Another for the Collection - Mtech 2 Vert S50!!

[rzerob]

Are you going to run an oil catch can? That oil vapor goes right back into the intake and soaks it. Depending on how you have your air filter set up it will soak your filter with oil as well. This is in an on going problem I have been dealing with, with my S50 for years.

[KIRIEIW]

Video will be made! Thanks man, I try to be somewhat detailed in the thread just to help the next dude out because I'm sure as hell not going to be the last guy to do this swap to a e30.


Alright, so today I had some fun. Not sure where to start, I guess I'll start off with my custom coolant hose/ "spider hose". I really wanted to delete the throttle body heater and since the e36 spider hose has a small 4th hose which goes directly to the throttle body, it was a little complicated. Never seen it done online but basically what I did was buy a M20 hose along with a e36 hose and combined the two into one using two coolant hose splice adapters and factory hose clamps. If you go this route and your using a late model expansion tank the hose is long enough to reach the expansion tank so you wont need to extend the hose length like most need to do. I also want to mention that all the clips which hold the spider hose in place are either NLA, or just so damn hard to find the part numbers that I wish you luck finding them. My BMW dealer parts manager couldn't even find them if that shows you anything, and I work with him.. I gave up, secured the hose down with two large zip ties which I'm not entirely proud but I literally had no other choice considering I couldn't buy them. I thought about going to the junkyard but the reality is those clips will be just as brittle and/ or broken since they've been inches away from a hot running engine for 20+ years. Don't break your intact clips is the moral of the story, sadly mine were already broken/ missing when I bought the M3. I'm sure I'll grab some at the yard eventually though if I find them.

Ok so the only reason I deleted the throttle body heater was because they made it so much more complained on the e36 vs a M20. For instance, they run coolant lines into the stock e36 airbox, which has a thermostat bolted to it. Yes you read that correctly, they have coolant lines going all the way over to the airbox, the airbox has a coolant thermostat bolted to it, and this entire system is only used to heat up the throttle body. I'm in California so I don't think I need to worry about my throttle body freezing over night anyways. Regardless it's easy enough to re install except for the fact you can't fit a stock e36 airbox in a e30 which the thermostat bolts up to.

Besides this I got the idle control valve in, intake manifold, acoustic cover, fuel lines, various plugs/ connectors. Fun times.





E30 hose top left, e36 top right, and the throttle body with coolant lines attached still.







So this is where the "NLA" clip would have gone, I wrapped the hose in a little Tesa tape and secured it with a Zip Tie. It's not going anywhere obviously but having the right clip would have been nice..







I found the perfect clip at work to help route the starter cable. You can find them on various newer BMW's such as on the N20 engine.







Last guy must have misplaced these two bolts for the manifold brackets since they were missing, I found two at work today which worked fine.







New vacuum line, idle control valve connections and hoses, you name it I probably replaced it.

[mike.bmw]

I'm loving the progress, photos, and details. Keep up the awesome work. Can't wait to see this finished. Post a video when you're done! :)

[KIRIEIW]

So I test fit the intake manifold yesterday and to my surprise, it went on perfectly :D. She's a tight fit but the intake manifold doesn't touch the booster. Still of course need to hook up the idle control valve, intake hoses, plug in wiring plugs ect. Basically the intake came right back off lol.

[KIRIEIW]

Kev, what's the difference of the driveshafts between the 328i and M3?

Made a little pic, hopefully it'll help others out as well. Basically the e36 M3 uses a 6 bolt flange (the drive shaft bolts to the differential with 6 bolts). I think they're are a few different driveshaft options but a e36 driveshaft from a 328i is a perfect fit since it has a 4 bolt flange identical to the e30. It's a direct bolt in swap into the car once you install a e30 center support bearing on the new e36 driveshaft.

[Cha Ching]

Kev, what's the difference of the driveshafts between the 328i and M3?

[KIRIEIW]

Got the driveshaft and heat shield's installed after work today. I had a brand new Febi guibo sitting around the house for literally years and it finally came to use. Pelican parts accidentally sent me it on an order I placed and it's been sitting in a box since. I got lucky because it was the exact one I needed for the swap! I also got super lucky on the driveshaft, its the driveshaft from my buddies e36 328i with roughly 130k miles on it (can't remember his exact millage but definitely under 140k). I traded him my e36 M3 driveshaft from my parts car for this one along with selling him the LSD from the e36 M3 parts car.

At this point things are looking pretty good, the entire powertrain's installed. I think next I'll be tackling the intake manifold.


E30 driveshaft vs e36 driveshaft (both have e30 center support bearings installed)

[KIRIEIW]

Another for the Collection - Mtech 2 Vert S50!!

So got some more work done on my last day off before the work week starts. First off I got the driveshaft ready and installed a new e30 center support bearing with my Dad onto the e36 driveshaft. I had planed on installing the driveshaft afterwords however ended up moving onto the power steering lines. Which brings me to the next thing I did, I got all the power steering lines connected and ready to go. I somehow managed to get everything installed without bending any lines. I basically made my own low pressure lines, bought about 2 feet of power steering hose and connected the banjo fittings for the low pressure lines with BMW brand hose clamps. I think it should all be good, I even asked my shop forman's at my dealer and they said it'll work just fine. Also for the record the e36 high pressure hose fit perfectly, couldn't have fit better.

[KIRIEIW]

Thanks man that definitely helps. So I got the transmission crossmember installed yesterday, I had one hell of a time. It wasn't aligning properly for some reason so I pulled the engine back out off the motor mounts with my cherry picker, gave it a good shake which helped a little, but still no budge.

I'm thinking the e21 trans mounts, since they seem to be a little taller with much larger studs, were giving me some issues but not entirely sure. AKG also recommends enlarging the holes where the studs protrude thru the crossmember. Another member had the same issue here: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=393228

In the end I needed to slot the transmission crossmember mounting holes which got the mounts in a much more relaxed position. I guess most people force the cross brace in place? It's possible but its just so much stress on the mounts which you can see from the other pic I took that no way was I going to run it like that. Maybe it all comes down to which transmission you use, mine is a ZF from the e36 M3.






Brand new OEM bushing






This is how much stress the trans mount was under if you tried to force things together






After all was well, also got the shift linkage installed.

[Codym42]

I ended up installing a e36 rack a few post's back, fun times. I'm assuming you used a e36 high pressure hose Cody? I bought one brand new since I left the e36 M3 one on the parts car, part number 32411141953. No clue if I even ordered the right one to be honest but that's what I got.

Yeah, that's exactly the same one I used. I switched to an m50 oil filter housing and power steering pump which should be the same as your s50.

I'm using:
E36 325i High pressure hose
E36 325i low pressure from pump to reservoir
E30 M42 low pressure from rack to reservoir

Hope this gives you a general idea.

[KIRIEIW]

If hes running an e36 rack (idk if i ever saw a rack swap in this thread....) he wont have to do anything other than run the stock e36 ps lines right?

I used a mix of E36 and E30 lines. Most of them had to be bent. Maybe there's a better way?

I ended up installing a e36 rack a few post's back, fun times. I'm assuming you used a e36 high pressure hose Cody? I bought one brand new since I left the e36 M3 one on the parts car, part number 32411141953. No clue if I even ordered the right one to be honest but that's what I got.

[Codym42]

If hes running an e36 rack (idk if i ever saw a rack swap in this thread....) he wont have to do anything other than run the stock e36 ps lines right?

I used a mix of E36 and E30 lines. Most of them had to be bent. Maybe there's a better way?

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

[wworm]

Power steering lines will be fun to figure out but everything else is easy.

If hes running an e36 rack (idk if i ever saw a rack swap in this thread....) he wont have to do anything other than run the stock e36 ps lines right?

[Codym42]

Great progress! The booster and steering rack were probably the most annoying parts of the swap to me. But maybe that's because I hate working under the dash and in tight spaces. I'm running the same AKG mounts and love them. They're worth every penny since everything aligns perfectly and are not too much harsher than OE rubber.

Everything is pretty much downhill for you now. Power steering lines will be fun to figure out but everything else is easy.

[KIRIEIW]

hotbascosauce, that means a lot thanks for the read!

So the reason I decided against installing the engine/ trans as one complete assembly was because I thought it would be too tight of a fit. The M20 was already a tight fit removing that way, I figured I had no chance getting the S50 in that way haha.


Alright so today I got a good amount of progress done. First off I got a new rear main seal installed along with a new pilot bearing. It was the only seal I didn't replace while I had it on the stand and the only reason I didn't do it then was because I couldn't, the engine stand butt's right up against the rear main so you don't really have enough space. Afterwords I went to replacing a few seals on the trans, the shift shaft seal and the front input seal. I actually forgot to order the front input shaft seal so thankfully my co worker was able to get me one. $28 bucks my cost at the dealer, crazy.. Oh well, it's in. I also bought a new Genuine BMW clutch fork at the same time since the original one was showing signs of wear. Also new clutch installed, pressure plate, ect. Oh, and the transmission is also installed now :D


















AKG Motorsport trans. mounts