay that, I know

I didn't think it was one piece. The dealer price is $11. For a formed plastic tube, that's a normal BMW price... but to include the check valve and plastic connector at the other end, that seems cheap... that's why I thought it was just the tube itself.