M50 swap - M52 manifold query

Post Sat Oct 18, 2008 9:36 pm

Right, the M52 manifolds that came with my M50 setup are not in good shape. The welding is messy and there are loads of blobs inside the headers near the flange. But not only that, the angle of the downpipe is totally wrong on the rear branch as it won't clear the gearbox so basically they don't fit.

Now I am aware that a bit of chopping is needed of the rear branch right near the head flange to clear the steering column, but here is my question.....

I have just picked up another set of manifolds which are as they came off the donor vehicle.

What is the best thing to do with the actual downpipes? Do i get hold of the front part of say an E34 system or something with similar flanges and bolt them straight to the M52 manifold?

Or do I get brutal and chop off the flanges and just weld pipe there? like my scrap i have already in the pic below?

Post Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:20 pm

Welding the front pipes onto the manifolds is the best way, ive done it both ways, keeping the flanges is a lot of work as they have to be moved anyway to get around the steering coupling/incorporate them into the E30 system, so just bin them and give yourself a lot more room to thread the pipe work through, you need to be using a 3 piece system though

Heres how they should look

Post Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:29 pm

where do you locate the lambda probe in all of this mate?

Post Sat Oct 18, 2008 10:32 pm

Towards the back, round about where the rusty welds are in your pic

Post Sun Oct 19, 2008 12:58 pm

Am I reading this correctly? Obtain a 3 piece E30 system and mount in the usual manner.Then adapt the front pipe and/or the tubular manifold so that they fit? What sort of fabrication is needed,please?

Post Sun Oct 19, 2008 1:52 pm

I didnt mod the manifolds but changed the steering linkage.

Post Sun Oct 19, 2008 10:41 pm

The steering linkage mod seems a lot easier than cutting the manifold to death!
why isnt this popular with the M50 swap?

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 1:26 am

where did you get the parts for that steering linkage from? ive been looking for places that sell stuff like that for ages.

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:42 am

leeparkes wrote:The steering linkage mod seems a lot easier than cutting the manifold to death!
why isnt this popular with the M50 swap?

For a start he's using an E30 steering rack, manual at that.
Looking at the position of the front manifolds rear flange a frontpipe isnt going to bolt up.
If you look at the engine mounting stud/nut it looks like the engine has been jacked up with spacers on the exhaust side.

AFAIK the conversion was never completed so you cant say "this is how I did it"

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:29 am

leeparkes wrote:The steering linkage mod seems a lot easier than cutting the manifold to death!
why isnt this popular with the M50 swap?

The M50 engine not only sits at a different angle to M20,but the head is wider as well,so regardless of the 'rack/coupling used,the manifold will require some fabrication to fit a downpipe.Dan,does the entire manifold/downpipe as shown in your piccie fit from the bonnet end of the car? The hottuning manifold you saw on my 2.7 the othe week came in three parts,two headers and a twinpipe crossover section that fits around the gearbox,looking at the room on my conversion,a similar arangement may be easier to fit?

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 2:15 pm

For a start he's using an E30 steering rack, manual at that.
Looking at the position of the front manifolds rear flange a frontpipe isnt going to bolt up.
If you look at the engine mounting stud/nut it looks like the engine has been jacked up with spacers on the exhaust side.

AFAIK the conversion was never completed so you cant say "this is how I did it"
_________________

I am using a e30 manual rack, the e34 down pipes bolt on with a bit of modifying.
The engine is not jacked up, the nut is not on fully.
I still have the car its running and just needs to be sprayed.

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:38 pm

I thought you sold the lump ed

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 6:40 pm

Those manifolds go in from above or underneath

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 7:52 pm

I sold my 2.8 parts.
I fitted the manifolds from the top then fitted the steering linkage.

where did you get the parts for that steering linkage from? ive been looking for places that sell stuff like that for ages.

The top uj and shaft is from e34 but because I used a manual rack I used a ford Ka lower uj, if you use a power rack you use another e34 uj.

Post Mon Oct 20, 2008 11:59 pm

Are the splines different between the manual and power e30 racks then?

Also: I've noticed that the E30 steering column splines are course and the rack splines are fine pitched. How do the E34 u/j's couple to these? I started to look into it all but never got the parts in my hands to compare. I want to build a solid effort like the one above so as to clear and surive the heat of my S50 manifolds.

Ta.

Jai

Post Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:29 am

One of the issues with the steering coupling mod is joining all the bits together.I certainly do not trust my welding skills on such a safety critical area.When I fitted power rack and pinion to my Daimler this was also an issue. Most of the kits on the market offered a new lower u/j and a short length of bar,you cut the existing coupling and welded the two ends together.I eventualy bought a kit marketed by David Manners Ltd(Oldbury) and made by Vicarage(one of the major players in Mk 2 Jaguar rebuilds) solely because they offered two replacement u/j's and a stainless steel cold drawn bar splined on each end to suit.This made the job more or less plug and play. Enough off topic,I think I have located a pair of manifolds and I found an old front pipe at the back of the garage so I can practice with that,before splashing out on a complete 3 part system!!

Post Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:21 pm

Are the splines different between the manual and power e30 racks then?

Yes the one on the left is a power rack the right one a manual rack.

Post Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:55 am

I got round this on my 2nd M50 conversion buy using 328i manifold and mounting the back one upside down, and cutting the manifold where the 3 join into one and re routing it to run next to the front manifold. Made it really easy to join into one pipe for the rest of the system.

Manifolds no where near the steering coloumn as well which is a bonus. I'll get some pics and show. Been running coming upto a year now and had no issues with it.

Post Thu Nov 06, 2008 5:28 pm

EOS wrote:I got round this on my 2nd M50 conversion buy using 328i manifold and mounting the back one upside down, and cutting the manifold where the 3 join into one and re routing it to run next to the front manifold. Made it really easy to join into one pipe for the rest of the system.

But a 325 uses a twin pipe system,or am I missing something here?

Post Fri Nov 07, 2008 6:53 am

Yeah sorry I should have continued, from the manifold theres two pipes that run parrelle to each other but i joined them into one single larger diameter pipe for the rest of the system.

As i was using a 318i shell i didn't have a 325 system to join it onto, but seeing as exhaust piping is so cheap i just made the rest of the system.

Post Sat Nov 15, 2008 11:37 am

My conversion is coming along well, going to isc racing on tuesday for them to have a play with, as they may take on future m50 conversions. They are fabricating my front part of the exhaust nto join the m52 manifolds, it just the lambda sensor i need to sort out and position somewhere. Where is the best place for it to go? anyone know how much a new sensor is?