2.8 e30 conversion help

[audiomike2491]

ive recently purchased an e30 316 and im looking to do a m52 2.8 conversion.

a close friend will be doing the swap for me as he is a mechanic.

i will more than likely be buying a 328 donor car for this so pretty much what i want to know is what parts do i need?

thanks

[audiomike2491]

ive done a bit of research and found these

e34 525 oil sump - £80
e34 525 oil pump - £40
e36 engine mount arms - £40
e28 engine mounts - £20
e34 throttle cable - £20
e21 brake booster - £30
e36 a/c radiatior - £60
e36 318ti 80/88 degree elec fan switch - £30
e36 a/c fan - £50
e30 318is gearbox - £100
e30 318is cross member - £50
e30 320 gear shift rods - couldnt find these online?
e30 325 clutch - £100
e30 325 flywheel - £100
e30 325 starter motor - £60
e30 325 propshaft - £20
e36 steering rack - £150

if i have missed anything off or got anything wrong please let me know!

thanks

[fowler]

the sumps are getting rare as so may peopl want them expect to pay a little more for them

[audiomike2491]

these are all just rough prices is the list complete/correct?

[Duke137]

Some of those prices are a bit suspect....

318is cross member? Not sure what you mean with that? If you mean front subframe all E30's have the same front subframe.

You can get a 325i starter motor 2nd hand for £20, and an IS gear box for under £50 on a good day...

On the other side of the coin expect to pay more for your E28 M535i rubber mounts!

E21 brake booster???? Most are running standard E30 brake master cylinder with a clio servo, take from cars after the year 2000 IIRC

If you are buying a donor E36, you will have the arms and the Rad I would have thought and the steering rack.

All E36 Rad's are the same apart from some don't have the mounting point for the electric fan temp sensor. Only difference in them other than this is the 328i aircon one is a bit "fatter"

I would get yourself a 3.64/3.73 diff medium case if you are running the IS gear box.

Upgrade your brakes too, no point going fast if you can't stop!

[audiomike2491]

tbh i dont know what im talking about with things like this so i have gathered all this info from forums so thats why im asking if it is correct.

what do you mean by clio servo?

my plan is to buy a donor car so will take 3 parts off the list.

so all i need to add to that is the diff?

brakes are already being sorted - EBC turbo disks and red stuff pads for front, how do i go about disk conversion for rear?

thanks.

[Duke137]

Rear discs - You need the trailing arms from any touring or Convertible, or a 325i or 318is as they all came with rear discs standard.

I would uprate your front struts to the larger 51mm type, taken from the cars mentioned above but I would attempt to stick to 6 cylinder cars for the front if the shocks and springs are known to be good. After all you are uprating to 6 cylinder, you don't want 4 cylinder shocks and springs.

Clio servo (the big black round cylinder) replaces the E30 one which is massive and fouls the inlet manifold. You can pick these up on ebay for circa £25.

You need a 6 cylinder coding plug for your speedo, dead simple just plugs in the front of your existing one and allows the rev counter to work.

You will need to modify your exhaust manifolds as I am sure you are aware, and potentially a new exhaust throughout, a 316 exhaust will just strangle the power.

As for the Sump, you need the E34 or E38 sump, oil pick up pipe and dipstick and tube. You don't necessarily need the oil pump.

Replace your gear box mounts whilst you are there because its the right thing to do. It's good to take that approach on the whole project tbh but alot of people want cheap bang for buck.

HTH

[e30-EVN]

Advise from myself with regards to clutch... DO NOT buy an LUK item! You will regret it sooner than you would like to think and have to remove the engine and box (if like me you work with jacks and stands) to change it.

I've not even covered 10k in mine and I now have to replace the end of this week. Spend the extra for a sachs clutch kit, I'm told these can handle like 300bhp so an m52 will be fine through it. Now I don't care what people say to luk being ok. I'm not 90 years old and drive about riding my clutch but the m52 has chewed it to pieces. Its cost me more in the long run trying to save a few quid in the first place plus I now have to remove to replace.

But its an excuse to re degreese my engine bay for sumer and tart it back up. Just my 20p worth

[audiomike2491]

well ive been looking at an e36 328 convertible as the donor car as its only £600 with 105k on the clock!

so i can take the rear trailing arms off this for the disk conversion?

does the sump have to be from e34/e38 525 then?

exhaust will be getting upgraded to a twin straight through pipe i think

what exactly has to be done to the exhaust manifolds?

thanks.

[audiomike2491]

not sure what you mean by luk clutch but may be buying a uprated clutch kit as may plan to turbo in the future.

thanks.

[Sjoerd320i]

You can not use the 328 rear suspension on your e30, totaly different.

Sump must be from e34.

I think a twin straight through will be VERY loud!

[audiomike2491]

my friend has a e30 328 with twin straight through and it is perfect and gives an amazing exhaust note

so how do i go about the rear disk conversion? will is ee much difference?

thanks.

[e30-EVN]

A straight though on one of these would sound rediculous. I have 2 down pipes into a Y piece and 2.5'..... Small free flow mid box to make her civilised (as it can be lol) when driving nicely. But the noise she makes up top is astonishing!! I love it

[audiomike2491]

i will have to record it so you can all hear it

so who has actually done the m52 conversion themselves?

thanks.

[Bally]

Hi audiomike,
,excuse my ignorance the ac rad and fan, are these because you are adding A/C or for another reason, thanks

[audiomike2491]

this is just what i have read, i dont have a clue what i need to use so feel free to correct or add to my list

thanks.

[e30-EVN]

I have done the m50 and m52 conversions to my car, the only physical help I received on both these drops was someone to lift the box over the front slam panel. After that I did litrally everything as I didn't want to trust anyone to forget to tighten something up ect ect.......

[e30-EVN]

Aircon spec rad used for the hole in the side where a thermo switch goes... This will tell the fan when to kick in. 88 degree stat is needed and 80-88 degree thermo switch taken from iirc an e36 318ti compact.

[audiomike2491]

how hard would you sat the conversion is?

i dont suppose there is a picture walkthrough anywhere?

thanks.

[e30-EVN]

Its not massively difficult but you need to be mechanically minded to pull it off. If you don't know your way round a tool box I prob wouldn't bother (no offence intended there)

I was in no rush last winter to do my m50 conversion (first time on a bmw). But when I decided to rip that out and swap in the 2.8 I did this single handed over saturday and finished sunday afternoon. This time, when I change my clutch I'm aiming to do it in a day but I will not break my back to achieve this as I like everything to be checked atleast twice

[Duke137]

There isn't a right/wrong way to do the conversion. All depends on your budget and what you hope to achieve.

Are you after a concourse spec car or a cheap drifter....

audiomike you need to do a bit more reading in this section. All the questions have been asked a thousand times already

[Duke137]

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=177634

[Duke137]

Hi audiomike,
,excuse my ignorance the ac rad and fan, are these because you are adding A/C or for another reason, thanks

This is because the viscous will no longer fit between the front of the engine and the rad as there isn't enough room.

[audiomike2491]

Its not massively difficult but you need to be mechanically minded to pull it off. If you don't know your way round a tool box I prob wouldn't bother (no offence intended there)

I was in no rush last winter to do my m50 conversion (first time on a bmw). But when I decided to rip that out and swap in the 2.8 I did this single handed over saturday and finished sunday afternoon. This time, when I change my clutch I'm aiming to do it in a day but I will not break my back to achieve this as I like everything to be checked atleast twice

haha no offence taken, i know the basic workings, as i said a mechanic friend of mine will be undertaking all of the work

so im hoping it should be done within a week then

thanks

[audiomike2491]

i dont mean within the next week i mean when i have all the parts haha

[e30-EVN]

Oh, a mechanic who has a good idea will achieve this in a week no sweat mate

[audiomike2491]

i just need to have a good understanding of exactly what parts to get and he will do the rest

[sunnyr83]

Audiomike2491 PM sent.

[audiomike2491]

so would you say the list i have is everything i need? apart from the engine of course

thanks.