the one and only e30 s52 engine swap

[Jdesign]

This came along way and looks great. I know that feeling of the first long drive with almost new everything

[KaiserRolls]

Nice

[AsparagusMike]

There are just about 500 miles on the motor so far, thing has been spectacular. I've been dailying it for that last week or so getting a feel for everything and working any existing bugs out. As of yesterday I haven't been seeing the jumpy idle at all, hoping the ecu figuring itself out was all it was.

On the other hand though, My operating temp has sort of been pissin me off.

As I said before, it seems its happy place is right around 200 for the water temp. Well, its sort of moving itself up a bit towards more like 205 while running down the highway or speeds higher then 35 especially in 80+ degree weather. Cooler times at night it will sit around 200 though. Coming through town I'm looking at something closer to 208-210 and even with the fan on it doesn't want to come down.

That being said it never gets above 210 when running even sitting at idle on a hot day so I guess it isn't the worst but once I give er juice going down the on ramp she comes back down to 200ish. I just wish for driving it around not pushing it to hard that it would stay somewhere more in the 190's area. How others are keeping their temps lower is beyond me. I have a solid water pump, csf rad, and a good fan. What else can i do? Can putting a 80 degree Celsius thermostat in do me any good here?

Went ahead and did the main output seal on the trans last week Wednesday.

I immediately noticed that the shifter selector rod seal is also leaking and may be the major player in the leaking issue as well as it is still leaving a small puddle same as before. I did go ahead and order a selector rod seal late last week from FCP that showed up today.

Still waiting on a tube of curil k2 sealant I ordered a few days back, once it shows up I'll go ahead and tackle this thing and hope I don't have to look at it again.

Other things done:

I  picked up a toggle switch from my local auto parts store and spliced it in to the circuit as an override. For now that is all I have to turn the fan on. It seems kind of inconvenient as it's one more thing to keep an eye on but I don't mind it and only really utilize it when going through town and slower traffic.

I spent most of my morning last Sunday giving the car a thorough cleaning inside and out that was well over do.

Wrapped up the main part of the harness to hide that huge cluster of wires, much better now. (Would have been an alright picture if hadn't been for my stupid finger)

[jc43089]

I have an 88C thermostat, Stewart water pump, 80/88C fan switch running a Spal puller and BMW blue coolant.  My temp stays very steady in all conditions unless stopped it will creep to near 210 and stay there.  The fan will cycle and it seems to work good.  It sounds like your flow isn't great, you shouldn't have any bubbles in the system because they would have bled out by now.

Another thing to note that both I and Snap have experienced is that voltage fluctuation will cause the gauge reading to change.  Maybe make sure you don't have an electrical issue causing a falsely hunting gauge.

[m42b32]

I have a stock e36 6cyl radiator, bmw blue coolant, 80C (176F) wahler thermostat, and an OEM saleri composite impeller water pump in my S52. The ECU reads the coolant temps from the sensor in the head (OBD2) at around 188F cruising down the freeway regardless of temperature, and it can get up to 200F before I switch the fan on while sitting. With the fan running it tops out at 195F idling on a hot day. If you have an 88C or even the stock 92C thermostat, temps in the 200-210 range seems normal since I would expect it to scale fairly linearly.  I would look into the voltage fluctuation issue @jc43089 mentioned as well, but if you are looking for more temperature buffer an 80C thermostat might not be a bad idea.

[AsparagusMike]

I took the car up to my trailer again Tuesday night and it was fairly cool outside cruising right around 70 and even with the fan flipped on at that speed the thing was still staying right around 205-208. Slowing down up to 210 but never any higher. Thing ran like a charm though.

Tomorrow I'm gonna take a temp gun to the thing and make sure that the temps are matching what the gauge is reading. If they are, I'm wondering if that small kink on the section where the spider hose runs into the header core is possibly causing some unnecessary restrictions. Otherwise I'm just gonna have to assume that it likes to run crazy hot and will have to consider switching to a lower degree thermostat in the near future.

Also, my occasional jumpy idle is back... again

[SteelBlue]

Are you going to run the washer fluid reservoir? Or just Rain-x the windshield and keep some paper towel and window cleaner in the back?

I probably won't run it initially while getting the kinks out, but debating about running it in the future.

[GunMetalGrey]

AsparagusMike said:

I took the car up to my trailer again Tuesday night and it was fairly cool outside cruising right around 70 and even with the fan flipped on at that speed the thing was still staying right around 205-208. Slowing down up to 210 but never any higher. Thing ran like a charm though.

Tomorrow I'm gonna take a temp gun to the thing and make sure that the temps are matching what the gauge is reading. If they are, I'm wondering if that small kink on the section where the spider hose runs into the header core is possibly causing some unnecessary restrictions. Otherwise I'm just gonna have to assume that it likes to run crazy hot and will have to consider switching to a lower degree thermostat in the near future.

Also, my occasional jumpy idle is back... again

Did someone say.......

TEMP GUN?!?!?!?!?

[Jdesign]

GunMetalGrey said:

Did someone say.......
TEMP GUN?!?!?!?!?

[jc43089]

I wouldn't call 205-210 crazy hot.  Remember the fan can run all day but the thermostat limits flow to keep the temperature proper.

[AsparagusMike]

I have put just about 3500 miles on the car sense I put er into storage 2 months ago. Over the couple warm months I was able to enjoy it, I got some bugs worked out of her and figured out what needs adjusting/fixing and what I need to change/improve.

To follow up a bit from the last post, Trans leaks have been completely resolved. As for my temp issues, It seems that all is good now. My gauge reads slightly off. When I brought the car up to its op. temp. (the gauge read 210) I shot a temp gun at the cylinder head just past the thermostat housing and I was getting a reading of right around 192. The other day though, I took the car up to Appleton and all the way up the gauge stayed right below the 200 so I may take a look at the wiring to the gauges and see where there may be an interference or what may be causing this inconsistency otherwise I haven't been too bothered by it as the car hasn't been having any issues keeping itself coo

l.

SO... I have compiled a list of everything I have noticed needs work and what I hope to accomplish over the project season. There will probably be more to add to the list but this covers the major things I want to get to.

Issue #1

Oil has been changed twice now and it looks that I burn just about ¾ of a quart every 1000 miles which is supposedly quite normal. Also, about every 100 miles I find that the rear bumper gets covered in oil spots. So, I have added a catch can to the list of parts to order to hopefully solve some of my oil consumption issues.

Issue #2 (still on going) Jumpy idle.

I have detected that the weird idle I get once in a while is a bit more serious then I figured.

After driving it for a while I did end up getting a CEL to pop up and immediately stomp tested the system to retrieve those codes. 2 codes were saved...

1263 (Purge valve)… not worried about this one as it makes complete sense why it is on since I don’t have it hooked.

1222 (Lambda control 1)… My cause for the idle issue. Big fix that I have read is the O2 sensor failing. Problem with this is the fact that my o2 sensor was brand new. I have not yet pulled it out and tested it but I have hi doubts it’s the cause. As for other things I have inspected/checked, I pulled the maf and thoroughly cleaned it as well as hooking it up to a power source and testing that its working properly. I pulled the IAC valve out and made sure it was clean. Reinstalled and confirmed good connections of all vac lines ( all lines are new anyways). An idea of mine is maybe I’m not getting a strong fuel pressure because of a possible original e30 fuel pump not cutting it for the s52’s requirements. Other possibilities may be injectors or a possible faulty ecu. We shall see.

Issue #3

A while back I started noticing a squeaking noise coming from underneath the car in 1st and 2nd gear. At first I didn’t think much of it tell it started clunking more than squeaking. Lifted the car up and gave the drive shaft a little jerk and there was quite a bit of slop in the center and outside u joint. After pulling the heat shield off I was able to notice what really was causing the issue…

The same day I pulled the driveshaft out and brought it over to my buddies to weld up. Since I was worried about burning a lot of the rubber, we decided to braze it instead. There was still some rubber that burned of course but it was only minor and worked out well.

I haven’t had any issues since but I do notice the slop in the u joints when changing over from reverse to 1st so I am now on the lookout for another used or possibly a new driveshaft (for the perks of being able to service the u joints then).

Issue # 4, 5 and 6

Although the car was a blast to drive the alignment was just not right. Unfortunately, I installed the wrong rear sub frame bushings and earned myself a bit to much negative camber on the rear wheels. I found that there were bushings made for this to correct this issue when your car is lowered. These bushings are now in my hands so that will be the first thing I tackle this winter. Not only will I be fixing the sub frame bushings but also the eccentric hardware. Unfortunately, the garagistic’s smooth cams on their hardware like to walk quite often and its been throwing my rear toe and camber all out of whack. I have a couple ideas to solve this issue, but my plan is to center these and hopefully not have to mess with them at all as I have found that you can't properly tighten the outside bolts when the sub frame is in the car. With the trailing arms out, I will be messing with the rear dust shields, so I can install the e-brake system as that is something I have been greatly missing.

Issue # 7

I have no heat. Over the time that the car was being re-built I temporarily shoved paper towels in the heater core inlet and outlet ports to avoid any dirt getting in the heater core so I can't see it being clogged. Also, I do remember the heat working with no issues before the engine (M42) came out so I doubt it’s the heater core at all and the blower motor works without flaw, but I only get cold air. I will be starting with the heater controls and making sure its not something net working right there.

Issue #8

One part of the exhaust sits to low. When the y-pipe was welded in it angled lower then I wanted mostly because of the way the headers sat. The plan is to cut the collector off, fab up a pie cut to angle it correctly and re-weld. My plan is to drop the motor, trans, and sub frame as one to make it a bit easier to work around for welding.

Issue #9

Interior sucks. Will go into depth on what I want to do, still working on some ideas for what I want to do but changes definitely need to be made.

So far that’s it for major issues first on my list to get done. There is some painting needed to be done including re-doing all the trim on the exterior and re-undercoating the rocker panel and front and rear valance. Unfortunately, the old undercoat in those places faded because of exposure to the sun and the fix is spraying a layer of clear over for protection.

I also have a list of things I’d like to get ordered in terms of spicing up the look of the car.

Tonight and tomorrow I will be spending making a solid list of everything I need and getting that order out asap. Unfortunately I need to buckle down on making the most of the time I have as not only is my next semester's schedule going to be quite busy but my use of the shop this year is going to be limited, my grandfather owns the place and he has his own projects he wants to get to.

[Earl]

Your o2 could have also been fouled if it's consuming enough oil to end up coming out of the tail pipe

[AsparagusMike]

Earl said:

Your o2 could have also been fouled if it's consuming enough oil to end up coming out of the tail pipe

o2 was definitely pretty dirty so I cleaned that up but I did another code check on the system and I no longer have either of the codes listed above and instead have one code, 1281 (control unit memory supply). Whats the chances that being anything other then a bad ecu?

[straight6pwr]

someone said:

I have no heat. Over the time that the car was being re-built I temporarily shoved paper towels in the heater core inlet and outlet ports to avoid any dirt getting in the heater core so I can't see it being clogged. Also, I do remember the heat working with no issues before the engine (M42) came out so I doubt it’s the heater core at all and the blower motor works without flaw, but I only get cold air. I will be starting with the heater controls and making sure its not something net working right there.

occam's razor: did you remember to take the paper towels out?

second idea: needs a proper bleed. i believe m42s share the challenges of e36 24v engines (get the front end up high, massage her gently, say sweet things into her ear)

the coolant system is relatively simple. clogged core, dead water pump, dead blower, and trapped air are the only things that will cause no heat.

[Boris3]

Just in case, check to make sure you installed the new setup's hoses to the heater core correctly (inlet/outlet). With everything else going on in a swap, mix ups can happen.

[AsparagusMike]

straight6pwr said:

occam's razor: did you remember to take the paper towels out?

second idea: needs a proper bleed. i believe m42s share the challenges of e36 24v engines (get the front end up high, massage her gently, say sweet things into her ear)

the coolant system is relatively simple. clogged core, dead water pump, dead blower, and trapped air are the only things that will cause no heat.

Ya paper towels came out lol.

Water pump is solid

blower motor works fine

I suppose trapped air is a possibility but I thought I did a pretty good job using the air lift tool and the system held vacuum great with no leaks.

My guess comes down to either somehow a clogged heater core or possible faulty heater check valve, that is where I think I will start.

Boris3 said:

Just in case, check to make sure you installed the new setup's hoses to the heater core correctly (inlet/outlet). With everything else going on in a swap, mix ups can happen.   

I will definitely double check this but I am fairly certain I had them routed correctly.

[AsparagusMike]

Update!

Got to work last weekend on pulling the rear sub frame.

Took me about an hour and a half total to drop out of the car, man is it nice when everything is fresh and easy to pull apart.

First things first, got the diff pulled out and got the new seals installed.

Replaced the output shaft seals and lock rings as well as the o-rings to seal the outer section.

Pulled the trailing arms off and came up with a little fix for my eccentric hardware.

I bolted one arm back up and just lightly tightened it and wow, much better. Hopefully wont be having any more issues there.

Last thing I gotta do is figure my dust shields out so I can install my-e-brake system and then I can install the new bushings and slide the sub-frame right back in.

After this is in, I will be working on fixing the y-pipe on the exhaust.

[straight6pwr]

force flush the heater core via the hoses at the firewall. if it wont flush in the correct direction of flow, try reverse flush and see if any muck comes out. (i know its a giant PITA due to needing to remove the intake mani.)

[Jdesign]

straight6pwr said:

force flush the heater core via the hoses at the firewall. if it wont flush in the correct direction of flow, try reverse flush and see if any muck comes out. (i know its a giant PITA due to needing to remove the intake mani.)

Speaking from experience?

[straight6pwr]

Jdesign said:

Speaking from experience?

pulled the intake mani thrice last year. 3rd time was a breeze but its annoying doing all that just to get to a pair of hose clamps.