E for enhanced - ETA rescue and M50 swap

[Oly_Schmidt]

Well, I took my sweet time getting this story out. I sold this car a little over a month ago, but wanted to share the experience of the build.

So...

It was a sad little specimen when I laid down $500 for it at the end of 2011. The PO had overheated it, but since it still ran, he decided he could continue driving it for short distances. My guess that the knocking finally got too loud and he put it up for sale.


The engine looked a LOT better than it sounded


It appears that during previous repairs, some corners may have been cut...


PO was apparently way too busy to waste time with things like washing his car.

[dougie30]

So did you sell this car or buy it? I'm confused

[Aviator]

Cool story lol

[tytypetersen]

Looks exactly like a parts car I had before. Same front end damage

[Oly_Schmidt]

Phase II - Cleanse / Purify

Dug in, removed all twisted or rotting parts and ended up with this:



Tried on some wheels from the racecar. Eh, no, not at this ride height.

[Oly_Schmidt]

Phase III - New power

Picked up a '92 E36, also a black on tan 4-door, which happened to have 156K miles on the clock, same as the ETA.

Engine on the stand, ready for maintenance and cleanup:


Engine bay cleaned, brake booster from iX installed, heater hoses bent to improve clearance:

[Oly_Schmidt]

Cool story lol

Sorry for the piecemeal story. Don't have all my pics ready to post. (Another lesson learned)

It gets better, I promise.

[kingston]

Looking forward to seeing more of this!

[el bimmer]

Nice, can't wait to see it!

[dvck]

:first i was like, then i was like:

excited to see where this ended up.

[Oly_Schmidt]

Phase IV - Get out the shoe horn

With M50 cleaned up and maintained it was time to install. The plan was to keep things simple, so I used a first gen M50NV and mated it to the Getrag 260 that came with the car. This turned out not to be the most straightforward way to go.

Using the Getrag presented a couple of issues. First, I ordered a new throw-out bearing and chose one for an M50 (since that's what it was going in). That bearing doesn't work with the Getrag so I had to order another one. Turned out to be the luckiest mistake because after re-checking everything I found there was no clearance between the oilpan and the flywheel and the engine would never have turned had I gone ahead without clearancing the pan. Fortunately the flywheel had left it's mark and showed me exactly what needed to be done. I shaved it down to the edge of the washers (about 1/4 inch)


Then, the M50 mating plate is different than the M20, leaving a gap on the left side that would collect debris. I covered it with aluminum tape and jammed a section of rubber grommet in there.

Not pretty, but effective


With those problems solved it was time to drop the engine in the car.

A snug fit:


Viola!


Time to start hooking it all up.
The other thing about the Getrag is the orientation. Modifying the mount and linkage wasn't too bad, but I never did get the clearance between the trans and the tunnel to my satisfaction. I will definitely use a ZF in my next swap.
Speaking of clearance, you end up with almost none between the cooling fan and the radiator if you use an e36 radiator like I did. The solution was to mount metal tabs on the trans mount to limit forward movement of the rubber blocks. You can just see the one tab on the left side. This worked out well. I tested with some panic stops afterwards and never touched the rad.


Other things I learned
Loctite oil pump drive gear - it's a left hand thread

Removing e36 oil pickup brace means unbolting bearing cap bolts. Using an e34 engine would be preferable, but finding one with a 5-speed could be tricky.

Purchased M# wiring cover panels and trimmed firewall insulation below it. You don't need little panel (4th piece) from set.

Needed narrow body starter from late M20, eta style wont fit against block

Use a Porsche 944 brake booster which allows e30 reservoir, iX brake booster requires going with a remote reservoir from 2002

Know and record VIN from engine donor. It's needed for diagnostic tools

Very important to replace all oil filter housing gaskets before installing engine. I had to go in twice, first to replace the gasket between the housing and the block. On the test drive I ended up with oil pouring out on to the ground and couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong. Turned out to be the o-rings for the two plugs in the housing. Those plugs have been removed from later versions of the housing.


Next up, the finished product.

[Oly_Schmidt]

Rollin' again

So, after about 10 months (off & on) of assembly, trial and error, and multiple passes with a Griot's buffer, I ended up with a solid sedan.



Added on some Voxx 16s amd some Eibachs and it didn't look half bad.





Ultimately I decided to move on to the next one after figuring out what steps I would do again and which ones I would change. Those who say you shouldn't choose an M50NV if you want more power are right. I wasn't looking for a tire smoker but did want a little more pep, and the NV performs almost identically to an M20.

The new owner is happy with it a couple of months afterwards and I was able to pick up a plastic-bumpered iS with the proceeds so it worked out well.

Now I'm on the lookout for an S50...

[spiDmang]

Nice turn around :up: