S54 swapped E30

[chili84]

Hello everyone,

I finally have enough photos put together of my build that's been going on for quite some time. It's a 1991 325i that I first got back in 2008 while stationed in Hawaii. A few years back the head gasket went and I parked it in storage. Decided instead of just rebuilding the M20 to do a S50/52 swap. So I started gathering all the necessary parts to do the conversion. Came across a S54 from a 02' convertible for under $2,000 with harness and ECU. Figured since I will have a bit more power than the S50/52 put out that I needed to do some other modifications before I could focus on the engine. Installed a brake booster off a Porsche 944, I believe I went with the ATE vs. Girling. The shaft needed to be shorted and rethread all the way down in order for the brake pedal to be attached. Master cylinder from a E32 7 series. Dropped the subframes, reinforced and had them sent off to powder coat, did a 5 lug swap using Ground Control conversion kit. Front setup consists of E46 hub and steering knuckle, E46 330i brakes Z3 steering rack with Garagistic spacers, SRS-concept 5 lug conversion to correct the caster from using the stock E30 control arm. Rear consist of: This is where I made a few mistakes, so listen carefully. I used a trailing arm from a Z3 which came with the hub from a local junk yard. Reinforced it and sent off to powder coat. Got it installed in the car and when I went to go put on the E46 330i brakes, the brake caliper doesn't fit. Scratched my head a thousand times trying to figure out why. Come to find out, it's because the Z3 hub sticks out way further than a standard E46 hub. If you look at the rotor hat of a Z3 it's HUGE. Where the E46 rotor hat appears to be a normal size. Contacted SRS concept again and had them send out the hub that comes in their rear kit. Went to install that and it didn't fit inside the wheel bearing. Turns out, the Z3 rear wheel bearing is smaller than an E30. Luckily a friend of mine knows a guy who has a milling machine in his garage. Took the rear hubs to him, along with the wheel bearing, so that he could mill it down from 75mm to 72mm. Now it fits just fine. Lesson learned? If you're going to go this route, use your stock E30 trailing arm. With the kit from SRS you do not need to do what I did. If you are going with Ground Control coil overs, make sure the rear is set up with a E30, do not select roadster. I hope I saved you from having a headache like I had. Once I got all that under control it was time to tackle the motor. Changed out the rod end bearings, rebuilt the VANOS, new seals on the water pump, installed a new alternator, new pulleys, new spark plugs, coil packs, valve cover gasket. Slapped on some Megan Racing headers I got on Ebay. Wrapped them in exhaust wrap. Mount arms are from a E36 and the mounts themselves are from Condor Speed Shop. When the motor was installed into the car the headers did not get in the way of the body or the control arms. They sit just above the subframe and do not make contact. It's a very tight squeeze. I think from the time we started until it was safely in took about an hour. Installed the air box that had been modified by Kassel Performance. Mine came off a SMG car so it has the reservoir on it which will be in the way of your master cylinder reservoir. Removed that and cleaned it up a bit to make it look nice. Thought about utilizing it as a reservoir for the brakes but ultimately just went ahead and removed it. Did a power steering delete from Condor Speed. If you're using the Z3 rack, the bolts from the E30 rack are too small and do not fit. My rack didn't come with any. Transmission will be going in soon. I am using the stock E30 transmission in the mean time. This is not going to be a track car and will only be take out on nice sunny days for some back country road cruising. The clutch is a stage 2 Sachs puck style, heavy duty pressure plate with a single mass aluminum light weight flywheel. Garagistic 24v conversion kit to take into account for the 10 degree difference in the way the motor sits in the car. Rear end came off a IS car and is a LSD. Turning it into a 2 clutch with a M style diff cover. Ireland Engineering adjustable front and non adjustable rear sway bar. Billy Boat exhaust. And the wheels are a BMW M3 style 22 DS1 that I found online. Had 2 straightened. Sent off to powder coat and went with a smoke color to tie in with the rear tail lights. Falken Azenis 215/40/17 tires. I think that's about it for now. There's been a lot of other little things here and there but that's the meat and potatoes. More pics to follow! Hope you guys enjoy and have a great day!

[chili84]

Wheels went on today! Also did some work to the transmission. Replaced all the packings and grommets. Swapped out the DSSR with one from Garagistic that is meant for the 24v swap. Had a tough time getting the pilot bearing out and with a bum shoulder I wasn't able to continue working on it. But I was able to make some progress today. Next week we should be installing the transmission.
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[seriniboy]

thats a really straight body. looks good dude.

[The Great Decay]

Awesome work


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[mellostock]

What an Awesome Swap. That e30 is going to scream with the S54.

[chili84]

Here’s a quick update on the build. It’s been kinda slow but I want it done right the first time.

we tried installing the motor without the transmission bolted up and just opted to try and install it with the motor in. But because of all the sound deadening and heat protection that is on the firewall and part of the transmission tunnel, it was very difficult to get the bolt holes on the housing to line up with the motor. So we dropped the motor, bolted up the transmission while it was all out of the car and installed it that way instead.
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This is it installed with the transmission bracket from Condor Speedshop. Also not pictured is the DSSR and shift linkage from Garagistic.
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We brought the car back down from where it was for almost a year to my house. This was after it got washed.
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We made a mounting bracket for the stock E30 fan. Offers plenty of clearance away from the radiator.
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I went with a Z3M radiator for the swap. It was the most commonly used one and didn’t feel like reinventing the wheel. Fits perfect and still able to use the E30 fan shroud. Tight fit, I definitely recommend protecting both sides of the radiator with cardboard when installing. Even then, it’ll be difficult to finagle it in there.
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[chili84]

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Form fitting the wiring harness cover. This is the one for the E30. Had to cut and mild it to correctly fit over the air box and main plug.

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Used the intake parts for a M3 from Injen. Typically there is a giant air box that the filter would sit in but it doesn’t fit. Just used the elbow coming off the air box, I needed it for the MAF sensor. Filter is believe is from Turner Motorsport. Fits nice and doesn’t hit anything.

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Trying to clean up the area around the brake booster and master reservoir. With the vacuum hose and the engine harness it’s a mess.

Not pictured but I did swap out the fuel pump with one from Kassel Performance. I have yet to get to the FPR but will here shortly.

Obviously still a bit of work left to do. Have to come up with some sort of oil cooler and the coolant reservoir. I have the stock one, the pill bottle style or I could use the E46 one. Also the upper radiator hose is just there to see where I want to use a bung for the coolant temp sensor. Unless I decided to tap into the water pump housing. Not sure what route to go with there. Hopefully I can get this all done by the spring time.

[chili84]

Well, it's been almost 5 years since I last drove the car. The M20 was pulled back in December 2017, stored for 3 years and then sat in my garage for a year, a friends garage for a year and finally was completed at a shop in Chesapeake, VA. It was certainly an emotional rollercoaster but well worth the time and money spent getting it up and running. Ended up having to rebuild the VANOS. One of the tabs was broken off the hub. I ended up going with the cryogenic kit from Dr. Vanos. The exhaust headers are Ebay and the exhaust itself is Billy Boat. I used the same one that was on the car before. It sounded amazing with an M20. Surprisingly it's not much louder with the S54 than it was with the M20. Even while cruising. Suspension is a fairly aggressive street ride. I can take clover leaf's at around 70 mph. Tires are Falken Azenis RT660. Extremely sticky tires. Since I got the car back, it was acting funny at first at idle and then when I pushed the clutch in the car would die unless I kept my foot barely on the gas. Just enough to keep the RPM around 800-1000 RPM's. I hooked up a code reader and got 3 codes. P0171 which is saying there is a vacuum leak and/or engine is running lean in Bank 1. 2nd code was P0174, kinda the same thing as the previous one except this is in Bank 2. Lastly, I got a P0101, Mass Airflow Sensor. I replaced the MAF with a Bosch one previously. I cleared all the codes and started the engine, it ran fine. While the engine was running I unplugged the MAF sensor and it started to act wonky. I then turned the car off, cleaned the sensor and connector, reinstalled it, checked/cleared the codes. Ever since then the engine has been working excellent and haven't gotten any more codes. This also fixed the partial throttle surging. I will be posting some videos here soon. As for the future of this car, it's going to just be going in and fixing a few things, adding a few things, etc. I will be going with a different transmission probably in the winter when I don't drive the car. As well as putting in A/C and power steering.

Just before all the fun begins.
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Before:
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After:
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Random photos:
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[chili84]

Some photos of when the motor was going in. It’s a very tight fit. Open communication with whoever is helping out is key. It’s probably better to bolt the motor to the subframe and install it that way. If you can. Getting the transmission onto the motor was too difficult. So we installed it on the motor and put it in that way. If your tunnel doesn’t have the heat padding then you should be fine.

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Underside of motor. Oil pan from a M50 motor. These seem to be harder and harder to find. That and the prices keep going up.

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Ground Control 5 lug conversion coil overs. All you will need is an E36 knuckle, sourced from your local junkyard. I got mine from there and had a bunch of stuff that needed to get sent off to powder coat. I used E46 wheel hubs, 330i brakes. All of which bolt up with no issues.
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[chili84]

Just a short little video I did. Once I get all the bugs worked out I will make some more. But right now I have a small vacuum leak somewhere. Once everything is fixed and no issues present I will be making some more videos to post and share. But for now, enjoy!

[E30Alpine14]

Love the swap. Thinking of swapping my M20 out eventually to an S54.