E36 Compact Engine Swap (1.6 - 2.8)

[JazzMan]

Text by my brother:

The time has come for an engine swap! .

I am going to be changing from an M43 1.6 to an M52 2.8.

Some pictures of the outside...


The parts were ordered from Fab Direct, unfortunately there were some issues with type of parts I received to the ones I ordered. This has now been reasonably resolved with them.

----------------------------

The engine swap has begun; with winter setting in the sooner the better.

Work start by removing the radiator, electric fan, ignition lead wiring, throttle cable, gearbox switch, Lambda probe and exhaust.


Plenty of space in there for those extra cylinders!


New parts


The 328i exhaust follows a similar path to the cars stock exhaust. Hopefully it will fit into place without any major modifications.

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Lots of progress today!

Split the engine wiring from the car wiring, removed the power steering and clutch pipes.

With a lot of help of my brother Patrick, who had a full day of work, then spent 4~5 hours in the dark to remove the rest of the connections to free the engine. This included the Prop shaft, fuel system / lines, engine and gearbox mounts.


Wiring and the ECU hiding in behind the fuse box.


Empty space... some thing is missing Engine removed after a lot of lifting and dropping, it was a real pain getting the engine to swing out, when we pulled the engine forward the prop shaft split in the middle rather than falling of the end of the gear box. The gear lever also caused some problems, but it cleared in the end.

Slight damage on the front of the car as I lowered the car too quickly and the engine hoist got snagged on the number plate and pulled it off. doh the damage is not too bad though but will need to see if I can get a new number plate holder.


The engines sat next to each other, more pictures will follow tomorrow when itâ┚¬Ã¢”ž¢s light again.

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Now I need to try and stay awake long enough to get to 5 when I can go home

[Steviec]

Looks like some good work there. Are you doing the inlet manifold and TB upgrade at the same time?

[JazzMan]

Looks like some good work there. Are you doing the inlet manifold and TB upgrade at the same time?

Thanks No that's a future upgrade as the budget is stretched on doing the swap Must be done at some point though!

[Steviec]

The 2.8 has enough power to be getting on with anyway. My bro got a 328i a few weeks ago, not only is his car quicker than mine, he also get better fuel economy

[EOS]

Don't you have to change the cross member whislt doing this conversion to clear the 2.8 sump, remember someone having this issue on e36coupe forum when they did the conversion.?

[JazzMan]

I don't know I guess we will find out soon enough. Now that there is room to measure everything up

[Andy335Touring]

Slightly O/T but is the compact much lighter than a regular E36 ?

Just thinking you might be a bit quicker ?

[JazzMan]

Yup compact is lighter than the regular E36's, cant remember how much though. We had a look over the engine and gear box, doesnt look like the sump is going to be a problem. The gearbox mounts seem a bit futher back but we've got the brace that came with the new engine so fingures crossed it will just need that swapping.

Going to leave installing the engine to the weekend not enough time in the eveninh to be sure we can finish at a sensible time. Richards looking over the wiring diagram to make sure everything will work once the engine and car loom are connected.

[johnono]

briliant stuff ;)

have you looked at the engine loom and stuff yet, is there a vast differance between the 2? will the electrical side of it be a headache?

lovin the efforts here chap, and u know i luv a compact mate

[JazzMan]

The engine loom connector from the 316i and 328i are the same. So right now Richard's working on making sure these all connect up to the right things With any luck it will be plug an play (yeah right...) its just making sure all the DME stuff connects up correctly. There are a number of wires missing from the car loom but a lot of these seem to be for air con DSC etc that the car doesn't have anyway. We have got a cluster on the way from a 328 - will have to see how that bit works. I would be nice if it had swing-o-meter

If we'd bought the later dual vanos 2.8 we may have had more problems. But this engine is the slightly earlier one. It had its block replaced so nikasil won't be an issue.

[johnono]

brillo mate , keep us informed

[JazzMan]

Most of the credit for the text goes to my brother. Here's some more piccys from last weekend:

The engine is in!!!

After a fair bit of jiggling the engine slid in perfectly. We had to temporally remove the left engine mount to let the engine sump swing past. It was very tight to squeeze the engine in with the front cross member in and the bonnet on however it just slipped passed. The left engine mount need to be temporally removed to let the engine sump past. Once the engine was on the engine mounts (which fit perfectly) the back of the gearbox was lifted and the mounts attached to the car. The new equipment means the gearbox mounts are about 20 mm further away from the engine mounts. The gear box mount has 4 sets of holes which means that the extra length can be compensated by using the front set of holes in the gearbox mounts. The extra length also means that the front part of the 328i prop shaft needs to be used as it slightly shorter than the 316i compact one (also the gearbox flange for the 2.8 5 speed has wider hole spacing).

The fuel lines and throttle cable have been attached. A few items are needed to link the rest of the engine. One of the key items will be to replace the one way value to the brake cylinder from the straight one from the original engine to a 90 degree one need for this engine. Also the main power cable need to be moved from the right to the left as the compact has the battery in the front and on the left.

Also the ESW modules were replaced with those from the new engine. This included the key chip reader under the steering column and the ESW module behind the glove box. Hopefully this will work first time without any issues.

Additionally after researching into other people who have upgraded their compact the exhaust plans have changed. The original plan was to use the supplied 328i mid section and have a custom back end made. The new plan is to use a Z3 2.8 midsection and Eisenmann back box for the Z3 2.8. These parts should fit on as it is with out major modification.


Engine bay cleaned ready for fitting the engine.


Engine next ready to go in.


Changing the ESW unit.



Ready to lift the engine in, time to hope for the best that it will fit.


Engine in!




The covers have been given a quick clean. Look nice and shiny



Hook up some of the engine connections, also test fit of the various engine accessories. The air box is going to be replaced with a BMC carbon filter.


A quick picture to show the whole car + engine, (its not a trick hehe)


Bonnet down.. doesn't look like anything has changed.

Were waiting on some servicing parts such as new belt (current one has a big chuck missing and is starting to crack) were also going to change the thermostat, water pump, fuel filter, prop shaft donut as its cracking. The battery on the donor was in the boot so the wiring needs re-routing a bit. Also broke the pipe that covers the thermostat taking the viscus fan clutch off (oops!) and one of the pipes on the top of the active carbon filter taking the old engine out. So we need a new pipe and possible a new carbon filter if we can't find a good way of conencting the pipe.

If we get all the service parts during the week, and the DME wiring doesnt cause any problems then were are aiming for a start next week end - its a bit dark and cold at night these days to start playing with it in the evenings!


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After a lot of investigation it turns out the E36 front callipers we've got are the same as you find on regular 328i's so after a full rebuild with new pistons, guide bolts, dust caps and nipples they should pretty darn good breaks. The only different from 328 saloon would seem to be the rear disks being solid rather than vented.

[carlos_320i]

Good job there mate was it hatd to do

[Andy335Touring]

Looks like theres room for an S50 under there

[JazzMan]

indeed there is - should slot right in like the M52 (S52 would have drop in just the same - 332 compact ) but we went with the M52 as the S50/2 drinks a bit much and makes the insurance silly, base cost for installation probably wouldnt have been much more to be honest. The one i would have liked to try is M62 That would have required a lot more custom work such as custom engine mounts (as its not easy, or cheap, getting your hands on the alpina ones!)

Well some day if my E46 needs a new engine... none m3 coupe with m power would be a bit of a sleeper Although we'll probably have run out of petrol by then!

[Andyboy]

This is a brillant thread. The Compact is now getting very cheap (early one will meiles are £1000) abd they are like an E30 only better. E30 back end but the quick E36 rack, no welding the sill back on, damp boots or any of that shite. A mate of mine (Parkside) have built a 2.8 Compact. They used a perfect Nikasil block(honed out), new pistons supplied by myself, and the rest of the bits robbed from a shagged Nikasil 2.8. The diffence is though it runs a 325i Non vanos head along with the proper big bore 325i manifold and an early E36 engine loom. It uses the 1.9 M43 gearbox and a 3.25 ratio E30 M3 LSD with 17 inch E46 rims. It goes like a f*cking rocket and would slaughter a 2.7 E30 in cold blood as well as a standard 328i.
The only issue so far is getting the ABS light to work properly but it's a lovely conversion.

[gooner1]

The more i look at this thread the more i like it, can feel a convertible sale coming on.

[Andy335Touring]

Slightly O/T but is the compact much lighter than a regular E36 ?

Just thinking you might be a bit quicker ?

Just to answer my own question, if the info i found was true the compact is about 60kgs lighter than the equivelent(sp?) E36.

Question is if most of the wieght loss is lost from the rear does this make it a little nose heavy, especially if you throw a heavy engine in like the S52 ?

(Sorry, i'm just day dreaming about a 332 compact )

[JazzMan]

Progress update - I've been busy this week end so my brothers been working on the wiring and water system. Waiting on service parts and exhaust bits before proceeding with some things.

Today the engine cooling system was connected to the internal heater and the main power wiring has been re-routed. I also gave the radiator a good clean inside and out so its ready for use.

With the engine in place it became apparent that the one of the connections from the engine cooling system to the cars internal heater would not fit. The pipe for connecting these parts together was the wrong shape. Patrick suggested that I use the pipe from the old engine. After removing the pipes from the new and the old engine you can see the difference.



The top pipe is from the 1.6 and bottom from the 2.8. After a trial fitting of the 1.6 pipe it was clear that it would fit however it was about 2 cm too long and therefore caused a small kink in the pipe. With the pipe shortened and some help from Fairly liquid the pipe slid on to the engine & heater perfectly.




With that complete the main power wiring need to be re-arranged. Since this engine and engine loom came from a saloon or coupe e36 the main power connector was on the right of the engine bay as those cars have the battery in the boot. The compact has the battery in the front and on the left (as the car is right hand drive, the brake servo & cylinder are on the right).
First step was to remove the distribution block.



Next the engine loom box was opened to expose the wiring. There were 3 main power lines to move around.
1. The starter and alternator wire, this need to be directly attached to the battery.
2. The fuse box power (car), also directly connected to the battery
3. The ECU power, This need to be connected to the battery via a fused link (to protect the ecu)



The two thick wires as seen in the picture above were pulled out of the engine loom box from the right of the car to the left (in the picture right to left). The ECU power was also pulled through and was looped out of engine loom box via the grommet where wires 1 and 2 originally ran. In the following picture you can see the red wire (on the right of the image) looping back and out.



With the engine wiring loom back in place the ECU was fitted and connected. It was a perfect fit in the original mounting. Even the rubber grommet form the ECU loom fit perfectly into the ECU compartment cover!



To finish the wiring I will need to get a battery terminal for all of the positive power connections.

[EOS]

Well done looks good in there

[JazzMan]

Another update from my brother, I was busy all weekend again - doh damn work but it pays for mods which is the main thing!

Next weekend once we have the rest of the parts ordered it will be time to try and run it. The power steering system is open due an incorrectly supplied pipe do we didn't want to run it until there was oil flowing through the pump:

Time to catch up a little with the progress
Last weekend I got quite a few new parts. This included a full service kit which contained:-
- Fuel Filter
- Oil Filter
- Air Filter
- Thermostat
- Water pump
- Spark plugs
- New fan belt (the old one was missing a hole section :O )

A note about the water pump, the M52's came with plastic impellers, these have been known to malfunction causing the engine to over heat. The impeller in my engine was plastic.

I got a full set of fluids for, engine, gearbox, brakes/clutch and power steering.

There is also a full calliper repair kit. I am planning on rebuilding the callipers I received from the breakers. These brakes will be equivalent to those from stock 328i apart from the rear disks are solid rather than vented.



The new thermostat o ring turned out to be incorrect and in the process of putting the new thermostat cover on the cover was broken. Arg! So I've ordered another new thermostat cover along with an OEM thermostat and o ring.

The old spark plugs were a little sooty and oily.


New fan belt, this fan belt was really easy to change, as the engine has an auto tensioning system, simply turn the auto tension with a socket wrench and slip of the old belt and side on the new one.


The gearbox was checked for oil, it was near enough empty. Unfortunately the filler plug had completely ceased, not even the big breaker bar would budge it. I had to use a car jack + breaker bar!!! The gearbox oil will be filled later.



Also have some good news, after reading an article BMW magazine about the Nikasil problem. It stated that you can identify engine with the replacement block with steal liners by a pair shaped steal plate under the starter. If there is just a pair shape stamped into the block this is an original block. I've not been able to confirm if this is fact yet so it may not be true.


Some Wiring

I've also done some wiring. The extra wiring needed for the mpg gauge was added, the main +ve wires were cut and moved to the correct place and the other engine wiring was arranged to fit the compact.

Adding MPG wire
The first problem was where to get the pins from as my car's wiring did not include any extras. Luckily there is part of an e30 wiring loom lying around the garage. This is left over from the donor car which was used in the kit car my brother and I are building (see link in signature). On this loom I found a connector with pins that are 100% correct for the x20 connector (the main engine loom/car loom connector).


Perfect match



To keep the x20 connector protected from water each pin has a rubber seal. I simply cut a hole through the solid rubber seal and pushed the wire through.


There is a metal sleeve that goes with the pin this need to go over the pin before its pushed into place. The MPG pin goes into pin 24 on the x20 connector.



The wire was them pulled through a grommet into the car and over to the dash. Below is one of the connectors from the back of the dash (connector x16). Here a pin was added to pin 21.

Hopefully the MPG gauge will work.

The MAF wiring was not long enough to go around the far side of the battery. So I striped out this part of the wiring loom and rewrapped it.


The image below shows the current layout of the wring, it needed some more adjustment to fit more comfortably however it is close.


To clean up the wiring I purchased a new fused distribution block for my sound system.


On Saturday I received my Eisenmann back box

[Ant]

Good project dudes

is the compact the new e30 ?

[JazzMan]

Thanks, Ant - the compact certainly does carry on the E30 genes a little!

I only had time to help Richard by bolting the water system together and making some clips for the maf, he's done a bloody brilliant job here's another write up from him:

More progress

During the week a few new parts turned up:-
- OEM thermostat
- Second replacement thermostat cover
- Power steering pipe + washers

All of these were fitted.

The alarm was wired into the engine loom. This is one wire from the alarm that connects to the wire from the ECU to injector 1; which on this loom was Brown White. The alarm needs the connection for Intellistart and blackjax.

The new power steering pipe was fitted, and all of the washer seals on all power steering connections were replaced.

I bought a Z3 exhaust on ebay last weekend, its in great condition just little dusty & some light surface rust. The o2 sensors were replaced with plugs (after cats). The new engine has all of the o2 sensors on the headers.



Below you can see the fitted exhaust. Unfortunately it's a little short however all the angles fit perfectly; it will need lengthening a little. More on this once work begins. Seems as though the Z3 is a little shorter than the compact.



I got some aluminium dash rings. Below is the new dash with rings and the original compact dash without rings. Even though both dashes are exactly the same size the rings would not fit on the compact dash cover, the outer dial holes are slightly larger and the rings fall through. ( I wanted to use the cover from my old dash as it is in better condition, although after a good clean the new one looks fine )



The MAF/Airbox did not come with any clips. Patrick made some clips, they came out perfectly.





EWS

So yesterday I wanted to try the starter and make sure the EWS setup was ok. I hooked the power and turned the key to find that nothing happened.. ARG! So after lots a researching and not finding any clear answers, just lots of theories. I spent some time today checking at relays, fuses, the before mentioned alarm wiring. After sitting down and thing about the problem I had a thought. When I installed EWS I taped the chip from the new system to the EWS barrel antenna. (This was done as the Clifford alarm has taken over the function of immobilising the car and the original system needs to be disabled for the alarm to work properly.)
The new chip was not used to open the doors. So I took the chip off the ignition barrel and locked & unlocked the doors while holding the chip close to the lock. Then I held the chip to the ignition barrel antenna and had another go at running the start.

It worked!!! Wooo! Another step out of the way, I was very worried that I was going to have to take the car somewhere to have the diagnosed and possible unlocking the ECU.

The radiator was connected and filled with water & antifreeze.

The oil for the engine, gearbox and power steering was topped up.

Now for some great news! With all of the work done today it was time to try running the engine.

The Engine Started!!!

First time as well. Below is a short video clip from Patrick's phone, video/sound quality is not great but shows the first start.

VIDEO
Engine Start Video - start.mp4 (233kb) - (quicktime will play MP4) - - no gaskets on the manifold / exhaust connection and no back box = quite noisy

We will record a higher quality video with better sound on the DV camcorder tomorrow.

[JazzMan]

As promised, here is a good quality video of the car running this morning, it got a lot smoother after fixing a vacuum leak and warming up!:


BMW Compact 328i (Xvid / MP3 8.05mb)

(right click save as)

Codec for video can be found here.
VLC player can be downloaded here

[toby]

Couldn't resist continuing the theme of the video:

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid. I've added some special modifications myself."

"Looks like somebody's beginning to take an interest in your handiwork."

"Yes, indeed. If it's a fast ship."

"Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millenium Compact?... will make the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs! ... faster than the big Corellian ships."

"Impressive...."


"... solved the problem with the hyperdrive?"

"Your insight serves you well!"

"Soon your training will be complete."


"May the Force be with you... f*cking always. "

[JazzMan]

lol @ toby

Here is another progress update written by my brother:

I haven't gotten around to posting from the weekends progress yet…

The morning was a cold start.


Goals for the weekend:
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Install gear stick
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Install propshaft
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Install Thermostat & Electric Fan
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Front number plate
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Adjust z3 exhaust to fit car.
-[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]Install Eisenmann

The gearstick install was fairly simple clip in. I borrowed the gearstick from the Sportster. It's a Z4 short shift.

Next the propshaft went in; for this the rear transmission tunnel support need to be removed and the propshaft centre support dropped. I used the front section of the propshaft from the donor (328) and the rear section from the compact. This was done due to the before mentioned longer 2.8 gearbox.

Thermostat & Electric Fan; Last year I replaced the viscous fan on my 1.6 with an electric fan and variable thermostat. This thermostat was installed inline with a water pipe from the engine to the radiator. Unfortunately this thermostat will not fit onto the new engine as the water pipe diameter is bigger. So I decided to get a thermostat plug for the radiator, this plug is set to turn on at 87C and off at 82C. It fits into the side of the radiator in the stock BMW location. The fan and thermostat were then wired into the car's fuse box with a relay. This is a very tidy solution compared to the inline water pipe system.


During the installation of the engine the front number plate was damaged. In the UK the Compact has a large number plate holder. As a small modification a US front trim was purchased and the number plate attached directly to the trim.
It's a shame that I have to put a front number plate on.


Exhaust
This has caused a lot of headache trying to decide what is best. I've ended up with a Z3 2.8 exhaust of ebay and Eisenmann backbox.

The following picture shows the left to right, presumably a 328i mid section, 316i compact mid section and Z3 2.0/2.8 mid section.



It turns out that the Z3 is about 260mm shorter than the Compact. So the mid section needed extending. We decided to buy a Mig welder and do the work our selves.


With a few hours practice with the welder it was time to give it ago. But first the exhaust needed to be cut in the correct place. This ended up being just after the Y join. Below you can see the gap after cutting and test mounting.


The new pipe section was tack welded then installed to check the fitment, with a few more tacks on the pipe joins the exhaust was removed again then fully welded, as seen below. Welds are not the best looking but I've only had a little time to practice.



With the mid section completed the Eisenmann was mounted. This required a hole cutting into the bumper for the new exhaust pipes. Once the cut was complete the backbox was mounted, we used some exhaust paste and a clamp to connect it to the mid section. The exhaust need's a little work to fine tune its position. At the moment it is hanging a bit low.

Well… now that all done… its ready for a test drive

The first drive was done by my brother as I had not yet informed my insurance company of the changes. The first run was a little brake in to make sure all is well. All I can say is WOW!

On Monday I sorted the insurance and it was time for my first drive
I'm still grinning!
At the moment I'm being really careful, as the weather is cold & damp and despite the 225 tyres the wheels spin very easily. I definitely need to change the diff to an LSD.

The exhaust has a nice sound, a great idle, however there is a resonance in the car between 2500~3000 rpm. The Eisenmann needs between 500~1000 miles to run in so I'll know more once I some miles done. I also still need to put the gearbox to exhaust mount on. Hopefully we will be able to reduce the resonance as it's a little annoying.

I'm off to go for another drive

My strut bar arrived today, nice and easy install.





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I've driven this a few times this week and bloody el it goes! Need to be very, very careful in the current weather - if your not being careful with the loud pedal the rear wheel spin very easily in both 1st and 2nd!

The biggest change left is swapping the rear trailing arms for disks and the front callipers for bigger ones from a 328 - the callipers are due a rebuild as well. There are other small things left to do like lining up the back box properly, adding mounts here and there and putting all the interior back in.

Fingures crossed the proper exhaust/gearbox mounting bracket and run in time will reduce the resonance from the exhaust between 2250-2750ish RPM. It certainly sounds good on idle and full chat though

More pictures and video of the car on the road to follow at some point over xmas.

Future mods will include M50 manifold, BBTB, m3 airbox snorkel and remap to suit, but thats for next year ;)

[JazzMan]

Another update from Richard:

It has been a while since my last update.

Over this time I have refurbished the new 328 front callipers. They will be installed once the new trailing arms and callipers are ready.

Bellow are the greasy rusty front callipers.


Fully dismantled


After lots and lots of angle grinding & scrubbing & wiring brushing
The pistons still look in good condition.


Finished calliper, with new replaced rubber seal and dustcover, guide bolts & guild bolt covers.
I also have a full set of Goodridge brake hoses, Jurid brake pads & ware sensors, ready for installation.

[oguz327]

This looks like a really good conversion, that's one rapid compact!

Hankster, you want one of these

[toby]

"Impressive!"

[ShineOn]

Nice write up, looks like a lot of fun. I had an E36 328i saloon that was killed off by the Nikasil problem, so I did the kindest thing - fitted the S50 M3 engine! Just keep in mind that having done all this ground work, to fit the S50 into your now will be a total straight swap. Clutch assembly needs slight mods to mate M3 clutch with 328 gearbox, but its very easy to do!

Have fun and take it easy in the wet - lots of power in a short wheelbase car will make for a hedge seeking missile.....

[JazzMan]

Thanks guys, It's taken me a while to get around to editing this - a short video of the compact: http://www.328compact.co.uk/328compact.avi (19Mb Xvid/MP3)

[Andy335Touring]

Sounds nice and looks quick

[Jon_Bmw]

Does sound very nice. Isn't it annoying how slow a camera makes everything seem. I get the same when taping our track car, from both inside and out. It looks like we are pootling along at 30 rather than 120. Perhaps the speedo is a bit out

[JazzMan]

Yeah, but in a lot of those shots the car is driving around at a relatively low speed, It wasn't at any point doing more than the legal limit on the road

[M3Compact]

Great thread.

is the compact the new e30 ?

Yep, with proper brakes/steering and plug 'n' play S50 drivetrains.




What've you done with the diff, JazzMan?