The 3 day - E30 M50B25NV Swap

[MPD47]

So I've got a bit of time off work as the shop I work at is closed Monday and Tuesday. Sadly my track Porsche is not running right now and I have several track days (and a few drift days) that I'm already signed up for at Dunnville, TMP, Nelson Ledges, and WGI, which leaves me in a bit of a tough spot due to the various states of my project cars.... Anyway, Andre (coldaccord) knew I was in the market and contacted me about a friend of his who got Tboned in his e36. My coworker Justin who is building an e36 and I went up and picked the car up from him I'm taking the engine, wiring, trans, driveshaft, and a few other misc things while Justin takes the suspension and various other parts he wants. I'll post photos as I come in for breaks/food just gonna knock this out over the next 3 days and track it this coming weekend (both drift and grip @ Dunnville this Saturday along with a catered BBQ if anyone wants to come hang out).

Hour 2

The donor car with the e30, tent is due to the excessive amount of rain....



Front end is off, wiring harness is disconnected, throttle cables disconnected, fuel lines, etc. Have to pull the exhaust, driveshaft, and part of the shifter linkage and then it comes out to get the e34 and e28 parts attached to it.

I'm going to get my corner weight scales and racelogic box out and do some baseline weight distribution/overall weight/performance numbers for the M20 before I pull it and then check again when the M50 goes in.

[So Live]

Why not on BE ? Looks like fun dude. If you need any pointers, let me know, ive done this swap before.

Good luck getting it done for the event!!!!

[MPD47]

I JUST posted it on BE, I was on my computer in my garage and I dont dare to load BE on there. lol.






Engine is out, started cleaning it, started working on wiring the e36 engine harness to connect to the e30 chassis harness. In for the night to have some beers and relax, only so much time out in the rain I can take (even with the tent the water pools in a few places under the car, d'oh!)

[KangamangusDriver]

keep us posted!

Looks like it is coming right along!!

[MPD47]

Racelogic runs completed for stock M20B25.

0-60 - 7.2
0-100 - 21.5
0-100-0 - 28.6
1/4 Mile - 15.5 @ 87.1

Did those about 6 times to get my best numbers. GPS based so you know it's accurate.

Throwing the car on the scales now to get weight distribution numbers and total stock wet weight (3/4 tank of gas).

Front 53.6%
Rear 46.3%
Total weight (3/4 tank of fuel): 2741

Tearing into the e30 as we speak, had to turn the pcar sideways in the barn to get the front of the e30 in due to the amount of boxes of shit I have sitting around right now, but atleast it got me out of the rain. Hopefully should have the e30 prepped, the wiring done, and the m50 prepped for tomorrow. More pics soon!

[sticksdaman]

subscribed!

[e30damen]

Good luck. It'll be fun

[elsabor67]

That's hot man. Good luck

[george graves]

Looking good.

I do find it funny that M50 swaps have become so common place that you have to try to pull one off in three days just to impress some one! Good work!

[EtaSport]

Looking good.

I do find it funny that M50 swaps have become so common place that you have to try to pull one off in three days just to impress some one! Good work!

day and a half!! starting temp was 20 degrees too. But my swap was so low buck, and i kept it as simple as possible.

[MPD47]

Ok, so I lied, it's going to be a 4 day swap. Got a ton done today, but I dont feel comfortable with how close the fan is to the radiator (when installed which it's not in these photos) so I refuse to run it like that. Gonna grab a thin electric tomorrow and toss that in place instead. Also going to wire up the connectors (see below) during lunch to make it a plug and play swap. Everything else is pretty much buttoned up other than an exhaust.... so I'm going to be driving it straight piped into Buffalo on Thursday to get it tightened up at Mufflerman. Should be entertaining





M20, good riddance.


Ireland Engineering springs :)


No, there were not any leaks or anything......


Need to finish wiring up the connectors tomorrow. That's the e30 engine harness connector (left), and the e36 body harness connector (right).



e36 pan (top) vs the e34 pan (bottom).


Transmission/driveshaft flex joint, damn things are never in one piece.




And finished my day with a garbage plate that Brent_Strong and Mark (neonglh) brought me :)

[evil_twin]

Wow, crazy! I'm doing an M52 swap in my e30 soon, I have an electric fan that is a puller right now, that I need to change to a pusher. What engine mounts are you going to be using?

[Jean]

Thumbs up!

[MPD47]

I used e28 m5 mounts.

[brandon11130]

sweet!! im shooting for 3 day swap myself. the car is my DD so im gunna get the m50 all assembled and bolted to the 260 with clutch and everything, bend the shift rod, make the plug etc etc.

then take off work friday, pull the m20 and trans and get as much ready as i can, then saturday put the motor in and finish it up on sunday and drive it to work on monday. hopfully it goes smoothly, this is my DD and my only car lol. kinda of ambitious but m50 swaps are becoming cake.