Beemerlad's M52 Chromie

[E30BeemerLad]

Here's a pic of the morsels waiting to go on the front. Showing the one strut housing I have given a tidy up and one brake caliper. Obviously the others are getting done too

Wheel bearings/ ABS hubs on their way and also new back plates and then it'll all be ready to go back together. Thank god for air tools when it came to getting those 36mm front nuts off with the struts off the car.

[E30BeemerLad]

They are far from perfect but an improvement and should look pukka with the new green Weitec springs and matching green ARB. What a tart lol. The underside is gonna look a hell of a lot better than the topside

[initial_g]

looking good will certainly add a touch of anti corrosion too and keep em lookin fress for afew year

[E30BeemerLad]

Right, wheel bearings arrived today, picked up the back plates and assorted nuts from the dealers after work, got my rags on and am about to get out in the garage and tidy up the other strut and caliper and put the other one back together.

maybe some pics later

Actually feeling quite positive about this car now, you know what, it may actually be finished very soon

Who needs an exhaust system, think i'll run a pair of scaff tubes as a side exit

[punk_sy]

lol do the scaff tubes its great when you just get the urge to work on your car then the next day cant be arsed lol well i keep doing bits then leaving it for days .

im moving workshop soon tho bit closer to home and better building so shud be aat your stage soon !

[E30BeemerLad]

lol, people are normally at my stage after a weekend

But to be fair, pretty much all of the suspension, bushes etc and brake pipes are brand new and it has had a good tidy up underneath so hopefully no MOT concerns for a while

[Bob_S]

come on lee I want to see those wheels back on the floor!!!

[E30BeemerLad]

come on lee I want to see those wheels back on the floor!!!

K'in hell mate, give me a chance

Learning as I go here too by the way. Although when you get down to it, it's not rocket science is it.

Well tonight I spent a pleasant few hours in the garage, annoying the hell out the neighbours no doubt with my friend the angle grinder and the compressor and windy gun.

Here's the passenger side strut housing with it's new friend the B6 inverted damper all snug.

Shame it then gets all covered up by the rubber boot

Glad I have air tools as even using the gun it took some time to get the spring compressed enough to get the damper rod through the top plate, these B6 dampers are short.

Spring and top mount all on and new back plate and wheel bearing fitted



Can anyone spot the problem in this shot?

Tarted up caliper and carrier fitted, just mocked up as I found I had run out of threadlock for the mounting bolts. But I know where I'm at with this now and once the paint has dried on the other leg I'll get that one bolted together and then it'll be ready for fitting the new wishbones, eccentric rear polybushes and my god this thing will be sat on 4 wheels again (until I have to molest the rear end to fit the springs and dampers), which don't look like a lot of fun with all the shizzle to remove inside a touring to get to the top mounts.

[Dan320is]

Tarted up caliper and carrier fitted, just mocked up as I found I had run out of threadlock for the mounting bolts. But I know where I'm at with this now and once the paint has dried on the other leg I'll get that one bolted together and then it'll be ready for fitting the new wishbones, eccentric rear polybushes and my god this thing will be sat on 4 wheels again (until I have to molest the rear end to fit the springs and dampers), which don't look like a lot of fun with all the shizzle to remove inside a touring to get to the top mounts.

The rears are easy chap, just make sure you have a magnetic pick up tool because it's easy to drop the topmount nuts down into the car. Alternatively, stuff some rags in the large hole so the nuts wont drop down the hole.

[Bob_S]

no chances here lee, your taking longer than an epic thing with frostbite!! lol

glad to see you making progress.. those rears wont take long at all!!

[toby]

Can anyone spot the problem in this shot?

Do you mean this picture?

The hole for the front disc retaining screw doesn't line up?

[E30BeemerLad]

Can anyone spot the problem in this shot?

Do you mean this picture?

The hole for the front disc retaining screw doesn't line up?

Bingo!

Is this really a problem once the wheel is on and tightened up?

[Chris-W]

Not a problem at all.

[winx]

with the wms kit they don't line up either but is fine once the wheel is on.

If you take wheels off regularly it will be a pain as the disc spins on the hub making lining up bolt holes a pain, even worse if you have to have spacers for the wms kit

[daimlerman]

I find that the sodding little retaining screws rust firmly to the disc,I take Mr Angle Grinder to the face of the screw now when the disc is worn out and try to leave a stub for the new disc to sit on.

[Daf318is]

I go away for a week with work and come back to find out you did all this I almost died of shock! Nothing has happened for months and now all this Good stuff! Keep up the good work Lee

[E30BeemerLad]

Would have built up the other side today butI'm feeling sorry for myself with a cold and didn't fancy a day in a windswept garage.

Took delivery of a much better condition tailgate today and Alpina front valence/ spoiler.

Looking at getting out in the garage tomorrow and getting the other leg built up and then bolt on the new arms and get it back on 4 wheels.

Fitted the car bra to the bonnet

[daimlerman]

Ahhh,man flu,terrible sickness that woman does not suffer from!Car bra....very gay... I am trying to sort niggles with mine,current puzzle is why do the brakes apply themselves after the car has been running a while? And why does the clutch feel heavy with a cold engine but much lighter with a warm one? Did manage to bottom the cold running,fitted a new 'stat...£44.31

[E30BeemerLad]

I put a new stat and water pump in mine when I had the headgasket/ Baileys coolant moment last summer.

Now I've paid for them, I'd also like to announce there are a pair of Schrick cams to go in, allegedly these cams on another M50 with a remap were putting down 226 ponies, so I'll be a happy boy if I get that.

I'm also waiting to hear back from a friend who I know is a very capable welder who may be able to sort out the S50 manifold and turn that last primary tube as I would like to use the S50 mani if possible

[bodger]

Ahhh,man flu,terrible sickness that woman does not suffer from!Car bra....very gay... I am trying to sort niggles with mine,current puzzle is why do the brakes apply themselves after the car has been running a while? And why does the clutch feel heavy with a cold engine but much lighter with a warm one? Did manage to bottom the cold running,fitted a new 'stat...£44.31

might be nothing to do with your problem daimler but i once serviced my mums corsa diesel and mistook the brake reservoir for a power steering reservoir.so topped it up with power steering fluid and as the car warmed up the brakes would gradually apply themselves until the car wouldnt move.....half hour later it would be fine again until they warmed back up had to completely bleed the system a few times and change the master cylinder

obviously not saying you are as thick as me but i was told even slight contamination of the brake fluid can cause this, maybe run some fresh fluid through or could be a knackered master cyl

[daimlerman]

Proper thread hijack! Thanks,bodger,I fitted a new brake master because the pedal although firm,was slowly dropping to the floor.It was after this that the brakes started binding.I let a bit of fluid out of the new master yesterday via the unused port on it's bottom(ABS system) so I will see how it goes.

[E30BeemerLad]

Well, some progress to report on today. Started decorating the living room with the missus, but soon started cursing & swearing and she kicked me out to work on the car lol. Ain't she a diamond.

Finished bolting up the brakes on the front and got the wheels back on, another milestone. Quite like the stance on the front, only a 40mm drop and not forgetting I'm on 60 profile balloon tyres at the mo.

Can't be arsed to totally clean up the wheel houses, the factory underseal is still very well intact.

Then I thought I would unbolt the M52 manifold in order to have another look at the S50 manifold to see where I would need to butcher the rear primary and have a gander where the steering column is going to spoil the fun.

So I got the S50 out and got the rear branch into position and after some wiggling and cursing I actually got the damn thing on, well this changes everything and so I got the front branch out and then the fun started. Trying to get both manifolds into position is a royal pain in the arse and something I never hope to have to repeat. Process was ARB undone, remove driver side engine arm and jack engine on that side. After colossal fannying around it's on and I'm comfortable with the clearance I have on the steering column.



Need to finish off with the undersealing and general tidying up, but this shows where the pipes come down, not too low.



Hell I may even get this thing finished soon.

[e30topless]

looking good lee almost there

[E30Gheko]

Great work there fella! A real milestone indeed!

Quick question. I'm looking at your poly bushes on the front control arm and wondering how you got them into the lollipops? I'm having a nightmare trying to get mine in!

[E30BeemerLad]

I have no idea dude, I'm a lazy chancer and Bob_S did them for me

[E30Gheko]

No worries. I've looked again and I don't think they're the same as mine.

What's next then?

[leeparkes]

Ive been watching this thread from the start and with all the problems youve come across lets just say they all in the past,especially the mainfold headache!
Hope you enjoy finishing off this conversion/resto
best of luck!

[E30BeemerLad]

Thanks guys.

The manifold is a big relief, I wanted to stick with the S50 as I'm sure there are some gains to be had and the ports are certainly larger than the M52 ones. With the schrick cams and remapped ECU I hope to be knocking on the door of 230 ponies.

Next job is fit the x pipe which came with the manifold and then have a look at how I'm gonna get my 2 piece system mated up, obviously a bit of chopping and welding will be required. Then it's time to get the rear end in the air and get the koni dampers and the lowering springs fitted. Then we're onto fluids, fill coolant, fill and bleed brake and clutch systems and fit new front to rear brake pipe and fuel pipes. After that it's pretty much done and time to start worrying about the VIC check and mostly the MOT.

I'm pretty certain on the paint now, matt black, red wheels with whitewalls. Refurbing some cup style alloys at the mo.

[Jhonno]

Too be fair, the S50 manifold is too big for the M50.. Any gains if any, would be at the top of the rev range due to the huge step from the port size to the manifold primaries.. Mine went ok with it on though, and sounded great!

[Bob_S]

I'm no tuning god or anything and feel free to correct me but any gains to be had with the enlarged mani will surely be taken away by the rest of the system being a fair size smaller?
G;ad it fits though lee!

[Daf318is]

Great work there fella! A real milestone indeed!

Quick question. I'm looking at your poly bushes on the front control arm and wondering how you got them into the lollipops? I'm having a nightmare trying to get mine in!

What's the problem Rob, I polybushed mine no problem - give me a call if you want. I just used some wood and a vice! Hell I even put one of mine in the wrong way round and had to get it back out again

[keri-WMS]

Too be fair, the S50 manifold is too big for the M50.. Any gains if any, would be at the top of the rev range due to the huge step from the port size to the manifold primaries.. Mine went ok with it on though, and sounded great!

From what I've been told (by flowbench-owning engine builders) it's nice to have a step from a small port to a large manifold, this acts to set up the shockwave that works to "tune" the manifold to scavange exhaust gasses at certain frequencies (ie "revs"). It also works as an anti-reversion lip to discourage exhaust gasses re-entering the port.

As the car has a "nicer exhaust note" that implies that the step IS creating extra resonance (the frequency is defined by the dia and length of the primaries).

[daimlerman]

Good to see that manifold on,far more fun than decorating! You say you never want to do it again,how are you going to fit those cams without taking the head off?

[dazleeds]

nice one ll
glad to see its moved on mate

am thinking i should find a shell and do a similar conversion sometime in the near future

soon as i get rid of the japcrap that is

[DanThe]

Can be fitted in situ, just about!