Another M52 query(ies!!!)

[curly]

Last night I bought a 2.8 M52 engine, throttle body, mass air flow meter, ecu, exhaust manifold and engine wiring loom for Ԛ£180.
The questions I have are:
What gearbox and lsd to go for? I prefer more acceleration.
Do I need the dipstick housing as well as sump and oil pick up from the e34?
The chap I bought the engine from said that the tailpipe has a butterfly valve in which is controlled from the ecu. Do I have to use that tail pipe or ignore it?
Where do I get a c101 connector from to do the wiring?
It hasn't got a flywheel but I read that you can use a single mass flywheel from an e30. Which model has these? Would my 8v 1.8 have one?
Finally once I have all the bits together, how long roughly would it take to do the transplant? That would probably be the hardest question to answer!!!

[buster]

use the 5 speed from that engine,and a 3.64:1 lsd
you do indeed need the dipstick tube,stick and sump from a 520/25 e34 m50.Also the oil pump.
No you dont have to use the flap in the exhaust, although you can use the box.

The c101 connector is the e30 engine to body plug.You will need the top half of the c101 connector to wire to the engine loom,can get them cheap from bmw.
Not sure about the flywheel Id just use the original one.

transplant time is purly down to you ,lazyness and cold weather slow me down,also too much pop on the weekends tends to slow me down abit also.

lots and lots of info here :

http://www.e30zone.co.uk/modules.php?na ... velopments



cheers
andy

[curly]

Is it worth going to a BMW breakers and getting the parts?? They probably know their worth and be more expensive than a normal breakers?
If I ordered the parts from a general breakers how would I know they are the right bits??

[Aico]

Get a 3.25 or something. 3.64 is way too low.

[Brianmoooore]

Get a 3.25 or something. 3.64 is way too low.

Even 3.25 is the equivalent of 4.01 on an E30. First gear's still not going to be a lot of use with presumably) derestricted 2.8.
Why can't you use the C101 plug off the E30 that the engine's going in?

[jmc330i]

What gearbox and lsd to go for?

Another option is you can use the E30 325i gearbox and then also the E30 3.91LSD from the Sport. You will have a slight rotation to the gearbox and shifter (I think about 10 degrees) but its been done in the USA before and AFAIK without problems (once youre used to the rotated shifter).

Also the oil pump.

You dont need to change the oil pump, the M52 pump should be fine. You should only need the E34 M50 sump and oil pick up pipe.
The E36 M50/M52 and 3.0ltr S50 engines can all use the original pumps with the E34 M50 sump. The 3.2ltr S50 (as Buster has) has a different oil pump that will not fit in the E34 M50 sump and so needs changing.

Is it worth going to a BMW breakers and getting the parts?? They probably know their worth and be more expensive than a normal breakers?
If I ordered the parts from a general breakers how would I know they are the right bits??

The E34 sump can be had secondhand for a about Ԛ£50 from a decent BMW breakers - I was unlucky and had problems finding a secondhand one when I needed it (I had 3 turn up and all were cracked ) so I ended up bending over and buy new from the $tealers
Things like the oil pick up pipe are cheap enough from the dealer.

[Toby_Unna]

Last night I bought a 2.8 M52 engine, throttle body, mass air flow meter, ecu, exhaust manifold and engine wiring loom for Ԛ£180.

i don't mean to sound negative or anything, i think those are lovely engines.

but how are the cylinder bores!

[curly]

Not sure on state of bores yet but I will be removing head to check. I think it may be a good move to install timeserts or helicoils to the block as I've heard they are prone to stripping on refit.
One more question though. This engine is going into a 318i (bless but I think it's designed for it!!) so the springs will be a bit soft. What springs do I go for? I want to lower by 40mm.

[Brianmoooore]

Last night I bought a 2.8 M52 engine, throttle body, mass air flow meter, ecu, exhaust manifold and engine wiring loom for Ԛ£180.

i don't mean to sound negative or anything, i think those are lovely engines.

but how are the cylinder bores!

As long as the engine has come from a wrecked car, then I would expect the bores to be OK.
If my understanding of nikasil is correct, then once the surface coating is damaged, the bores wear really fast and the engine quickly becomes unusable. The high sulphur fuel that caused the damage hasn't been around for some time now, and any engine will have either been replaced long ago, or will never have the problem.