S50 and LHD

[Jhonno]

Quick question..

Anyone know if you still have the exhaust manifold issues if you use a LHD shell to do an S50 conversion?

[buster]

probably not no.Its only the shaft i think that gets in the way,i think.I havent got round to fitting mine up yet ,should be doing it this weekend when i change the rack for a e36 one.

[Jhonno]

do tell how you get on with how you get on with the e36 rack.. its something i wanna do also so you can work it all out for me

[jmc330i]

You obviously wont have the steering clearance issue with LHD, but the front manifold will still hit the crossmember and the No.6 pipe on the rear manifold will need modding to fit.
The guys in the USA 'notch' the subframe to save modding the manifold, but Im not sure Id be happy doing that.

There will also be probs where the manifolds sit in between the floor and gearbox area. With my rear manifold fitted, the collector and pipe was pressed hard up against the floor/gearbox tunnel. Again the US guys hammer the floor to get round this, but its not something I wanted to do.

The E36 rack makes it a little harder to fit the S50 manifolds because the steering joint is moved closer to the engine, leaving less room to fit the pipes through. Its possible, Ian has it on his and its close to fitting on mine - if I ever get some time off work I might get it finished

[Jhonno]

so no real advantage to LHD then if the manifold still needs modding

[jmc330i]

Only the fact its less modding to the manifold.

And it would be easier to bolt a big turbo in there without the steering in the way