My M52 conversion - ALMOST FINISHED NOW

[e30-EVN]

Yes mine was exactly the same, gap to small to get a ratchet in isn't it lol.....

I used a spanner, ring end on the nut and then used another spanner (hooking the ring of second one over the fork of first) to gain extension, bit of wd40 and elbow and off they came

Either that or a long arse spanner if you have 1, if you dont then use above way. Works for me

[Duke137]

Yes mine was exactly the same, gap to small to get a ratchet in isn't it lol.....

I used a spanner, ring end on the nut and then used another spanner (hooking the ring of second one over the fork of first) to gain extension, bit of wd40 and elbow and off they came

Either that or a long arse spanner if you have 1, if you dont then use above way. Works for me

Sounds like a recipe for spanner rash.....

[maf260]

I've just bought a can of 'shock & unlock' spray which combines penetrating fluids with freezing agents which is meant to 'shock' rusty nuts & bolts into submission. Can't do any harm at £4!

Gathering bits this week and taking the flywheel to a machine shop on Wednesday for lightening. Will hopefully start putting it all back together at the weekend and hope to have it in & sorted the weekend after.

[e30-EVN]

Nah ferg, its all good mate. Its all in the technique man

[DanThe]

Long spanners FTW
Scaffold pole section sorts the stubborn ones out if you dont have it in you

[maf260]

Minor update:

M20 flywheel removed and at the engineering shop for a skim and lightening, picking it up later today. A few parts on their way, hope to start reassembly this weekend.

EDIT
Flywheel now back. Great job done and a light skim on the face for the fresh clutch centre plate to bite into!

[maf260]

Time for an update on this and a few more pics, I've had a good day.

Finally got the viscous fan off the M52 with some heat and a cold chisel(!) so that I could start refreshing the engine with a few bits I'd bought.


The engine came as part of a running conversion, so I hoped it would have been done properly, but you can never be sure how meticulous others are. To my slight dismay I found they had indeed done it properly as both a metal impellor water pump & 88 degree thermostat were fitted

I had bought some nice brand new ones, so replaced them anyway - water pump is a better version and I've fitted them without acres of silicone sealant and gasket paste everywhere! Fitted up:



Next it was time to fit the M20 flywheel instead of the massive dual-mass effort fitted previously - these things are very heavy - I dropped it on my foot! I had the M20 lightened and skimmed at a local engineering shop. No idea of the weight saving, but it's plenty!


Clutch attached next. Bought a nice new Sachs kit - a LUK was fitted before - looked like it had got really hot. I've heard they're not very good clutches.

I then fitted the gearbox (straight on after lining the clutch up by eye!); M20 starter motor and some new anti roll bar bushes - you can see how shot the old one was in the pic:

Clio servo into the engine bay:

Engine bay has been lightly tarted up - a good clean and a lick of paint. Not a concours job as I don't have the ability, but it looks a lot fresher in readiness for the new lump.
I reckon I'm at the stage to get it in the car tomorrow - further updates soon!

[bimanut]

Nice progress

[Duke137]

Good work, new parts are always good you did the right thing!

[maf260]

The engine is in and bolted up!
Pics to follow later when I've made more progress...

[maf260]

Oh, hello.......

Engine is bolted up, servo's all connected, heater pipes, various electrical connections, ECU plug is inside the car so ECU can be mounted in factory position. Definitely getting there and looking forward to firing her up!

Sadly rain stopped play today, but at least I know the bonnet still fits:

[Sjoerd320i]

Looking good mate, making me even more anctious to start of my build

[maf260]

Thanks. Gutted that the bad weather put a stop to things, but I don't like spannering in the rain. I've got to connect everything back up to get her running and then put all the front suspension back together with some nice new bits I've ordered, reckon another 2-3 days work should have it ready.

[turk]

Thats Turks old one isnt it that was written off?

Don't think that is my old one. What was the number plate? I sold it on to HKF on here, and I believe it was written off under his ownership. If that is my old one its a good solid engine

Looking good though!

[maf260]

Thats Turks old one isnt it that was written off?

Don't think that is my old one. What was the number plate? I sold it on to HKF on here, and I believe it was written off under his ownership. If that is my old one its a good solid engine

Looking good though!

I thought you'd had a couple of these things? This was a E-reg which started life as a 320i

[turk]

true I did... One was F540 PPU, The other was H***GRX, The only E reg I had was E515BPU. All had very good engines. But the E reg was Delphin Gray

[maf260]

true I did... One was F540 PPU, The other was H***GRX, The only E reg I had was E515BPU. All had very good engines. But the E reg was Delphin Gray

Just found the sale receipt, I got it wrong as it wasn't an E reg - it was F540 PPU

Feel free to share any info on it. PM me if you want.

[turk]

That was a corker!!! Did it still have the e46 electric seats in it ?

The engine came from a e36 saloon that had run out of tax/mot, some old fart owned it. 100k odd miles if I remember right. But it drove well. Did the inlet conversion with all new gaskets etc. new water pump, thermostat etc etc

Thats one of the cars I most regret getting rid of. When I sold it it had a 3.45lsd with the e36 box and was blisteringly quick!

Exhaust manifolds were a bit of a bodge but as I was selling I didnt worry myself bout it.

also completely resprayed the car. How did it end up being written off???

You have got a good one there

[maf260]

I bought the car as a completely stripped shell minus the running gear (see first pic for exactly as it came to me). The owner had taken it to a BMW specialist for a big brake conversion, but the shell was condemned whilst at the garage. It was absolutely rotten, even had filler in the roof! The owner stripped the car bare, just leaving the basics of something I could use for my intended conversion. It still has the E36 box (did you fit a short shift to it?), but no LSD as the diff was welded! The M50 manifold is there and as you'll read in my earlier posts I discovered that you'd already fitted a metal impeller water pump & 88deg stat - after buying new ones, so I fitted mine anyway! The welding on the manifolds leaves a lot to be desired so I will probably swap them out for a set of Dan's at some point, but I have enough to get it running and sort any niggles. The engine ran in the shell when I bought it and sounded sweet, idled well etc. I've also fitted a lightened M20 flywheel and new Sachs clutch, so it should be even more responsive than when you had it!

[turk]

Good luck mate! Just had a read thru and its looking good!

I'd love to go for a ride once its done to see how the flywheel improves the accelleration etc.

where abouts u based?

[maf260]

I'm not sure how different it would feel to you as it's gone into a cab which I believe is heavier. The engine should spin up more easily though, so might start to make back some of the weight disadvantage vs. the coupe.

I'm in Hertfordshire, so quite a way from you. It's not ready yet, but I'm going to have a good go at getting more done over the weekend.

[maf260]

I made some good progress over the weekend, ticking off plenty from the massive 'to do' list.
I finally managed to get the b@stard nut off the old prop/diff connection (the one that took me 4 hours!) and did it without damaging the old prop (now for sale)
Old prop on left, 'new' on right - bearing & doughnut in excellent order



New prop fitted up a treat. Saddo in me then decided to clean up the heatshield - I've cleaned the thread of every bolt that's gone back on the car, so why not. Came up lovely:

Doesn't show the rear part as I cleaned that separately.
Mounted up the front half of the exhaust to the manifolds I have. I don't have a rear half, so let me know if you have one I can buy. No pics of the exhaust, sorry.
Next came a fresh drive belt (serpentine?). I couldn't believe how much the old one had stretched.

The radiator followed:

And fitted:

Then came the steering linkage, followed by some new ARB bushes - no pics.
Bought some other new goodies - Lemforder bottom arms & drop links, new oil filter etc:

As I'm replacing the whole front suspension with proper BMW Motorsport suspension, I've been replacing all of the bushes and ball joints. I also picked up some new Lemforder steering arms & track rod ends today, plus a spanking new Bosch battery.

Should be able to get some more time this week during the evenings and another session next weekend when I hope to be starting her up for the first time!

[maf260]

New Lemforder steering arms & track rod ends fitted last night whilst SWMBO was watching some crap programme on the telly. Biggest bonus was checking the rack that came with the donor car: 3 turns lock to lock. Looks like I've got a E46 rack on there that I wasn't expecting - result!

Going to do some more tonight - loving the light evenings.

[Duke137]

The radiator followed:

Did that mount up easy enough? I am just looking at the fitting kit and thinking I'd like to check how someone else fit it to the rad... Probably a stupid question.

Did you use the springs in the kit?

[maf260]

It was already fitted. Looks like there are parts which push through the rad between the fins. The springs are fitted to this one - presumably to stop damage/vibration on the rad.

[Duke137]

Ahh ok cool no probs

Cool project btw some nice photos there

[maf260]

Thanks very much. Trying to do a decent job and looking forward to the results.
Will hopefully have her running this w/e

[maf260]

OK, a few checks here & there and a couple of exchanges with M52 expert and font of knowledge DanThe and it appeared I had made the schoolboy error of fitting the fuel lines the wrong way round My logic that the fuel would feed into the 'larger' square tube and any excess return through the small round tube was complete nonsense.

So, I swapped them round this evening, re-connected the brand new battery, turned the ignition key to see the dashboard light up and then flicked the key.......

WHAT A MONSTER! started immediately, fired into life and settled to a monster idle (just downpipes and a middle box connected). No leaks, no smoke. I'm a very happy man and can't wait to get to work tomorrow on the last bits I need to do before I drive her - bleed the brakes & clutch!

[jimbob88]

Good man, glad to hear she's alive. I getting pretty impatient with mine but im doing an engine bay refurb and really trying to take my time and do things right, i'll get there in the end just cant wait to flick that key

[DanThe]

[maf260]

Thanks for all your help so far mate. It would not be at this stage without you.

[eko]

Well done mate.
First start up is always a good milestone,wait till you first drive it

[maf260]

Thanks for all the encouragement. Off to get a few things done and hopefully see her move under her own steam!

[maf260]

Today's update -
Fitted the exhaust system, todoed a few bits up, then bled the brakes. Clutch bleeding came next and a large pool of clutch fluid started to appear under the car. Close inspection found that the slave had died and was pissing fluid everywhere. Fortunately I had a good spare amongst my parts, so that went in and was bled. I also fitted the new rear springs while I had the rear wheels off. The car was slammed when I bought it and I've never been happy with how low it is. I've bought 2 sets of replacement rear springs and each only raised the car a little - I must be the onyl E30 owner who buys higher springs! A genuine vabby Motorsport complete suspension came my way and this is now on the car - the rear looks like it's much more the height I want it to be.
All wheels refitted and the car was back on the ground for the first time since I started doing this in my spare time in late April.
Time for the moment of truth - started her up, engaged reverse and she moved backwards along my drive! Into the road and a very short drive to see what happened. The great news is she moved under her own steam. The not so great news is that she ran like a pig under load - spluttering and no real power. Brakes are also crap (what happens when you get her indoors to help!) and the clutch bites quite low - looks like a complete re-bleed of everything and then to ask for some help working out why she drives so poorly.

[maf260]

Small update time:
I haven't had time to re-bleed the brakes or clutch yet . A holiday and repairs to the daily drive took priority, but I will hopefully get some time this weekend.

The car now has a proper cooling system though. I bought one of DanThe's fan wiring looms to fit. Can I just sing Dan's praises again(!) Excellent communications in terms of managing all expectations of delivery - the loom arrived within just a couple of days of ordering and with very clear instructions. It really is a professional piece of kit, fitting into the fuse box and connecting up to the fan easily. Given my numpty abilities with electrics even I managed this one! Now to bleed the system properly and ensure that there are no air locks...