Meet "Blue Nose" M62b44 swap (Pic Heavy)

[jeenyus]

great work as always. love the front of your car. I think i'm going to go the extra mile and remove the texture from the front and paint it again.

[DIIRTY-30]

Thanks people! As for the question regarding the driveshaft; Turner sells them I'm sure if you get in touch with them they can work it out. My local shop I found after that purchase told me he would've done it, unfortunately he's since retired and moved.

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The shop who handled my headliner, never perfectly aligned or regreased my cables on the reinstall when they removed it. So I got stuck with a partially opened roof a little ways back. Fun stuff which has made its way onto the list, more so at the end but always more $$$$.

With some wiggling and force, I got it closed and managed to pop the whole assembly out. Took a good deal of time and made me begin contemplating just making it a slick top. Thing was such a PIA, but i'll eventually order new cables and stupid $10 gear once I paint the engine bay and tie up the loose ends. If theres left over paint, give the panel a whole respray while I'm at it to freshen things up.














I went ahead and started making little block off plates for the firewall to avoid moisture, road debris, or exhaust fumes entering the cab. Tacked them in place just incase I was ever re revert the car. The bay itself had been sitting uncoated for a little while & sprinkle of rain so I went at it with a little wire wheel action.





Began working on the motor again; Picking up another tube & rear cross over pipe for the coolant from the junkyard. My previous one was only sufficient with the CCV block off plate, which won't pass inspection lol. I removed one of the outlets, welding cast aluminum is extremely difficult I found. So to ensure no pinholes, I JB welded over that ish to make sure I wouldn't have eventual faults. I do have a spare m62 without temp ports if anyone wants to buy it.









Went ahead and gave the pipes some heat wrapping to help keep temps down.



Moving forward onto the sensor ports; with the new cross over pipe I needed a new location. So I went ahead and tapped the WP and will have to slightly extend the wire (no big deal).
Clearance seems to be pretty good, and the wire can be passed along the inside of the boxes with factory harness for a cleaner approach.










Next I wanted to remove this jankey shit that used to be run on the return line for the oil cooler. Really was never happy with this piece, but it gave me readings, and got the car running so it semi-did its job.



Decided to go straight to the X5 for the absolute direct readings and accuracy this time around. Quick measurement and some time on the drill press and wahlah...









Then went ahead and spent a good part of the morning, sitting trying to figure out how to route the AN lines properly while keeping the timing cover mount appearance.




With that back together, I began reassembling the rest of the engine. I was planning to buy another throw out bearing, to have for the 420g swap on the e31 but found out the parts are NLA for e34s now. Go figure right? Ordered the m62 bearing to see what the difference was, and boy... drastic.







So 86'd that idea, and will eventually be going with a different set up for the e31 I suppose now. Slapped the flywheel/clutch back on, torqued, and reinstalled the transmission which I gotta say doing it alone... SUCKS.





I believe I put up pics of the strut reinforcements i made (similar to the vert ones) I decided to finally weld those in before dropping the motor into place. Very happy with them, I used to have the issue of my drivers door not opening/closing due to flex when on jack stands. Perhaps from the duration, or by PO & age what have you. This completely corrected it so I was beyond happy to see the direct effect so soon.






With the motor in place now I began to look for a different saw, and luckily came across this bandsaw. Guy turned out to be a gearhead as well, after explaining what I was doing, gave it to me for next to nothing. His biggest drawback he had was patience, and never adjusted it to make 100% square cuts. I went and grabbed a new blade, some research, and a scrap piece of tubing managed to get it dialed in pretty easily. Took about a good 45 mins and 4 or 5 cuts but very pleased especially given the price.









So more recently, I've cleaned up the engine wiring, running it through the fender; along with the hood cable. Have begun working the manifolds, hitting little roadblocks since this is the first time I've ever tried routing stuff. Having no guidance or brainiacs on speed dial doesn't help the cause.

I am beyond tempted to try to register it out of state to avoid this headache. Its such an unnecessary thing, but I am determined to get that stupid BAR sticker and have everything legit above board. The more I've cut and planned the routing, the more I appreciate how simple the X5 manifolds make this. My biggest qualm so far is using the e46 shafts, and cylinder 7&8's exit is RIGHT in its path. So I have two choices, restrict it, or use the 2 spare 46 shafts and make a new - even smaller unit.

With the heat cranking up and having the car outside 80% of the day till 5pm shade, I'm working with 3 hrs of daylight if I manage the time. So hoping to knock it out relatively soon and get the cats on order to finally paint & finish this up.

[jeenyus]

SUPER UPDATE! love the heat wrap idea.

[zwill23]

Man my sunroof has been in the same state for more than a year now, I completely sheared the sunroof "feet" off the track. I've been avoiding it like the plague, trying to decide if I should just go with a delete panel or try to fix it. All the plastic up there has become so god damn brittle.

Stoked to see an update though! I've lost count how many times you've had the motor in and out of this car :rofl:

[ArtFoodBMW]

It sucks to have to do things twice but I think you'll appreciate it when its all said and done. I need to go back through my swap and clean up a few items still.

[DIIRTY-30]

Man my sunroof has been in the same state for more than a year now, I completely sheared the sunroof "feet" off the track. I've been avoiding it like the plague, trying to decide if I should just go with a delete panel or try to fix it. All the plastic up there has become so god damn brittle.

Stoked to see an update though! I've lost count how many times you've had the motor in and out of this car :rofl:

It sucks to have to do things twice but I think you'll appreciate it when its all said and done. I need to go back through my swap and clean up a few items still.

ZWILL : That old plastic is killer, as soon as it happened I sat there like "Really..." If its not one thing its another lol.

As for the motor, I've lost count too its back out again as I type it. The more I've worked on cutting and welding it, the more I keep thinking to myself why am I bothering to do this when the x5 already worked. My biggest issue is the steering knuckle and I really don't want to go back and spend more money or try to shorten it even more for a 50/50 maybe clearance. I'm chalking it up to tackling the exhaust all over again on a later date and moving forward with the last of my projects for it. I hooked up the 420G that I purchased for the e31 just to ensure it functions the way it should. Just down to a few tiny things & paint at this point.


ArtFood : I couldn't agree more. Its not so much the labor aspect that bothers me, its the lawn ornament aspect. I hate seeing it just sit there and especially not being in a garage with the sun/heat lately. Its just taking a brutal beating.

Bright side about our swaps is at least we know what works and what needs more TLC haha.


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I have to upload some more pics to flickr but got the wiring routed through the fender and a few other tid bits. Just gotta finish sanding the bay and shooting the epoxy primer. Should be smooth sailing there on..

[DIIRTY-30]

After revisiting both build threads I've really seem to let them go unless you follow me on Instagram. Though the e31 has dominated the amount of labor I still manage to chip away at this thing but albeit I've gotten burned out and lost motivation at times. I'll leave this here to update as soon as all the photos I've compiled are uploaded on Flickr and its a lot.. I've put more effort in the previous year into collecting tools and what not in order to somewhat make things easier and enable myself more so. Learning CAD currently which is pretty badass so I'm hoping to work more with things along those lines and excited to see what can be created.

Bullet points :

--Completely re did previous shops brake lines

--Ground more of the engine bay to bare metal then said eh (i know)

--Prius column was almost finished till the motor got shorted (Im guessing i made a mistake while welding?)

--Stock e30 column install

--Z3M diff cover install

--Relocation of brake fluid tanks

--Few more things but cant think of off the top of my head


Once I update the e31 thread with some blah blah words and photos I'll hop on over here. Knock it out and hopefully keep both threads better updated since I've had a few people ask if this car is even around.

[rzerob]

This is great. I was wondering what had happened with these two builds.

[DIIRTY-30]

Began with making the brake lines, I didnt have any fancy tools really everything I pieced together was under $100. First I got some good ol HF bender & pipe cutter, then a few rollers for the tubing. With some spare 1.5" I put together a straightener with random stuff for $8 total not including my color match patina'd paint job.






Along the way I also upgraded my press from pump to air hydro; pressed studs into the plates, and welded on some nuts on the ends of the adjuster rods for the shelf so it locks in easier.














Pressed in a spare e30 diff bushing I had laying around for the z3m cover. Will just upgrade when the time comes and its road ready, most likely transfer this back to the stock cover if I sell it. In the meantime I also found someone selling some pretty nice rubber for $80 a pair, and my buddy hooked me up with a front set of tires for when this does hit the pavement again.







Drilled a hole and ran some of the essential front wiring through the fender and tied it off to the sheet metal so it isn't dangling. (not pictured) I chose not to feed it through the cavity incase I either need to asses a wiring issue or anything major happens requiring a back trace.








Went ahead and relocated the brake cylinders behind the wiper panel and will be making hard lines to minimize the soft lines from tanks to cylinders. Just need to make a solid bracket and will be sealing the vents on the plastic pieces shut to maintain a waterproof fit.








Once the supplies, new fittings, and odds and ends were set in motion I began practicing a few times on scraps to ensure the fit on my flares were solid. After verifying that everything was going to play out I began with the largest line in the engine bay first. This is what my lines looked like that were either poor fit or leaking from cylinders/fittings. Which is a major reason I decided to do anything previously to ensure my safety and anyone else driving around me since it is a braking system that I've had issues with. Keep in mind the engine bay was empty at the time these were produced for my car so the engine being in the way isn't a valid excuse.











Now I'm very pleased with how these came out so with patience it all worked out the way I originally was hoping for. Heres a few samples, I cant find the finished set up on this comp, perhaps my laptop. So I'll upload the final fit of these when I upload them.













I'll leave this here for now since the e30 is a lot easier to type out on this platform. The build update for the e31 I've been piecing together on word so its better composed.

[DIIRTY-30]

I had asked my friend to hot tank & blasted the supercharger parts since the 6spd swap had been getting closer. Figuring I can start putting together the items needed to make that a reality over the next few months ahead if 2020 proves better than it has thus far. After having degreased, painted, and sitting in a box, still oil had leaked out and behold.. 101k miles of grime.










Pushing ahead I spent a few mins on night flipping the pulley, marked off the back areas that needs to be ground off & tapped. Since the stock boost isn't too high, I'm looking at stock water - air intercoolers such as the benz or bmw units. If it was with an upgraded pulley, I could see the need for spending the extra cash flow. Just to get it functional, budget is a must.








For the z3m cover I had two zinc 85mm and got the remainder 75/85mm from a local shop for the price of the two zinc ones. After pulling my diff cover off it was nice to see that everything was pretty clean internally, old cover then hot tanked eventually end up as wall art lol. In the process of the swap I somehow misplaced the little cover that goes over the harness plug, sowill eventually need to find another for that. With the cover installed, it really displays how beat and grimey the under carriage is...













Still trying to find all the pictures compiled of the e30 prius column..... still pretty bummed about the fact that It was ready for brackets and install and the motor either froze or had a short. Probably my fault welding the spline on, over looked something, not a clue... If anyone has their two cents to toss in feel free. It was really off putting once I had it ready to go for the install to find that out, but roll with the punches and purchased another column. This one I had to finesse the splines on the coupler since it was a little chewed up.



Annoyingly lost the area from here onward cause of being logged out so edit this when I come back later.

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Due to time and necessity to get the car steering for work I put the sourcing of additional motor and wiring on hold to revisit. Heres a few pics of how it broke down and I planned to make it all work. Ultimately yes you can run an mr2 or volvo unit but my goal was to 86 any fluids and since the signal for the steering ecu defaults to 35 mph it seemed a perfect PS balance.












With the prius spline cut off, I drilled two holes on opposite ends of the shaft and press fit the splines inside then welded them to make a more secure fit. After the two were joined together, I did a root and cap over the top and ground it down.















Now that the lower portion was measured, cut, and felt safe to me, I started with the splines at the top that was intimidating to me. Also below are the wiring/connectors along with the $30 roll of 25 ft of brake line as opposed to the $12 25 ft steel/plastic coated roll I removed.

If you hadn't guessed by now I'm still beyond upset with the results I paid for originally. Partially cause after going through what I paid a pretty penny for it becomes more apparent profit was more important than quality or craftsmanship. Especially the duration my car was waiting to be worked on (3.5wks) + the results deemed just reinforces why I'd rather learn and research than allow others to touch my vehicles from now on sadly. Keep in mind I used simple coat hanger wire to configure my bends before making them in actual hard line. Nothing fancy and still pressure checked all my fittings after for leaks.















Then after i ground off the mounting tabs from the Toyota factory config, I tested it to make sure it worked smoothly and boom nadda. So..... steering wheel came off, key tumbler out, and tossed that ish in a box. On the plus side, I scored this laptop for pretty cheap and after doing my buddys top end gaskets for his e31 I found it works. So once the m62 is back in the e30 be interesting to see what I can do with it.

Since I keep getting stopped for logging in I'll just leave this update

[zwill23]

I may have missed it, but what is the benefit of switching to a prius steering column? On the surface the conversion seems pretty wild.

Bummer on shorting the engine... is it back up and running?

[mutty]

I may have missed it, but what is the benefit of switching to a prius steering column? On the surface the conversion seems pretty wild.

Bummer on shorting the engine... is it back up and running?

Electric Power Steering

[zwill23]

Electric Power Steering

Interesting, sounds like a good way to save some room in the engine bay.