My m30 swap - TONS of pics... (USA)

[george graves]

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Here is a pictorial of my m30 swap - Can't tell you how much fun(and pain) I had with the project...I did it about 2 years ago, and the car is a blast to drive - the 3.5L really moves a e30. So here it is. Enjoy! (sorry if my spelling is off - it's 3am!)

 

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A few months before the swap, I was parked on the “bad side of town” and some a-hole backed into me hard. He pushed my radiator support in about 2 inches – well that had to be fixed. A ‘come-along’ and one tree later it was.

 

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Hey who is that guy? (M3 Ryan - he's the man!!!)

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It's a good thing we were doing this now, as we need every inch or room under the hood for the M30...

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Finding the right motor was hard – finally I came across a MINT e24 being parted out (rear end accident). 90k on the clock, and an AUTO!!! So I knew this motor had been treated nicely! Sweet!

 

Here is the "donor" car.

 

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[george graves]

I paid $800 shipped from Oregon. The bummer was that I needed to pick it up at LAX, about 100 miles away. Hey how much can an uhaul cost for a short trip to LA? The truck says $19.95 a day. Little did I know…That would bite me on the ASS...

 

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I asked him to let me drive the fork lift - no go...

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$19.95 MY ASS!!!!

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Oh - and a full lift and a engine hoist come in handy for work like this...

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After I paid the enormous uhaul bill (over $300 for the truck rental) I finally had my motor – opened up the crate – to see…well a used m30. I’ll need to work on that…

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With only 90k miles on my “new” M30 – there was no way I was going to rebuild it. Those of you who know m30’s, you know they are just getting broken in at 90k. It’s a 400k motor EASY…so time to strip it to a long-block to make sure everything else is ship shape, and some cosmetic touches…

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[george graves]

Yes the block says 3.5 on it - (later on)careful use of a die grinder got that pesky bugger right off...

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[george graves]

No a smurf did not jizz all over my block – that’s “navel rust jelly” Awesome for removing surface rust. Well not "awesome" – it took about 4 coats and 3 or 4 hours of waiting. And a wire brush, and....but in the end the surface was rust free.

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[george graves]

Here is the dolly I made to cart the engine around in the cramped garage. I would soon be know for “walking the dog” every time I drug it by it strap to work on it outside…

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[george graves]

Wow - lots of varnish - I know the motor sat for a while - but everything seems good.

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I stripped the block down to a long block - and inspected, repaired or replace anythign worn. Everything got a inspection and a fresh coat of protective paint.

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[george graves]

Did I mention Paint? Oh yea, I may have gone overboard - but I really wanted a shiny motor - and I got it! This all really was a lot of work - and we had'nt even started the swap yet!

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[george graves]

U.L.G.Y - this need some fixin'!!!!

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[george graves]

Ahh - the dreaded wiring harness - it turns out we had a bad crank position sensor that came with the motor - and caused up hours of pain. We ended up using the harness that was on my m20 - all we had to do was extend some injector wires and thermastat wires...Plug that into the m30 ecu - and it fired right up.

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[george graves]

Getting better....

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[george graves]

(grinding off the 3.5L embossed intake mani)

M30? 3.5L? Hun? this is a m20!!! (and yes, I do take it to get it smogged - and no one ever knows)

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[george graves]

"BLING BLING"

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[george graves]

Time to pull the old m20...

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[george graves]

This is where the lift comes in handy...

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[george graves]

Hey who wants a free m20? The head ended ended up going to a super eta project - that then found it's way into a 2002! I love it when car parts find a good home.

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[george graves]

Castrol Super clean is your friend - oh and a old tooth brush. Just be warned that super clean pulls all the oils out of your paint - wax soon, and wax offten afterwards...here is the result...

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[george graves]

DRUM ROLL PLEASE - I PRESENT THE M30! (applause) - also note the 3400 CFPM electric fan(we ended up switching it on with the AC switch - and is only needed in stop and go traffic or long stop lights)

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radiator compairson - e28 foreground, e30 background. The e28 tank is easier to use cause of the place ment of the bottem hose.

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[george graves]

Time to test fit - we put the motor in and out of the car maybe 7 or 8 times - mostly because we were building the mounts from scratch - and that took some finess.(and no that guy in the barney-purple shirt is not me)

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[george graves]

At the time - no one knew you could mix and match drive shaft parts from different bmw's to get the right length for the m30. I did it the hard expensive way, I bought a e30m3 DS then had it shorten, rebuilt and rebalanced for $400...OUCH! Oh in the pic is not the DS - a peice of PVC pipe to make sure we were lined up right.

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[george graves]

Yep - that my car - and that's a hammer. Actually that was fun. Beeting the hell out of the fire wall to make some more room for the motor. Not for the weak - but once the motor is in you can't even see it - it's hidden behind the head. Oh, and a spray of 3m under coating helps seal any bare metal.

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[george graves]

I forget the measurement we took - but this is one LOOOONNNNGGGG motor/tranny package. Notice that I used a getrag 265 with a removable bell housing? It really make the swap easier. This tranny came out of a e30m3. Also the tranny mount is a e30 m3 mount - it bolts right up to the e30.

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[george graves]

using abs plastic to mock up the custom mounts

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We used lots of jacks and stand under the motor to get it just in the right place before building the mounts - this step is critical, and time consumming tring to position a huge motor EXACTLY where is need to be.

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[george graves]

Hey! It fits!

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[george graves]

It took two tries on building the mounts till we were happy. Notice the bad angle of this first version?

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[george graves]

Oh that's tight!!! this is not the final position. We ended getting it back another inch or 2.

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