My 1986 BMW E30 336i project | S38B36 swapped 325i |

[Wisloff]

Hello!

I have been reading this website for years now (without membership) and figured it was time for me to create a profile and show off one of my E30s. So I hope I can contribute my project to this good forum. This will be about a 1986 e30 325i that I bought 1 year ago. This will be a forever project that I will have for the rest of my life, so I have big plans for the car. I will try to recount gradually from when I bought the car last year until today. I will also update continuously with what I do with the car next.

Sooo... sometime in 2023: I had actually decided that I had enough BMWs and wasn't going to buy any more. But then I came across an original e30 325i 1986 model which I think was far too cheap, so I bought it haha. The first impression from the pictures was not so good. Many interior parts were missing, the engine was missing, windows were missing and a lot of other things. but on this one there was not so much rust, and this one was not repainted, the original paint was still there. So... deep down in my e30 heart, I thought this should get on the road again.



As you can see from the pictures, it had seen better days. A previous owner had also intended to build it into a track car and started dismantling the car, but fortunately he had got bored (not the one who is selling it now). I transferred money to the seller, and loaded the car onto a trailer.



So then it was a 5 hour long car ride home in heavy rain.


Finally home, late at night, wheeled the car into a workshop and looked over the car.


I think it looked even better now than I did when I saw it at the seller haha. At this point I still hadn't decided what to do with the car. i just wanted to buy it and save it first. I'm considering whether I should build it back, attached to the original with engine and everything. or maybe approve it with a bigger engine.
And I'm gradually starting to consider mounting an M5 engine in it, and building it up as a smooth sleeper. And ever since I was a little boy and heard the sound of an e34 m5, I knew that One day, I will have a car with such an engine. In other words, I think the sound in the S38 engine is just very magical. I had also had an S38b36 engine lying around that I bought in 2019, which I had not yet installed in anything or used. So after a couple of weeks I decided to build a smooth sleeper e30 336i, with S38b36, out of this newly purchased e30 of mine.



I loaded up the M5 engine, and drive it to my workshop





I also decided to do this project a little differently than I have done in the past. So I'm thinking of starting with everything technical on the car, adapting the engine, overhauling the chassis etc. After all that and the car begin to work as I want technically, then I would start with the other things.


Stay tuned for more upcomming update🤩🔥

[82eye]

nice start. it'll be a beast.

[Panici]

Oh an S38!
You're going to have a special car when you're done.

Following for updates.

[Wisloff]

nice start. it'll be a beast.

Yeah, I hope so😎

[Wisloff]

Oh an S38!
You're going to have a special car when you're done.

Following for updates.

I also hope that, Think S38 is a great engine in a sleeper -car.

[Gaarath378]

Super cool, you dont see a ton of S38s anymore, definitely following for progress

[Wisloff]

Now it was time for an update from the engine change. Broke my phone at work so I was afraid that the photos I had taken were gone. But I bought a new screen and had it replaced myself, so then I could use my mobile again and the photos were not lost😊

As I said, I would start with all the technical aspects of the car first and not focus anything on the cosmetic aspect of the car until it is drivable. So then it was just a matter of getting started S38b36 engine swap.

Had some engine mounts lying around that should fit, but had to adapt them a bit.

Here the engine hangs ready to be mounted, I would try to mount the engine with the gearbox on. It was probably going to be tight, but I wanted to give it a try anyway.


Big engine and small enginebay😄 Engine on the way into the car.
After a couple of hours of screwing, it was finally on its engine mounts..


Tight fit 😄
it was so far back that I got the engine without cutting into the bodywork and also having some distance between to the engine. Pretty happy so far.





I think it went well to this point. Now all that remains is everything else that takes a lot of time. adapt exhaust, adapt driveshaft, radiator, wiring etc.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Great an other s38 b36 project. I be looking forward for beast.
I also have m88/3 and s38 b36 e30 projects…

[Panici]

I think it went well to this point. Now all that remains is everything else that takes a lot of time. adapt exhaust, adapt driveshaft, radiator, wiring etc

Getting it on the mounts is a big step! Did you go with regular rubber mounts?

You're right that "everything else" is time consuming. Just take it one task at a time.

[Wisloff]

Great an other s38 b36 project. I be looking forward for beast.
I also have m88/3 and s38 b36 e30 projects…

Nice🤩👍 The M88 engis is super cool. Even though the s38b36 is a slightly stronger engine, the m88 is a tough engine. But the M88 is getting hard to come by as well, its cost monney💸

[Wisloff]

Getting it on the mounts is a big step! Did you go with regular rubber mounts?

You're right that "everything else" is time consuming. Just take it one task at a time.

Yes, it's a wonderful feeling when the engine stands on the rubber mounts by itself. I first tried with the original rubber mounting, but then the engine was higher than where the hood comes. I haven't lowered the front-subframe either, so there's not much space😂 But I used some special motor mounts that were stiffer and much lower than the original.

[Wisloff]

At this point I had reached the spring of 2024, I think it was March-April. From here it went quite quickly, I worked on the car every day after work. The snow also started to melt and spring began to approach. I had the goal of getting it drivable by May, although a lot of cosmetic work on the bodywork and inside the car remained, so I wanted to get it drivable anyway.

I started adapting the cooling system, here I used an e36 m3 radiator and mounted it at the front, in addition to the original s38 thermostat housing.




Furthermore, the exhaust was welded, used original s38b36 manifolds, and welded the rest myself, not the perfekt result, so I think maybe I will make a new one in stainless eventually, but this should work for now at least.




Electrically, I don't have pictures of it, but it was quite easy to adapt to hook up. Had to make a new plug on the wiring harness and add a cable for the speed signal to the speedometer.


I eventually got it started, but then it sprayed petrol in all directions, so I ordered new gaskets around the nozzles as these were bad, because I didn't want the car to catch fire.😂🔥

[e30m3s54turbo]

On my m88/3 b35 and s38 b36 m3’s I lowered the steering racks to help clear the hood with out 10mm or 20mm spacer on subframe. I looked how Hartge built their Hartge H35-24 e30’s.
my blk m88/3 barely touches the hood.
You got a lot done your e30. What tranny cross means are you using?