'89 318i 6 speed m50b32tu turbo swap build

[ba114]

Made some solid progress last night.
Got the head back on. It was nerve wracking after my last experience, but i'm happy to say all looks good now :)

After torquing the raceware studs to 42ft-lb per the specs (yes this is considerably lower than ARP but it's what they say) i started re-assembly.

Started with the exhaust cam, just the standard m50tu/M52 exhaust cam, then started on the intake cam. For this i am using an M54b30 intake cam for the additional lift and duration (M54b30 is 240deg 9.7mm lift, stock is 228deg 9mm lift). To fit this required removing the vanos gear from the cam and shaving it down about 5mm before putting it back in. Big thanks to Nutzy who turned this down on the lathe for me! I grabbed the cam tray, bearing caps, sprocket etc from the m54 so this was all used instead of the m50tu/m52 hardware.


Once the cams were back in i started reassembly of the timing gear. Again all pretty straight forward if you have a bentley manual and took the time to mark the sprockets and chains when you removed them. There is also a great video on youtube that runs through the process:

https://youtu.be/23jXHhkpV_I

Installing the vanos was pretty painless. I installed and removed it a couple of times just to make sure i had the process sorted before bolting it all up.

Once done i put the sump back on (had already safety wired the oil pump nut) and started putting all the ancillaries back on; oil filter housing, power steering pump, alternator, new water pump with 80c thermostat and finally the serpentine belt.




Tonight i'll drop the engine from the stand and mount up the clutch setup in preparation for fitting the 6 speed. I'm waiting on my akg poly engine mounts to arrive (decided against using the e28 ones after reinforcing my subframe) so wont fit the gearbox till im ready to drop it all in. Hopefully this is all over the xmas period so i can finally start it up and work on tuning.

[ba114]

Today's efforts:
- made a bracket to fit the 325i overflow bottle. Thanks to a rev member on fb, the measurements for the upper clip is roughly 4" from the inner guard to the bolt that secures it and roughly 4" down from the strut tower.



- refitted reinforced subframe, and steering rack,
- fitted new valve cover gasket and valve cover,
- mounted turbo manifold,
- started fitting the flywheel and whilst torqueing the bolts half on them stripped...seemingly due to not enough thread engagement. My heart sank at the thought of the crank threads being destroyed but after running a thread chaser through they appear fine. Need to find longer bolts now though...



The bolts supplied with the fx250 clutch kit and flywheel are only 30mm long. theres 40mm of depth till you bottom out on the crank. as you can see from the pics, the bolts were only getting engagement up to around the 3rd or 4th thread. pretty sure this is insufficient, or the supplied bolts (10.9 grade) were just no good.

Going on the hunt for some 35mm bolts on monday to hopefully get this sorted. for now its just occupying a car space in the garage now. Cant believe the issues ive had with this engine build...

[Northern]

Actually ridiculous after everything that those bolts were too short. You couldn't make this shit up if you tried

[ba114]

Tell me about it. Also interesting is the kit came with 10.9 grade bolts...from what I've read 10.9 have a max torque of 83ftlb which is very close to the 77ftlb required for the flywheel.

Not surprising they gave out if that's the case!

[Northern]

FWIW, the F1/FX racing stuff comes with 10.9 bolts as well. No problems yet.

[ba114]

FWIW, the F1/FX racing stuff comes with 10.9 bolts as well. No problems yet.

Interesting. Do you remember how long they were?

[Northern]

Not an exact length, but they were significantly longer than the stock ones I removed.

[Northern]

They didn't have thread sealant on them, but I used red loctite when I installed them... So that flywheel is never coming off I guess.

[ba114]

Not an exact length, but they were significantly longer than the stock ones I removed.

And yours was auto originally? The bolts i removed from the engine were roughly 28/29mm as it came with an auto box, so i was surprised seeing the 30mm bolts with the flywheel.

Anyway i sourced some 35mm bolts in 10.9 grade, nearly impossible to find 12.9 it would seem unless i went to a socket head bolt. Will give these a go tonight, hopefully its all good....

[ba114]

Today's progress:
- New 35mm flywheel bolts to replace the dodgy ones my clutch kit came with that were too short. Bolted up perfectly this time!

- Flywheel, cluch and pressure plate fitted.



- Finished fitting the 6spd to the motor (the diesel box only attaches with the 4 M12 torx bolts) and bolted up the starter motor, ready to drop into car.

[Northern]

And yours was auto originally?

Nope, manual. I want to say the new bolts were ~1cm longer.

[ba114]

So this happened tonight :)









I had to trim about 20mm off the e28 m5 mounts on the engine side stud and continue the threads further down. This made it slightly easier (still difficult though) to position the engine over the mounts. Like the guides say, don't bolt the mounts into the subframe until after the engine is positioned otherwise you'll never get the engine mount arms onto them.

[ba114]

So engine is wired up, intake manifold etc on. Essentially all ready to go...however now I'm left trying to diagnose a no-start situation.

Engine cranks fine, battery is good. Have to pull the plugs and check for spark next. While I'm at it I'll check the injectors for fuel spray. Failing that....don't know.

[ba114]

She runs!!
So after a year in the making, yesterday was finally the day!
https://youtu.be/d2ftluSdcss
https://youtu.be/8mgAO7O_djw

Started first time! More work to be done though. O2 sensors are dead so need to source a replacement. Have heat cycled the engine a few times to check for leaks and all seems well.

Now on to making the exhaust and fitting the intercooler.

[Good & Tight]

She runs!!
So after a year in the making, yesterday was finally the day!
https://youtu.be/d2ftluSdcss
https://youtu.be/8mgAO7O_djw

Started first time! More work to be done though. O2 sensors are dead so need to source a replacement. Have heat cycled the engine a few times to check for leaks and all seems well.

Now on to making the exhaust and fitting the intercooler.

Congrats on getting it running..!!