My M60 swap

[The Dark Side of Will]

I don't know what the bmw trans ratios are like, but when I had my 2.93 in 2nd and 3rd felt long for me too.

** just looked it up, holy shit you guys have short ass 1st gears. 2nd and 3rd are kinda similar, but wow that's a huge difference. Almost, like, stump pulling gear ratios, lol.

It's a German thing... all the Getrags do that, even the ones GM uses. The profile of RPM drops from one ratio to the next is supposed to be ideal for best time-to-top speed from a dead stop... i.e. best for a small high strung engine to get a car up to speed on the autobahn.

[jalopi]

I don't know what the bmw trans ratios are like, but when I had my 2.93 in 2nd and 3rd felt long for me too.

** just looked it up, holy shit you guys have short ass 1st gears. 2nd and 3rd are kinda similar, but wow that's a huge difference. Almost, like, stump pulling gear ratios, lol.

[JGood]

I have a 3.25 and my 1st gear is far from useless. Actually, with my new 235's, I have to really try to get it to break loose, and that's with the m60b44. The 2.93 I had in before felt about the same in 1st, but 3rd gear and up felt really long. M60's aren't exactly monster v8's...

The zf320 and 420g gearing just sucks for us. First is too short, but to get it to a usable length you'd have to use a diff that would kill the acceleration after 2nd gear.

[Jack89i]

Long? Or short?

Short. Retarded as in useless


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[LoneWolf]

Go for it. 1st gear will still be retarded.

Long? Or short?

[The Dark Side of Will]

Go for it. 1st gear will still be retarded.

[Jack89i]

I have a lead on a nice 2.93..should I go for it? I was kind of wanting a 3.15 or 3.25 so first and second gear would be retarded..



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[JGood]

A lot of spece30 guys run poly engine mounts and stock trans mounts. The trans mounting ears will be the first thing to break off in an impact of any sort (accident, curbing on the track, etc...), rending a perfectly good trans useless. Stiffer trans mounts will definitely improve the feel of the shifter, but IMO, e21 mounts with aluminum cups make it about as solid as they'd need to be, and will probably still tear before breaking the trans. That's what I'm running with revshift m60 engine mounts, and it feels great even for a daily driver. The stock m60 rubber mounts were plenty stiff enough, but I needed a little extra space for my e36 steering rack hose connections.

As far as radiators, I'm using the Z3M mishimoto, but it's overkill. I have a cheap pep boys 14" pusher, and it rarely kicks on. I drive 100 miles a day, 90-100 degree heat sometimes, in traffic not moving for hours. Never passed the halfway mark. It would run out of gas before passing the 1/2 way mark. You'll be fine with your normal dual core rad once you find the actual source of the problem.

Make sure your fan isn't wired backwards. Pep boys fans come set up as pushers, but yellow is ground and black is positive. That got me for a week when I did my swap... I was ready to kill something.

[jalopi]

You'll get an idea of how poor the fitment is when you see my car. Also, ever been in a car with solid engine mounts? The ones I've been in were super shaky, almost like a vibration. But then again, that's brownie points if you get ladies in the car.

Having a solid trans mount isn't gonna hurt your rubber engine mounts.

[Old city bimmer]

I need to order a Rad to replace the stock 528 that my set up has. So the z3m stock is the better option for clearence then. I have a 85 so it should drop right in.

[Jack89i]

Yeah looking at mine, I would have to change engine positions to get the 3 row in there. That would mean getting my selector rod modified again..I just ordered an 85c thermostat (thanks for the pn Ryan) so hopefully it helps. I'm also thinking about getting revshift engine mounts to go with my 75d trans mounts. I'm kinda worried that I'm stressing everything with my rubber engine mounts paired with basically solid trans mounts


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[jalopi]

Beware the mishimoto z3m radiator... while it may cool like nothing else out there, it is very, very thick and may cause fitment issues. Clearance may be less than you're comfortable with. I am anyway.

[Old city bimmer]

My car should be here tnrw. And I will try to start working on it this weekend.
I will use the z3m radiator as many have posted it's the best fit.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Took it out to cars and coffee today, I don't think I've ever answered so many questions..every time I would fire it up a crowd would gather around it to see what that noise was coming from

When I lived in Pensacola, I had my '87 Pontiac Fiero with Caddy Northstar. A good friend of mine had (and still has) an '02ish Toyota MR2 Spyder with turbo and bodykit.

We'd go to dinner someplace and park next to each other; when we came out, there'd frequently be a crowd around his car. When I fired my engine up, the crowd would move to my car. :D

[jalopi]

every time I would fire it up a crowd would gather around it to see what that noise was coming from

Welcome to the v8-swapped e30 club :)