How many have done a S38 swap

Sun Oct 11, 2009 9:19 pm

As topic say,,

would like to hear from those who have done this ,, and what they did ,, to fix their problems,,

Regards,

ps,, mine is running fine ,, nothing to blame ,,
just wanted to hear others opinion

Mon Oct 12, 2009 11:19 am

Mine is not finished yet, so I cant say how it works, but I can tell what I have done so far.
I used B36 and customized the firewall, so that the engine comes 15cm further to the back than original M20. With that I shifted some of the weight to the back and gained some space in the front, so that I can use radiator in normal position and electric fan behind radiator, not in front. However that complicated many other things. I had to customize oil pan, relocate brake booster for 5cm and make custom engine mounts and probably some other things I dont remember. So a lot of work, but I hope that in the end it will be worth it.
My car will be track only, and mostly for drifting so the weight balance is more important than in the road car, so I wanted to make it the best way I could.

Mon Oct 12, 2009 12:58 pm

My S38B36 conversion has a modified firewall, custom engine mounts, modified front subframe, custom prop shaft, different sump, modified oil pickup pipe, intake plenum modified to give clearance to servo, M88/3 thermostat housing and modified hoses to suit, e28 oil filter housing and custom oil cooler hoses, e28 m5 exhaust manifolds, modified e28 m5 airbox, relocated ABS pump.

Luckily Hartge did all the work back in 1991.

Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:54 pm

eraserr wrote:Mine is not finished yet, so I cant say how it works, but I can tell what I have done so far.
I used B36 and customized the firewall, so that the engine comes 15cm further to the back than original M20. With that I shifted some of the weight to the back and gained some space in the front, so that I can use radiator in normal position and electric fan behind radiator, not in front. However that complicated many other things. I had to customize oil pan, relocate brake booster for 5cm and make custom engine mounts and probably some other things I dont remember. So a lot of work, but I hope that in the end it will be worth it.
My car will be track only, and mostly for drifting so the weight balance is more important than in the road car, so I wanted to make it the best way I could.

NICE mods,, would like to see pics,,

15 cm back.. is the most i have heard so far,,

Well done

Mon Oct 12, 2009 7:54 pm

Theo325 wrote:My S38B36 conversion has a modified firewall, custom engine mounts, modified front subframe, custom prop shaft, different sump, modified oil pickup pipe, intake plenum modified to give clearance to servo, M88/3 thermostat housing and modified hoses to suit, e28 oil filter housing and custom oil cooler hoses, e28 m5 exhaust manifolds, modified e28 m5 airbox, relocated ABS pump.

Luckily Hartge did all the work back in 1991.

Also nice project..

pictures .. ??

Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:09 pm

Here's rather a long thread with more info on the project so far:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... 05&start=0

Tue Oct 13, 2009 4:26 pm

S38B38 wrote:NICE mods,, would like to see pics,,

15 cm back.. is the most i have heard so far,,

Well done

Sadly I didnt make any photos when the engine was in the car. But now it is in parts waiting for rebuild, so I cant make any interesting photos. However I have some that show some details, but are in low quality because of the phone camera.

PHOTOS

Some of the things I forgot to mention. Because of the position and modified oil pan, I dont have to lower the subframe so it doesnt affect the suspension geometry. The other good thing is that the engine clears the hood, not by much, but it does

I dont know if it is exactly 15cm, but somwhere in that region. It was a compromise with the oil pump pickup and the size of the gearbox tunnel and the size of the prop shaft. The shaft is from E36 automatic, which is just the right length, so only the middle bearing must be changed.

I did most of the things last year, so the memory is not fresh anymore and I dont remember all the problems I had to overcome and all compromises to make.

Tue Oct 13, 2009 8:22 pm

When me and my friend did the engine conversion ,, we ran in a lot of unknown , closed doors, but we could open them all and now the ,, car have been running perfectly,, after a cylinder-head rebuild for 18 monts ago,, and flying,,

love the torque

Wed Oct 14, 2009 1:56 pm

S38B38 wrote:When me and my friend did the engine conversion ,, we ran in a lot of unknown , closed doors, but we could open them all and now the ,, car have been running perfectly,, after a cylinder-head rebuild for 18 monts ago,, and flying,,

love the torque

Do you have any thread with your project and photos? It would be interesting to see what you did.

Wed Oct 14, 2009 4:39 pm

I'd be interested to hear your solution's to the cooling system on your conversions chaps?

It's where I'm up to on mine and I do have a solution with an aftermarket rad but I'm thinking of getting the E28 rad and thermostat housing to keep it all BMW...

Wed Oct 14, 2009 9:09 pm

eraserr wrote: Do you have any thread with your project and photos? It would be interesting to see what you did.

tomson wrote:I'd be interested to hear your solution's to the cooling system on your conversions chaps?

It's where I'm up to on mine and I do have a solution with an aftermarket rad but I'm thinking of getting the E28 rad and thermostat housing to keep it all BMW...

1) the engine mounts.. by them from www.300mm.de
MABY,,you have to rework on the exhaust side, and weld together for maximum strengt,, i had to,,
use M30 rubber with heat shield (i used poly first but changed to oem )

2) you MUST lower the subframe so the bonnet can get closed,
i got the idea from www.300mm.de, and a lathe made them for me

3) Brakebooster,, i have E34m5+ mastercylender (25 mm ) and it works absolutly great,, you can use IX also,, but the brakefluid glas may possible have to be moved,, if so then use the M60 fluid lines, very clever,, i redrilled 4 holes in the firewall to get the boster 1/2" ca 12 mm to the left ,, because of the space to the intake manifold,, very tight

4) BALLJOINT from treehouseracing,, A MUST because of tight fit,, the headers have no chance giong by otherwise,, the even have to get a minor modification ,, close to the collector

5) use oem M20 oilcooler,, with some fittings reworked

6) COOLING.,,,,,, i costom made a radiator who fits direct in the frame front of the oem radiator,, the radiator MUST have as long cooling way as possible,, like inside the radiatoris a s so the water goes from left to right on the way down

7) cooling fan,, well from an E34 540 A/C just blowing reverse because it is installed front of the engine/ behind the radiator

some pictures..

Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:10 pm

@S38B38: thanks for the photos! Nice conversion, quite similar to others I saw on the net.

@tomson: because of my engine position, I have enough space in front of the engine, so that I can use normal radiator position. I used E30 324td one, because it is as large as it can fit in E30 without modifications. It very similar to E36 M3 radiator, but a not not as deep. I hope it will be able to handle its job. Because of the extra space I can use S38B36 thermostat housing and an electric fan from E60, that comes between rad and engine.

I'm sorry but I dont have any better photos in the moment that would show this things, because everything is in parts.