Brilliantrot 24v swap: BACK UNDER THE KNIFE!..Now with puppy content

[JCarp90]

That looks awesome. I will not share a picture of my M42 lol.

Good luck with the swap man!

[Nick_S]

The current budget doesn't allow for an S5X engine. Down the road absolutely but for the time being, I want to get this in and try my hand at swapping a motor. This is the most extensive mechanical work I'll have done.

[dude8383]

I hate to say it but the m50 is going to leave you wanting for more. I went from an M42 to an m52 essentially... and then to an S52. Eventually you'll outgrow the M50 but the larger displacement S52 is right on the money.

[Nick_S]

Baller.

If theres one thing I wish I would have done when I did my swap... clean parts. I sort of skipped that step. Now, my engine bay sort of looks like dog shit. Clean as much as you can stand, including your bay. You won't be able to do it later very easily. If you're going to do a rack swap, do it now. Also if I could do it again, I'd get a 944 booster. I sort of feel bad about cutting up my firewall and modifying the pedal box is more work than it looks like.

Otherwise, swap it and drive the shit out of it. It's what I do.

My bay is already pretty clean, I've always been huge on having a clean engine and bay even if I'm the only one who sees it. Everything will be cleaned up and painted before it goes back in. Going to try and tuck as many wires as possible and probably try to shave a few unused brackets in the bay. I've found a rattle can that is a very close match to brilliantrot (front bumper and valance are sprayed with it actually) so I'll give the bay a quick respray with that.

Here's my current M42. (will be for sale in about a month when it's pulled)

[Rdreas]

Damn you got a steal on that engine and related parts! Dual mass can be resurfaced but most places dont like to because its harder to tie down. Im jealous of your plastic bumpers!

[JCarp90]

Baller.

If theres one thing I wish I would have done when I did my swap... clean parts. I sort of skipped that step. Now, my engine bay sort of looks like dog shit. Clean as much as you can stand, including your bay. You won't be able to do it later very easily. If you're going to do a rack swap, do it now. Also if I could do it again, I'd get a 944 booster. I sort of feel bad about cutting up my firewall and modifying the pedal box is more work than it looks like.

Otherwise, swap it and drive the shit out of it. It's what I do.

[viceversa]

Looks good bro! subscribed.

[Nick_S]

Well after 2.5 years of ownership and always wanting to do a swap, I decided why not. Pulled the trigger tonight on an engine and this thread will serve as a project log mostly for myself to keep track of.

The recipient.


So here's the basics. Car is a 91 318is with unknown mileage but a fair guess of around 220k, good chassis with only one tiny rust spot but has a salvage title due to a front end impact before I bought it. The M42 still runs well but frankly I'm tired of the weezy, rattly bastard under the hood. This is going to be a budget minded swap so don't expect any fully built S52's in here. I also wanted this to be as straight forward and simple as can be, re using as much original as possible and minimizing what is under the hood. The engine of choice is a fairly basic M50NV out of a 92 325. Going to be coupled with the existing G240 with an undecided on clutch/fly setup, will likely stick with the OE M50 setup. No A/C, no P/S.

Picked up the motor tonight after I found an ad on CL for it. Some crazy old hill billy scraps cars in his front yard and had this sitting there for a month or so. Originally I was going to buy just the motor $250 but by the time I left I ended up with the M50, a G250 with all linkage, clutch and flywheel, wiring harness and drive shaft for $300. Not a bad start.

Here it is all crammed into my wagon.




It's missing a few parts like an alternator, MAF, and water pump but just about everything else is there down to the headers and y-pipe off them as well as beauty covers and cruise control. Looks fairly clean and doesn't seem to show any unusual signs of wear although when I got it on an engine stand some oil started coming out of the dip stick hole and def had some water in it. A little concerned with that but the crank spins very well still so I'm hoping it's just some condensation from sitting. The clutch will need replaced and I'm unsure if these are dual mass flywheels and if they can be resurfaced? Can anyone clarify?

I don't plan to use the transmission but he basically threw it at me at no cost so I figured why not? Seems in decent shape and will be for sale.

The swap will be done on the weekends at my best friends shop he just opened. On the positive it's a full service shop with two lifts and a full alignment rack as well as damn near any tool I could ever hope to use. I've got my own little shed out back where the engine is on a stand and my ever growing pile of parts will stay till I need to pull them out. He also has a NAPA parts store literally 40 feet away and some programs on his computer with every wiring diagram, torque spec and how to for any repair for any car, I'm sure that will come in handy next to my Bentley manual. The downside is it's a little under an hour away in my home town Oh well. I also have access to Jegs as their home store is about a 3 miles from me.

Here's where I'll be working.


Pile of stuff from tonight.


Quick list of things I'll be ordering:
-E34 oil pan, pick up and dip stick. Found one on ebay and happened to be local, scored it for $140
-C101 adapter from nando on here.
-water pump
-alternator
-MAF
-belt
-motor mounts
-plugs and the usual maintenance
-Spal pusher fan
-DME
and I'm forgetting or missing ALOT more, it's late and I'm tired.

I know this swap has been done time and time again and I'm sure you're all bored of seeing these so this is mainly for my own personal record. First major update will likely be this weekend when I get back up there and start tearing apart the engine to see what I'm working with and what all I need to order. Until next time.

Cheers,
Nick