`88 Sedan track car build - here's Siobhan! Made the front page of Jalopnik!

[Tico Frank]

Hey dood any updates? For what its worth I woke up this morning and stripped the engine of its acc and started to clean up the parts I took off as they were all covered in oil from the blown headgasket. Layes upon freaking layers of oil. Looking for a place to just hot tank half this stuff.

[kingston]

Tico Frank!

Great to see that you've started on your swap! For what it's worth, cleaning the parts has DEFINITELY been the most time-consuming part of the project so far. It is, however, very gratifying to get a part looking 1,000x better than when you removed it. Looking at the painted block on my car still makes me smile!

As far as updates go, there's not too much to tell. I did remove the old oil pickup and tube today, and snapped off the old bracket as well. Most of my morning was spent cleaning up the gasket surface on the block. It took a few hours, but you could perform SURGERY on that sucker now!

Levent has ordered the oil pickup tube and gasket for me ('cause I'm a dunce and forgot to order them!), so I'm waiting on that. I'm also hoping to be able to borrow the tools to reinstall and time the cams/VANOS system from someone locally, so I don't have to spend $180.00 on the tool myself... We'll see if that works out...

[kingston]

OK, yesterday I got WORK DONE, SON!

I didn't take a lot of pictures yesterday, as I was just trying to go full speed ahead, but here's one nice shot that should sum things up nicely:



Before yesterday, I just had the short block on an engine stand. Things we did yeterday:

* installed head gasket & cylinder head

* installed lifters, cam trays & cams

* timed cams/VANOS

* installed new exhaust header studs, gaskets and headers

* installed new thermostat and thermostat housing (with Rogue silicone hoses

* installed new water pump

* ate chorizo & salsa verde tacos :)

This was my first time really going through an M50, and I have a much better understanding now of how this all fits together!

More updates soon!

[Tico Frank]

Lookin Good ma man. Hope to be able to help you install her.

[kingston]

Well, the lost couple of weeks have sucked. My wife was in the hopsital for a week, and one of my key employees left. Between staying with my wife and getting new peeps hired and trained, there hasn't been time for the car...

until this weekend!

I re-timed the cams yesterday with the chain tensioner tool. Previously, I'd just used the tensioner itself, but I've been reading that doing so might not yield the best results.



So, after re-doing the top end, I did the following:

* installed the new oil pickup and gasket.

* installed the oil pan with a new gasket and bolts (keep in mind that the four rear bolts on the oil pan will not be able to be used, as they don't line up with the M50). EDIT - I'd read that this was true, but in fact it is not. All the bolts line up fine. Sorry for the mis-information.

* Installed the A/C bracket and compressor

* Installed the power steering pump

* Installed the alternator

* Installed all pulleys

* Installed the oil filter housing assembly

* Installed the main belt - that felt good!

All-in-all, she's starting to look like an engine again! I still need a few random things, but she's getting close! My target is to start the actual swap on September 24th! Fingers crossed and prayers said!

[kingston]

The goal is to swap the engine next weekend, so this weekend I need to get everything ready to GO!

Some work done:






* I'd stripped the Valve Cover a few days ago since the paint was roached. Today I painted it with the same Duplicolor 'Cast Iron' I'd used on the engine block. I'm REALY happy with how it came out.

* Popped some gasket sealant on the areas recommended by BMW for the Valve Cover, torqued it down, popped in the new plugs and bolted the coils and coil wiring brackets down.

* Started hooking up all the electrical stuff to the emmfiddy. I'm REALLY glad I labeled everything so thoroughly when I was dis-assembling it!

[kingston]

OK, so the 'mess under the intake' has been my Waterloo today...

I got a lot of stuff done, but it feels like I have things routed poorly. I want this swap to be CLEAN, so that's no good.

Any thoughts? Should I do the wiring first? Hoses first? Brackets first?

I am on track for reaching my targets on time, but I want to make sure I'm doing this RIGHT! Thanks guys!

[GunMetalGrey]

Feel free to carefully show what hoses go where, I got my m50b25TU bare and have no clue where some stuff goes :)

[kingston]

Well, I may redo the intake side today. I think I'll put brackets on first, then hoses, and finish with wiring...if that's even possible! If I do, I'll take many pics and post them here.

Good luck with your M50!

[GunMetalGrey]

Thanks! The only part that concerns me right now is the hosing. Everything else seems nice and simple

[MR 325]

Getting it done, nice work!

Wondering what you mean by the oil pan bolts not lining up?

[kingston]

Getting it done, nice work!

Wondering what you mean by the oil pan bolts not lining up?

Thanks man! The four bolt holes on the rear of the the oil pan (the ones with the longer bolts) do not seem to line up with the holes on the M50. Did they line up on your S50? Perhaps I have done something improprerly!


I cannot WAIT to pop this sucker in my 88...then I can add the new rear swaybar, the new half-shafts, rear subframe bushings, trailing arm bushings and the new diff (3.73LSD)!

[GunMetalGrey]

What wiring harness are you using? e34 or e36

[kingston]

I used the E36 harness (came with the engine), and I bought a wiring adapter from EricT (I hate wiring). You'll also need to remove a sensor from your M20 to screw into the M50 for the temperature sender (it's the brown one, just behind the blue one on the intake side.

Feel free to text me if you have questions. 816-729-2768. I'll help if I can.

[drutt23]

I have a 92 325i with the M50 complete in it if you want me to take a pic for you kingston. To my knowledge everything is still in the same position it was put in from the factory if that's what you are looking for.