S54 swap in a tucked and shaved E36 bay

[TekE36Alpina]

Man, that sucks. I caught a guy trying to do that crap to me. Only thing that saved me was that I recognized the car. I called him out on it, told him all about the car and the real miles on it. He never replied.

[purduinaM3]

Been a while but finally have something to update this thread with. Got everything back from the machine shop last week!

Here's the block after a hone and two dips in the hot tank:



Here's the before and after of the block after I first stripped it down and now after cleaning it up and painting it:



The head got a valve job and new guides, I cleaned all of the carbon cleaning off the pistons, and had the crank polished:




Hopefully things start moving faster now, I'll try and give more updates as they come!

[weedshoes]

Looking good!

[MSpeedAddict]

[jrkoupe]

I recall you always wanted an s54( or was it a v8..lol).......glad to see it happening.

Your work inspires me....I hope it all goes smoothly. Knowing your skill level and expectations,....I expect it to be quite good.



what happened to your s52?.....

[purduinaM3]

I recall you always wanted an s54( or was it a v8..lol).......glad to see it happening.

Your work inspires me....I hope it all goes smoothly. Knowing your skill level and expectations,....I expect it to be quite good.



what happened to your s52?.....

Thanks! I'm hoping it all goes smoothly as well. I sold my S52 back in October for $4500, which was a steal considering how much I put into it. Sometimes I regret getting rid of it so soon since I've been left without a toy this entire summer but hopefully it will be all worth it once this is finished. Majority of the parts for the build will be shipping out Monday/Tuesday and my rod bearings are currently at Calico getting coated so if all goes well everything should be ready to go by next weekend! Can't wait to start assembling everything; once I start it should be all together very quickly.

[purduinaM3]

Parts are here!





Just waiting on the rod bearings to get back from Calico, out for delivery so should be here tonight! Assembly soon.

- - - Updated - - -

[cyberlando]

Wow those look pretty

[SkinnyBeans]

I'll never get tired of S54 E36's...nice work Bobby!

P.S. I have a question for you, but your inbox is full. Let me know when it has space again.

Good Luck with the build!

[purduinaM3]

I'll never get tired of S54 E36's...nice work Bobby!

P.S. I have a question for you, but your inbox is full. Let me know when it has space again.

Good Luck with the build!

Just emptied it… try again!

[SneauxM3]

Did you go with that Z3 engine mount, or just rocking the OEM S54 ones? I have one, but mocking it up with the 3 sets of E36/46 mounts, they all fit just fine.....or so they seem. But I've always been told to do it "proper," would be with the Z3 engine mount.

Looking good, I'm still slacking on my block work.. Work has been busy along with the stress of an ending relationship

[purduinaM3]

I sold my S52 engine mount arms with the motor and the S54 ones on this motor broke off in the accident from the donor car so I had to buy new ones either way, decided just to get the Z3M S54 arms from the dealer. I've been following your build thread, you're getting there! I have a feeling we'll both be completing right around the same time!

[Shuasha]

The stock E36 arms will mount the power steering reservoir too high, which ends up in the way of the dipstick tube. Definitely go with one of the other options for the driver's side.

[purduinaM3]

Speaking of power steering, what is everyone using for their PS setup? Is it okay to just use the S52 PS pump and all the stock lines? The E46 PS lines run through the radiator if I remember correctly. Even if length has to be changed that shouldn't be difficult since I can just use the factory barbed fittings with longer hoses and worm hose clamps. I also have an S54 pump if needed. The reservoirs looked identical from what I remember, and the car already has a Z3 rack installed.

[Bizarre11]

Very jealous! What does a swap like this tend to cost?

[weedshoes]

If you have to ask...

[catalyst.]

probably around 8-10k

He is rebuilding the engine so the cost will be much more than if it was a 'good engine'. Nothing wrong with that though, got to pay to play

[attrack]

If it was me putting a new engine in, I would be rebuilding it irregardless.. Just makes sense.

Got a lot of work ahead but its going to be totally worth it.

[purduinaM3]

Very jealous! What does a swap like this tend to cost?

The cost for me is going to be much higher than a typical swap since I got screwed on the motor. I paid $3700 for the full drop out and already have almost $5500 into the rebuild and other misc parts for the swap that I've had to purchase. Still going to need a harness and tune so factor that into the cost, plus a carbon air box (must have for me) aaaand it's more than I care to add up. Just like most things I've done on this car, the while-yours-in-there and my OCD has spiraled out of control and killed me. Oh well, do it once do it right.

[ak5]

In.

[weedshoes]

Just don't let it go the way of rob's white sedan.

[purduinaM3]

Finally got the correct main bearings in. I was sent the older M20 style mains that have identical top and bottom shells as opposed to the proper S54 mains that have one lock notch on the block side and two lock notches on the cap side. The block side mains are the same but here's the difference between the cap side shells. The ones with the Calico coating are the S54 ones, the others are how they come from the dealer with no coating.



If anyone needs these main bearings let me know, I have no use for them.

Anyways, got the main bearings installed last night as well as checking the crankshaft endplay clearance. The S54 has some cool little differences from the S52, notably how the material under the main caps were shaved for weight savings, as well as less material in other areas as well.



The block cleaned up real well in the hot tank and I also thoroughly cleaned the oil squirters and made sure they had good flow with my air compressor. Cylinder walls were honed as well.



This tool is used to check endplay on the crankshaft when setting the thrust bearings. First you torque down all 6 mains besides the thrust to proper torque (25nm and 50* ), then you use a large rubber mallet to hit the crank back and forth and center it. Then you set this gauge on the block at 0 and check how much the crank can move using a large screwdriver or flat pry bar. Usually between .003-.004" is acceptable, and mine was dead on. I then torqued down the thrust bearing and checked it again, just to be sure.






Oh, and I also removed the old stock header studs from the head and added the N54 studs with torx heads to make installation a breeze! Definitely a good upgrade if you've got the head off and your studs are looking a bit old or if they were fused to the nuts and came out when removing the nuts.



Next update will include checking the gap on the new rings, installing the pistons and torquing the Calico coated rod bearings down with ARP hardware. Speaking of, does anybody know where I can find the torque specs for the ARP rod bolts off hand?

[cyberlando]

Can you take good pictures of the timing chain area......really want to know exactly what is in That area along the head and the block

[purduinaM3]

Yeah no problem, I'll make sure I post good pics when I get to that part of the build.

To those guys that have done this swap already: what is everyone using for their PS setup? Is it okay to just use the S52 PS pump and all the stock lines?

[SneauxM3]

That's what seems to be the consensus that I've grabbed from anyone doing/done it, to stick with the E36 accessories. Or buy new of course, for added prettiness.