Right, so, where was I?? I seem to be getting into more and more chaos every day and only getting a little further each time. Most of the difficulty in this engine swap and chassis upgrade seems to be in the fecking logistics, rather than the actual nuts and bolts of it all. It doesn’t help that I’m anally retentive and want everything to be just right. I’m kinda having to abandon that ethic (slightly, you can still work on my car without getting very dirty at all!) in the name of getting it done. I’m VERY aware that I have less than ten days to finish, and there’s no doubt in my mind that time will have to contain another bout of ordering and waiting!
I’m in the lucky position of having a team of zoners that have now tried almost every iteration of this swap so have various and all viable ways of doing things.
So: What have I been up to?
Well:
Engine is in!!! HOOFARKINGRAY!
Gearbox in.
Coolant hoses 85% finished.
Steering is in and piped up
Gearchanger is in (nice short throw).
Rear beam is off, stripped down and one of the adjusters is welded on (more tomorrow)
328i prop with E30 centre bearing is in.
Dipstick is modified, bent and tab welded on to fix it to the plenum.
Firstly I got the lovely wrapped manifolds on the engine on the stand.. Looked the nut sacks! Then we bolted up the JBR flywheel, M5 friction plate and M3 pressure plate. The gearbox got treated to a fresh oil change with dextron 3 and was bolted up, along with a new release bearing (a friend had one die and take out a clutch and flywheel so thought I’d better invest!). Luckily both Dan and I have no need for them fangle dangle clutch centering tools so it slid in like a buttered cock in the prison kitchens.
After pretty much no time at all we had her on her mounts but in need of gearbox mounts. At this point the funds hadn’t cleared so I still was yet to even order any useful parts for the swap!
Funds arrived so I ordered a sh!teload of bits”¦ Notably, new beam bushes, Bilstein B6 E36 M3 shocks (£££££), belts, plugs, Uwe’s topmount adjusters, E36 track rod ends, M20 temp sender, M3 bulkhead covers, few brake line clips, various bolts for the engine and engine bay, oil cooler mounts, 14”a fan, gearshift bearings, TTV (Johnno’s group buy ones) ARB mount reinforcement plates and camber adjuster tabs. There’s more but I wont bore you with inconsequential this and that’s.
The boys from Big Bavarian Beauties sourced me a 328i prop so I went over and picked that up (in the worlds slowest Combo van!). They’ve got me most of the bits I thought I was going to have a nightmare to find so big thanks to them! Dan and I swapped the bearing for the late E30 one. You don’t so much fit it in reverse, as fit it the same way as the original E30 one, it’s just that the E36 props are reversed compared to E30 ones. For the sake of future swaps, the ZMRoadster/Coupe prop can also be used. Mine was trashed in the accident that wrote off the car though.
The gear linkage is actually one from a 325i I believe. It was kicking around at BBB so I grabbed it in case it fitted. Turns out that when combined with the ZM shifter it’s just about perfect! The throw is nice and short, both forwards and backwards, and side to side. The only concern is that there is literally 1mm clearance to the prop! You can bang down on the stick and hear a ”˜ting!’ as it hits the prop. I can’t see it being a problem at all, the prop is smooth there so nothing will clash/break even if you did it at speed (I guess!!). I was a little concerned so fitted 1mm washers between the gearbox mount and the chassis just to make sure it’ll be ok. The new bearings/bushing should keep it all in order, if not I’ll get a slightly shorter shifter. We shall see.
One thing worth noting is that you should fit the drivers side steering rack bolt upwards. With the engine in you can’t get it out otherwise! Dan and I had to lift the engine to get the bolt out so I could fit the spacer washers required for the E36 rack swap. Only a minor set-back, but annoying none the less. Also, the BTB manifold still sits VERY close to the coupling so the bolt can hit the collector. Dan’s has a lower UJ that has a bolt and nut which even shortened contacts. Mine has an encapsulated sleeve that is a tiny bit narrower. I cut the bolt to length and hopefully there should be no contact.
Once the engine was in we noticed that I had loads of clearance to the servo at the plenum. I moved mine across 60mm using the same method as Dameon. Dan didn’t but his still fits. Scratching our heads we summised that it must be the difference in runner lengths between the 3.2 and 3.0 engines. Just something worth noting.
We made the coolant pipes from the head to the heater matrix out of 90 degree elbows and the E36 heater pipes. It turned out quite neatly but I CANNOT stress enough what a ball ache it is to re-fit the grommet with the thick silicone elbows in there!! I still have to fit the jubilee clips in the cockpit (he he I said cock-pit), It’s sooo tight.
I shall smatter the above post with pics when they upload to keep the readers interest.. I'll also take more tomorrow (didn't get any today) and post a COOOOL one of burning the beam bushes out!
Nunight people! Prey fro sunshine!
PS Does anyone know how I can get an E36 hub and disk from Coventry to Essex quickly and cheaply? My friend got some ridiculous quotes from the post office and has gone off the idea of sending them!! I dont fancy driving up to pick them up, it'll waste time.
Look forward to seeing the progress!
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