S54 swap in a tucked and shaved E36 bay

[purduinaM3]

After 8 years of ownership and upgrading just about every other part of the car, I decided it was finally time for some more power. Here's the bay that it will be going in:



And some pictures of my old S52 that I fully rebuilt a few years ago; planning on going a similar route with the S54.







Anyways, bringing her home...



Loaded up in the trailer



Home and on the stand


















Exhaust tabs are in tact, vanos bolts weren't broken, upper timing chain guide was broken but that was to be expected. A bit of wear at the crest of the cylinder hone, but nothing that can't be fixed at the machine shop. Overall its not bad for the mileage. Planning on doing a complete rebuild within the next couple of weeks and hopefully having it in the car by mid summer! I'll keep this updated with any progress.

[JCooper]

I like where this is going... Whats going on with the motor though? Refreshing the top and bottom end?

[purduinaM3]

Long story short, I bought it from a guy/shop who claimed it had 90k miles on it... got it home, saw a lot more oil leaks than what an average 90k mile motor would have, so I ran a carfax on the vin, found out it had 190k. Got completely scammed and screwed over on it and I refuse to just pass it on to somebody else so I'm stuck doing a full rebuild. Shit happens, just gotta roll with the punches, not going to just give up on this dream. Definitely hurts the budget but at least I'll know that I have a freshly rebuilt S54 in there.

I'll be reusing my 5 spd for this swap. It's not a daily driver so I don't feel like the extra gear is worth the much added cost, not to mention I already have a fully built 3.46 diff that I'd probably want to upgrade to 4.10's if I had the 6 spd. They're lighter/stronger anyway from what I hear. Still haven't decided but highly considering going with the Markert Motorsports harness and tune - it seems as though it's one of the cleanest options out there and that's definitely what I'm going for with this project. Going to be using my Euro coolant tank, not installing AC (didn't have it in my S52), and Ebay headers to the BW adapter pipe for now just to get it running since I already have an AA track pipe. Oh, and CF Airbox.... is there any other option??

[RVAE34]

Excellent. Looking forward to the progress. Great work and cool workspace!

[iRodD]

Very nice

[BigC986]

Cant wait to see it finished. Are you going to be stroking it since you have to rebuild it anyway? Also i hope there will be a rematch in the making between you and yonkers lol. I think the outcome would be quite different with a fresh s54 underneath the hood.

[purduinaM3]

Excellent. Looking forward to the progress. Great work and cool workspace!

Very nice

Thanks guys!

Cant wait to see it finished. Are you going to be stroking it since you have to rebuild it anyway? Also i hope there will be a rematch in the making between you and yonkers lol. I think the outcome would be quite different with a fresh s54 underneath the hood.

Just doing a stock rebuild, nothing too crazy. Doubt Yonkers will want a rematch, but I'll be happy to pull some lengths on him

[SneauxM3]

Sigh...I guess let me load up my pics so I can get mine started.

Very eager to see it in th shaved bay since I was planning to start "trimming" mine while the motor is in the works and such. Looking good

[Shuasha]

Sigh...I guess let me load up my pics so I can get mine started.

Very eager to see it in th shaved bay since I was planning to start "trimming" mine while the motor is in the works and such. Looking good

Hah, same here.

[ECSTuning]

O baby can't wait to see more!

-James

[3MPowered]

So can't wait to see this completed! I'm a big fan of the work you've put into your car thus far, so I know the build will continue to exude the same quality.

[BigC986]

Thanks guys!



Just doing a stock rebuild, nothing too crazy. Doubt Yonkers will want a rematch, but I'll be happy to pull some lengths on him

Lol i didnt want to make it that obvious but ya. This is the car the shop i go to works with. Very clean and kind of reminds me of yours. Both you guys definitely inspire me to build another great car, anyway....enjoy.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...0687975&type=1

[vollosso]

Subd.

[B0rJarZz]

Subd!!!!

[purduinaM3]

Sigh...I guess let me load up my pics so I can get mine started.

Very eager to see it in th shaved bay since I was planning to start "trimming" mine while the motor is in the works and such. Looking good

Yeah, I remember talking to you via PM about cleaning up the bay before we started talking about the S54 swap. If you have any other questions along the way just let me know!

O baby can't wait to see more!

-James

Thanks James! I'll keep it updated with any progress.

So can't wait to see this completed! I'm a big fan of the work you've put into your car thus far, so I know the build will continue to exude the same quality.

Appreciate that. Definitely always try to do it once, do it right with this car, and this project will be no different.

Lol i didnt want to make it that obvious but ya. This is the car the shop i go to works with. Very clean and kind of reminds me of yours. Both you guys definitely inspire me to build another great car, anyway....enjoy.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...0687975&type=1

Wow, that car is absolutely gorgeous. Definitely tastefully done!

[weedshoes]

My favorite car in bfc is about to get cooler. Good luck Bobby!

[purduinaM3]

My favorite car in bfc is about to get cooler. Good luck Bobby!

Thanks man!

Not much of an update but finally had some spare time today to strip the block down to nothing.





Bearings look good for the mileage, but obviously everything will be replaced with new once it goes back together. For now, the block, head, and crank will go off to the machine shop, and the rest of the parts to powder coat. Time to clean this thing up! Also making a large parts order tomorrow at work, so hopefully next weekend there will be some build progress!

[87shark]

The s54 is the perfect motor for the e36. I rode in my friends while i was out in cali last time and it screamed.

[JCooper]

Long story short, I bought it from a guy/shop who claimed it had 90k miles on it... got it home, saw a lot more oil leaks than what an average 90k mile motor would have, so I ran a carfax on the vin, found out it had 190k. Got completely scammed and screwed over on it and I refuse to just pass it on to somebody else so I'm stuck doing a full rebuild. Shit happens, just gotta roll with the punches, not going to just give up on this dream. Definitely hurts the budget but at least I'll know that I have a freshly rebuilt S54 in there.

I'll be reusing my 5 spd for this swap. It's not a daily driver so I don't feel like the extra gear is worth the much added cost, not to mention I already have a fully built 3.46 diff that I'd probably want to upgrade to 4.10's if I had the 6 spd. They're lighter/stronger anyway from what I hear. Still haven't decided but highly considering going with the Markert Motorsports harness and tune - it seems as though it's one of the cleanest options out there and that's definitely what I'm going for with this project. Going to be using my Euro coolant tank, not installing AC (didn't have it in my S52), and Ebay headers to the BW adapter pipe for now just to get it running since I already have an AA track pipe. Oh, and CF Airbox.... is there any other option??

Damn, that really sucks but look on the good side now. Your starting fresh which is better then some 90k donor. Especially since you now know the condition of the internals....

- - - Updated - - -

So can't wait to see this completed! I'm a big fan of the work you've put into your car thus far, so I know the build will continue to exude the same quality.

This!

[97spooncivic]

Sub'd

[cyberlando]

Great recovery bud ! Subed

[auaq]

I like what I'm seeing here. In for more goosebumps.

[MSpeedAddict]

Dude, awesome. Subscribed, looking to see what this thing can do done right.

[Kaiv]

Good work. Reminds me of mine!

And I know exactly how you feel about the motor turning out to be a total turd despite the seller/shop saying it was clean and had lower miles etc. I literally had the SAME experience.
To add insult to injury I paid extra for that motor/trans combo since the seller seemed like a trustworthy/fellow bimmerphile and I thought I'd rather give him my business then some random person on ebay or something...

Anyways sorry for the rant. Have fun with the rebuild!

[itscoo2pyopants]

Wowowowowowowowowowowowowow can't wait to see more