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Thread: E34 m60b44 manual swap build thread

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    University Heights, Ohio
    Posts
    4
    My Cars
    97, 95, 94 540i, 06 330i

    E34 m60b44 manual swap build thread

    HI all,
    I havent posted here much but I am beginning a new build and thought I would share. I have a 1994 rust free e34 540 auto car that I have had sitting in my storage unit for over 10 years. picked it up for 1000 bucks in PA, however it spent most of its life in california. I bought it to restore and never had the money. I spent the last 3 years travel nursing and was able to build up some funds. I have had several m62 cars including an e39 540i manual that I daily drove until it basically fell apart, I sold it 3 years ago, but I fell in love with the platform. 5 years ago I picked up a manual 1995 e34 540 rust bucket that I pulled the motor/trans and manual swap stuff out of with the intention to manual swap my storage unit car. More recently I decided to also do an m60b44. The donor bottom end came from a 99 540i auto I got for 800. the auto trans would intermittently go into limp mode but when it was working the car pulled HARD. From what I understand most of the m60b44 hybrids are made from non-vanos short blocks but I think the TU engine may be a better option and I will explain why later.



    The car receiving the hybrid motor, still need to pull the engine out


    The m62 donor car, it was super rusty underneath


    M62 torn down

    The tentative parts list is as follows..
    -stock bottom end (the bores look beautiful and again it made great power)
    -stock oil pump
    -I sourced decently priced new OEM timing guides and a new main chain tensioner, the cam chains and tensioners will remain original, the tensioners are difficult to find.
    -I am not sure the condition of the 6 speed as I never drove the car it was in but I will wing it.
    -turner adjustable short shifter kit
    -Clutch will be clutch masters stage 3+ fx350 kit with lightweight flywheel for the e39. FYI the clutch masters kit has a 15 pound flywheel vs the stock 33 pounds. the JB racing is 13 pounds but this kit was a good deal. For the record both the e39 and e34 clutch kits work for this swap (e34 6 speed manual and m62 bottom end) the only difference is the e39 kit is smaller diameter and has the crank position sensor teeth ring on the flywheel which wont be used. (e34 has the CPS on the front of the engine that corresponds to the teeth on the e34 crank pulley)
    -Stock re-lapped and cleaned e34 heads, I may do some minor polishing if I have time
    -Cat Cams 283/272 cams which require new inner valve springs part number PAC-I92009, these cams are a step up from sport and should have good power from about 2500-7000rpm. these aren't really great for idle or daily driving and should have a nice lope to them.
    -I will be using modified s65 stock headers as the exhaust holes match up, however some of the flanges need cut and rotated.
    -the car will have the stock m60 intake and airbox eliminated for a cone filter.
    -m62 stock injectors which I Believe are 19 LB, vs the m60 18 LB?
    -SSSQuid tuning chip (still have to figure which stage) on the e34 OBD1 ECU, if using the e39 ECU you need the manual trans ECU if doing a manual swap, for e34 you do not.
    -I am considering this ITB kit I found from a company called racehead out of australia, anyone know about this??
    -stock composite m62 1.74mm head gaskets. I am hoping for significant crush as close to 1mm as possible for compression reasons

    Most of the compression calculations for the m60b44 hybrid are incorrect due to the fact that the OE m62 pistons are dished, most people assumed they were flat without actually checking, a member by the name of mykk found this during his SC build and had calculated the volume of the dish to be 4cc per piston. This drops compression about .5 to .6 points. However the m62b44 TU pistons ARE flat with the exception of relief cuts for the valves. My measurement for the volume of these relief cuts is 0.5cc per cut which is 2cc per piston. this actually raises compression which is why I believe they used the 2.04mm stock head gasket vs the 1.74mm, to keep the original compression of 10:1. I will post my calculations. The pistons still have a -.025 inch deck height meaning they stick up past the top of the block 25 thousandths at TDC.


    Stock gasket thickness compression calculation

    I was worried about piston to valve clearance so I put the intake cams at max lift and set the heads on top of the block with the stock 2.04 mm MLS gasket and turned over the motor until the pistons touched the valves. surprisingly they have lot of room. The pistons contact the valves .022 inches or .55mm below the deck and about .047 inches or 1.19mm below TDC. Subtract that number from the stock 9.7mm intake lift, I also subtracted another 1 mm for the difference in possible head gasket height between stock and the composite CRUSHED 1.74mm gasket. this comes to about 7.5 mm of valve lift before the stock pistons hit the stock valve train with a 1mm thick HG, the stock intake cams are open 1mm at TDC, my new cams will be open just over 3mm at TDC, I still have 4.5 mm clearance. Cat Cams recommends 1.5mm clearance just to be safe but we have plenty of room.
    I am shooting for an 11:1 compression ratio. I want to determine the actual thickness of the HG after crush so I am going to buy another stock composite gasket, cut off a corner, and torque it down and measure the corner with feeler gauges, this can have a huge effect on final static compression ratio. if I can get the HG down to about 1.1 to 1.2mm then I wont deck the head, any thicker and I will deck the head to get my compression numbers up. I think the benefit of the TU engine here is that the relief cuts give extra valve clearance as they are at LEAST 3mm deep at their deepest point and that the compression possibilities are higher due to less piston dish volume. (2cc less)



    Compression calculations for 1.1mm and 1.2mm head gasket thickness, by this calculation I should be shooting for
    Last edited by Crashman08; 07-11-2022 at 12:34 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2018
    Location
    York, Pennsylvania
    Posts
    21
    My Cars
    1995 E34 540i
    I am building a 95 540 m60b44 manual swap. Almost finished, just chasing a spark problem trying to get er to run

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