E36 Vert 5.0 SBF Daily/Drift/Stancecar Swap

[Classy]

There is a lot more room in there than I expected, easily could fit a 351w in there, there is an engine you can go crazy with power

[Ragnorak]

Yeah, I feel you on not rushing. I'm totally prepared to head to uhaul on Saturday and trailer the car to the show.

Power wise, this setup will be at 200whp/280wtq, with a good looking torque curve. With pretty much any head/cam/intake setup, I'll be at 300whp. If I need anything else, I'll be running nitrous. Not crazy power, but pretty good for the cost of admission.

Definitely man, plus for a drift car being different is always more exciting. Pretty sad how the entire valvetrain upgrade on those cars, new, are less than JUST cams for your old stock motor hah. Keep it up man.

[motocaddy]

There is a lot more room in there than I expected, easily could fit a 351w in there, there is an engine you can go crazy with power

There's probably room, but some things would need to be changed up, like brake booster and oil pan. Those 351s can handle quite a bit more power for sure.

Definitely man, plus for a drift car being different is always more exciting. Pretty sad how the entire valvetrain upgrade on those cars, new, are less than JUST cams for your old stock motor hah. Keep it up man.

Yeah, to get the M52 to decent power levels, it was going to take a complete rebuild and turbo setup. That was going to cost much more than this complete rebuilt swap and not sound near as good.

Lot of little things to hook up in the next 36 hours, but it's getting closer for sure. Last night was finishing oil setup, wiring everything up, reworking harness to look a little better, and fabbing up radiator brackets/cutting support.

[natem31995]

Looking good I can't wait to see it running.

[svt4me]

what MAF is that? is is monstrous!

[motocaddy]

what MAF is that? is is monstrous!

the 70mm that came on 93/94 Cobras and later mod motors. it's supposed to be good for 5hp or so. it has a 4 bolt pattern, so there is a 4" adapter on there.

so far the car cranks, but won't start. not sure what is going on. I can see spark on coil wire and by holding plug up to block, but nothing on plug wire with timing light. it has fuel pressure and injector pulse.

[svt4me]

It may sound dumb but take the intake tube off and spray starter fluid down the intake while cranking, (takes 2 people) I had to do this on my old 302 turned out to be he idle air control valve. Also wondering if that Maf is talking to your computer right, I think the Maf has to be pair with certain injectors like 24# injectors with 24# Maf. Hope Ive sparked an idea somewhere. Not trying to dog on your engine building skills,but have you checked for compression ?

[motocaddy]

It may sound dumb but take the intake tube off and spray starter fluid down the intake while cranking, (takes 2 people) I had to do this on my old 302 turned out to be he idle air control valve. Also wondering if that Maf is talking to your computer right, I think the Maf has to be pair with certain injectors like 24# injectors with 24# Maf. Hope Ive sparked an idea somewhere. Not trying to dog on your engine building skills,but have you checked for compression ?

Thanks for the input. I'm sure it's going to be something simple that finally fires it up. I've tried starter fluid with no difference. I read up on these MAFs before getting it and they work with 19# injectors. I haven't checked compression with a gauge, but I can tell it has some from turning it over and all the air its forcing out. Either way, it would show some signs of life with low compression. Currently, its not trying to fire at all. Occasionally, 1 or 2 cylinders will fire, but that's it.

[Ragnorak]

Thanks for the input. I'm sure it's going to be something simple that finally fires it up. I've tried starter fluid with no difference. I read up on these MAFs before getting it and they work with 19# injectors. I haven't checked compression with a gauge, but I can tell it has some from turning it over and all the air its forcing out. Either way, it would show some signs of life with low compression. Currently, its not trying to fire at all. Occasionally, 1 or 2 cylinders will fire, but that's it.

If starter fluid doesn't fire up the car, it's most likely an ignition or ignition timing issue. How's the distributor?

If you have fuel pressure and the injectors are pulsing, you'd get some combustion but it may not idle. Also, check your engine grounds. If the straps are corroded or weak, you may be getting a shitty spark.

[unnatrl]

I had a very similar problem when I did a 351 swap a few years ago. The magnetic pickup in my distributor was weak. The TFI module is another possibility. Good luck!

[motocaddy]

Thanks, guys! I think you're on the right track. I'm gonna first improve my grounds and add one from the block to the battery. Then start replacing parts in the distributor.

It's killing me having this thing stuck at 90% complete and not being able to do some burnouts.

[svt4me]

If this helps, I think the 86 is the non-HO which has a different firing order.

[motocaddy]

If this helps, I think the 86 is the non-HO which has a different firing order.

Nah. It's an HO in the GT. The difference is the '86 has E6 heads and the pistons don't have valve reliefs (I upgraded to '88 pistons/rods though).

[svt4me]

any good news after the weekend?

[gnx7]

That motor looks good in all black!

[Harrison Lin]

Nice progress man! I read your first build thread as well and this car has come a long way! good luck on getting it to run.

[BrittB]

Until today I didn't know anyone was doing swaps like this, very cool!

[motocaddy]

any good news after the weekend?

I improved all the grounds with no change. I ran a ground strap from block to chassis and 8-gauge wire from block to negative battery. I'm going to install a new distributor next and see if that makes any changes. If not, I'll trailer it up to work and start a full diagnosis and test each connection.

[masat03]

Maf matched to pcm/injectors? Distributor 180? Tfi module, coil etc...in that order

[natem31995]

Any luck yet?

[motocaddy]

Maf matched to pcm/injectors? Distributor 180? Tfi module, coil etc...in that order

All this has been checked or is new and seems to check out. To me, it's either ignition based problem (as shown by weak spark) or something is going on with the BMW side of things. It turns over, so I believe that means the immobilizer is bypassed, correct? Also, I checked the x20 pinouts between '97 318i (car that harness came from) and my '98 323i and it seems to be the same.

Any luck yet?

Nothing yet, but I honestly haven't tried a lot with holidays and crap weather. Right now I'm finishing up the last few things on car, such as front end, cooling, and put bay together, even though it doesn't run. Then I'm going to tow it up to work and see if we can't figure it out. I work at one of the best speed shops anywhere, so confident between the lead tech and tuner, they can get me sorted out. But if y'all can think of anything else I should check, please let me know!

[DatTugrut]

Ben this might sound contrary to the work, however have you checked voltage across all the main positive terminals? Alt, starter, battery post, etc?

[svt4me]

Must have update !!!!! P.S. What radiator is that ?

[motocaddy]

Ben this might sound contrary to the work, however have you checked voltage across all the main positive terminals? Alt, starter, battery post, etc?

I think I'm good on voltage, but I could check more. I've tried two batteries and the charger with no changes.

Must have update !!!!! P.S. What radiator is that ?

Well the car is mostly put together and ready to haul up to work. My hope is that the geniuses up here will have it figured out in a few minutes and I can properly break it in on our track and dyno. Fingers crossed!

It's probably 90% done here. Got all the cooling system finished and the front end back on. The wiring is as clean as I can get it for now without cutting anything. Once it runs, I plan on reworking the engine harness, so that it's mostly tucked away. The radiator/fan/shroud/relay combo is from Summit.





Got some sweet valve covers from my parents for xmas, so painted and sanded the engine badge to match.

[jjjjjjj]

Covers and badge (among other things) look awesome! Somewhere up there Henry sheds a tear...

Best of luck getting it all squared away, can't wait to see it on the track this summer