My brother always says "the more money you spend, the faster you go". FI seems to be great for the scale of power. But it can get spendy in short shrift. I was looking at cams too, and M54B30 will be cheaper (saw them for $225 on ebay). Caveat is that they will need work to function properly, meaning grinding down 5mm is required. Have you considered calling Double 02 or the breakers in Sac? Those guys (Sac) had a whole M54B30 motor + drivetrain for 15 hundo (ZHP). I was considering it for my E46.
'86 E30 325i coupe, euro
'94 E36 318is coupe (Undergoing M52B28 swap)
'95 E36 325i sedan
'97 E36 328is coupe
'83 Porsche 944
'11 E90 328i sedan (soon)
'18 F31 330i touring
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Ummm, wait what?!
Last edited by FiberFast; 02-22-2017 at 09:52 PM.
There appear to be some obd1 and some obd2 coils? Also the valve cover is missing a stud
This is a real mess. The intake manifold has to come off so I can sort out the vacuum system and sensors.
Valve cover has to come off so I can get a look at the valve train and see what going on in there.
First I need to spray some oil in the cylinders, I am going to try and get that done tonight in preparation for this weekend.
Last edited by FiberFast; 02-22-2017 at 09:53 PM.
Those all look like OBDI to me. OBDII only have two "ears". However definitely a mix and match of brands.
Well the engine turns freely. Sprayed some fogger oil in the cylinders and accidentally turned the motor whist trying to remove the broken fan. Sounds like it's making compression so that's a start.
Trying to figure out exactly how I want to approach this.
So far my thoughts are:
1. Throw bleach in the trunk (There were rats/mice living in there and its foul)
2. Jack up the car and put it on stands.
3. Remove the front bumper and fenders. (Makes it easier to work on and they are not going back on anyhow)
4. Get a tarp over it
5. Remove the door panels (They are half way off and cause problems getting in and out)
6. Hook up the battery and see if it can hold a charge
7. Remove/replace the broken fan.
8. Swap headers with the red car (Need to get plugs for the O2 bungs)
9. remove intake manifold (Inspect, clean and tape off Ports)
10. Clean, inspect, and replace the oil filter housing (I have an obd1 unit, will need gaskets)
11. See if the previous owner he has any spare parts. (Like the obd1 computer)
12. Stare at a Bently manual for a really long time
13. Inspect the crank trigger and possibly realign it.
14. dig up my old bremi coil set and maf (Known to work)
15. Inspect the wiring harness and vacuum/Cooling systems
16. Remove valve cover and inspect/clean and asses. (I will bag and shrink wrap the head)
17. Drain the oil (The will probably be the second thing I do)
18. Inspect the clutch/master cylinder. (Clutch pedal went to the floor, did not come back)
19. Siphon Gass tank.
I will be lucky if I get this far this weekend.
Parts I need to acquire.
OBD1 325 or M3 computer
M3 Cams
Intake
Programmable chip
Gaskets(Lots and lots of gaskets)
New plugs
New sensors, Cam, Crank, Temp, ect.
Motor oil (Lots)
New filter
Allot of this is based on what I know is wrong, the list will change as needed.
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What a mess
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Looks like a low milage motor.
Last edited by FiberFast; 02-26-2017 at 01:39 AM.
Ports and valves look practically brand new. I think I made the right choice with this one. Its a mess, but I think worth every penny.
Now to stare at the Bently manual for a really long time.
I'm yanking the harness and hoses. Its so fucked off I just want to start fresh. Hoses were in such poor condition, deteriorated, cracked and broken. The heater hose (funky four hose manifold lookin hose) was not installed. Going to replace all the sensors as well.
I need to build a parts list and hit rock auto for all the bosch pieces I can get. I need an entire new hose set.
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- - - Updated - - -
Elbow grease 2hrs
OK, I need a diagram of a 1994/5 325is vacuum and cooling systems.
I need to generate a parts list so I can buy shit and get this thing running.
I need all new hoses for the vacuum system. All of it.
All new cooling system hoses, the whole thing.
All new OBD1 sensors, every single one, Bosch preferred.
Gaskets, Need one for the valve cover, one for the oil filter housing, one set for the manifold, one for the throttle body.
M3 Cams (Still looking for a good deal on these)
Pink top or cobra blue top fuel injectors
Plugs, the car has autolites in it. Those gotta go... NGK please.
Going to hit rock auto and see if I cant get this done for a few hundo.
Trying to do this on a budget but still have a quality swap. I believe I can run the motor on the 2.5L red label ECU but will need a tune? I want to get it running, diagnose (How is vanos for instance) then install the cams and tune.
Setup would be,
M52b28 Obd1 full conversion
M52B28 Obd2 Headers (Plugged)
M50 Manifold
#24 injectors
Will the red 413 run it?
Also, I noticed the power steering pump does not seem to line up with the obd1 oil filter housing.
I think its the obd2 pump and I want to use it, is there a different bracket I need? Guess I could go look at my car.
Here is the diagrams and part #s for BMW.
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/select
As you are doing this as a complete OBD1 car with 2.8 head & block, choose the 325i for your search parameters and bookmark it.
I doubt there's much difference but there really are 1000 weird little differences between 325 and 328 so...
On Real-Oem, there's two different pages that cover all the cooling:
- the radiator page,
- and the engine water hoses page (sub-page of Engine category).
There are a total of 10 coolant hoses (plus the expansion tank) to obtain and install, the worst are the ones to the heater core as the BMW rookie-CAD-jockey engineers left zero space for the clamps.
And it's your call to get new clamps for the hoses, I cleaned and re-used more than half but some were stripped by my car's PO.
It's your choice to use Rock, but www.fcpeuro.com has really good prices and service too.
Don't forget new rubber fuel lines and their special clamps.
Tuning the OBD1 red label 413, not too many choices out there as it's old outdated tech.
I plan to use SSSquid:
http://sssquid.com/v2/shop/bmw/e36/e36-325i/
Eat, drink, and be merry - for tomorrow we drive.
Thanks, I was looking at real oem last night as the Bentley manual does not have a good diagram.
I was thinking about a Miller war chip for tuning. My question was can I run an m52b28 with pink tops and an m50 manifold on a red 413 dme and have a descently running engine? I would think the larger injectors would provide the additional fuel needed and the computer would correct for the extra displacement via o2 sensors.
You could probably get it running enough to drive the car around, but decent - I do not know.
I researched the Miller War chip. It runs on Windows XP, if that tells you anything, and while it claims to handle 4 tunes the order is revered during download vs upload so it becomes confusing which is which. It's absence from build threads in Bfc's Engine Tuning and Forced Induction sub-forums says something also.
Here is a very interesting gadget: Moates Ostrich 2.0
https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?2328801-95m3-dme-on-m50tub30-and-boost&p=29582385#post29582385
Eat, drink, and be merry - for tomorrow we drive.
Maybe I could just find an off the shelf tune that will work for now? I'm pretty sure there are chips for running a m52b28 with m50 manifold on a red 413 dme. I need to get the swap going, but I need to check compression and validate the engine before swapping. My trans in the red car is done and the sycros in the silver rat car are much better, unfortunately the clutch in the silver rat trap is not working properly (new clutch apperently) so I have to sort that as well.
Ok gurus, here is a question for you.
Can you run an m52b28 with an obd1 m3 crank trigger and sensor on a red label 413?
The answer is the 325is up to 12/1994 (my car is a 95, but has a 10/94 build date) has a 0 261 200 413 red label dme. The obd1 m3 used a 0 261 203 506 dme. This is important to note as it is the most likely culprit as to why this motor was never started. Apparently the po took the car to two different shops and a bmw dealership trying to sort the swap. One shop had mentioned the crank trigger could be an issue. I don't know if he was using the 413 computer or the 506 to run the obd1 m3 engine he blew up, but this is a likely issue.
So far I am going with knock sensors, crank and cam sensors, temp sensors, faulty dme/incomparable crank trigger. I am %90 sure one of these has been overlooked and is the issue with the swap.
I have half a mind to just swap the damned think into my car, but that would be silly and irresponsible considering I have a test chassis. Down side is I have to find parts.
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