Page 5 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 101 to 125 of 145

Thread: Another Crazy E36 M3 S54 Swap AKA My Realistic Dream Swap

  1. #101
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Got some more stuff done!

    "Finished up" the DME wiring. I ran dedicated Ground and B+ wires through the OEM tubing.


    Depinned the DBW pedal connector to run it, and the other misc wires (sport button, AC wires, CANbus) through the firewall. Also added a pin to X6004/Pin16 for the switched LED negative for sport mode button illumination and ran that wire through too.


    Test fit the harness plastic box to the cowl intake scoop to check fitment. It was just barely contacting the TTFS stainless nameplate on their MAP sensor. I removed the nameplate which freed up a few mm more of space and I actually prefer the more plain look too.


    Finished fuel line routing, mounting, as well as FPR vacuum line. Mounted the fuel filter cover (not shown).


    Relocated and extended the "sucking jet pump" things wires.


    Routed and attached the heater core hoses, the stock E46 M3 hoses worked great, only had to trim the bottom feed hose.
    Also ran the brake booster hose and re-routed the main harness corrugated tubing part to come out towards the back of the engine instead of the middle.


    So then I spent way too much time designing and documenting how to make the DBW pedal adapter, but hopefully it helps somebody else with this swap! I kept putting this off but now that it's done it really wasn't that bad...

    Anyways I found some 1/2" 1/16" thick angle aluminum at Lowe's, cut a piece at 65mm length (matches body floor adapter length), here it is laying against the body floor bracket. Ignore the brass colored bracket which is only there to hold it in place for the next step.


    I modified the nylon pedal insert by removing the bottom protrusions to make it 100% flat (No picture).

    Here I am holding it in position and marking the holes with a sharpie on the aluminum.


    Now that it's marked hold it up and mark the bottom outline.


    Add some strategic holes


    Next I measured and documented the body side shape (yes really ) so I could figure out where I'd actually drill more holes in the angle aluminum....
    The design uses all metric M3 size screws and nylock nuts (duh, gotta match! ).

    The top 2 are views of the body floor bracket.
    Bottom left is the angle aluminum superimposed in position over the body floor bracket.
    Notice how the M3 nylock nuts are 5mm wide and fit into the rectangular body side bracket holes.

    Bottom middle is the actual drill hole locations derived from everything else.


    Holes marked for drilling (actually a different roughdraft pattern but you get the point)


    Drilled holes, added screws and nylocks. "Clocked" the nylock nuts so the flats are aligned.




    The plan is that these little nylock nut "nubs" fit perfectly into the body floor bracket rectangle holes.


    Next, drill the 4 holes for M3 screws in the aluminum bracket and tap them. Then drill the holes in the nylon insert, countersink and mount it...




    Since my nylon plastic clip that secures the pedal in place was already broken I added a recessed screw hole and a brass insert.




    What I like about this design is that to install it you first must raise the 4 M3 flat head screws up, this is because once they're downard they're positioned on the front side of the body floor bracket so it's locked in place with the little nylock nut "nubs" in the square holes. FYI don't use thread locker here as the nylon becomes brittle and cracks from it, I used CA (superglue) to ensure they wouldn't loosen.


    Super stoked that first bracket fit absolutely perfect. Nice and tight with no slop!


    Add my securing screw.


    And it's good to go! Car has 3 pedals for the first time!


    Next project will be incorporating the diagnostic D100 plug so I can access body modules. I also need to figure out how to get ABS back to working...
    Last edited by M52 POWER!; 12-19-2017 at 12:49 AM.

  2. #102
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    i should have posted my floor mount before i mounted it.. much simpler design but hey your floor mount looks good, and gets the job done
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  3. #103
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Apollo Beach, Fl
    Posts
    259
    My Cars
    '92 BMW 735i(W/383 GM)

    Crazy swap

    You do nice work. When you get it on the road we should meet up. Have you ever been to the Reeves Motorsports cars and coffee?

  4. #104
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Quote Originally Posted by htrdbmr View Post
    You do nice work. When you get it on the road we should meet up. Have you ever been to the Reeves Motorsports cars and coffee?
    Yup! Used to go all the time with my E46 M3, plan to do the same with this one

  5. #105
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Update time!

    Kick Panel/Diag Port
    Modified the drivers kick panel to fit the diagnostic connector into.
    Also cut out the clutch pedal area!




    Euro Expansion Tank Brackets
    Made custom, but OEM looking mounting brackets for the euro expansion tank.
    Rear receiving bracket


    Mock-up Test fit of front bracket.


    Forming. I used the unused S54 airbox Y mounting bracket for material.


    Bracket was then welded, sanded, painted and tada!


    Hose
    Fabricated a custom hose for the engine to expansion tank connection.
    Used existing quick connector on engine side. Re-used the S52 heater hose section which happened to have a 90 turn in it.
    Note: After this pic I installed the OE heatshield to protect the hose.
    Pic sideways, cause phone.


    Driveshaft
    So even though several write-ups online, even UUC's website, say you can use the Auto M3 driveshaft for fitting the E46 M3 420G 6spd trans I found that the spline contact for the mid telescoping part to be completely unacceptable. Literally 0.75" at best! So I ordered a custom length driveshaft with Gpeterson's specs and it came in. The driveshaft looks well made and then I tried to install it...




    As you can see there's an "air gap" preventing the flanges to fully mate together. After further inspection I found that the stock flange pilot measured 2.5mm, while the new driveshaft flange measured 5.0mm!
    Upside down pic, because phone.
    Old

    New


    Driveshaft shop said they accidentally installed a "newer" BMW flange on it.
    So I took the driveshaft to a machine shop to turn it down 2.5mm and now it fits great!


    Check out the difference in spline contact between the M3 Auto driveshaft and the new custom one.
    If anyone is reading this that is considering the 6spd swap don't be dumb and run the M3 auto driveshaft. I can't imagine the terrible vibrations if it let loose at RPM.



    Section 2 Exhaust/Muffler
    After getting custom exhaust quotes for a BMW in my local area of $800-1200 Pitt M3 RR kindly offered to help make the section 2 and muffler for me! Since he also has a S54 swap and E36 sedan I thought it was a great idea. I shipped a section 2 and muffler to him and he got to work. Each step of the way he sent me pics of progress and asking my opinion on how I wanted things done. He literally made my exhaust on his car as a template. After a few weeks I received this!


    There were some slight fitment issues where my crossover was contacting the heatshield against the gas tank. It took a little persuasion of the heatshield and some thicker gaskets at the header location to correct this.



    Tips are 2.75"/70mm.
    I really love how this looks. All stainless muffler and tips and of course OE E46 M3 section 2.




    As for sound I was surprised how much smoother and deeper the exhaust tone is. Before with just a plain section 2 on it was very racey, raspy, zingy, now it has a nice bass and "euro" sounding smoothness to it. Being in a garage is likely throwing it off a bit too though. Once I finally drive it I'll really know what it sounds like but I can't wait.
    Last edited by M52 POWER!; 02-12-2018 at 01:07 PM.

  6. #106
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    very nice.. what muffler was used? are you using the stock manifolds and Cats?
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  7. #107
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Quote Originally Posted by TH3 Shifty View Post
    very nice.. what muffler was used? are you using the stock manifolds and Cats?
    Muffler is an OBX-R KV5014-250.
    CSL headers and stock section 1 so no cats

  8. #108
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    awesome, mine will consist of Status gruppe headers, to a modified section 1 with 200 cell cats, to a section 2 with the box resonator cut out, to the stromung muffler.

    great work on the mounting for the overflow tank.
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  9. #109
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Posts
    2,202
    My Cars
    S54/E36,18 Sierra Denali
    Yea I have to admit...this is much cleaner than mine haha great attention to detail and again glad those donuts fixed that angle. Get a vid ASAP!

  10. #110
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Bled the cooling system last night!
    15% BMW coolant, 1.5 bottles of water wetter, and ~3 gallons distilled water
    Got everything up to temp and all the air out of the system, euro expansion tank worked great, heater works etc.
    I noticed that my Aux cooling fan never came on even on the slow setting and the DME indicated engine coolant temp was right at 99/100C after around 40 minutes of idling, I think this is due to the high fan switch temp setting of 91/99C and its installed on the cold side of the radiator. So I ordered the lower temp fan switch which is 80/88C. BMW actually used this lower temperature range for 1.8 motor which had only an electrical fan so it should work pretty well. Will report back.






  11. #111
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    So after getting the flu and that knocking nearly a months time from me, I SUPER hustled the past 3 weeks to work on the car nearly every night after work...


    E36 Coolant temp gauge support

    First I made an adapter to install the E36 S52 dual coolant temperature sensor. This is required so that the gauge cluster also gets a water temp signal!
    The adapter is important because I'll want to revert it when the E46 M3 cluster solution is finished.
    I gathered these old parts


    And made the adapter harness. It's very important that pins 1 and 2 go to the gauge cluster, and 3 and 4 go to the DME. They actually output different scaled resistances!




    Adapter harness installed. OEM S54 Z3m harness plugs right in.


    Ran 2 wires up to X20 pins 11 and 20 which then connects to the gauge cluster.



    Oil Cooler
    Up next was making mounting brackets for the Setrab oil cooler


    Approximate position to be installed into. Due to the AN fitting locations on the Setrab it will have to be positioned about 1 inch lower than I wanted.


    I fabricated the brackets out of aluminum, top 2 shown, also made 2 for the bottom.


    Test fit


    Need to notch the bumper support a bit to fit


    Fits! I also made 2 bottom support brackets so the oil cooler has 4 firm brackets to hold onto. I especially like that I can quickly remove the bumper if needed without touching the oil cooler or brackets at all.


    Next I made the -10AN oil cooler lines. I purchased the Koul tools tool from Pitt and Shifty's recommendations to help with this which really made it a breeze.




    Fitment




    Cooling Solution
    So because I believe the stock E36 Aux fan is capable of cooling the engine/radiator just as well as a SPAL I spent some time performing a temperature analysis with a FLIR thermal imaging camera.
    Reasons I think the stock fan is capable:
    • OEM shrouding
    • 2 speeds
    • different OE temperature switch versions available
    • Inexpensive replacement
    • still possible to add the mechanical fan if needed in warmer weather
    • many other cars use only electric fans as their main cooling source


    So I performed a temperature correlation! This compares the reported DME head temperature to the inlet and outlet of the radiator. This information will tell me if I need to go down on the aux fan temperature switch (which is located at the radiator outlet side). The stock switch is 91C low speed, 99C high speed. There's a 80/88C temp switch available which BMW used on the 4 cylinders which I believe only had aux fan cooling too.


    If you'd like the source data excel and pdf report please PM me.




    It was really cool to watch the radiator heat spread from driver side to passenger side as soon as the thermostat opened!
    The data showed that the aux fan on low was easily able to maintain temperature. Albeit keep in mind the hood was up and it was in a shaded garage at 79F ambient.
    I decided to go to the lower temp fan switch (80/88C)


    I also experimented by disabling the fan low speed relay to see how/when the high speed kicked in and how long it took to reduce the temperatures. High speed turns on around 96C head temp and in less than 10 seconds it cooled the engine to 88C and turned off.
    Further real world testing by datalogging will be required to see if this is really a viable solution but I believe it has potential. It's already in the 80's in FL so I should be able to further experiment soon. Worst case scenario test is AC on, stop n go traffic, 95F+ ambient.
    Last edited by M52 POWER!; 02-27-2018 at 04:47 PM.

  12. #112
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    VA
    Posts
    18,137
    My Cars
    E63AMG/Z31/Tacoma/F31
    Absolutely loving this build!! The attention to detail is off the charts. What color did you use for the engine bay?

    Side note: I now want a air needle scaler just to use in the house to scare the shit out of my wife

  13. #113
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Quote Originally Posted by RVAE34 View Post
    Absolutely loving this build!! The attention to detail is off the charts. What color did you use for the engine bay?

    Side note: I now want a air needle scaler just to use in the house to scare the shit out of my wife
    lol Thanks! The paint is POR15 Gray.

  14. #114
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    More Wiring! - E36 D100 Diagnostic Port and GPetersons CAN Adapter

    After studying E36, E46, Gpetersons wiring diagram, Pitt's wiring diagram, and then making my own wiring diagram (this all took literally half a day) I fully understood what was needed for wiring of the D100 and CAN Adapter!
    Both of these require tapping/connecting off of multiple spots on the gauge cluster harness, and Andrews harness.

    General wiring craziness


    Different colored wires make it easier, I sourced them from the old S54 harness


    Labelled and rewired the cluster harness. Re-wrapped with tesa wire harness tape!


    GPetersons connector for his adapter box all pinned.


    D100 wires left, D100 right


    I found this weird jankiness from the previous owner, no idea what it was supposed to do but it was tapping +12V into the auto trans mode input?


    All fixed up with heatshrink


    Somehow I broke my OBD2 connector, I've looked and can't find a replacement. If anyone knows the part # or source please let me know.


    Also removed the cruise control stalk at this point. Easy plug n play reversible too.


    Forgot to get finished pictures, but pretty much it went smooth, kickpanel and interior all back together.

    I also checked my idle current aka parasitic draw with all the doors closed, ignition off etc to make sure nothing was drawing too much. E36 spec is < 30mA, meter showing only 14mA




    At this point I was pretty much super excited and finished up the rest of the car!

    Converted USA headlights wiring to euro style for ZKW circular connector!








    Installed the velocity stacks
    Installed the ITG sock filters - Didn't have the right length zip ties but they fit tightly (not stopping me from driving this thing! )
    Installed IAT between sock filters cyl 4-5

    Swaybar, X-brace, front bodywork/headlights






    And then.... I took it out for the first time....
    Last edited by M52 POWER!; 03-01-2018 at 01:04 PM.

  15. #115
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    that cliff hanger.... its like watching "Street outlaws" when they hit the light to go and cut to commercial....











    commercial over.... how the hell was it...
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  16. #116
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    First Drive!

    I pulled the car out of the garage onto the driveway and connected my laptop to monitor coolant temperature, IAT etc.
    This was a big deal moment since it's the first time the car has moved with a manual trans. The clutch felt great, no weirdness or tricky engagement.
    I let the car warm up for a few minutes and did one final checkover. Nothing leaking, no weird noises, cooling fan is working, holy crap!
    I then circled my block a few times to keep it close to home just in case something was to go wrong.

    Shifting in 1st 2nd and 3rd was natural, I never got above 20mph, I even did some very mild blip downshifts, nice and responsive!
    I then decided to take it on the main road, again it drove as you would hope and expect, no issues or weirdness, no hesitation just nice crisp predictable driving and shifting. This is really happening!
    I gave it about 75% throttle at 30 MPH and 3rd gear, BraaaaAAAHHH up to ~50mph. Wow! This thing is so much torquier than the S52 (albeit auto). I had the windows down and you can hear this crisp trumpeting noise from the intake, and the S54 rasp is fully there out the back, it comes in waves through the rev band 2000 to 3500rpms.
    Overwhelmed with excitement and a little bit of doubt that it's working so well I pulled into walmart's parking lot to 1. get longer zip ties for the filter socks and 2. take a mental break and make sure everything is working ok! I mean how could it, so much was done!?
    Got the zip ties, checked things again and nothing out of the ordinary! Woohoo!
    Went home and topped off the oil since the oil cooler was now flowing oil and displaced the air that was in it. Dipstick was at the bottom line and it took about 1.5quarts to bring it back up to max.

    The rest of the night I basically drove it around town to gain more and more confidence in the build. I took it to my Dad's and gave him a ride, he loved it but thought it droned a bit in the cabin (more on the cause of this later). Then to one of my car buddies and took him for a ride too. The car ran great with zero issues. Totally satisfied and happy with the accomplishment!

    We even did a little flyby video on a Mexican backroad:


    Parking lot shot! Yes it needs zip ties on the filters lol

    Last edited by M52 POWER!; 03-02-2018 at 10:54 PM.

  17. #117
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    BITCHIN!!!!

    very nice, sounds awesome on the flyby...
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  18. #118
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Rogers AR
    Posts
    4,426
    My Cars
    1995 BMW M3
    Beautiful!!! Amazing work sir!! It must feel amazing that all your hard work paid off!

  19. #119
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    VA
    Posts
    18,137
    My Cars
    E63AMG/Z31/Tacoma/F31
    Jeebus that sounds wicked!!

  20. #120
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Indianapolis, IN
    Posts
    2,335
    My Cars
    951, LTW M3, GTI
    Awesome job man, sounds great! Thats quite an accomplishment to have it all apart and run with no issues right out of the gate. Love it.

  21. #121
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Quote Originally Posted by TH3 Shifty View Post
    BITCHIN!!!!

    very nice, sounds awesome on the flyby...
    Quote Originally Posted by lbennyboobool View Post
    Beautiful!!! Amazing work sir!! It must feel amazing that all your hard work paid off!
    Quote Originally Posted by RVAE34 View Post
    Jeebus that sounds wicked!!
    Quote Originally Posted by SamGrant951 View Post
    Awesome job man, sounds great! Thats quite an accomplishment to have it all apart and run with no issues right out of the gate. Love it.
    Thanks guys, the cars been a real pleasure to drive this past week. I did have a couple small issues come up which I will be posting about soon!

    For the mean time check out this pic I just took.
    20180301_234717.jpg

  22. #122
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    what stacks are you using again?
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  23. #123
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    Quote Originally Posted by TH3 Shifty View Post
    what stacks are you using again?
    OEM harvested.

  24. #124
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Tampa, FL
    Posts
    3,377
    My Cars
    97 E36M3 S54
    So the next day after I got the car running, I was talking to Pitt about how I noticed the NVH/interior vibration seemed a bit high and he reminded me that in his thread the X-brace was contacting the oil pan and headers. I put the car up in the air to check and bingo, the exact same points were touching!
    This is also when I noticed I had some oil on the brace...


    So I drilled 2 circular relief holes and filed all the burrs smooth.
    I also attached the bottom heat shield reflector that protects the passenger suspension FCAB.


    At first, the oil leaklooked like it may have been coming from the exhaust CAM sensor, but I later determined it was from the half-moon shapes on the back side of the valve cover gasket.




    I replaced the exhaust CAM sensor O-ring with new. Then I removed the valve cover gasket, de-greased it and added Toyota FIPG sealant to the half-moon shapes.
    It's been 4 days since and the back of the engine and underside is nice and dry.

    Next I wanted to get rid of the annoying ABS and traction control lights on my dash.


    I measured the old traction control ASC actuator (which is no longer needed and connected) and it was 5.5 Ohms.
    So I made this combination of 3x resistors in parallel and connected it and now the light no longer comes on and my ABS works as it should.


    I also pulled the traction and auto transmission error bulbs as they don't exist anymore.


    Next I had my buddy evacuate and charge my AC system.


    AC worked great but only temporarily. I am having an issue with GPeterson's CAN adapter which gives intermittent performance. I did some diagnosing with him and we determined that I'll need to send it back for him to look further into it.
    But when it works it works very well!

    I also went to a local car show on Saturday (Reeve's Cars n Coffee) and had a blast with the car and meeting some other bimmer heads.
    Last edited by M52 POWER!; 03-05-2018 at 05:00 PM.

  25. #125
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Rogers AR
    Posts
    4,426
    My Cars
    1995 BMW M3
    looks amazing!!!

    I'd be curious to know what kind of fuel mileage you're get with the 6 speed down the road after you've driven it more

Page 5 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast

Similar Threads

  1. E36 M3 / S54 swap... doing it the hard way.
    By Rob Levinson in forum Engine Conversions
    Replies: 406
    Last Post: 04-06-2017, 10:22 AM
  2. E36 4/94 BMW E36 M3 S54 SWAP Performed by Max Psi
    By GG///M3 in forum 3 series & Z Series
    Replies: 29
    Last Post: 11-29-2016, 06:20 PM
  3. E36 4/94 BMW E36 M3 S54 SWAP Performed by Max Psi
    By GG///M3 in forum Race Cars & Track Parts
    Replies: 54
    Last Post: 05-21-2016, 03:33 PM
  4. E36 M3 s54 Swap For Sale
    By pay1j in forum Engine Conversions
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 02-09-2013, 12:19 AM
  5. E36 M3 S54 swap
    By BimmerDude3 in forum Engine Conversions
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 12-27-2011, 10:44 PM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •