My Silver (minty) 325i has finally relinquished it's grip on the strangled 2.5 auto engine and it has been fitted into my poor, old, tired and dirty 318iS.
It all started at the end of the weekend of Easter. I had managed to get the M20 out a while ago so first had to remove the Auto transmission and fit the spigot bearing. This was a Euro Car Parts part and fitted perfectly with a little persuasion with a â€Ëatappy-stick'. The switching auto box is absolutely sweet as a nut if anyone is interested, the 325i has only done 65,000 very careful miles since 1988. PM me.
I managed to pick up a manual gearbox, flywheel, clutch and prop from a zoner (Kevo) a while back with a mind to this conversion so I thought I had all of the parts required. It turns out that the prop I had was a 325i one but must have been from an early model (it also came with an old style shifter stick) as the prop centre bearing wouldn't fit into the 318iS shell. To overcome this I had to fit a replacement bearing and support from a 1990 325i; also from ECP. This was easy enough. I used the “spline grippy thingâ€a from the iS as it was in much better condition, and cleaned all of the splines and greased before re-assembly. A lot of groans and clonks come from seized prop splines as far as I can see, they need to slide when in operation. I made sure it doesn't go out of balance by marking it with a tip-ex pen before splitting.
We had taken the silver 325i's engine and auto box out from underneath (see my other post about progress on the S50 swap) but partly this was because the auto-box is big and I'd need the access to the engine bay for the S50 swap; and partly because I wanted to see if it was any easier. It isn't. A load leveller, engine crane and top access is the way forward!
The 1.8 engine came out with no dramas at all, only the huge amounts of oil vapour of 200,000 miles of ragging making a right mess bothered us. Likewise, fitting the 2.5 engine from above was very little drama. I dragged the engine on our rubbish stoney driveway, and lifted it. It was then a matter of rolling the car back and forth, moving the load leveller's pivot point and the crane up and down. Lining up the engine mounts required one heavy mate and a bit of luck. He pogo'd on the half suspended engine and I popped the nuts on when they happened upon the studs. Was a bit of a laugh!
One thing worth noting: The 318iS radiator I took out was exactly the same size/capacity as the 325i auto, only had the handy expansion tank on the side. I would definately have used it but for the fact mine was shot to hell. The 325i one was mint. As it is I had to make brackets to hold the 325i expansion tank. They aren;t pretty, big or cleer but the car runs so I'm happy. Plus you can;t really tell a five year old made them....
The clutch caused a few dramas.. The slave cylinder WOULD NOT bleed! Ended up bleeding each pipe individually and poking the bleed hole out to release the crud that was blocking it. Drama over after at least a wasted hour and brake fluid down my arm and into my armpit. YUK. It was all black and ancient too.
I had concerns about the wiring. On the auto, cranking is prevented when not in park or neutral and I had worries about this affecting the engine after conversion. Ian kindly looked at the wiring diagrams and assured me the cut off is part of the car loom and the engine loom from an auto should be the same as a manual. I was also relieved when the loom for the alarm, which runs through the same grommet as the engine loom, didn't splice into anywhere but under the dash. This meant I didn't have to cut or join a single wire to fit the engine.
When I first connected the battery and turned the key: NOTHING, no cranking or life signs at all.. I thought I was going to have to sulk for days but when I came back later, and tried it without thinking, it started up without even cranking! Brrrmmmm……. WOW! I had forgotten to blip the alarm/immobiliser! DOH! It's OK, the neighbours are used to my foul mouth!
Whilst there, I changed my tired steering rack, column and power steering pipes/pump for the silver cars one. Down from 200,000 miles to 65,000 for the lot of them. Unfortunately the geometry was WAY WAY WAY off, due to the lowering and the M3 suspension and I couldn't get the track rods loose with my tools. It's a nightmare as I had to leave the car in Essex and borrow mum's Corrado.
Right: If you are reading this and there aren't any photo's, it's because I haven't put them on yet. I assure you I will, I bought a shiny new Nokia N95 and the novelty of a 5 megapixel camera phone hasn't worn off yet! I shall post today or this eve (I have loads of work to do her at, err, work).
Lastly: A massive thanks to my mate Shaun (in the pics), and to Ian for the help with the wiring panic.
Jai
Also managed to snap a screwdriver in my hand which decide to use my hand as a replacement handle, blood everywhere! Ow well all in the name of e30's.
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