M50 Engine Purchased. Time to begin. Vert Swap

[kingston]

Waiting for pics!!!!!

[Tico Frank]

I have the motor and damn its clean with the metal thermostat housing already on. Going to try to pull the old m20 this weekend (hopefully) and then have a ton of newer parts for sale to help with money for the M50 swap, I replaced alot on the m20 so there should be some good parts. I wish I had a pic but I promised my boys I'd take them to the Zombie walk downtown and didn't even have time to take pics of the motor. BUT I'm so excited to have this M50 that I'm sure I'll go spend some time next to tomorrow and I take plenty of pics then. Until then here is a zombie pic.

[Tico Frank]

So I got almost everything disconnected from the old m20 in preparation to remove the old motor this weekend. I hope.

[kingston]

Go Frank!!!!
Are you going to separate the transmission before you pull the M20?

[Tico Frank]

Yes I will. But I need a torx socket. Hopeing to pull the m20 tomorrow.

[kingston]

You'll actually need a couple of `em. 12, 14 & 16 I believe

[kingston]

Frank, nice seeing you today. Sorry you weren't able to stick around, but we'll get to hang out when we are working on your M50. Does your M50 already have the E36 motor mount arms?

[Tico Frank]

Yes it does have the e36 arms! I wish I could have stayed longer but It was awesome to see all the work you have done and how nice and clean your setup is. I hope my swap looks half as good as yours does!

[kingston]

Yes it does have the e36 arms! I wish I could have stayed longer but It was awesome to see all the work you have done and how nice and clean your setup is. I hope my swap looks half as good as yours does!

Thanks Frank! Mine will look a LOT cleaner once I re-wrap the wiring harness and put the Castros airbox on. You should see Tim's! Soooo sano!

We'll make yours look perfect, too! :D

[Tico Frank]

Finally some f$%king car pics. lol

[kingston]

I love the first pic for 2 reasons.

#1 The phrase 'boat anchor' takes on new meaning for the dead engine in that pic.

#2 The SECOND picture reminds me how F*@KING cold and wet we were pulling that thing!

Psyched for your next phase of the project!!

[Tico Frank]

OK so I got a whole lot of work done this weekend to prep the car for the swap since the weather here in Kansas City area was an incredible 60 degrees. On Friday I went to pick up some parts from the BMW dealership I ordered. (Gasket for e34 oil pick up and e34 throttle cable)

While in KC I met with a local guy selling an e36 M3 Radiator from a car with less than 50K miles for $30.

Then I went to the salvage yard to get some plastic bumpers from a car in the lot but after breaking 3 sockets I decided it wasn't to be and left defeated. (The e30 coincidentally had a swapped 3.5L M30 motor and the car in front had an m60 that was almost completely pulled from the car)

After leaving the yard I went by a buddies work to pick up a modded booster I had bought a few weeks earlier.


When I got home I went to work on cleaning up the engine bay. The old m20 spit oil everywhere so it took some work to get it all cleaned up. I then went to work modding the steering knuckle for the e36 rack I am installing.

I then removed the stock brake booster and installed the modded unit.

Before I install the M50 I wanted to take care of the heater fan issues I was having since I fear there will be less access to the fan area once the engine is installed. The previous owner kept using the fan even after the bearings had failed so it tore a huge hole in the housing so I bought some super thin aluminum sheet and cut to fit the damaged area and installed with a few small bolts. I then installed the fan and made sure there was good clearance so the fan blades wouldn't hit the bolts and there was plenty of space.





Next I installed the e36 rack and modded steering knuckle.

No tacos were eaten.

I will be using the e36 tie ends and reinstalled them to the wheels.

Now I am essentially waiting on the parts needed to freshen up the engine like the rear main seal, oil pan gasket, motor mounts, etc. I am getting pretty excited about this as I am getting much closer to having an installed engine.

Since I have a vert I am wondering if I should move the battery to the trunk. I would not look forward to removing the carpet and all that stuff to install the trunk battery cables. Might just keep the battery up front for now.

I have decided not to install the A/C for the time being as it is a vert.

Here is the engine bay as it sits right now.

[Tico Frank]

Ok so a lot has happened since I last posted. I have completely refreshed the M50 I am installing so there is new seals in the whole tranny (getrag 260), I replaced the rear main seal and pilot bearing, put on the e34 oil pan, and the next step will be to put all the new clutch parts on and mate the tranny and the motor for the drop in. I also scored hugely at the local pick and pull with a color matching plastic bumper swap for $100 so I have the new front bumper already installed and will do the rear shortly. Unfortunately there was no trim on the bumpers so it will look ghetto for a while but I approve of the ghettoness over the tucked Diving boards. I expect to have the running M50 within a week or so and possibly some trim for the bumpers soon too. Here is the only pic of any of the updates but will upload some pics of the M50 soon too.

[DREWHALL]

Lookin good!

[Tico Frank]

Thanks Drewhall.