E30 Touring M52 Swap

[nick496 268]

So after deciding that I'd rather keep an E30 touring than a sedan long term, I set out to look for one.

Ended up getting the 320i that had been for sale in Wellington since the start of the year.

It seemed in reasonable shape, with no leaks (water into the car), fairly straight, and aside from the rust in the tailgate, there was no other rust in the normal E30 places, so it sounded like a good buy (with well looked after touring being hard to find), and being manual, would be easy enough to swap an M20B25 in later.

Driving it back home, got into Taupo, it started making a nice rattling noise, just under 1500RPM.

Since I'd managed to get that far and fearing the worst, just babied it home, and got back to Hamilton without it blowing up.

Taking a look under the distribution rotor, it looks as though the belt tensoner needed replacing, and the belt was walking it way off (that's rubber), which put a bit of a downer on the purchase.

The next weekend, the wife decided that she wanted a wheelbarrow, and the touring was well suited to the task.

Then not too much later on, the alternator wore out, and that needed to be replaced too.

So with both those issues in mind, I decided to replace it... with an M52B28.

Managed to pick up an E36 328i with a blown trans for a good price, so pulled the motor out of that.

E30 eyeing up it's new heart.

At this stage, just waiting to save up a bit more money to order a bunch of new parts (water pump, clutch, etc) for the swap.

Reading up online, it sounds like the G240 gearbox will bolt up to the engine, though being from behind an M20, it will bolt up on an angle like the G260 gearbox. Does that sound right?

[e30ftw 410]

It's a Getrag 240 from a 318i E30 Facelift (M40), not the M20. This was a pretty good price and it lasted that long. I was pretty tempted but didn't need another E30..

[_BRS_ 209]

Very similar to mine but different outcomes are planned.

Nice work, looks like the Touring is in the right hands, look forward to its progress.

[nick496 268]

It's a Getrag 240 from a 318i E30 Facelift (M40), not the M20. This was a pretty good price and it lasted that long. I was pretty tempted but didn't need another E30..

I thought that this one, as a factory 320i manual, would have the G240, but with a different bellhousing to suit the M20?

Love your build, aiming to end up where you were before your most recent swap.

Cheer Blair, was reading up on yours, didn't realise you started with a 320i also. Your's sounds like it will be good too, based on your previous E30.

[e30ftw 410]

It's a getrag 240 but with a m20 angle bellhousing, you can't change the bellhousing. You need the box from a 318, sits on the right angle. Least you will have the right driveshaft and linkage for it.

If not you can use a getrag 220 from an e36 with the 320i linkage and driveshaft too, but the ratios require a lower ratio diff like 3.23 or 3.46.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

all tourings are 320i it seems!!

Very cool, this one was Ians one right?

[nick496 268]

It's a getrag 240 but with a m20 angle bellhousing, you can't change the bellhousing. You need the box from a 318, sits on the right angle. Least you will have the right driveshaft and linkage for it.

Drats, I was hoping I could just use this box, albeit at the wrong angle and having to mess with the linkage.

Yeah Andy, this was Ian's one.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

less hassle finding a M40 G240 box and having a bolt in ready to go solution, than hacking up a shifter.

Also, if you are planning to run no cert its a screaming alarm bell having a modified linkage, if you are planning to run with cert, you may need to get it crack tested. just things to think about.

Try Jon at Auto38 in Masterton, he may very well have the box you are looking for

[WYZEUP 283]

Nice!!! looks like a very clean wagon, good to see another e30 owner around hamilton

[nick496 268]

less hassle finding a M40 G240 box and having a bolt in ready to go solution, than hacking up a shifter.

Also, if you are planning to run no cert its a screaming alarm bell having a modified linkage, if you are planning to run with cert, you may need to get it crack tested. just things to think about.

Try Jon at Auto38 in Masterton, he may very well have the box you are looking for

Fair point Andy, will keep an eye out for an M40 one. Like to have everything all legal, and the less hassle at cert time the bettter.

Nice!!! looks like a very clean wagon, good to see another e30 owner around hamilton

I've been around Hamilton for a few years, just lurk around on the forums mostly haha.

[max 27]

Nice! Good to see another Touring getting looked after.

I moved a barrow the other day too, work wagons eh

[nick496 268]

Went up to Auckland yesterday and gathered a bunch of parts. Having a wagon is really handy.

Was a long day (Left at 9AM, and got back around 6PM).

Got some sports seats, in not too bad condition

Some spare bumpers (just in case)

E34 Sump and pickup for the swap, plus a spare oil filter housing (I've not had a good experience previously with these)

A spare M52B28 manifold (mine made a nice crack noise while I was pulling the engine out)

And a period looking head unit

[Jamez 2147483647]

Lol, that is my old M50 sump that I sold with the E30 shell, if its a same pickup you will want to make sure its free from metal shards

[nick496 268]

Lol, I think it would be the same pickup. I'll be sure to have a good look through it. Though judging by the rest of it, it should be pretty clean.

[nick496 268]

So swapped my manual rear windows to electric ones today.

Documented the process over here: http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/54729-e30-touring-electric-rear-window-conversion/?p=590648

Then since the seats were out, decided to pull out the carpet.

Unsurprisingly, the carpet was a bit damp.

But surprisingly, there was no rust in the floor pan.

Have left the carpet to dry out, and will wait for that to happen before swapping the seats in.

[nick496 268]

Just doing more an update.

Engine and transmission mounts arrived from Revshift.

Also ordered some replacement ODO gears, as I was ticking over 1KM for every 100KM

Got a replacement OBC lightbar for the retrofit, but upon closer inspection it appears the LCD screen has leaked... so that won't be happening for a while, until I either find a replacement, or make one up using an arduino board or something.

Since I was feeling lazy on Boxing day, decided to crack the cover off the M52.

Found some water in cylinder 6. Is this someone to be particular worried about?

Surely it could only have leaked in from the top of the engine, not from a crack in the head?

It's been there for a while, judging by the buildup that's in there, have chucked a rag in there, to soak it all up before I remove the spark plug.

Also having a look at the coilpack kinda confirms this.

It's done around 240KM, and it passed hands a number of times over the past 3 years, so I suspect the maintenance on it has been rather lacking. And the condition of the engine is pretty reflective of this.

Lots of buildup:

Engine is a nice burgundy colour.

The cams appear to have very little scoring, which is a bonus.

Edited December 25, 2015 by nick496

[BM WORLD 1283]

if the little caps are missing water gets in past the 10mm nuts pretty easy . nothing to worry about

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

can confirm, nothing to worry about, happened on a M50 5speed car i had here a while back, was plug 5 and 6 on mine. will cause a misfire if enough in there.

[nick496 268]

Excellent, cheers guys. The plastic engine cover wasn't on when I got the car, so that will probably be the cause.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2132]

Just a problem if it gets into the cylinders, even more so if it sits. It's only water I used a long fleet straw and sucked it out spit it out

[nick496 268]

Just an update on what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks.

Ordered replacement ODO gears from garagistic and replaced those.

While I had the cluster out, I noticed that the break wear sensor light was removed.

So I put that back in, and what do you know, it was permanently on.

Had a quick look around the car, and someone had obviously had a go trying to sort this previously, as both front and rears had been cut, and re-joined.

Checked the resistances and was still reading a little bit of resistance, even when bypassing the sensors.

Out of curiosity, I swapped a spare cluster in.

Break wear sensor worked perfectly fine.

I know that the resistor for break wear sensor comes loose causing it flicker on and off, but it was firmly attached to the main board. So I just swapped the boards around.

Super happy that all my dash lights now work, and all my check panel lights work too.

(Brake wear only lights up when starting the car)

Swapped the sports seats in, and also put in some black leather door cards that I had floating around.

Looks a bit mismatched, with blue fronts, grey rears, and black doorcards, but plan to re-upholster the front seats in black leather much later on.

Found a few things when doing all this work

Bit of rust in passenger's B column

And also the factory running in instructions.

Then since she was all back together, took her in for a wof.

She failed on fog lights not working (bulbs both gone), split windscreen wipers, and one of the front shocks was leaking.

So ordered a pair of Koni sports for the front from George Stock, and they showed up the next day.

Date on the box is 07-07-2014, so they've been sitting around for a while, but should be fine.

So that's a job for Sunday.

[Olaf 3317]

ahhhh, this brings back memories. Thread subscribed. I had an e30 325i Touring, 5sp and sunroof, still miss it.

re your damp carpets, ISTR leaks common from cowl around the glovebox area, I forget the detail so use google and check yours out.

Very interested in your swap, keep up the great work.

[nick496 268]

Cheers Olaf, will check there next time I pull the carpet out and test for leaks.

Managed to get my front shocks apart, but when I went to install the spring and top mounts, found that the top nut that I had (19mm), doesn't fit my Koni's.

No worries I thought, I'll use a bigger nut... then realised I'd then have to fit a bigger socked in the top. Which did not fit at all.

A quick google says that this can happen, and the recommendation is to get shock mounts that support a 22mm nut/socket?

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=335535

Can anyone else confirm?

[e30ftw 410]

Never seen that, when I had koni's they came with their own top nuts. I took them off like 3 months ago, don't think they were 22mm though but the socket does fit snugglishly.

[nick496 268]

So just a heads up for anyone looking to purchase Koni shocks for their E30, I would advise checking your front mounts can take a 22mm socket.

I ordered a set of 8641 1021SPORT shocks for the front, and had issues installing them, due to them using a M14 nut, as opposed to an M12, like my set in a previous car.

Old vs New

I suspect the old shock was a red Koni, but there were no markings on it to confirm.

Anywho, so I got the M14 nut on with no issues, using the existing shock mount.

But when I went to tighten it, I couldn't get a 22mm socket in there

I did try with a filed down socket, but that didn't work either.

Ended up contacting Gavin at Euro Italian, and we got out our rulers over the phone, and order a set of new front mounts.

Here are the new mounts, 22mm socket fits in fine.

So in conclusion, check to see if you can get a 22mm socket in your shock mounts before ordering Konis, otherwise you're probably better off going the Bilstein route.