m50 swap progress. from pallet to bay with new pics!!

[e30-EVN]

hi guys, going to be doing an m50 swap soon but before this ive decided to clean up the minor imperfections so that my engine bay looks fresh, also once done it not only looks the nuts but easy with degreaser to keep ontop of. just wanted to share my progress and obviously add to this as i do the conversion to share my experience as i go along and to give others who havent done it some insperation.
this is how it looked when i ripped out my m20....


so i went about cleaning it up with elbow grease and degreaser which turned her into this...


the battery tray was in better nick than some ive seen but with some surface blemishes and early signs of rust i got this sorted 1st....
before.

next i scrapped away the bubbled rust and treated it with kurust, i would recomend this, its very good...





after treating the rust i masked it all off and primered it, then i used genuine alpine white 2 from the dealer and turned it into this...



once it was all put back together i re-rooted the wires and pipes ect ..



please be nice as this took me ages to do as i wanted it to be wicked, i think she came up real nice. now when i get the engine and associated parts i will go ahead and put it in, i will take pics step by step and continue this thread for any1 interested. thanx for looking

[Dave_M3]

Great work, we did the same on a car we were doing recently as it was covered in oil from the M20 and ite rusty in places. I made a full step by step build with pictures too if you want to have a look at it.

A clean engine bay makes all the differece too when pooping the bonnet ;)

[N00b]

That looks fantastic.....even more so when the major component was the OP's hard work.

[Rallyprep_UK]

love it

I did this too and its so satisfying

[e30-EVN]

Great work, we did the same on a car we were doing recently as it was covered in oil from the M20 and ite rusty in places. I made a full step by step build with pictures too if you want to have a look at it.

yeah i would like to take a look at that

it came up really well with degreaser and elbow, brilliant for her age! but the little imperfections seemed to show up more once i cleaned it so i wasnt happy. opening the bonnet now will be cool with an m50 inside and looking 3 years old . and yes, it feels great as its my hard work that did it. just got to get the money together now to source conversion parts, some of which i have allready

[Duke137]

Mint.

[Dave_M3]

PMed you a link to the build thread I did as don't want to put it on here to spoil this one

[ali50ferrari]

before and after pics look really good well done man! keep it updated!

[e30-EVN]

thanx for the comments guys, i will keep this thread going for those interested , on hold for a couple of weeks gathering funds but as and when i do more to her i will snap it and add to this, plus i got a new phone so 5 mega pixle camera will be a lot clearer than 1.3 . thanx again- Ant

[e30-EVN]

sourced most of the major componants needed to do this now, e34 engine complete with loom and all ancilleries, 318is gearbox ect. just a few little things holding me back now like rubber mounts and e36 arms but appart from that she's ready to go in the car. ive taken a few pics so far

this is the e30 servo and master cylinder in place



stripped out the glovebox and surrounds to get the servo out...


i picked up a brake servo from the local breakers for £25 which is a bargin so i was happy with this, the servo is off a plastic winged clio around a V reg. the push rod inside the servos are to short so needed extending,, i used an old manifold stud cut to 20mm, i placed this inside the master piston and then offered it up to the servo. i forgot to take a pic of this but this is what it looks like all put together....


im using the 318is gearbox with my m20 flywheel-clutch and starter but the back of sump needed grinding to recieve it


you can get around this by having the m20 fly lightened/shaved but the m50 uses a duelmass flywheel so im using a stock m20 fly which is lighter anyway. the pic shows where and how much i took out to fit it


i replaced the 2 long sump bolts with smaller ones of same thread..


with that done i could then fit my flywheel ect, if using an m20 flywheel you must use m20 fly bolts...

m20 flywheel (and bolts) and m20 325 clutch fitted to m50 lump....


this pic is just to show the difference between the m50 flywheel and the m20,
the m50 duelmass is propped up with my hammer next to the m20 (fitted)


picked up my 318is gearbox a couple of days ago so this got bolted to the m50 and the m20 starter was mounted to. she's 1 lump ready to go in the car but like i said above its small thins holding me back now. it will be in very soon.




i will keep this updated as i make more progress, cheers- Ant

[E30BeemerLad]

Good work. Well done for taking the pics of the little bits that need fettling, helps others who are doing the swap.

20mm is quite a big old spacer. When you pushed the master cylinder onto the servo there wasn't any spring/ resistance before it mated up was there?

[e30-EVN]

yes there wes resistance when it mated up, about half a cm before the master was up against the servo. im guessing your going to say i need to cut that off my spacer arent you?? haha.
to be honest the pedal does feel a little stiff but obviously with no engine/vacuum running through the servo i thought it would be okay as obv when you start the engine (if it was in ) the brake pedal would loosen off. what do you think about the length of extention? maybey cut 4-5mm more off??
1 thing tho...... the car can be pushed in and out of the garage so the brakes ar not locked on

[DanThe]

Good work on the engine bay, I just leave them oily now, or add more waxoil
You will need to swap that spigot bearing if your using the iS box BTW

20mm is about right, the servo's ive fitted have always been about this

[e30-EVN]

cheers dan

You will need to swap that spigot bearing if your using the iS box BTW

the what bearing? sorry dull moment haha, different names for different things

[E30BeemerLad]

Spigott bearing is in the centre here. You need one for a M20 engine, about £7 at the dealers when I bought mine.

See how you go with the master cylinder & spacer. Have you bled the brakes since removing the master cylinder or did you manage to get away with bending the pipes a bit and not need to undo the brake pipes from the master cylinder?

Mine had resistance for about 5-10mm and this resulted in the rear brakes getting cooked.

[e30-EVN]

Spigott bearing is in the centre here. You need one for a M20 engine, about £7 at the dealers when I bought mine.

thought it was, okay i will have to get one of those and take the box back off to do it. any tips on how to get the spigot out? does the grease method work?

See how you go with the master cylinder & spacer. Have you bled the brakes since removing the master cylinder or did you manage to get away with bending the pipes a bit and not need to undo the brake pipes from the master cylinder?

i managed to get the master of by bending the pipes slightly so no need to bleed them, ive had an idea tho.... was thinking of taking the vacuum pipe from my mates vectra parked next to mine with his engine running and make up a long pipe to connect to my servo just to see how the pedal would feel, that way i could judge it more accuratly

[Duke137]

Nice thread, well done so far

[E30BeemerLad]

When I had too much spacer I found the brakes were incredible (not like E30 brakes), it didn't play up to start with, but strangely after about 200 miles it then started dragging the rear brakes until they got so hot one night the rear discs were glowing red in the dark like a bloody turbo.

[DanThe]

Grease method works fine as long as you have a very snug fitting drift, you will need one 15mm diameter to remove that bearing

[e30topless]

good progress Ant

just don't mess with the valve Timing on this one

[Rallyprep_UK]

cheers dan

You will need to swap that spigot bearing if your using the iS box BTW

the what bearing? sorry dull moment haha, different names for different things

Is this because an M20 flywheel is being used or due to the "is" gearbox ?

Will

[craigieeb]

Will, It's for the input shaft on the gearbox mate


Good work there e30-dk

[e30-EVN]

Cheers guys, I guess I'm doing alright , I'm not a mechanic,, well not qualified anyway . The only thing that's bothering me with the conversion is the exhaust manifold clearance issue! I cannot weld!! I plan on taking the car to a local custom exhaust place to have it made up from the downpipes back but I obv need to get the mani's on first. Heyho, I will plod on for now

[Rallyprep_UK]

Ahh cool. Thanks

[Dave_M3]

Great work so far and good to see it being well documented.

Was that link of the progress thread of the one I did of much help to you?

[e30-EVN]

Great work so far and good to see it being well documented.

Was that link of the progress thread of the one I did of much help to you?

thanks dave, yeah the link you sent me was awsome mate cheers, i read through it a few times. puts my thread to shame haha,but i guess you've built a few of these before ay. it was very helpfull tho so thanx , cant wait till its done now !

[e30-EVN]

new spiggot bearing in now and new auxillary drive belt on! its ready, just the rubber mounts and brown temp sensor needed then the biatch is in

pics will follow

[DanThe]

Rad and fan on the way boyo

[e30-EVN]

Wicked, cheers dan . Another thing to cross off the list

[e30-EVN]

right then guys the m50 is now in the car and as promised ive taken some pics of what went on. as you can appreciate having this sort of wieght hanging over the front end of your beloved is no time to take snaps but i have done my best.

this pic is to show the electric fan i have used, made up my own loom with 30amp relay and 3 way switch. thanx to danthe for the fan and rad!!


my e36 328 rad trial fitted



difference between the 6pot e30 rubber mounts and the e28 m5 ones


fitted all new manifold studs before it went in


And now it was time for the big haul !! excuse the quality but not the best time LOL


check out the angle needed to drop it in!! , gearbox and inlet still attatched. it may be useful at this point to mention i slipped the aux drive belt off and took the pas pump pulley off to gain an extra inch or so.... this proved valuble, VERY! once in i replaced these....


after getting the angles right with the car jacked up and a small trolley jack supporting the gearbox from underneath the car, the engine went in. it took around an hour and 20 mins!! it was a dance between the hoist (engine), jack on a breeze block (car) and jack (underneath car supporting box). all of a sudden as i lowered the hoist slowley she just cleared everything and sort of slid down and backwards about an inch off her mounts!! a nice feeling



supporting her own wieght !!!!!


trial fitted the plastics


next day i began to takle the wiring


i wanted the ecu to sit under my wheel as stock so i started by extending the wires for this




next i spliced the e30 c101 plug in place of the e34 one thining out the wiring as i went along. for anyone not amazing at wiring,,, follow the chart, cut one, join it, insulate then move on. dont just cut the bloody thing off!! its actually easier than you might think


job done! e30 plug attatched. just need some resistors for the spare wires left on the e34 side. these are aircon ect and not needed. just an m42 wiring box needed to tidy her up but shes in!


now im gathering the funds for a 3.64 lsd and then i will fit it.
if anyone is interested i will take more pics as i go but thats it for now!
ive tried to be descriptive and i hope this is a help to people.

and a big thank you to anyone who has sold me parts or given me help and advice! you know who you are

[randomspeedfreak]

great thread so far thanks

[hulstijn]

Great swap. I'm also swapping my E30 M40 to a M50.

How do you solve the exhaust problem? Custom exhaust, or are you just going to modify the original E36 downpipes/manifold? If so, how do you modify the exhaust?

And do you have a good website with wiring diagrams, because I can't find a wiring diagram of a E34 M50b20 (520i)?

Thanks

With kind regards from the Netherlands

[e30-EVN]

Hi mate, I don't know of any wiring charts for the m50 b20 but hopefully someone on here can help you, you coul try PM'g a guy on here called ian332isport, he's shit hot with charts!!

As for the manifolds I have m52 tubulars on it, inch cut of the back 3 plenims and welded to the back on the backplate! The downpipes are stainless and custom bent with nick cut out in strategic places, this I trial and error but will become obvious when you try and fit them! A guy on here does one piece custom steering linkages which make life easier but for now I have ground down the guibo on mine and sprayed it with some silver spray so it don't look obvious haha, from the downpipes back will be prospeed custom exhausts local to me.

Hope this is a help to you, I will try and put some pics up of the mani's and d-pipes if you want,, as I fitted them today
Nice1 pal, Ant

[e30-EVN]

Bumping this thread up for anyone new who has any questions!

[randomspeedfreak]

how did u remove the spigot bearing mate?