3SGE BEAMS converted 89 E30///Stock as a rock 88 E30 325i Touring///

[kameleon]

Hi Super51fan,

Still need to revise this as i am not happy with what was made in the initial stages of the build. It is difficult to find someone local to tackle this that will not charge $1000 + even though it is a somewhat simple item to build.

[super51fan]

I love your build and I want to do the same in an E30 someday. Do you have any pictures of your swaybar solution?

[kameleon]

JeLani:- I am using A048's currently but was using the A050.

The A050 is far superior to the A048 in many ways and is my favourite semi.

I have driven on the AD08 and AD08R on other cars and do rate them highly for a street tyre however they have nothing on the A050.

[JeLani]

Recommend the AD08R's ? How long did they wear out like that? I've always admired them.


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[kameleon]

Sandown racecourse in Melbourne for Toyota Winterfest



Because i used my 16 inch road wheels/tyres 215/40r16 Federals the Sandown outing highlighted some issues that were being masked by the use of the A050's. So the next round of modifications will be focusing on these issues.

Stay tuned...

[kameleon]

Some photos from the past 7 months or so.

Wakefield in Goulburn NSW:- 40c heat in the peak of Australian summer sure was challenging. Met Kazumasa san from Sonic Boom in Gifu Japan. He drifts SW20 MR2's that you may have seen on Youtube. Sadly he has closed his shop now due to economic downturn in Japan. That bottle is full of power steering fluid that does not like heat and rpm....





Lithium battery i upgraded to. It weighs 1.1KG, over 14kg of weight saving over the BMW AGM i was using...

The tyres were pretty f#cked after Wakefield, and i found some slightly larger 225/50r15 A048's for a steal. Interesting that they are the same width as the 215/50r15 A050's though.

[kameleon]

djd834:-

The Beams responds well to boost pressures under 10psi. Whilst they can handle that they are weak soon after due to their valves and compression ratio.

Make sure you get the Manual motors however as they have a larger titanium valves and buckets, along with better cam profiles than one from a Automatic.

With regards to the J160:- I don't think they are fragile, although i have a low torque number running through my setup compared to a boosted engine.

Ditch the dual mass and use a Exedy upgraded clutch style instead of an aggressive floating clutch as i have. This gives some shocking harmonics from the gearbox (common on this box) and use the factory shifter not a short shifter as they can make it hard to go down gears at times and they are ok.

They also hate heat and i am currently experiencing this on my second gearbox after 4 or so laps. I could not touch the gearbox with my hand after 1hr last time i was at Wakefield. This was in 40c heat though. Since then i have taken the car to Sandown and experienced the same fault on a day that was 22c.

My exhaust runs very close to the gearbox in the tunnel and is certainly not helping the situation. But we coated the piping in that area in exhaust wrap and covered the gearbox in this area with heat shielding to no avail.

So the game plan is to fit a gearbox oil cooler/pump system and possibly return to the factory shifter.

Fingers crossed!

[djd834]

Wow everytime I read this thread I am inspired to do the same to My 318is but with some boost. The beams made great numbers with just 8psi that I think would be perfect in the e30. What's your opinion on the j160? Some say it's like glass. Love all the custom stuff you have done as well.

[bataangpinoy]

How did you set/measure R&P backlash? I'm about to re-fresh my med case, and want to swap in a 2.93 R&P.

[kameleon]

Yeah i have not added much here lately, will update soon.

[2mAn]

I was just thinking about this car

[kameleon]

Hi Wade,

Thank you for the kind words. I am pleased to hear you have been inspired to use the great 3SGE BEAMS in your E21 build.

The BEAMS motors were tuned very finely to the inlet tract and they have issues when they are in their natural habitats (Altezza cars) let alone in swaps.

Not using the factory airbag is a big no no on these engines and i have been in swaps using this engine with a pod filter and the cars end up with large flat spots down low. This is attributed to the air not flowing over the MAF as it was on the factory vehicle.

This was happening to me when using the factory ecu. I am now using a custom rom tuned Blitz plug in ecu. This has leaned the low end down alot and i rarely have a flat spot now.

However i know a standalone eco is the way forward along with ditching the MAF. I wish to do this but the funds are just not there atm.

Adaptronic is a good choice, as the BEAMS was one of the first cars the units were ever fitted to.

I hope your conversion is going well and you get it running well.

[kilian22]

beams

my name is wade, live in a small town in Central USA. couple hours south of chicago to be exact. i just wanted to write you and tell you how awesome your swap is. i studied it a lot right before i did mine. hell you could say you were a big inspiration on why i chose the 3sge. Here is my swap if your interested at all. no where near as clean and organized as yours but i did what i could without asking any questions and doing it completely by myself. http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...ams-in-83-320i

reason i'm emailing you is to ask how it is running. i had so much problem with the factory ecu and the damn factory airbox that i actually ended up buying a Adaptonic unit from over there, not much support for this engine over here. Are you using factory airbox and ECU still? or did you end up going with the TBI setup? i am still in need of getting mine on a dyno which is probably my biggest problem. just never have been able to get it to run the way i think it should.

[kameleon]

remout:- Check out the early pages of this thread for pictures of the front crossmember. We removed the factory plates/ears and welded a new set on that were then strengthened that facilitate the use of factory Altezza mounts in their entirety.

Do you also know of the 2002 from Australia that uses a BEAMS driveline also? http://www.bmw2002faq.com/topic/153342-3sge-beams-swap/


Realised i have not updated this since the last trackday. Good news is i got that new PB i wanted.

1:42.4 Next step is a 41

To get there i want the steering rack in and fix the niggling front swaybar issues i am having. Not as simple with the BEAMS as just fitting something off the shelf. I will be making a blade adjustable setup for the front.

Anyway here are some pictures. I took the Touring up there too as the support vehicle.

[remout]

Love this thread! I'm thinking of putting a 3SGE in my 1976 BMW 2002. Do you have any pics of the motor mount setup? Thanks!