Monster 18 month update inbound!
Ok so as some of you will have seen in various mini updates dotted here and on facebook, I have caught a new wind on my E36 Compact project.
Stopped doing anything major for a long while as life got in the way as did other projects etc. During the down time, I managed to swap a full E30 cloth interior for a pair of as new bucket seats from James down here. Also picked up a MTech2 wheel to suit E36 and range of other parts which were all tossed in the boot of the car and forgotten about.
I was browsing the Auctions and ended up bringing home a 325i South African E36 for $180, so decided I had better start making some progress on the compact again, with this earmarked as the donor. But I needed a 6 cylinder gearbox conversion so I started more intently looking out for one. 4 weeks later, I came across a very tidy 328i Manual Motorosport coupe that had done only 135,000km. been crashed in the front. Picked that up for a very good price too. So with two donor cars and one compact ready to accept whatever I threw at it I was ready to go!
First was to take the goodies I wanted off the 325i and put that car aside.
Lowering suspension
AC Schnitzer wheels with minty tyres
Aftermarket exhaust system
South African sump gaurd
Swapped all the suspension from the compact onto the sedan, and the sedans gear onto the compact, binning the tired Boge shocks in favour of some Bilsteins from Jayden. The 325i was then banished down the back of the section to sit along side my other wrecks I have pulled all the bits I need of them waiting for buyers!
Next was the pull all the engine driveline and manual interior bits from the 328i and any other 6 cylinder bits I needed. I wont go into detail on how to remove an engine from an E36, there are enough threads on the internet that will detail that I am sure. Dont forget to remove the EWS system
Once the engine was out, I prepared that for install into the compact.
Aircon compressor, tensioners and mounting bracket removed. I left the Auxilary pulley on the front of the engine as I wasn’t sure if the bolts would foul on the engine block if I put them in with out it. It weighs only a few grams so no big deal.
Decided to keep the engine all OBD2 for now, this means as go intended in the 328i including the ASC throttle body. Just makes for less variables when swapping the engine over into the new chassis. I will be going back to swap an M50 manifold on and delete various emissions systems that are unnecessary. Both of these you do not want to do if you are building a racecar.
Fitted a brand new water pump even though ne in there seemed in good shape, and also removed the plastic thermostat housing and thermostat. Fitted a brand new genuine BMW 88* Thermostat inside an aftermarket alloy thermostat housing. Usually this is the first part of the cooling system to fail due to age apart from the radiator itself.
Usually at this point you would also replace various gaskets and seals around the engine. I didn’t, because someone has been in here before and done some preventative maintenance I suspect. There is no evidence of oil leaks anywhere on on the engine block or head. Usually at 135,000km the gaskets would be 20 year old original ones and very much game over,but not on this engine!
As I later found out, you also want to remove the coolant/heater pipe that comes perpendicular off the back of the head and fit one from an M20 engine with a 90 degree bend in it. This is because the donor for the M52 has a dual climate HVAC system which has three hoses through the firewall, with a unit in the engine bay to split one feed into two. The compact however just has a simple two hose system like an E30 or similar.
Next step is to prepare the compact engine bay to accept a 6 cylinder engine.
Remove brackets for the coils up on strut tower and the power steering reservoir bracket
Remove underbonnet battery box/tray and cabling if car is so equipped, you do not have room to run this up front with a 6 cylinder engine.
Swap main power steering hard lines over to 6 cylinder type. From memory I required both of these
Install clutch hard line over the firewall, much easier with the engine out. My car did not have the small bracket on the side of the transmission tunnel the hose usually goes through. You could cut this bracket off your donor and weld this bracket on if you wish. I didn’t. A factory manual compact should have this I would think.
Remove the nose of the car if you haven’t done this already when removing the 4 cylinder
Now is a good time to install the 6 cylinder EWS bits. There are 4 pieces to change, the DME (obviously!), the Chip in the Key (plenty of online tutorials on that), the EWS module (left hand side of the car under dash), and pretty sure the amplifier for the antenna is also specific to the kit, I swapped it over anyways. It is not necessary to change antenna ring, as it is literally just that, but does help you find the little amplifier.
Install 6 cylinder throttle cable
Install battery in boot cable from your donor
Remove the linkage between the steering column and the steering rack. Makes a lot more clearance to get the 6 cylinder in, remember these cars are designed left hand drive and adapted for right hand drive. IMPORTANT: If your car is an airbag car, MAKE SURE your front wheels are pointing dead ahead, and your steering lock is ON so your wheel cant move. You don’t want your steering wheel to somehow spin by itself and mess up your wires. I am not saying this from experience as my compact doesn’t have airbags, but just something to be aware of.
Now put your engine in the hole! and hook everything up!
Now the driveshaft can go in. I fit the complete driveshaft (both halves) from my donor into the compact, and bolted up just fine to the factory compact diff. I will be replacing the diff with a medium case of a better ratio and LSD at some stage but will be using this diff for this step of the project. I am aware of some differences in diff flanges. Im not sure if I got lucky, but worked for me.
Exhaust can be solved using parts you already have which is nice and helps to keep the cost down. If you are running an aftermarket exhaust from here then just do that, otherwise read next few bullet points:
After installing driveshaft, you may need to change the rear driveshaft hoop to one from a 6 cylinder car. This will have the appropriate brackets you need for the next step. I cant find a picture of the hoop (cant be bothered looking harder to be honest) but its the hoop that part 7 and 8 bolt into in the below image. The compact hoop does not have provisions for these bolts/brackets
http://bmwfans.info/parts-catalog/E36-Coupe/Europe/328i-M52/R-M/browse/exhaust_system/catalyst_lambda_probe
Now replace all heat shielding
Front section you use whatever came on your donor car. A 328i will have a front section like the above picture. A 325i will have one that looks similar and mounts the same. Either way, they mount onto that hoop. Plug in the oxygen sensors if equipped while you think of it.
For the rear half, you can either run a custom setup, modify the 4 cylinder compact rear to suit or, in my case since I had an aftermarket catback out of the 325i, I found I was able to take 200mm out of that and add 450mm steel rod on the back of the muffler to marry up with the compact hanger. This does foul on the axles at full wheel extension, but shortening the shocks and/or running coilovers etc would solve this problem and let the axle miss the exhaust at full drop. I haven’t decided if I will go for a custom build catback or shorten the shocks yet.
From here, this turns back into my project instead of an instruction manual
Deleted the bonnet release on the nose and also on the bonnet it self while i was at it, put nose back on, installed bonnet pins, put a M3/318iS type bumper on (not just regular M sport) i had lying around.
Got everything connected up in the engine bay
Only thing I have left to do to get the engine started is to install the battery cable from the engine bay to the cabin of the car.
Still have a bunch of goodies on the 328i to swap over to the compact too but this is where I am up to for now.
