Let the swap begin... M52 into my '83

[audioscience10]

details on the mounting of the lollipops when you get there.

You got it Tom. I have an idea of how I'm gonna do it but not 100% yet. I tend to do a lot of "on the fly engineering" when I do big projects like this. But i'll see what I can come up with and share it with the rest of the class. ;-)

[audioscience10]

Alright here it is... This is what I've come up with or at least the start of my adapters.

Just ignore the holes that are in the plate, it was just a piece of 1/4" I had laying around that happened to be the right size. (Easier than pulling the 3x8' sheet that I have out.)
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[audioscience10]

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You can see where the lollipops are gonna mount. I wasn't 100% sure on the distance on them so I haven't drilled holes for them yet. Now I have the build all the gusseting for the adapters to make them strong enough and I have to notch it because the tire hits it before it gets to full lock. Thats definatly not gonna work if I want the car to drift so its gonna have to go beyond full lock. But the important thing this weekend is that the subframe is in the car!

[Tom D]

is the sub that much wider that it mounts 1 1/2" outboard of the E21's factory mounts?

question, in the first picture post #52, what's the holes for?

[audioscience10]

Yeah Tom that's correct the subframe mounts about 1.5" wider and about 4.5" farther back than the factory. I'd have to look at my drawings I did to see the exact difference. The first pic the plate I used already had a few holes. Over a couple pics the large holes are for the sub and the small holes are for the car.

[Retro82]

this is an awesome build. Im a newbie, and i have a few questions? are you using the e46 subframe hence the reason you made those brackets? thanks

[audioscience10]

Its the e36 subframe. My main reason for using it isn't to mount the motor its to use the suspension, brakes , and 5 lug setup. Its very likely that I'll end up having to build custom motor mounts because I don't think the engine is gonna sit on the subframe the same as it did in the e36.

[Tom D]

Just ignore the holes that are in the plate, it was just a piece of 1/4" I had laying around

question, in the first picture post #52, what's the holes for?

The first pic the plate I used already had a few holes.

that was a joke son, try to keep up. http://youtu.be/KTwnwbG9YLE

[audioscience10]

Lol hey you never know around here Tom...

[lasvegascop]

Sooooooo if you're going thru all that and you live in the snowy country.... You should've done the suspension out of an xi.... Mmmmmmm, all wheel drive E21. imagine the faces on that ???? Haha

Cool fab work man..... Personally I still don't dig the way the pics come out in your thread...sorry

Do love the content tho

[audioscience10]

Sooooooo if you're going thru all that and you live in the snowy country.... You should've done the suspension out of an xi.... Mmmmmmm, all wheel drive E21. imagine the faces on that ???? Haha

Cool fab work man..... Personally I still don't dig the way the pics come out in your thread...sorry

Do love the content tho

Lol yeah the thought on an xi did cross my mind. I think I saw someone (Charbal?) has one in the works. Yeah sorry about the pics man. Idk what the deal is. I'm posting the same way I did before they "updated" the site and for some reason they are tiny and you have to click on them to see them bigger now. Its annoying me too, but I haven't messed with it too much. Someone help. How do I make big pictures again?

[Tom D]

.... Mmmmmmm, all wheel drive E21. imagine the faces on that ????

[audioscience10]

Done it with a '69 Beetle but never a Bimmer. This is the unfinished project I traded for the e21. LT1 midengine 4x4 on a CJ5 frame.
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And how do you make pictures big like that Tom?

[Tom D]

linked it to my photobucket account.

[audioscience10]

Maybe I'll have to try photobucket. I've been linking to facebook like I had always done before they updated.

[EauRouge2002]

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You can see where the lollipops are gonna mount. I wasn't 100% sure on the distance on them so I haven't drilled holes for them yet. Now I have the build all the gusseting for the adapters to make them strong enough and I have to notch it because the tire hits it before it gets to full lock. Thats definatly not gonna work if I want the car to drift so its gonna have to go beyond full lock. But the important thing this weekend is that the subframe is in the car!

I'm doing the same front end e36 swap as you albiet with an M42 and my biggest concern is properly locating the rear control arms to the subframe. In order to ensure that I get it right, I may end up buying a Samberg e36 LSx front subframe as it will allow me to properly locate the rear control arms and add a bit more rigidity to the chassis.
Good luck with your build.

[lasvegascop]

I've seen this....but I really meant a real E21, looking stock but all wheel drive...If we had any at the yard, I would've definitely taken up the task hahahahah

Plus this right there is really no brainer....You could put a mini or even a smart car on top of there and it wouldn't make it an all wheel drive smart.....

[nMide]

As a former E36 guy I can tell you that only ROW market E36s have aluminum blocks, in the US you will only find the M52 engines with aluminum blocks in some later model Z3 cars and E46s...

Still a great engine, best of luck with your swap

[audioscience10]

Just a quick update... One of the ways I'm planning on making my adapter strong enough.




I welded on some gusseting. I also plan on drilling holes (2 m10 holes through each reinforcement plate) and welding tubing through the 'frame rails' and bolting it through. Honestly if it was just the subframe I think its strong enough as is but since there is suspension tied in I'm not taking any chances.

(Just for you Ski I figured out how to make the pictures big again.)

[lasvegascop]

I see!!!! Excellent work....both with pics and welding

[audioscience10]

And I only caught the undercoating on fire a few times

[audioscience10]

Tried to get the adapters done. And they are except I still have to take a little more out of the notches. Even though I am probably going to run spacers or different offset wheels to get extra angle I want it to work as is at first.

So here it is the adapters done... you can see all the holes I drilled to bolt it through the frame for added support.


Heres the angle of turn I get.


Just a quick shot of how the new cradle fits in the car. I like how awesome the steering lines up, I'm gonna build delrin plates to go in place of that rubber piece to fill the extra space.

[lasvegascop]

Dang....with that turning angle you'll have a great drift car!!!!!!

[audioscience10]

Dang....with that turning angle you'll have a great drift car!!!!!!

And this is still stock e36 turn angle and I'm still hitting in this picture... I'll probably just run it like this to start, but I'm probably gonna run 5 series wheels to space them out a little. Of course flares are on my list

[audioscience10]

Hey guys very little progress this weekend... The front is done except for the sway bar which isn't getting mounted until after the motor.

I started looking at the rear. Looks like I'm going to have modify the e36 trailing arms because the factory mounting in the e36 is like 4" wider than the rocker panels of the 21. So the plan is to rebuild the trailing arm to mount to the outer trailing arm mount location on the on the e21 rear subframe. My question does anyone have a e21 trailing arm without a bushing in it to get the tube inner diameter?