Originally posted by Northern
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I don't have any driving ones, unfortunately. They got screwed up. Was a shame since they were awesome....through the mountains of Western NC/Eastern TN.....I'll see if I can salvage something....Leave a comment:
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I love this. More details on the transmission setup? Custom adapter or was it sourced from somewhere? I know there are transaxle adapters for kit cars out thereLeave a comment:
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This is the stuff that Boners are made of. I might be working a deal on a E32 750iL right now. Seeing this makes me want to find a E34 touring to go with it......No, Bad, Must.....finish......M60.......Swap.......Leave a comment:
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E34 550iT....The Gristle Hammer
So, this is about as close to a build thread as we're gonna get here.
My e34 535iT had been tossing up the oil pressure light regularly. Sitting in a drivethru, OH HAI! Sitting at a stop light, OH HAI!
So I pulled that engine out on March.
About the same time I got fed up with the 750iL.
So this happened:
It was around this time that I was informed that the engine bays of the e32 and the e34 are the same. I measured....they are. The extra legnth of the e32 is in the core support. The extra width in the tops of the fenders. The e34 engine bay actually has MORE cubic room than the e32 because of the shape of the strut towers.
This in mind, I began removing e34 bits and replacing them with e32 bits. First was the brake booster. The hydrobooster went in it's place. I deleted the ABS because it would be a total fuck to get to work. It didn't work on the e34 anyway....even though the lights were all off and everything seemed fine.
While doing this, I had the engine on a cart and I resealed the top end. new valve seals, etc. I'd already been through the things when it was in the 7. Oil pan gaskets, valve cover gaskets, intake mani gasket-gaskets....etc. New plugs, coils and distributor caps that weren't from 1988. All the ignition shit was original except the plugs. They were all Autolite....well....11 were. #12 was a OE bosch. About 1/3 of the Autolite plugs were hand tight to. Brilliant.
Anywho, got the engine all sealed up and clean....
These things are brilliant to work on. The forethought that went into them. I'm glad they have the bad stigma....I LOVE them.
So, after that and getting the brakes working on the touring, it was time to set the engine in place.
This was probably middle to late April? I can't remember. It's all a blur. Got all the electronics hooked up, put oil in it, and it fired up on the first goddamn crank. I literally jumped up and down like a little kid, clapping my hands and giggling. It was spectacular.
More work work work, got the cooling system squared away. The e32 firewall had a box set back into it for the heater hoses. The e34 does not. So It's tight there. Had to trim the hoses a bit. I got the LAST coolant overflow hose in North America, and 1 of 3 expansion tank hoses. Cooling system done, I focused on the accessory mounts. I used a spot weld drill and removed them all carefully from the 7. I then bolted them in to the accessories......air boxes, oil filter housing, PS res and distribution block, washer fluid res. Marked where the spot welds went, removed it all, ground the paint off, re-installed, and tacked them in. Done. After this I could pop the hood and front end back on.
So, it's running. Yay. Now I had to make an exhaust. So I did. It's using the stock exhaust down to the downpipes. They are two conjoined pipes for each bank. I merged them into two, 3" pipes, then thru a Y into one, 3" pipe all the way back to a Vibrant muffler with dual 3" outlets. It's a beautiful sound.
Then I was dicking with getting the clutch setup done....yadda yadda....It's a VAC S62 flywheel and OE clutch, with a 25mm flywheel spacer to account for the transmission adapter so the 420G could fit. It's tight, spaced back like that....but it works. Shift linkage and driveshaft was modified as needed. It's all perfect.
I installed the driveline Friday morning, drove it for the first time at 3pm Friday the 20th of May....then left for Asheville, NC around 4:30. Pic was just before leaving the shop:
Made it no problem to the Vintage at 11:30pm.
Hooned around, showed off the car, and drove home that Sunday. Here's some pics I snapped in the driveway a few minutes ago after playing with the car today....
All I have to say in conclusion is:
There's still some tweaking to do, but all in all it's together and it's quick. I'll keep updated as things happen....but yeah....I did a swap and drove it. Suck it v8 e30.
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