Blackknight530i’s 530i6 6-speed swap build thread

[blackknight530i]

100% correct!

For more details, please see:

http://store.uucmotorwerks.com/articles/SSK-DSSR.htm

Hey Rob! Glad to see you found my thread! Also, thanks for having such an awesome deal on the DSSR with Evo3.

[E39 Expert]

Subscribed!

[Redshift]

Will offer free labor for free labor. Oh wait...

[blackknight530i]

Will offer free labor for free labor. Oh wait...

😂

[blackknight530i]

So, I received my flywheel today, only there was one major problem... it's the wrong one. In my research, I had originally though I would need the 330Ci 6-speed flywheel since it was mated to a M54, but after discussing it with TerraPhantm, he said that unlike the S62/M62 that use the flywheel for crankshaft timing, the S54/M54 both have a crank sensor over the actual crank on the engine, so the flywheel teeth are really just for the starter. Anyways, the point is, I needed the M3 flywheel to mate with the M3 clutch kit for the M3 transmission. The problem is, while looking for the flywheel on Rock Auto's website (on 3 different computers BTW since I was either at work, in my home office or in the living room), I must have had the wrong one in my shopping cart when I placed the order and ended up with the 330Ci flywheel. I put in a return request this evening and was able to get it dropped off at FedEx before their last Ground pickup for the night/weekend and placed an order for the correct M3 flywheel. Unfortunately, it says it won't be shipped until Monday. Not that big of a deal since I won't be doing the swap until the first weekend in February anyways, but I like to have all the parts in hand before I do final measuring and mocking up at Brian's next weekend. We'll be doing an oil pan gasket replacement, some power steering hoses and reservoir replacement, S54 oil pan mockup to see where it would need to be cut, and some measuring to make sure all the 6-speed stuff will fit and work together. We'll also be swapping the output flange on the M3 transmission with the one from my cracked 540i transmission and making sure that works properly. After we have all the measurements done and feel confident that it'll work (at least as much as we can be), we'll pull the bellhousing off to send as a core to Kaiv on m3forum.net who is providing the pre-modified 6MT bellhousing for me. If he is able to get it shipped out to me and delivered before next weekend, I'll go ahead and mount it on the transmission while I'm there as well. I should also have all the parts I've ordered from Morristown and Clemster by then as well, so we can get started installing the pedal cluster and a few other things that will make the swap go smoother on swap weekend. The only things I'll really be able to get done early are the pedals, hydraulic lines, CSB and Guibo on the driveshaft. The rest will have to wait until swap weekend.

[jdjg]

suscribe

[JimLev]

So maybe I'll get to wrench on your car at Redshifts garage next weekend.

[blackknight530i]

So maybe I'll get to wrench on your car at Redshifts garage next weekend.

😂, you think I'd let you near my baby?!

Haha, jk, of course you can! I hope we're done with most of the difficult stuff by Sunday so I can drive home

[MrTeeThyme]

So maybe I'll get to wrench on your car at Redshifts garage next weekend.

That's got to add at least 10 HP.

[CarbonZHP]

I'm picking up my 5 swap kit soon as well. Not the same car but worth the follow. I'll probably end up with the e60 545 linkage

[blackknight530i]

I'm picking up my 5 swap kit soon as well. Not the same car but worth the follow. I'll probably end up with the e60 545 linkage

Cool! Thanks. Good luck with your swap as well

[RyansBMW]

Subscribed. I have the intention of putting the ESS twin screw in my car later this year or early next. We have the exact same cars so this will be very helpful if I decide to replace the transmission first or wait until after the TS is installed.

[blackknight530i]

Subscribed. I have the intention of putting the ESS twin screw in my car later this year or early next. We have the exact same cars so this will be very helpful if I decide to replace the transmission first or wait until after the TS is installed.

Yeah, I use yours a lot to try to decide whether or not to go with the B&G S2 springs I have the stock M-tech I springs right now. Also, having a manual trans increases your options on the Twin Screw ESS kit as the higher stages pretty much require it.

[balidawg]

The S54 has the same as the M54, but the M3 bellhousing is different than the 540i/M5 bellhousing, even though they both use a 420g transmission. You can't put a v8 420g on a m54/s54, and you can't put a M3 420g on a M62/S62. Make sense?

Only partially true. You can put a 420g from an E39 V8 on an M54 if you swap the bell housing, input shaft, and output shaft flange. It's just too much hassle to bother with.

[blackknight530i]

Only partially true. You can put a 420g from an E39 V8 on an M54 if you swap the bell housing, input shaft, and output shaft flange. It's just too much hassle to bother with.

Yeah, the point was that to get those parts for swapping, you would need an i6 420g to take them from, in which case you might as well use the i6 transmission.

[TerraPhantm]

Yeah, the point was that to get those parts for swapping, you would need an i6 420g to take them from, in which case you might as well use the i6 transmission.

Especially since swapping input shafts is not trivial in any sense of the word.

[blackknight530i]

Especially since swapping input shafts is not trivial in any sense of the word.

Exactly!

[balidawg]

Yeah, the point was that to get those parts for swapping, you would need an i6 420g to take them from, in which case you might as well use the i6 transmission.

Ed Zachary! Several people have gone down the road of taking a 420g from a V8 E39 only to run into those issues and give up. Case in point:
http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/sho....php?t=1046393

It's so much easier to just patiently do the homework up front and put together the right drivetrain parts combination, like is being done on this thread.

[blackknight530i]

Ed Zachary! Several people have gone down the road of taking a 420g from a V8 E39 only to run into those issues and give up. Case in point:
http://www.e46fanatics.com/forum/sho....php?t=1046393

It's so much easier to just patiently do the homework up front and put together the right drivetrain parts combination, like is being done on this thread.

Believe me, I considered that option from the e46fanatics thread. I have a 540i 420g that has a crack in the tail housing that I was going to try to get a tailshaft housing and 6MT bellhousing for and use for this project originally, but I saw only failure in other people's experiments, so I figured I would need to just bite the bullet and do a M3 6MT and then I figured I could swap my output flange from the cracked 540i transmission to allow me to use an all 540i or M5 drivetrain behind the transmission.

[blackknight530i]

I know we already had Christmas, but here it is again!

[blackknight530i]

All these parts came from Morristown BMW. Thanks so much Colin for giving me such a great deal! I hope he's able to make it down for the swap weekend.

[blackknight530i]

awesome build.

Thanks!

So, the CORRECT flywheel came in today.

[jdjg]

Thanks! So, the CORRECT flywheel came in today.

e46 M3 use double mass flywheel or single mass flywheel?

[blackknight530i]

e46 M3 use double mass flywheel or single mass flywheel?

Dual mass.

[blackknight530i]

Got to Brian's pretty early in the afternoon today and got an early start on the oil pan gasket replacement. We got the oil pan out in about 3 hours or so including prep time for getting the engine supported by the frame. Most of the oil pan bolts are easy to get to, but there are several that require moving the auto transmission cooler lines, which of course would have been easier to do when doing the manual swap, but it wasn't too bad. After getting the pan off, we cleaned the mating surface as best we could and then moved to degreasing the pan. That was a bit of a miserable experience as I am a little sick, it was raining outside and it was really dark, but I got it pretty clean and it's now drying for the night and we'll get it reinstalled in the morning.

That's the majority of the work we had hoped to get done this weekend, so far so good.