E30 M52

[B C]

Grimey oil filter housings require no fewer than 3 brushes, 2 rolls of paper towels, and 3 cans of brake cleaner/simple green to clean up. There are so many nooks and crannies in the casting.

I'm considering it good and moving on.

[B C]

I have formed a rough list of milestones to be up and running in September. I'm unsure of my ability to get it all done in time. It needs to be done properly and I wont install a temporary anything to be up and running. it needs to be complete.

7/22 - finish cleaning and painting engine, finish cleaning and painting engine bay, brake booster modified and installed

7/29 - cams installed/timed, new CSB installed on driveshaft, oil pump shaft replaced and safety wired, trans input seal replaced

8/5 -  Front and rear main seals replaced, engine and trans fully assembled as a unit with M50 oil pan installed

8/12- Subframe removed, CABs replaced with smaller Treehouse lollipops

8/19 - Engine, trans, and subframe installed and in the car

8/26 - Figure out exhaust routing, install fan, all electrical and plumbing connections made

9/2 - Finish exhaust, install bumper + valence

9/9 - bleed brakes, clutch, coolant, add oil, prime engine, start engine, test drive

9/16 - fudge week

9/23 - fudge week

[B C]

Cutting and re-threading the rod on the e21 booster is a royal pain because of how difficult it is to hold the rod steady and keep it from rotating and wobbling

But it is finished

[GunMetalGrey]

I enjoy coming to this thread and seeing updates! 
Keep up the good work!

[m42b32]

Fall meet or bust!!

[KaiserRolls]

Bust meat or fall!

[B C]

bust meat or fall!  hahaha!

The forum has felt a little bit slow lately so I'm glad to know the thread has some traffic.

I was on Joe's case to make it to the picnic and now I'm in the hot seat.

It's going to be mighty close

[straight6pwr]

Snap said:

The forum has felt a little bit slow lately so I'm glad to know the thread has some traffic.

the summertime boom in a Midwest town. gotta get all the activities in.

lovin the updates.

[B C]

Between a kid's birthday party out in bum-fudge land and a dinner date all I got done was a few finishing touches on the brake booster. My revised tune did arrive though. 7100 soft limit, 7250 hard limit instead of the 7400 limit before, stock is 6500, also set for 93 octane instead of 91 as it was mistakenly set for before.

[Bassboy3313]

Keep it up!

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

[B C]

The brake hard line retainer needed some modifying in order for the E21 booster to sit flat on the firewall since it does not stand off as far as the E30 booster does. It looks like this may not be an issue if all the firewall insulation was removed but I like my firewall insulation.

There are two spaces for the hard line to snap into and one of them simply gets cut off with a dremel.

The firewall gasket is either NLA or im not seeing it on RealOEM. I gave it a go making my own gasket with some gasket material but ended up just running a small bead of clear silicone that wont bond the booster to the firewall

The booster is in and connected but I will leave the kick panels off until I can find a clutch return spring.

When I did my manual swap I dont think I had the clutch return spring, and it isnt really needed except to pull up a 1/4" of dead travel in the pedal when its disengaged. I find myself instinctively lifting the backside of the clutch pedal with my left foot. It isnt hurting anything but my subconscious mind obviously cares about it so I better install a return spring for it.

Its also possible that the automatic pedal box didnt have the provision for the spring attachment or something. I forget.

[Jdesign]

More progress! I like this. I had no idea your car was originally an auto. Intradusting!

[B C]

Time for my daily micro update with almost negligible progress!

I received some more gaskets and seals in the mail. I cleaned up the crustaceans inside and outside of the water flange on the rear of the head, replaced the gasket, I dont care that it has a small bead of embedded silicone, im adding my small slather of gray RTV anyways.

I started working on the rear main seal

We have a nice little groove here. I will install the new seal with maybe 1-1.5mm protrusion so it rides on a clean surface and doesnt hang up on the groove when being installed.

Should work like a charm. If I ever need to mess with it again I will do a speedi-sleeve

[KaiserRolls]

DUDE

THE DAMN LAST 1/4" OF PEDAL TRAVEL

My car was also manual swapped at some point in it's life.

I cannot stress how often I pull the pedal up with the top of my foot.

Drives my OCD insane

[B C]

And I thought I was the only one [emoji16]

[B C]

Tonight I installed the rear main seal into its carrier, protruding 1.5mm. I will wait until I install the E34 oil pan to install the carrier/seal onto the block.

Out of my own curiosity, I wanted to overlay all the BMW 2.5L engines: M20B25, M50NV, M50TU, M52B25, M54B25, N52B25 and see how the torque curve flattened over time with all the technology advancements. Instead I lost interest and threw the modded M52 data over some data for

a stock M20B25 vs. an M52B28, M50 manifold, S52 cams, intake, exhaust, stock ex. manifolds, and tune. 

I remember having fun with my stock M20 so it appears there is a little more fun in store with the M52. Next week will for sure see some significant progress as I will have some extra time, but I will keep nibbling away at things this week like I have been doing.

[jc43089]

When the vanos hits!!  In all seriousness though it is interesting that the the hp and torque curves have a similar profile between the two engines.

[B C]

I noticed that as well. The M50 manifold and S52 cams sacrifice the low end, but definitely make up for it in the higher revs

[B C]

Hello turd.

Last night I replaced the clutch hardline that had rounded hardware, scrubbed the engine bay, and cut off the intercooler mounts I had welded on.

Tonight: more scrubbing and paint touchup in the engine bay. Nothing worth taking pictures of, but all necessary tasks to make me feel some level of satisfaction with my efforts.

[B C]

"You'll never get the crank bolt without the locking pin or at least the engine in the car"

"Nobody ever gets the jesus bolt loose at home, its red-loctited from the factory"

"Harbor freight tools are garbage"

"Electric impact guns are inferior to a traditional air impact"

Rubbish.

This is the 4th BMW crank bolt I have removed with this 6 year old HF electric impact gun.