'89 325i M50 swap *Huge Update 22/12/11*

[A_Whelan]

Hello,

To start things off you can check out my intro thread I made late last year http://bit.ly/jFUftK Lists the basics, what I needed to do for it to be road worthy, etc.

Only four months after that I was driving home from work in a hurricane and ran through deep flood water and hydro locked the engine, blew a rod or two and beat the engine to pieces, that was 8 months ago and I haven't driven it since. That story is here http://bit.ly/lDelNj

The reason for undertaking this project is because this was/is my first car at the age of 20. I love the way it drives, I love the way it looks, and I love everything about these cars (except mine is broken :( ) but that will change soon. I could have let this car go to the scrap yard and get something more reliable, which would have been a wise choice, but I couldn't do that. To me that would be admitting defeat and giving up on an amazing car. Interesting side note, while I was looking at the car papers after the hurricane incident I found that the date it was purchase was September 21 1990 and the day I killed it was September 20 2010, a day shy of it's birthday. That's also another reason, I killed it before it's time and felt bad!

So here she is!


Objective
I am a university student and I have a bunch of different financial responsibilities, especially with one term left before graduation. I would like to lower my car, with fat black steelies and get fender flares. This project isn't going to be something that will make the car spotless and clean looking; I'm going for a bit of a rough around the edges look, with a surprise under the hood. I will use this thread to post updates and ask a few questions if I hit a dead end or just need some advice.
Going for flares that look like this:


With wheels that look like this:


The Search
The search for an engine began soon after the hurricane and I was unsure what I wanted. I started looking for an M20 because it would be easier but I soon found out that finding one in good condition was going to be hard and for the amount of work it would take to restore an m20 I could do an m50 swap and some extras. The engine that will be going in the car is an M50 NV from a 1993 325i with just over 130,000km on it (80,000miles)

I set a list of things that I want to get done. I'm going to tackle a few small things before I ship my car home where I have a large space and garage to work in with all of the tools I need. For the time being this is what I would like to accomplish

Project Goals
1. M50 engine swap (new parts like water pump, thermostat, etc.)
2. AC delete (doesn't get that hot here in the summers)
3. Antenna delete
4. Remove a phone system that was in the car before
5. Fix a few trim pieces (interior and exterior)
6. Shadowline trim all around
7. Clean carpets and interior trim as best as possible
8. Fix the driver side seat, POS won't stay upright, need to research that.

I think there was a few more things, I'll add them if I remember. Depending on funds there are a few other things I would like to do, I need to see how smoothly this swap goes, what kind of job I have this summer and plan from there. If I have the funds and time this is what I would like to do:

Wish List
1. Lower car, Blistens + H&R should be low enough for me and the shitty roads around here
2. Fat steelies with a little stance. Looking at using Diamond Racing and then to make them fit getting fender flares.
3. E36 steering rack and new lines, mine is a bit leaky and now is the best time to do it. I may hold off on the engine to save a bit more money to get this done.

Conclusion
This build will be slow to start but once I ship my car home I should have everything lined up that I need and the updates will come fast and furious. The next few weeks will deal with trim, cleaning stuff up, maybe taking a few parts off for painting, etc. Sorry for the lengthy writeup, expect lots of pictures as the build goes on. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Aaron

[devon.818]

arent those the ix arches on what your goal pic is?

do work man!
looks like you got a lot of FUN ahead!

[A_Whelan]

I'm not really sure what's in that picture. I just saw the flares last week and figured that is the easiest way to fit fat tires without having to roll the fenders. I hope there is a version for my car, does anyone have experience with them? I'll do a bit of research tonight.

Day 1
The car has been sitting by the side of my apartment throughout winter without any lovin. I pumped up one of the flat tires today and pushed it into the driveway. Awesome thing about my apartment is the driveway has a overhang that keeps the rain off of me so I can work in any weather. Shitty thing is the condition of the pavement in the driveway, it's really really bumpy.

Where it sat


Limped out of the driveway, a bit of oil leaking


The driver seat in the car has been terrible since I bought the car. It was supported by a piece of 4x4 wood and I managed to haul it and lock it into position. I've removed it before but can't figure out what's wrong and today I decided to removed it completely and look again.









I might end up switching the passenger seat mechanics with the driver side for now so I can actually see where I am going and get rid of the gangsta' lean on the seat.

As I was down looking at wires and trying to see what was what I noticed that my gas pedal had a stop, almost like a clutch stop. Is this normal? I've never heard about them.



That was it for today. I need to track down a shopvac to clean out the car and some sort of carpet cleaner. Also going to have a poke at the seat and see if the seat shock is the problem or if some gear isn't moving.

[trackjunkie21]

Yep, that stop is normal.

[A_Whelan]

Good news from the home front, the engine has arrived safe and sound and it put a lot of stress to rest knowing that another seller didn't back out (had two do it before :hitler: )

Here it is unwrapped and waiting for my arrival




A bucket of parts was also shipped which contained some random parts like plugs, a part of the drive shaft, a starter, few wires and some others. I need the exhaust manifold and I am going to replace a few other things on the engine itself like gaskets, oil pan obviously, water pump, t-stat, etc.


Day 2

After the seats were removed I was determined to fix the driver side so driving was a bit more comfortable. When I took off the cover for the seat mechanics I was confused about where to start. There were no or very few visible screws to take off, just a lot of pins and stuff... :(

The recline works on both 'arms' of the chair, except one scrapes a bit more than the other. The vertical part of the seat is what is broken, it will raise up but not lock in place. I need to take another look and perhaps remove the bottom cushion to take a look at it.

One thing that was evident was this peice kept slipping out and had me wondering if, after the first time, it was no longer locking back in place with something. I know it moves the lever and selects what part of the chair is moving, but I don't know if this alone has broke it.


Then, before removing the back of the chair, this piece slipped off and it was damn near impossible to get back to where it was supposed to be. I think something may be seized up inside and I'll have to break out the grease.


I also put a bit more thought into tires and wheel setups and I've hit a bit of a dead end. I am looking at building my own fender roller now so I can roll it then pull it a bit. Then I am thinking a staggered 10 in back and 8 in front with a coilover setup. This all depends on what work term I get for this summer, pay and how much time I will have off. And if you are good with wheels or just want to see what the discussion is about check out my wheel thread here http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=207930


That's all for now, only so much my broke ass can do.

[A_Whelan]

This will be my first big update over the next few days. A lot of time has past since my last post but not much happened; mostly searching for parts, racking my brain about how to do certain things and working like a dog during the summer.

The job I was going for didn't pan out and I ended up working at a hotel which is okay, but is a big pay cut from what I was used to. That meant cutting back on the idea of getting wheels and suspension this year and focusing on what matters, the engine. Some of the pictures in this post were taken with a proper camera and others were with my blackberry, so don't mind the quality.

Last Thursday I sent the beast home on the back of a truck, a 800km journey. Along the way, I was told it leaked oil all over a Lexus underneath it, bad boy!


The engine and transmission sitting awaiting my arrival


We (my father and I) would be doing the swap without an engine stand, we opted to use a block and tackle.


First thing was first, clean all of the grime out of the engine bay. I sprayed degreaser around and broke out the pressure washer.

Before


After


With that done we started with what would turn out to be the first scare of the day. We had the flywheel surfaced but not shaved on the back. I failed to noticed this flaw and we bolted it all up and then tried to turn the engine over... nothing. It was locked up. This was worry sum because it could have meant the end to the project. We started trouble shooting the problem, taking out plugs, removing unnecessary wiring, spraying penetration fluid in it and posted on the r3v blackberry group (thanks for help all yesterday! :bow:) After looking around I saw the back of the flywheel and realized it wasn't shaved down, disaster avoided. We hopped in the truck and drove to the shop and within 30 minutes we were on our way home with the wheel fixed.

A picture I took while admiring the shaved surface just before we noticed it engine wouldn't turn.


Removing the wiring, notice the monkey wrench on the front


Before


After


The before and after are flipped around but you should be able to tell what side was shaved down.

Next we removed the oil pan and scraped off the old gasket. We then attached the new bits and pieces down below and removed an old bracket.




Annoyingly when we went to place the new gasket on the pan we noticed the store sent me the wrong part. I was after sending back an oil filter and water pump because it was wrong. I noticed that before I came home, this however I didn't notice. We then took some gasket sealer (that silicon stuff) and whacked it around the edge of the pan and bolted it into place. Another 'make do' solution.

Then it was onto cleaning up the old exhaust gasket


Followed by painting the block (the red was a little cousin, if I have time I'm picking up a bottle of silver paint)


Once the transmission was finally hooked up


A picture of our helper


And how the car sat at the end of the day. I removed the firewall covering and sprayed some gravel guard in the tunnel to keep it from being damaged. I wanted to paint the bay but I just don't have the time.


On the docket for today:
-Move brake booster
-Install all accessories
-Install engine and trans (provided the trans brace arrives)
-Get the wiring prepped for tomorrow.

Thanks all for now, more updates tonight or tomorrow!
Cheers,
Aaron

[CabrioPunk]

Still have the phone bits from the interior? Was it OEM phone kit?

[kingston]

Aaron,

Nice update! I'm working on my M50 swap, too, so I'll be keeping an eye on your progress.

The picture of the car with fender flares is actually a car local to me. The flares on there ae from Ireland Engineering. They make them in both fiberglass and ABS plastic, and the are meant to rivet onto the stock fenders.

Good luck on your swap - I can't wait to see updates! :)

[A_Whelan]

Still have the phone bits from the interior? Was it OEM phone kit?

I think it is OEM, you interested?

@kingston - Thanks :) updates tonight!

For now a teaser picture

[CabrioPunk]

YES! Id love to complete my 80s Time Machine with an in car phone. Send me pics please. LMK what ya got...

[Sample UF]

Those headers are porn.

[MaksV]

looks great. I am also doing a very similar project. those rivet on arches? I have seena guy witgh a 325i on a track car with those, they kind of ugly, but i sort of wantthem. do you havea link?

[A_Whelan]

@ Cabrio Punk. I am starting the harness tonight so I'm getting rid of a few extra bits that are twined into the mess of wire under the dash. I'll see what it is and haul it out. I don't have the phone with it but you may be able to find that somewhere else.

@MaksV - there are two companies that sell them one is DTM and the other is Ireland Engineering. DTM has a guy here on the forums that seems pretty helpful, Ary I think is this name. Here are the two links.

http://dtmfiberwerkz.com/access/fenders-c-22_33_83_293.html

http://store.nexternal.com/ireland/e30-performance-bodychassis-c26.aspx

Onto yesterdays updates!

First I replaced the thermostat. I removed the old one and was very surprised at the condition it was in, I'll hang onto it as a spare. Old left new right.





Then we got to work on moving the brake booster over. We scored the lines on the firewall then used a punch to make a small dent a half inch to the right. Two of the holes were good, one was okay and the third was shit. It was a tight space to drill and I was the one doing the drilling, not my Dad :|




Next was the center hole which needed to be moved over. A great tool to use to make a round score on the firewall is the bottom of a can of WD40 or spray paint. Once we started cutting we agreed that the hold didn't need to be round and just made it square. Worked out fine although I forgot to take a picture. One thing I will caution against is drilling the top left hole. Half an inch is good but you drill really close to a bracket that's inside the car, above the gas pedal. I tried to get a picture of it as best as I could to show you what I mean. The original hole is on the right and the bolt is through the new one on the left. We couldn't get a nut on there so we only bolted up three out of the four, hope it holds!




This was around lunch time so we ran into town to grab a bite to eat and check to see if my last two packages had arrived. I was expecting the brace from White325is to be in but not my other, I was in luck! Both packages showed up a bit earlier than expect. One was the custon transmission brace (Thank you Mr. Hockman, it looks great!) and the other was a vibration damper and water pulley I bought used. I also picked up some silver high heat paint and some more black high heat to finish the other side of the block and the parts that came in. Onto pictures







The engine in all of its glory.



Finally it was the big moment, dropping it in! The whole process took about 30 minutes. It was dropped in without the power steering pump (got in the way) and the alt. We had the headers and transmission attached.



Since we weren't using a proper engine hoist with one of those tilt adjuster things we jacked the car up as high as we could and raised the engine to the ceiling of the shed. As we lowered the engine down we lowered the car. Once it was in far enough we put another jack under the transmission to guide it back. There were a few times it hooked but it just took a bit of patience and resetting the contraption to get it right.

TADA! (A a celebratory beer)



And a picture of some green engine mounts I picked up on Ebay. Yes they are in upside down but we fixed that. They came highly recommended from E30F34R and they seem like they will be indestructible. Link here
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BMW-E24-E28-L...item20b661765b




So far today we hooked up the drive shaft and the transmission brace. Going to hook up the headers to the old exhuast (a new one will come down the road) and we are going to start the wiring tonight provided we have enough time.

Wanted to say a huge thanks to Blunt @ Blunttech. I had a few small parts that I didn't know were missing and as always fast service. Thanks to E30F34R for the parts recommendations and helping out with the swap. Also a big thank you to everyone on the forums for answering my many questions in my threads and posts. More updates tomorrow morning!

Cheers,
Aaron

[dj01540i6sp]

Looking Good! I have faith in you to complete this. GL --- dj

[CabrioPunk]

Great work. Always impressed by these swaps. Lots of talent and things I've never done.