Newbie in Madison -- fell off the wagon again
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welcome!
in for pics
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Just a test pic. This was bringing it home... sitting outside the A&W in the Kenosha-Racine area. Ah... many moons (and dollars) ago.
More to come. I have to organize my pictures into one place. Thanks for the welcoming words.
Taurus skirts, really? Which year/body style?
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Crank-y said:
I am excited to find an active WI forum here. However, I know the non-BMW engine swaps are met with negativity in some forums. Feel free to give me the heads up if my forum participation is unwelcome. Otherwise, I look forward to meeting and learning from the wibimmers community.
All are welcome
We have a couple members that don't even drive bimmers but just like the company! We're a crazy bunch so we hope you get along with us 
. Hope to see you at the Madison meet thats being planned. -
Heads resurfaced, crank turned, block and bores cleaned up.
Pan from Matt at e36v8 modified to include an internal baffle and a dipstick and turbo oil return bung. Had to modify the rec. oil pick-up tube to fit this pan. Added a windage tray and upgraded oil pump. ARP hardware.
Mostly assembled engine awaiting last bits and trans (5.0L e36 track car in background). Fairly stock rebuild specs... planning for lower boost and reasonable RPMs. If all goes well, a hot rod short block will be built up in the future. This was spring of '12 by this point.
This is my kiddo disassembling T5 #1 (which ended up being junk).
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Reinforced the motor mounting point (painted it later). Massaged the firewall and tunnel in a few spots and then started testfitting.
We ended up cutting and adjusting the motor mount adapters provided by Matt (E30v8.com/e36v8.com) to get the engine position a little better. Also added a couple gussets to each for a little more strength (piece of mind... and we had the welder out anyway). The first test fits were used to understand how much room might be available for the turbo on the passenger side and fans/radiator.
For the radiator, the first one I selected fit OK but was a bit small. I found this big 3-row, all-welded aluminum radiator at Summit. It fit with a little massaging of the framerails, modifying the inlet/outlet and repositioning of the lower supports further down on the backside of the radiator core support. By using the Explorer accessory brackets, as suggested by Matt, there is nice room between the nose of the water pump and the radiator. Without fans it actually looks roomy.
For the turbo, things were going to be tighter than desired. Although the monster turbo in the picture wasn't to be used, it was still clear that there would be minimal room between a blazing hot turbine and the alternator and its wiring. The solution was to chop the top of the alternator bracket off, weld on a plate, and move the top of the bracket 1-2" towards the center. It is subtle (in the pic below you can see the alternator is now inline with the headers), but I think it is one of the challenges to be addressed with the smaller engine bay of the e30. I don't think we would have done this with an e36.
This is one of a bunch of little modifications that makes me so grateful for the two competent guys helping make this project happen.
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Next up was getting the exhaust from the backwards shorty headers to the turbo. It is pretty tight, but we wanted to have reasonable bends into the collector and a divorced wastegate. The plan is to run low boost (<10psi for now), so a fair amount of exhaust will needed to be dumped. An integral gate seemed like it would present creep challenges. After building a bracket to hold the turbo's weight (and doing the necessary clocking), we could be creative in getting the 2.5" piping from either bank to the passenger side. If this works well, I'll pull it and have it coated. For now, we'll just see. The turbo and gate are kind of cheap placeholders I plan to run for the first few thousand miles to determine if I like the performance of this size (I copied the specs of a common Mustang kit when selecting this one). I couldn't justify spending a mint on a turbo before I even know what I really want... so many expenses to get this thing running.
Also, a simple 4" cold air intake was made. Picking up air from in front of the wheel well. The bracket to support the turbo weight can also be seen.
A 3" downpipe was made and a bung added for the wideband. Down below this goes to 3.5" and eventually the wastegate will merge in there just before heading into the trans tunnel.
(is it too early for me to share that kind of picture?)
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I really like the clean look of no fans in the engine bay. I'm taking a bit of a risk and going to try two thin pusher fans in front (sandwiched b/w the FMIC and radiator). If it doesn't keep the engine cool at stops and low speeds we'll need to flip to the other side.
To prep, I found the thinnest fans with the biggest diameter I could find. I trimmed the core support just a bit (and repainted) and attached the two fans. I can still pull the radiator, with the fans attached out through the engine bay if the top radiator hose is removed.
My buddy fabbed a simple upper radiator bracket (rubber underneath; not bolted to the core support in this pic) and we added a little foam between the endtanks and the back of the core support to help direct air through rather than around the sides. Still need to think about directing air through on the bottom as you will see later the bottom of the radiator is the one part that is unobstructed by the FMIC.
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After that we turned to the intercooler. I liked the e30 folks that minimized the path length by running the piping just under the headlights. I also wanted to fit an oversized FMIC. However, I love the look of the four headlights and I wanted a stock appearance from the front.
We also planned to flip the Ford 5.0 intake 180deg so the throttle body is on the driver's side. With a modification of the fuel rail (remove the FPR), the Cobra/GT40/Explorer intakes can do this pretty easy. This way the passenger side of the engine is downpipe, the driver's side is charge pipe. On the standard Mustang single-turbo everything is jammed in on the passenger side. I like this altrnative routing.
The best path seemed like a big eBay intercooler with some modifications to the end tanks (to fit the headlights) and welded on elbows. 2.75" piping + couplers added that much more interference with the headlight baskets so going hardpipe off the endtank saved a tiny bit. The cast elbows look cool too, IMHO.
More handiwork with charge piping... lots of aluminum welding.
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With a lot of trimming to the headlight baskets and the metal valance and splaying out the gussets that support the upper core support/hood hinge area (cut, bend, reweld, paint), it all fits. Well, we had to massage the rails ahead of the core support a bit. It all goes back on and looks pretty benign (sleeper?).
I will want to add the lower air damn to force more air through the FMIC and radiator. I am thinking about some ducting to split what goes through the FMIC (and not just spill down the front) and force what naturally goes below the FMIC into the radiator. Have to think this out though.
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At this same time, the oil drain from the turbo was a huge PITA to get around all the exhaust and keep a proper, constant downward slope. I felt there would be too much heat to run a flexible stainless line (the outer is stainless, the inside is still meltable at extreme temps). So, I wrestled a hard line 3/4 of the way and added a flex at the bottom once it is clear of the exhaust. I think the solution is good, just took several attempts to create (I quit this little project several weekends in a row).
Upgrading the fuel lines was kind of a pain. I tried bending it out of 1/2" aluminum but lacked good benders that went that large. I felt like hard line was the safer way to go, but in working with that soft aluminum I wasn't convinced. In the end, I went with securely mounted braided stainless. The dual pump setup was ditched in favor of a Aeromotive 340 lph intank pump and a high flow, inline filter around the stock location. The stock fuel pump assembly on the 87 325e was a little different than the writeup I'd seen on the interwebs. We actually used pieces of two assemblies (cutting, welding, testing, etc.) to make something that looked sturdy and fit well.
By this time, we've done a final installation of engine, tranny and custom driveshaft only to discover the trans is locked up. With the once piece driveshaft and the rear subframe encircling it, this hiccup is a big PITA. My brother-in-law's pop had squirreled away a practically new WC T5 with short shifter, so newer parts, wallet weight reduction, all good!
For those familiar with these swaps, some suggest the engine and trans need to be pulled to install a driveshaft. We found it much easier to drop the differential ~4 inches, back the shaft up, then engage the front yoke into the trans, lift up the diff and bolt back up, then bolt the shaft to the differential. Takes <60 minutes.
Unfortunately, I am lacking pics on these items.
At this point in the build last summer we had to move to a new shop. I realize I've not taken any useful pics (some OK video).
We've all but finished the wiring. 3.5" single exhaust with really large stainless Magnaflow. Pedals are in. Clutch line is run and bled (not confident it is working well as the first inch or more does nothing to move the slave, though it has been bled like crazy and multiple ways). Throttle is hooked up. New brake lines need to be run from the MC as the ABS was removed for now. Also need to troubleshoot and tune and see if we can find a smoother idle. More pics maybe after next weekend.
Still looking for parts: left front fender, lower airdam, sunroof crank handle, glovebox.
Thanks!
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