E30 m50 oil pan removal

[M50B25NV]

Hello everyone,
I unfortunately realized too late that the previous owner of my m50 engine failed to put a oil pickup tube in the pan. I have ordered a new one, and was wondering if anyone knew the size of the bolts needed to mount the pickup (I searched but could not find it on realoem), and the best way to take the e34 pan off, preferably without dropping the subframe. I have access to an engine hoist, so my current plan is to loosen the motor mounts and try to get it up as much as possible to give me enough clearance, but I’m worried the oil pump will make it very difficult to get out.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[BimmerBreaker]

I don't see how you can remove the oil pan without dropping the subframe or basically getting the engine up so high that you may as well remove it

Dropping the subframe really isn't that bad. Leave all the suspension stuff bolted in place and just lower the subframe. A good trick is to buy longer length bolts and support the subframe with a jack and as you remove each subframe bolt you install the longer bolt in it's place, by just a few threads, then when all the long bolts are in, lower the subframe down. When done, just jack it back into place and replace with the correct length bolts. This way you don't have to fight with alignment or anything. I spent like $30 on some really long bolts that were the same thread pitch and diameter. The ones I found were from a Lamborghini and I bought them online... the selling dealer called and asked if I placed the order correctly... I've used them many times since to do oil pan jobs.

[M50B25NV]

Excellent advice thank you!

[M50B25NV]

For anyone curious here’s what I ended up doing.

I first loosened the engine mounts on both sides about as far as they’d go, leaving a couple threads for security. Then I jacked from the oil pan and shimmed the mounts once they maxed out. That gave me barely enough room to loosen all the oil pan bolts and slide it out, but most of you may need to remove the oil pickup (my oil pan was missing one, hence why I removed it) and maybe the oil pump as well if you don’t shim it enough. This way you don’t need any longer bolts or an engine hoist, just a floor jack and some wooden shims. A warning for those of you with a getrag 260 however, is there are two oil pan bolts that you can’t reach without removing the transmission, luckily I have the far superior 240!