Beemerlad's M52 Chromie

[E30BeemerLad]

I have neither a bench or a vice mate

[DanThe]

Nice one bruv

Dont forget to pull the rad cowl out

[daimlerman]

Good to see this coming together!
Looks like you need a bit of Dulux rightness around the top of the slam panel....

[DanThe]

If this is brake fluid you want to be getting it cleaned off with some solvent before it starts looking like the area under the clutch master cylinder in the engine bay

[E30BeemerLad]

yeah I've given that a quick swill.


Just ordered the 55mm AVO's, hope they ain't too low for the sump

[Jhonno]

They will be fine.. Mine is looooow.. The sump is fine!

[stup86]

Dont forget to pull the rad cowl out

Didn't know this was required for a 24v conversion.

Glad I read this now!

[DanThe]

It is if you want to fit a fan in front of the rad, the cowl is a git to get out once the engine is in

[gareth]

They will be fine.. Mine is looooow.. The sump is fine!

not sure how low mine is but on almost every road south of scotland it's fine. however 'spirited' driving on some of the more interesting single track sections left my sump/undertray looking like this:



neatly trimmed for perfect underbody aerodynamics

note to self: raise coilovers before next years roam, they''re there for a reason!

[town325i]

Even my m20 sump took a battering but that is no where near as low as an m50 sump

[leeparkes]

You sure thats jacks strong enough Gareth

[gareth]

Even my m20 sump took a battering but that is no where near as low as an m50 sump

another reason to have a M30 then.

You sure thats jacks strong enough Gareth

well spotted!
it's the heaviest 1 ton jack i've ever seen, but it will go under my car (at about 70mm drop maybe?) and lift it to about 450mm in one hit and will happily jack up a hilux.

i can however only just lift the thing

[E30BeemerLad]

Well the bits are coming together.

M52 manifolds and downpipes arrived yesterday and today the AVO springs arrived - bloody good service from Europerformance as I ordered those online on bank hol monday evening. Also prop centre bearing and mount arrived today.

So I can get the front end back together and then I'll drop the donk in. Got a lad coming to collect the M10 on Sunday and it's sat on the floor in front of the car, so the car has to be rolling by Sunday otherwise the M10 is going nowhere.

[Speedtouch]

You could always roll it on the trolley jack, if need be...

[E30BeemerLad]

driveway is a bit crap and turns into gravel near the front so it needs to be on wheels. Gives me incentive to crack on. It's no real drama to fit the springs and bolt up the struts and fit the front arms really is it.

Could do with getting the M3 eccentric bushes pressed into the lolipops off the chromie so all the front end is just done in one hit

[Speedtouch]

Fairy muff; having done this recently on a Minor Traveller's front end, I know where you're coming from, so best of luck with it all

[DanThe]

M30's and morris travellers

WTF is this thread turning into!

[Speedtouch]

A proper Scout Leader-fest; where's my woggle?

[town325i]

A proper Scout Leader-fest; where's my woggle?

peedo fest you mean

Lee i hope my M50 conversion isnt finished before your chromie is done

[E30BeemerLad]

I'm aiming for it done by the next bank holiday weekend

[town325i]

About the same sort of time as me then

Im struggling to get my arse in to gear to take the old engine out

[E30BeemerLad]

Got a wee bit done tonight when I got in from work.

Got the arms bolted upto the subframe, council dynamics ARB back in place, then fitted the new springs to the front struts.







BUT, I have hit a small snag. I have obviously been a bit of an animal when I removed the arms from the touring and smacked the top of the thread on the passenger side outer balljoint. So I can't get the nut to start on the thread.

The threads look pretty fine. now I haven't got a tap & die set, but would one of these usually have a die fine enough to just sort the thread out at the top? If not, what is the solution here boys?

This is the only thing that is stopping me from finishing the front end and getting it sat on the wheels and also dropping the M52 back in.

Also, having a mental moment with the M52 exhaust manifolds (which I haven't yet fitted upto the engine), but does the longer manifold bolt to the front 3 or the back 3 cylinder ports?

I'll curse myself here, but I really do reckon this thing will be about ready for action at the end of the month.

[johnl320]

Use a thread file or needle file to clean the end of the threads up. We use these a work sometimes. May go fine enough

http://www.drapertools.com/b2c/b2citmds ... kmno=68703

[stup86]

The manifolds fit this way round:



Hope that helps mate

[DanThe]

Thread file will sort the animaled ball joint

http://www.google.co.uk/product_url?q=h ... cQgwgwADgA

Longer one to the front

Please get some waxoil or at the very least old engine oil on those rusty bits!
Good progress!

[E30BeemerLad]

Nice one, I'll go & get one of those files tomorrow morning, need this bitch back on it's wheels.

Which rusty bits are you on about Dan, I'm not covering the whole car in engine oil

[DanThe]

Bucket of oil and a big brush

[E30BeemerLad]

She's sat on 4 wheels again now

Will wait until the lad has been tomorrow and collected the M10 and then get the donk dropped in.

[town325i]

What you doing about the exhaust lee?

[E30BeemerLad]

I've got a virgin pair of M52 manifolds and some downpipes, going to see what I can get away with. Dezzy has volunteered to bring the welder through. I plan to mate it upto the 325 2 piece system I was using on the touring. I will probably get away with the rear branch not needing modifying as I have the modified steering UJ setup, so no bell end donut affair to worry about.

Anyway, the engine & box are now in

Back end up in the air


Ready for action





In she goes sailor



On the mounts



Now it is in, I will have a play with the manifolds and see what fun I'm in for.

[Cook318IS]

wooot!!! no hanging around as much this time nice one! How long do you think it will take you to get it on the road again?

My manfolds didnt need to get chopped to bring them closer to the engine with my uj.

[Daf318is]

This seems to be going a touch quicker than the touring

Good mornings work there by the looks of things

[E30BeemerLad]

End of the month and I hope she'll be ready for some rent in the screen.

Jobs left are:

1-Get all the wiring etc connected up
2- remove complete rear end and fit touring rear end with LSD etc
3- remove fuel tank & replace with 63ltr one
4- replace front to rear fuel pipes & brake pipes
5- replace prop & fit new centre bearing & mount
6- sort exhaust system

general finishing off jobs etc etc

[oldroydsr4]

How does it sit on the avos?

[E30BeemerLad]

How does it sit on the avos?

Honestly can't say yet as I've not had it on the floor properly with the lump fitted. Still got the comedy ride height rear end on. Pushed it back off the drive earlier today when it had no lump in and it had a good bit of rake even without the engine in.

Will be at least next weekend before it is sat properly I reckon.

Anyway, got a little bit more done after getting the lump sat on the mounts.

First of all I fitter a replacement blower motor as the chromie one only worked on speed #4. Then got ECU in place and connected up, connected a lot of the sensors etc on the engine, heater pipes connected, fitted the rad and the electric fan.

Not really happy with how the rad sits compared to in the touring (which used plastic brackets either side of the front panel for it to sit on). This sits a fraction lower and consequently the top bracket doesn't hold it firm so you can wobble it back and forth a little.

I'm pleased with where the sump sits though incase it is a little low at the front end.



I've left the comedy 4 pot single horn



Went to fit the inlet manifold and I can't for the life of me find the damn nuts that hold it on, so it is just in place at the mo. That's where I ended up.



Despite no spare engines laying about and some other bits now on the car, the garage is still an utter shithole