325i Engine into 316 lux

[TonyWilson]

I have 2 E30's, a 325 which i bought to learn how to drift and a 316 which i swapped for my old car and was planning on selling on.
The 316 is mint, everything works & the 325 runs great, no mechanical problems but the shell is beyond repair... So only 1 thing to do, put the 325 engine into the 316. I want to leave the 316 marked up as a 316 too.

The engine in the 325 is ready to be lifted out except for the propshaft which wont play ball & i've started work on the 316.

I'll keep posting pictures as i go along and i'm sure i'll come across some obstacles on the way but i'm sure with your help i will get the job done.

In the meantime here are some pictures of the job(s):

[Rav335uk]

I would read this first, as it for transplanting these engines into a 318 body.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... ic&t=83367

Have fun

[TonyWilson]

BEFORE CONNECTING ANY FRESH ENGINE LOOM INTO AN E30, CHECK PIN 20 ON BOTH SIDES OF THE C101.

Whats the 'C101'? And how do i know which pin number 20 is? I'm ok with the mechanical sides to everything but my electrics aint that good. I thought the looms were all plug and play?

[leeparkes]

you will need the prop and diff off the 325i

if i was in your shoes id drop the 325i engine out from underneath with the subframe and suspension still attached,
you could do the same with the rear beam

Where is the prop not playing ball?

EDIT; the c101 plug is the large round one next to the fuse box,pin 20 can be found by disconnecting the plug and looking inside,there are numbers next to the pins

[TonyWilson]

The prop is stuff as f#ck, tried spraying it with penetrating oil and even that wont budge it. I'm going to change the whole drivetrain and suspension, the 325 had Blistein and Spax suspension all round so that will be swapped too. Is it true you don't need to fit the rear brake discs? I'll keep them regardless but would be better to concentrate on getting car running and on the road.

[Rav335uk]

I did say have a read for a reason.
Dropping a m20b25 into a 316 is easy, but you have to watch the wiring side of things too, so you catch fire.
Better to be safe mate, than sorry

[punk_sy]

for drifting i would keep the 316 rear brakes as the hand brakes are loads better if you use it that is ! but saying that the 325 one might be better to fit a hydro.

[Brianmoooore]

I thought the looms were all plug and play?

So did I, before discovering this the hard way, shortly before I wrote the 'sticky'!

[TonyWilson]

Thanks for the heads up, i'll be carefull. Here is some pictures from today:

[TonyWilson]

EDIT; the c101 plug is the large round one next to the fuse box,pin 20 can be found by disconnecting the plug and looking inside,there are numbers next to the pins

Thankyou

[TonyWilson]

Finally got the battery in the boot and thankfully the wires all reach. Had to drill a hole into the body to fit a nut and bolt through to provide a fixing point for the earth.



Question though, how does the prop shaft come out on the 325? The haynes manual says you have to unbolt the flanges but a bloke i met reckons they slide off when the differential is dropped.

[Rav335uk]

Unbolt it from the diff and the box, and take the centre bearing out.That's it.

[TonyWilson]

I was afriad you were going to say that, i tried that today and the bolts were well stiff

[Rav335uk]

WD40 them over night then try again, oh and i mean soak them

[TonyWilson]

I'll spray them now and try again tommorow night. Cheers Rav

[Rav335uk]

Good luck Tony

[TonyWilson]

I've just tried to get the prop shaft off again tonight and i'm still not winning, does it definately have to unbolt?

[stonesie]

Get another ring spanner linked into the one on the nut and that will increase your leaverage, I had the prop off mine recently to do a center bearing and they are tight, they have to be.

[MrBenn]

I've just tried to get the prop shaft off again tonight and i'm still not winning, does it definately have to unbolt?

I'm afraid so

I've had one before that was well seized on, but with enough time/sweat/cursing it came off. Have you tried pushing against the spanner and then hitting it with a hammer, sometimes a few deft blows with a hammer can shift the rust that's making life difficult. Good luck!

[TonyWilson]

Almost got the prop shaft off, the 4 bolts holding the shaft to the differential are off but the 3 bolts at the other end are really tight. Anyways the car is on a trailer now so i can strip everything else off and not have to worry about how were going to get the car onto the trailer. On saturday were going to get everything off of it so on monday we can take the car down for scrap.

[TonyWilson]

The engine never came out like i'd planned so i got the big tools out. Used an angle grinder to cut the front end off, then carefully used spanners to remove the clutch linkage and gear linkage and the engine mounts. I decided to keep the steering rack as a spare and seems as though i'd already taken the wheel hubs and suspension, getting the rack off would be easy and it was. We unbolted the cross member and then the engine was ready to come out. We lowered it onto the floor after taking the mounts off then strapped a rope around a point on the bottom of the engine and the other end to a V8 landrover and hauled the engine, gearbox and prop shaft out in a oner. Job done. The white car has now gone to scrap and got £54 for it. Now comes the fun bit lol.

[TonyWilson]

Picture update:
Red beemer is in the works garage being worked on, the white beemer has been scraped but not before we had some artistic fun with it


Got £54 for weighing in the white beemer

[TonyWilson]

I feel like i'm starting to win now, everything i took off the white beemer were well tight but working on the red beemer is beautiful, This car must have been looked after as most of the nuts and bolts i've removed so far have been wire brushed and greased before being put on. The exhaust is almost new and has got brand new wish bones on. I've started stripping the exhaust off, heat shields and the prop shaft bolts are off already, alot easier than the prop shaft on the white beemer. The engine should be out by friday so early next week i can start work on putting the 325 engine into the car. Not before i've cleaned the engine and the engine bay 1st.

I have everything to finsh the car except for the exhaust. The middle box i foolishly gave away and the back box i sold because i wanted a standard one. Does anyone have a centre box and back box for a 1988 325i they want to sell??

[TonyWilson]

Update: 316 Engine/Gearbox out

[TonyWilson]

QUESTION FOR THE WIRING BOFFINS:

Where the wiring harness enters the car there is the ECU plug and on the 325 loom there is a block connector which isn't on the 316 loom. What is this plug for? The 325 shell has been scrapped now so i don't know what it plugged into, i was hoping the 316 loom had the same block connector. I will get a picture up tommorow.

[Brianmoooore]

Unless you have aircon or a switchable auto gearbox, you won't need to plug anything into it.

[TonyWilson]

Unless you have aircon or a switchable auto gearbox, you won't need to plug anything into it.

Great, sounds promising. A friend of mine said to me today that some re-wiring needs to be done for the starter motor, is this true?

Thanks for the reply Brianmoooore

[Brianmoooore]

A friend of mine said to me today that some re-wiring needs to be done for the starter motor, is this true?

Unless the 316 was an auto, no re-wiring required!

[TonyWilson]

No they were both manual

[TonyWilson]

UPDATE:

325 engine is in and bolted up tight,

Radiator and coolant system fitted except for the resevour tank, Need to add a screw to secure the tank in place,

Fuel pipes connected (Not sure if there the correct way round though),

Power steering connected except for one pipe which has a funny 90 degree bend in, going to fit 316 pump to 325 engine,

wiring harness fitted, Pin 20 (Brown wire) in C101 plug cut and tapped up, Now i need some advice on a live wire i have that doesn't seem to go anywhere. On a 325 the battery is in the boot so in the engine bay where the wire comes through what wires connect to this big wire? I have a 1 wire that takes a live and goes the the fuse box, I have another which takes a live for the wiring harness and i have another chunky wire which comes off the round battery clip, i think this might have been for the 316 and im comfusing myself. Or even if any of you have a picture showing the arrangment that would be helpfull.

[Brianmoooore]

A large black wire goes to the outer terminal of the starter motor solenoid, and a smaller red wire goes to the fusebox, both from the large phantom battery + terminal on the bulkhead.
Another red wire (possibly totaly covered by a black sleeve) goes to the engine loom, and this connects to the smaller phantom battery + terminal.
There is another wire coming from the engine loom that may also be totaly covered with a black sleeve. Under the sleeve it is brown/orange, and connects to the earth terminal on top of the RH suspension turret.

[TonyWilson]

I think judging by what you just said there, that the wire i have left over goes to the starter motor. Thanks Brian

[TonyWilson]

That wire does in fact go to the starter motor thankyou Brian, but which nut does it screw onto? I already have a wires bolted to each of the bolts, does the outer solenoid have 2 wires bolted to it?

I wish i took pictures and labelled everything before i stripped the cars. Would have made my life a whole lot easier... Lesson learnt there

[Brianmoooore]

The battery wire bolts to the outer large terminal. Another wire goes on from here to the alternator. This is simply a logical materials and cost saving, to avoid having to run the alternator output right back to the battery.

[TonyWilson]

Nice one,

All of the engine harness is officially wired up,

Battery topped up and on charge,

I took the powersteering pumps off and compared them, there both the same except the pump off the 325 was on a 90 degree angle due to the shape of the engine so i managed to turn it back so that the pipes line up. Thats all finished except i need to mount the resevour closer to the pump die to the extra 2 cylinders moving the pump forward, lol,

Accelerator cable fitted,

Clutch hoses connected and tight,

I went to fit the front suspension except the top of the strut on the 325 strut doesn't line up with the car so i'm going to swap the tops of the suspension struts over,

The cars interior is a back to normal,

Bonnet straightened up and on tight,

Getting there, next step is to work under the rear of the car, differential, driveshafts, etc.