14 years - 1991 325ix, Stroker/5-Speed (N52 swap?)

[nando]

oh yeah, after 4 years I realized the title of this thread was "1990 325ix". err, the car is a 1991 model year.. it was produced in 10/1990, but it's not a '90 ix. :p

this car is almost 26 years old now too. crazy!

[wazzu70]

Too bad I dont check the forums much anymore. I have a cherry picker and an engine stand I would have lent to you. Let me know if you need to borrow the engine hoist at some point.

Love the N52 route you are taking!

[nando]

I borrowed a stand from my stepdad - eventually, I'll need a hoist though. Trying to avoid having one take up space in my garage until I need it though lol.

experimented a bit with cam timing. I should be able to retard the intake cam 10 degrees - that would give 60-130 degrees of intake cam adjustment (S54 is 70-130 degrees in comparison). That should allow the extension of the power band a bit higher up, even with the stock cam.

[nando]

I lent out my spare ix oil pan to nomansland92 - he's basically doing the opposite thing as me. In return I got the cut out portion of his ix pan. It's actually really helpful - I realized that 2 of the holes on the passenger side actually line up with the holes in the block, and it's almost in the perfect spot! So it's totally doable.



At some point I'll start cutting into a pan. I've got an AWD N52 pan, and a RWD pan. Not sure what will be easier to start from at this point, but at least I have a pretty good feel for where to line this sucker up.

actually the only thing I'm missing to make a complete mock up is a front diff. I know somebody said they had a broken one I could borrow but I can't remember who that was..

[nando]

yeah, the alignment is looking pretty good.. I didn't have it sitting in the right place last night (it was late, I moved it before taking the picture by accident). But the two holes around the passenger side shaft line up pretty much perfectly:





Picture makes it seem more out of alignment than reality. I measured 10" from the center of the shaft to the mating face of the block on the stock ix pan. On the N52 pan with the two bolts holding it down (I only had to ream them out a little to fit the larger aluminum bolts), I'm measuring 10 1/2". I'm pretty sure I can deal with 1/2" just by positioning the engine back a little bit. Actually I think this will help me because it looked really tight between the front of the engine and the radiator.

I'm thinking the AWD N52 oil pan isn't that great of a place to start. The RWD pan looks a lot simpler, less cutting is required. When I pull it I will know for sure - here's the AWD pan for reference:



BTW, the old iron blocks are so ridiculously heavy in comparison to the new aluminum/magnesium designs. The S52 block has to be around 90lbs - I should weigh it on the bathroom scale. Pretty sure the N52 block is around 50lbs. The M20 isn't much lighter than the S52 either..



The angle isn't quite right of course (what is it, 20 degrees vs 30 degrees?) but I have a plan for that. I have to mock it up with the diff/trans/transfercase anyway. I'll have to see if I can make some sort of jig like nomansland92 did - naturally, I don't own a welder..

[Kershaw]

Time to buy one. Basically mandatory for your level of modding. Nice progress.

A welder will be the second purchase if my garage ever gets started. A lift the first, lol.

[nando]

I can probably borrow one for some stuff. The main thing i want to weld is the engine mount brackets to the frame rails.

[Bimmer_man]

I'm not sure if this has been brought up but, I'm curious will the n52 engine mate to the e30 getrag? I'm guessing no but had to ask .

[nando]

Yes it will.

I have an custom ix getrag with a 24v bellhousing, but the only difference is the extra 10 degrees of rotation to the passenger side. if you don't have an ix, then use the 6 speed that comes with the engine.

[stonea]

You mentioned a bbk down the line, any ideas on that? I looked into it and the fronts are obviously easy, but there rears are impossible. The only thing I could think of is a 2 piece rotor.

[nando]

why are the rears impossible?

the only real difference is the hubs. it would be easy enough to use a RWD hub and BBK in the rear. The main reason there's a difference at all is because the hub sticks out a bit more, all you really need is a spacer to fix that.

but, I'm not really thinking much about that at the moment. the reality is, the car is going to weigh slightly less than it does now. The brakes I have are more than adequate - as long as I don't have to switch to a manual setup or a tiny little booster. :p

the biggest benefit IMO to a BBK is cheaper consumables and less weight. The car can't stop any faster than the tires can grip.

[stonea]

I've spent nights thinking about it and never thought about using the RWD hub .___. That simplifies it a lot. Thanks for the insight!

[nando]

yeah I think the hubs stick out an extra 1/2" on the ix. so you would need a 12mm spacer in the rear to equalize that out.

[Bimmer_man]

My car is an ix. Dose the 10 degrees matter that much? If so it's something for me to look into. I'm just curious on the whole set up. I'm going to sound a bit like a dick but in going to watch how you're set up pans out and see about maybe doing something myself.

I want more power out of my ix but I really don't want to go turbo. Really never liked the turbo thing on my cars. Just a personal preference. So that leaves one hell of an m20 build or swap.

I'm leaning more to a swap cause it's more power, fuel economy, no timing belt worry, and not a whole lot of extra weight.

BTW what car did your n52 come from? I noticed that some cars for more powerful versions of the same engine even though it has the same engine code.

[Northern]

Yes it will.

I have an custom ix getrag with a 24v bellhousing, but the only difference is the extra 10 degrees of rotation to the passenger side. if you don't have an ix, then use the 6 speed that comes with the engine.

You've probably already covered this, but how are you going to account for the 10 degree offset with the 24v bellhousing vs the non offset ix pan/diff/driveshaft?