1992 E36 325i LS build

[lloydjoe]

Got it back into my garage for the night. Should be able to start tearing into the trans tomorrow. Will probably fix the mounts when I am waiting on parts to show up for the transmission.

FYI, I still have not found a way to remove the engine without removing the headers first... eventually I will learn and save myself time by just removing the headers to begin with.20190531_211005.jpg20190531_211542.jpg20190531_211655.jpg

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[lloydjoe]

Transmission mount has been rebuilt and modified. Thicker tubing and it is also sleeved. Motor mounts have been straighted up and triangulated with some 1/4" angle iron (didnt have thinner stuff laying around).

The motor and trans are back in the car too. Ended up getting the trans rebuilt by a shop in Edmonton. New reverse gear, new reverse synchro, upgraded shift pads on all forks, upgraded 2nd gear, and a threaded port drilled into the case in the front so I can pump oil from the rear of the pan to the front. This way when at the drag strip the front of the trans will still have oil instead of it all getting pushed to the rear.

Found the lollipops are in horrible shape too, split them a bit more open when trying to lower the subframe to get the drivetrain in. Thought I replaced them once already when I built the car 6 years ago, maybe not, maybe they got dried up from the heat on the exhaust, I dont know... but they do require replacement for sure.


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[lloydjoe]

I have had some messages about my 8.8 swap since the image hosting site has took a dump. Just going to re-upload some of them again.

Previous diff from Turner Motorsports vs the Ford 8.8, this one came from a Explorer with the v8 option (it has 2 mounting points on the snout vs the one mount on most other 8.8's).
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Before I started cutting the stock subframe I took measurements and marked the center lines of the CV axles and driveshaft inputs. I wanted to get as close to stock positions as possible.
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[lloydjoe]

After sandblasting the subframe and doing a little notching I boxed it back in.
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Stuff I had to clearance on the diff housing:
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And first test fit in the car:
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[lloydjoe]

My simple mount for the rear cover. The upper mounts on my cover were angled, not sure if they all are, but I had them machined flat to match up with this flat bar I welded in.
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The CV axles from the Driveshaft Shop, they require the use of M3 hubs, so I had those installed with new bearings. Forgot to mention earlier that the Mustang and Explorer diffs utilize different bearings and seals for the CV's, be sure to mention this to the Driveshaft Shop, they have the stubs for both.
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And that is pretty much it for the diff stuff, I do have other pictures that are more close up of items that I did, but this pretty much shows the steps of what was required for me. I have since added a cooler, pump and fan for it because it got extremely hot a few times. The reason I went with the path of the Ford 8.8 is because it was larger than the stock unit, more ratio choices, more readily available parts, more LSD/locker options, still kept the independent rear suspension, and will be cheaper to rebuild or change gear ratios in the future if required.

Oh, for the speedometer pickup, I used one of the rear ABS sensors and fed that wire into a Dakota Digital signal converter to change the pulses to the proper amount so I had an accurate speedo

[smr87]

Thanks for the update Lloydjoe, I appreciate you taking the time to re-post these photos its a big help!

[wbrentr]

Looks great! Glad to see it still running.

I really like your intake set up. Can you take a few pictures of how you mounted your radiator lower?

[octanematty]

Nice work!

Thanks for posting the Ford 8.8 install
Will definitely come in handy for my swap.
Any chance you could PM me or share the order sheet for your driveshafts?

Cheers

[lloydjoe]

Looks great! Glad to see it still running.

I really like your intake set up. Can you take a few pictures of how you mounted your radiator lower?

The main part of the weight for the rad sits in a cradle that I made. It bolts to a couple of tabs which I can't remember what was in those tabs originally, perhaps the stock rad? The part of the cradle that the rad sits in is lined with 1/4" thick rubber and only the end tanks of the rad contact anything down there, so I am not worried about damaging the lower section of radiator core from the way it is mounted. The top part of the rad has 2 brackets bolted to it (one on drivers and one on passenger side). These two brackets hang over and bolt to the top of the stock piece that the hood latches are bolted to. There is no weight supported by these tabs, they are only there to stop the top of the rad from going back into the engine. The very bottom of my rad sits pretty much level with the bottom of my bumper, the top is low enough for my custom intake pipe to clear it and go in front of the rad... was planning on making a better one some day with the carbon fiber again but eventually I want to turbo this. The factory plastic pieces that direct airflow into the rad still fit and the rubber seals press on the rad side tanks, to make it ideal I should have covered in the space from the bottom of the bumper to the bottom of the rad so all air would be force through and not bypassing it, but where I live we don't have many super hot days.

Rad cradle:
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Rubber mount:
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Stock tabs that the cradle bolts to:
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Upper tab, drivers side:
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[lloydjoe]

Nice work!

Thanks for posting the Ford 8.8 install
Will definitely come in handy for my swap.
Any chance you could PM me or share the order sheet for your driveshafts?

Cheers

The measurements will be slightly different depending on your ride height, where exactly your diff ends up, and if you use the mustang or explorer diff housings, but still, here is the info from my invoice. I should have made my axles a few mm longer on each side, I might end up trying to lower my diff a bit to help out in the future. Only reason I say this is because without the clips the axles want to pull the stubs out of the diff a bit.

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