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So I went to home depot and picked up some grade 8.8 M10/50mm x1.25 cap head bolts, and some M10x1.25 flanged lock nuts (The kind with the teeth on the face) I was not able to use the washers as the bolt was just barely long enough to make it to the end of the nut. When I worked the link around the nut would spin off so I was a bit concerned at first, but one I realized I could put the flanged socket head bold theough the link, and use the nut to get a good bite on the swaybar I feel confident they arent going anywhere. I was able to toque the piss out of them, then the link started rotating around the spherical ball. looks real good, I will get pics when it is all installed.
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Oh fuck me I have to laugh at my dumbass. Now, everyone makes mistakes and that is how you learn ect. Frankly, when I had the axles out the sway bar totally looked like it fit upside down, and it fact it does fit and function upside down with the exception of sitting on the axles. What made this more plausible is the already rub marks on the axles in this location, it wasn't until I was looking at real oem and installing the UUC bars that I figured out my fuckup. Well, now I have upgraded swaybars and endlinks that I didn't really need but they are going in there. Expensive learning procedure strikes again, its the first time I have had the real axle apart so now I know exactly how the swaybar is supposed to be positioned fml.
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Real oem diagrams will often help you understand how stuff fits. Sometimes you can find a picture in the forums by searching but not always.
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Just got my ebay Camber plates. First impressions, worth every penny, extra hardware, graded 8.8 stainless hardware. Looks to be made in the USA and of extremely high quality. I would bet UUC uses the same manufacturer for the pillow blocks. I would absolutely recommend these to anyone from my first impressions. I will get them installed and let you know how it works out.
Last edited by FiberFast; 06-14-2019 at 01:15 PM.
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Ok, well the front camber plates are installed and have done their job. I used a bunch of white lithium grease in them, they actually worked quite nicely with the exception that there is less surface contact with the strut tower. I would definitely recommend running the reinforcement plates and gaskets with these ebay adjustment plates. Other than that, no complaints with the UUC bars or camber plates. Drove the car around the block and everything seems to be functioning correctly with the suspension, but I am in terrible need of an alignment. Few little hickups with the motor but it doesn't seem to be serious. I will dig into it tomorrow and see what I can figure out.
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You could be driving this car by the end of the summer if you stop adding to the project list now.
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Hmmm, I am starting to suspect there may be S50 cams in this engine... There are several indications. I need to open the valve cover and do some measuring. As you may or may not recall, this M52 came with a rare S50 crank pully which prevented the engine from starting in the 325is donor chassis. I am 99% sure I have the crankshaft and had the block (Gave it away with the donor chassis) but the thing is, he went through the trouble of taking the valve cover off, and I have a bunch of extra vanos parts... So it is not unreasonable to fathom he may have rebuilt the vanos and replaced the cams from the S50, it also came with the S50/M50 magnesium valve cover. I got the block and crank from the same person years before I bought the donor car, block was fucked, not sure about the crank, but I think the donor car was his way of making good. Curious bout these cams... Is there any way to identify M52/S50 cams? I suppose I could get some calipers on them...Originally Posted by pbonsalb
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Oh I also devised a new procedure and tool for removing clear coat without damaging the base coat. It is working so well i may market it.
Last edited by FiberFast; 06-16-2019 at 10:25 PM.
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Camber adjustment.jpg
Camber Plates 1.jpg
Camber Plates 2.jpg
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The red tape is just to help me visualize. I wast sure if I wanted to make the E46 Mirror portion black polished abs of red like the rest of the car. Before you ask, the hybrid mirrors are a son of a bitch I am not even going to go into how I made this work but I can retain all OE functionality. In my case I am just going to fix them with a solid bolt, in the pic they have the spring assembly installed. So, all black shiny mirrors? Or red black mirrors?
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Motor Cleaning.jpg
Cleaned up the 2.5L the crankshaft I believe is a 3.2L crankshaft but I am going to get it spec'd and polished at some point. I have removed the internal timing gear and will have it balanced with the new components if it checks out. This wont be for a minute, but I figured I would get it cleaned up and sealed up properly for storage. Really want to dig into this, but its next years, or the following years project.
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The casting number on the 89.6 mm stroke crank is 1403866.
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Very good...
This build wont be for another year or two cause I have exterior and interior to focus on at the moment. Suspension and brakes for the car are done for the foreseeable future, with the possible exception on a different set of springs and some rubber bits, subframe brace and strutbars... Damn it... Anyways, the exterior is going to get done, I am going to put an M3 front bumper on and paint the car. I wanted to get more into modding the fascia and things but the expense is going to stop me. There are seals and head lights and dings, that shit adds up quick.
It kills me that I cant work on it right now but the plan is 89.6mm stroke, 85mm bore and S50 cams. Should get me to 3.0L with slightly different geometry than the S50, with a longer stroke and smaller bore. This will get inconel exhaust valves, commetic gaket, arp head and main studs, S52 oil pump, new lifters, springs, lashcaps/lifters, eagle rods, cp/je pistons, dr vanos upgrade, new chains guides, sensors, gaskets ect. I think thats about it... Its not going to be too crazy of a build with just S50 cams, but it will hopefully take boost like a champ. Front lower mount turbo "Air Conditioner Pump"
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Turbo is fun. When I built mine, I started with an M52 block, which has 84.5 bore, and bored to 86.6. Displacement helps spool a turbo. You don’t need to keep the bore small unless going for big power like 900+ rwhp. I make only about 700, which seems to be the pump gas limit. No E85 near me.
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Really... Wasn't the S50 an 86mm bore? and the S52 was 87mm? Am I wrong on that?
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S50 is 86 even s52 is 86.4 (US engines)
For a build with custom pistons you might as well have the block bored to the spec of your choice so there are plenty of oddball sizes out there.
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Yea I am going to bore it to match whatever set I use. My concern is the wrist pin location and piston height. If I use anything but an S52 piston on the 89.6mm stroke, will that affect compression? I would imagine an M52 84.5mm piston crown being thicker than an S52 crown. In other words, the distance from the wrist pin to piston face would be less on an S52 piston because it would be taller? So basically if I use an M52 piston on a 135mm rod (m52/s50/52) with the S52 crankshaft, I would run out of the hole? Like a way higher compression ratio and possibly valve and head clearance issues since that piston was designed for an 84mm stroke. Any input here? I am thinking an S52 piston and rod set is what I will use, but I don't see anyone making 85mm pistons... I see a possible real good deal on some 87mm pistons that got my attention though...
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Use aftermarket S52 spec pistons, one size overbore like 86.6, with an S52 crank and 135mm rods. It all fits just like an S52 motor in an M50 or M52 or S50 or S52 block once you bore the block to match the piston. You choose the CR. Easiest to keep it simple and go with standard offerings from JE, Mahle, CP, Wiseco for an S52 crank. You can have 9.0 or 11.0 CR. 9.0 is good for turbo use. All this has been done many times and is proven to work but you can concoct some one-off weird combination if you want to pay extra for custom spec. Aftermarket pistons have additional valve clearance for aftermarket cams.
If you put an M52 piston on standard 135mm rods attached to an S52 crank, it won’t work because the piston pin height is incorrect.
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That is exactly what I was wondering. I am aiming for somewhere in the 9.5:1-10:1 window as this will be an ethanol and propane engine. Conceptually the engine will run on ethanol, but with a direct port propane fogger system. May just go E85 but I am really interested in propane ethanol mixtures after some basic research. Energy availability and phase change cooling of propane, and high octane rating of ethanol seems like a good combination.
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The m54b30 piston with a stock HG and non-skimmed head will put you in that compression range if you decide to stay with a 84mm bore. Not as much displacement but avoids a lot of machine work and expensive pistons.
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No, the 89.6mm stroke will put those pistons straight through my cylinder head... So think about it this way, the blocks and deck heights are the same (Same block, m52b28 and s52b32us) however one has an 84mm stoke and those other has a 89.6mm stoke. So if they both have about 10.5:1-11:1 ish compression, that is 5.6mm of fuck your valves mate, possibly even you know what fuck this cylinder head too... The difference is in the piston pin to piston crown (Face) height due to the different stroke with similar deck height.
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The M54 3.0L internals fit an M50 or M52 block. The M54 3.0L crank is the same as the S52 crank. This has been done a number of times. I believe CR is around that of a stock S52 so it is not boost friendly for pump gas but maybe the compression can be lowered with a thicker headgasket or a spacer.
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I built one of these motors which is currently running in my convertible.
The pin height of the M52B28 = 31.82 and M54B30 = 28.32. You only have to offset half of the increase in stroke because half of the increased stroke distance is above the crankshaft axis and half is below. The maximum allowable height for the m50/m52 is 210 mm. Height = Stroke/2 + connecting rod + piston height. The connecting rods for both engines are 135mm.
You end up with the compression ratio ends up being the same as the m54b30 (10.2) assuming the volume of the head is the same, because while the deck height is different, the HG thickness offsets it. Mine is running hakentt's tune which requires 91 octane, I'm running 93 in it.
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For a 500 rwhp turbo motor, the compression is too high for pump gas. I assume there are thicker HG or spacers like there are for the M50 to S52.
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Yes the same spacers can be used the only difference is the bore for the S52. I had/have no intention of forced induction for mine but copper spacers or thicker head gaskets provide flexibility to go turbo at a later date without pulling the motor. The head gaskets are the same as m50, in fact the early m52's used the exact same exact same casting as the m50 head, only the cam trays and valve train are different. Both of my 328's have the early casting with 3 threaded holes in the head's water jacket, the later ones only had two.
Last edited by gdavid; 07-26-2019 at 11:33 AM.
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