Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 26 to 46 of 46

Thread: Project "Purple Rain" - S54 Techno Sedan

  1. #26
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Edmonton,CANADA
    Posts
    792
    My Cars
    1997 BMW M3 Coupe
    You also need the E46 M3 5 bar fuel pressure regulator.
    ()()===[][]===()()


  2. #27
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    Quote Originally Posted by mitch500 View Post
    You also need the E46 M3 5 bar fuel pressure regulator.
    Ordered this and the housing for it... should have everything now!

    The engine showed up today so now I can finally get started on things

    WhatsApp Image 2019-02-18 at 12.53.05 PM.jpeg

    It's in good company

    WhatsApp Image 2019-02-18 at 1.03.01 PM.jpeg

    The parts are all here... this is basically a complete S54 swap sans exhaust and engine

    WhatsApp Image 2019-02-12 at 10.39.57 AM.jpeg

    Cluster have been sent off to get coded and converted into Z3M cluster functionality. My cluster was an earlier version I don't know if they had worked with before but I guess we will see if it works. If not I may need to source a correct donor cluster but I'll get there when I get there! I'm just ready to get the engine on a stand and get it built!

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  3. #28
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    So this project stalled for a bit because the S54 I bought had a bad head gasket and was giving Paypal time to work that out because they didn't want me to disassemble the engine further... somewhat oddly, Paypal did not rule in my favor, citing that the engine I bought does look like an engine (seriously, that was their reasoning)

    WhatsApp Image 2019-03-23 at 10.44.41 PM(1).jpeg

    Oh, and the freeze plug was blown out. Might have actually served its purpose as a freeze plug. Guess its better than a cracked block

    WhatsApp Image 2019-04-01 at 6.35.46 PM.jpeg

    But anyways. That's behind me, now I'm looking forward...

    Stripping the S54 has gone pretty quickly. Have a lead on a good head so I'll probably just go that route and rebuild this as a spare head to keep around.

    WhatsApp Image 2019-03-21 at 6.44.58 PM.jpeg

    WhatsApp Image 2019-03-21 at 6.44.59 PM.jpeg

    WhatsApp Image 2019-04-01 at 9.58.10 AM.jpeg

    These S54's are really remarkably easy to work on. I've found that to be true for pretty much every M engine I've worked on. Err... every "S" engine I've worked on...?

    Have about 1,300 miles to put on the car before I can take the car off the road and really start the swap - have the cluster coded to 216,000... so a bit of driving to do but that gives me time to get the engine rebuilt

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  4. #29
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    14,168
    My Cars
    99 M3, 16' x35d, 09 128i
    Looking great so far man.

    Im looking for an S54 right now but I can seem to find the one I want.

    There are still some new S54 clusters around, would you guys suggest buying one? They're like $750.

  5. #30
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    Quote Originally Posted by KnudsonsM3 View Post
    Looking great so far man.

    Im looking for an S54 right now but I can seem to find the one I want.

    There are still some new S54 clusters around, would you guys suggest buying one? They're like $750.
    Thanks

    For the clusters - I'll post some pictures and stuff about it once it's in but hit up busterhax on here. He takes a non-M Z3 facelift cluster which have the CANBUS features built in, with custom programming to convert it to S54 spec, as well as installing a Z3M style gauge face. It's really cool and a lot cheaper than the new Z3M cluster. I actually had an OE S54 Z3 gauge face lying around I had him install in mine, so my cluster is indistinguishable from an OE one

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  6. #31
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    14,168
    My Cars
    99 M3, 16' x35d, 09 128i
    Quote Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker View Post
    Thanks

    For the clusters - I'll post some pictures and stuff about it once it's in but hit up busterhax on here. He takes a non-M Z3 facelift cluster which have the CANBUS features built in, with custom programming to convert it to S54 spec, as well as installing a Z3M style gauge face. It's really cool and a lot cheaper than the new Z3M cluster. I actually had an OE S54 Z3 gauge face lying around I had him install in mine, so my cluster is indistinguishable from an OE one
    I have a source to get one made now but would appreciate pictures of the work he did.

  7. #32
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Oakhurst, CA
    Posts
    6,668
    My Cars
    96 M3 97 M3 98 M3 99 M3
    It will look no different than an OE cluster.

  8. #33
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Vancouver,WA
    Posts
    400
    My Cars
    00 Maxima SE
    If I may ask, what is the total $ going to be? $20k in parts + the purple car?
    FEEDBACK THREAD
    00-03 Nissan Maxima HID Retrofit
    6th gen AV6 FX35 Retrofit
    Chassis and Suspension
    2011 Space Grey E82 N55 DCT
    2000 Sunlit Sand Maxima SE 5Spd.
    1997 Arctic Silver E36 M3/4/5.
    1997 Techno Violet E36 M3 Coupe 5Spd (SOLD).


  9. #34
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    UT
    Posts
    4,375
    My Cars
    98 M3/4/5
    i didnt spend anywhere near 20k for my swap and a i did a full rebuild with OE parts/gaskets.
    98 Estoril ///M3 4/6
    S54 swap CSL

  10. #35
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    Im in it about 9k plus the car right now. That includes custom interior CF parts and manual swap stuff too. Thats my total for the whole build, currently...
    Still need a head, exhaust, driveshaft, bellhousing, some other bits
    Last edited by BimmerBreaker; 05-08-2019 at 04:14 PM.

  11. #36
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    WhatsApp Image 2019-05-06 at 1.24.29 PM.jpeg

    Remembered to take a picture of the busterhax gauge cluster today

    Indistinguishable from OE (which is the one installed in the above picture)

    My swap got put on hold because we are working on a RHD E34 525i auto wagon at my shop, swapping in an S52 and 5 speed. My car is next up though I also need to figure out what I'm doing about the engine... part of me says I should cut my losses with this one and just buy a complete, good S54... but then again, if this one only really needs a head, I have a buddy who will sell me one for like $400ish. But then there are more questions... idk.

    In hindsight I should have bought an E46 M3 donor car. So, note to anyone researching this in the future - save yourself the hassle because you need a LOT more than the engine from the E46 M3. Pedal, exhaust, everything else. Just buy a donor car up front. I should have... theres a $5k running E46 m3 vert near me right now. Would have been perfect.

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  12. #37
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Location
    Rogers AR
    Posts
    4,426
    My Cars
    1995 BMW M3
    Quote Originally Posted by BimmerBreaker View Post
    I need one of those clusters if you're interested in selling one (I feel like the one in your hands is for your car and the other is for the running and driving car you're sitting in, but never hurts to ask)

  13. #38
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    Quote Originally Posted by lbennyboobool View Post
    I feel like the one in your hands is for your car and the other is for the running and driving car you're sitting in, but never hurts to ask
    Correct

    But contact busterhax if you need a cluster. The one I am holding started out life as a Z3 facelift cluster and I sent it to him. With some coding magic it functions as a Z3 S54 cluster. I happened to have an OE gray gauge face to install, but there are replica gauge faces available that look like the OE one (minus the M, due to copyright reasons).

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  14. #39
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Menlo Park, CA
    Posts
    1,796
    My Cars
    95 M3 & Legacy Manwagon
    Glad to hear there are more cluster options than when I went through this-- I got super lucky and found a Z3M S54 cluster on ebay for pretty cheap.

    Lemme know if you have any questions! I'm rarely on bfc but pretty active on m3f. Should be a link to my build thread in my sig, if it helps at all.
    "Fear disturbs your concentration" -Sabine Schmit

    1995 BMW M3/2/5-- S54 + Mk60 DSC, California Smog Legal (Build Thread)
    1998 BMW M3/4/5 Alpine/Modena, Z3 Rack, otherwise stock-- DD without burbles
    2017 Chevy SS, Orange Blast Metallic, 6MT -- DD with burbles

  15. #40
    Join Date
    May 2019
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    6
    My Cars
    98 BMW sedan
    Any updates?

  16. #41
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    Quote Originally Posted by Blkjhnson View Post
    Any updates?
    Nothing to write home about yet...

    Ripped apart a 525i/5 as a parts car for the E34 S52 swap, then did some bimmerfest prep and went to bimmerfest, now I'm back to working on the E34 swap and may have another swap project coming into the shop afterwards...

    I still need an S54 to make any progress on my car unfortunately. I may just part out the S54 I have to recoup some money towards a good complete engine or try to fix the head on this one.

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  17. #42
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
    Posts
    160
    My Cars
    2000 S54 - Mcoupe
    Thanks for the post and info! will be reaching out to busterhax for a Z3m s54 cluster for my s54 swap.

    hows this build coming along now?
    Last edited by z3m.casey; 06-06-2020 at 02:36 AM.

  18. #43
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Arida Zona
    Posts
    30,108
    My Cars
    z3
    Quote Originally Posted by z3m.casey View Post
    Thanks for the post and info! will be reaching out to busterhax for a Z3m s54 cluster for my s54 swap.

    hows this build coming along now?
    I sold the car. Oops

    Got very busy at my shop and didnt have time to work on it. It was just getting neglected and I have an outdoor shop so I sold it before it ruined the paint

    Have an M54 E36 swap im wrapping up and a V8 going into a Z3 soon...

    Going into my TENTH YEAR of providing high quality reproduction BMW fabrics!

    PRICE CUT on ALL FABRICS
    Offering the best prices on the best quality reproduction fabrics!

  19. #44
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    McKean township Pennsylva
    Posts
    10,542
    My Cars
    1999 M3 , 1999 328is
    Quote Originally Posted by easymoney View Post
    I'm the other way around. Started from E36/46 M3 to E39. From hard/stiff ride to more comfy feeling. I guess as you get older your preference changes too. Now now back to E46 Touring for around town daily.
    Fun! I started in a soft stock e39 M5, then went much stiffer with an R56 JCW Mini. After two years of that it was nice to switch back to a smooth, soft e36 M3 on Bilstein Sport shocks and lowering springs.

  20. #45
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Oahu / Los Angeles
    Posts
    1,011
    My Cars
    S54 E36
    Quote Originally Posted by z3m.casey View Post
    Thanks for the post and info! will be reaching out to busterhax for a Z3m s54 cluster for my s54 swap.


    I see Casey is going to make me work to keep up with him on track!

    OP too bad you sold the car, I really like what you did with the interior. You should look into sourcing some better fabric though.

  21. #46
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    Los Angeles, CA
    Posts
    160
    My Cars
    2000 S54 - Mcoupe
    Quote Originally Posted by golgo13 View Post


    I see Casey is going to make me work to keep up with him on track!

    OP too bad you sold the car, I really like what you did with the interior. You should look into sourcing some better fabric though.
    haha! I got 2:03 in the s52! Let’s see what the s54 brings me.

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12

Similar Threads

  1. Replies: 52
    Last Post: 09-19-2013, 07:35 PM
  2. 67-69 Camaro vs. S54 E46 sedan
    By Black E46 sedan in forum Kill Stories
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 07-02-2012, 09:27 PM
  3. [QUOTE=therichsta]ballinnnnnnnnnn![/QUOTE]
    By tabasco in forum Georgia sponsored by Harrison Motorsports
    Replies: 20
    Last Post: 01-01-2011, 09:45 PM
  4. RI: 1997 Techno Sedan
    By northmiler89 in forum 3 series & Z Series
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-22-2009, 01:29 AM
  5. Techno Sedan <3
    By Geoff.T in forum BMW Rides & Events
    Replies: 43
    Last Post: 01-23-2009, 12:39 AM

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
  •