Beemerlad's M52 Chromie

[Dezzy]

Better than last time mate?

[daimlerman]

Well done,now go crack open that bottle of bubbly you have been saving for a special occasion!

[Daf318is]

Woohoo! Won't be long now

[ImysE30]

Great news Lee, well done

[initial_g]

well done chief looks tidy, much wieght difference between that and an old 2.5?

[E30BeemerLad]

Thanks folks, i'm like a dog with two dicks at the moment

As ever, pestering poor Dan was the way of getting things done, thanks mate, for all your help and apologies for the barrage of calls. Also, kudos on the loom If anyone is doing a 24V conversion and wants a plug n play solution for the wiring, then I can't recommend his looms highly enough.

Had some dramas today though, i thought the drive belt was too long and noticed I didn't have an idler pulley, so a mate stopped by Dezzy's on his bike and then rode 50 miles with the idler pulley off the M50 I'd sold Dezzy, turned out I didn't need it in the end and was just being a spazwit as usual and routing the belt wrongly

Got all the shizzle put together and fired it up for the first time, it fired on the button and then died. Kept doing this, eventually discovered the pipe from the ICV to the underside of the inlet manifold was off after i'd disturbed things connecting things up. It then fired into life and instantly settled at a smooth idle.

This was with just the exhaust manifold on so it was loud and next door retreated in the house with their grand kids

So it runs

Got to plumb in the rad properly and also sort out the PAS pipes (hoping they will connect up properly). Got underneath last thing and started to bolt the exhaust system up and noticed the prop is not on the guibo on the box flange. Hoping that undoing the centre bearing and the centre sleeve will get me enough movement backwards to get the prop flange onto the box, otherwise I'm going to have to undo it at the diff or jack the engine at the front, ball ache and a price for doing it on your own I guess.

But with a couple of nights messing about this week, I reckon i'll be ready to change an MOT by the end of the week, hell I may just make the pod!

[Alex]

well done lee

[Daf318is]

I tried running mine without the ICV also man they run like crap if you do that!!!!

I'm using an M42 box Lee, you will need to undo the centre nut on the prop and shove it back - this won't give you enough space on it's own you will need to drop the centre bearing mount to get the prop on. No need to undo it at the diff

[Dezzy]

Proper please for you sir. Mot marks the end of a era. What will I do without my weekly update of e30beemerlads m40 to m50 to m52 touring.

[E30Gheko]

OMG Lee, fookin do it mate!! What a quality unveiling it would make at the Pod! A triumph of all that is Zone!! I wanna see it's time down the strip even if it means a trailer!!

Let's have it fella!!

[hoshy]

Rock on Lee!

Hope you do make it to the Pod.

[e30topless]

well done Lee

hope to see this in action at the pod

[DanThe]

well done chief looks tidy, much wieght difference between that and an old 2.5?

M52 is supposedly 30kg lighter than an M20 (fully built engine)

[cliffybabe]

Well done Lee ive been following this thread for some time.

It looks like the touring came with that engine

congrats dude

[Andyboy]

Is it a beast?

[E30BeemerLad]

wye aye mate

[toby]

Congratulations! I hope it is great fun to drive! Your perseverance and determination is inspiring.

[E30BeemerLad]

I'm getting a bit more hardcore now lads, there was a wet driveway waiting for me tonight when I got home. So I thought bollocks to it and stuck some overalls on and got stuck in getting the prop bolted upto the gearbox flange, which was a bit of an ordeal with just the front in the air and about 18 inches of room to work under.

Getting the prop to sag enough in the middle so I could push the flange back and then onto the guibo meant wresting with the exhaust system and undoing the heat shield to get to the centre bearing. Fortunately just undoing the centre bearing mount gave me enough movement with the prop to get it on the flange.

The exhaust was a pain in the arse to bolt back up at the front and the rings/ unions did not want to locate & seal without a fight.

Fitted the jubilee clips from the hard fuel pipes to the rubber hoses as the hoses had just been pushed on to start it the other day (i could not remember which one was the feed & return)

So underneath the jobs left to do are tighten all the prop bolts at the flange, connect reverse light wire to the box (need to fit some larger spade terminals to the wire) sort out the gear selector rod (been let down with one I ordered not turning up thanks to royal snail) Refit steering rack properly (I need to undo it to get the steering column UJ thingy off when taking engine in & out due to the S50 manifold).

I need to connect the ABS sensor wires at the rear and I also need to connect the last of the coolant pipes and fill & bleed the system. Also need to fit a new connector to the thermo switch on the side of the rad.

Then, lastly I need to sort out the doors/ central locking so I can at least get the doors other than the driver door & tailgate to open, refit remainder of interior and get an MOT booked, oh and bleed the brakes again

Her indoors is out tomorrow night, so should have that lot done (well maybe not the doors) but it'll be ready for a 100yd road test to the bottom of the road

[e30topless]

Lee

I will be over your way at the weekend sorting a fellow zoners M20 out
might drop by if your about ?

[Daf318is]

I'll be sad when this epic thread is a thing of the past Good work though

[The_Diddler]

but it'll be ready for a 100yd road test to the bottom of the road

Woohooooooooooo, nearly there, epic thread this, zone quality, its like a movie saga, highs, lows, sadness, drama, it has it all

[E30BeemerLad]

Lee

I will be over your way at the weekend sorting a fellow zoners M20 out
might drop by if your about ?

Give me a shout when you're coming over Steve, I'll most probably be about mate


Thanks lads, the support genuinely does mean a lot, you can lose your way with projects sometimes and the massacre on the car back in Feb really helped to get things back on track. When I look around under the car when I'm working on it I realise it's been much more than an engine swap (with it's own dramas at that), pretty much every pipe, bush, bearing etc is new, so hopefully it'll be tight as a drum and once it's road legal I can get on with driving it and not be fixing it every weekend.

[DanThe]

Whats with the temp switch connector Lee? Did you get the wrong style switch?

[Daf318is]

I can get on with driving it and not be fixing it every weekend.

You know that won't happen! There will ALWAYS be something that needs to be done

[E30BeemerLad]

Whats with the temp switch connector Lee? Did you get the wrong style switch?

The one on the side of the E36 rad has a much smaller connector with 3 tiny pins, the new one i bought before and fitted to the M42 rad I was using with the M50 setup I sold to Dezzy with the rad.

Found the part of the loom from the E36 with the connector on (was in the boot under a load of scrap) So just going to do some soldering and heatshrinking

[DanThe]

Is the switch the right temp though? You want an 80°/88°

I reckon the 328 switch will be much higher temps

They are about a tenner from GSF I believe

[E30BeemerLad]

Sod it, I'll buy a new switch mate.

I can't recall what switch I bought from the stealers before, think it was a M50 one but not sure, what vehicle should I look for when search on GSF site etc?

[E30BeemerLad]

Also, what's the best tip for filling the cooling system? I can't recall what procedure I followed when doing the M50 and certainly don't want any dramas with this alloy block & head shizzle

[DanThe]

Part number = 61 31 8 361 787

[E30BeemerLad]

thanks mate

[baptie0]

the touring will handle so much better with that m52 fitted.

what diff do you have?

[E30BeemerLad]

I haven't a clue what ratio the diff is that is in, it's from a 325 and is an open diff so could be anything from 3.64 to 3.91

I have a 3.91 LSD to fit in due course though, so should be lively off the line. I don't do much motorway miles anyway

[zaust]

Lively, You will rip the tarmac away lol

[E30BeemerLad]

Steering rack fitted properly tonight after a considerable protest

E36 getting picked up by the scrap man on Saturday morning. Hope to be done by close of play Saturday

[e30bmlover]

congrats fella.... she will be a weapon... now get it mot'd and get your ass to spixworth so i can drive it