My E46 V12 6speed swap

[zero 1162]

What was the cost for porting and polishing the heads, and what is the claimed power gains?

 

[e46v12 477]

Hey Nathan

I haven't been billed yet but say it wont be cheap, still have the custom cam grind and ITBs to go. So still a little way away till I have to pay the bill.

Power gain wise, wouldn't know sorry as this is the 1st bmw v12 they have done so unknown territory really but will definitely see an improvement... I hope

[zero 1162]

Thanks richard - did they put the heads on a flow bench?

[e46v12 477]

I say he hasn't yet, and not sure if they have one. But will find out next time im in there.

[e46v12 477]

Hi Team

Very long time and no post.

Alot has been happening as to why i haven't posted. 

Today is a very sad day but also good and exciting. 

For you all that have been following this build know i was going to use the Green e46 sedan

as my platform for the v12 build.

After some serious thinking i couldn't give this opportunity up. I am the new proud owner of this rolling body M3 ( thanks paul ) 

Some of you may hate the bodykit but its slowly growing on me. Well see you how we go as i may convert it back to factory.

which has meant that i am selling the green sedan. I have just sold the red coupe and have also purchased the v8 wagon ( thanks eddy) 

Great work horse as i have more space for parts now. So again ill be adding the wagon build to this thread just so i dont have a million build threads going.

Wagon e46: currently has M60B30 v8 motor and auto in. 

Plans to convert M60B44 supercharged manual.

I purchased a M62B44tu a few months back 

Also pulled the M60 heads of my spare car ready for the M60B44 build

So thats pretty much what has been happened in the past few months. Now that the new M3 car has the whole rear end included, so I can now use the other M3 rear end for the Wagon supercharge swap which works out perfect. 

Now also all the parts that were intended for the green sedan will be used on either the  M3 or wagon. I will be install the XYZ adjustables into the wagon tomorrow. Will post pictures if i get time.

Thanks Richard

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by e46v12

[0-60Motorsports 8]

Nice update 

[e46v12 477]

Small update 

Received a message from the engineer saying he has finished the CAD work of the lower portion of the intake manifolds and injector fuel rail. All to fit and sit nicely between the heads in the valley. 

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team another small update.

Throttle bodies machined.

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team

So update for the v8 wagon. Been a few busy weekends moving to a bigger shed so had to delay pulling cars apart. 

But Finally in and this weekend getting stuck into the 5 speed swap. 

Also nice to have all the toys under one roof. 

So far since last post have managed to put xyz adjustables in.

Over the weekend started pulling the auto box and rear end out of the car.

Also found that old owner Eddy had welding some subframe plates in which is a bonus.

Just one small torx bolt stopping me from dropping the box as i need to go and buy a torx ring spanner in order to get the bolt out.

and change the brake lines to m3 hubs then everything is good to go back in.

M3 rear end and zf 390z 5speed box with other little bits.

.

 

And a small update for the v12 m3 

wheels that came with car and ones ill be swapping to.

 

 

 

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team 

Another update for the v8 wagon, here's a few weekends worth of work

Starting with finally getting that last m12 torx bolt out and being able to drop the auto box out, what a mission it was as there's not alot of room to play with in the trans tunnel. 

I thought i was home sailing with the manual swap at least till i found that there was no way of me getting the manual box to even tilt in the tunnel to get over the clutch setup. This is where i knew i had to pull the whole motor out in order to make it manual. The plan was to just have it manual for a while with the original motor while i take my time building the M60B44  motor.

So once i got the motor out i was thinking i ant going to be doing this twice so ive decided to converting the M62B44tu with the M60 heads and stick that back instead of putting the original motor back in. Having stripped most parts off both motors there was just small things left to do for the engines before i could start piecing bits back together.

Mock fitment to measure drive shaft, shifter assembly and gearbox x member.

 

Reconnected the handbrake lines to the m3 rear brakes, swapped the whole m3 rear end in. Also knew that the M3 sways bars are different, so instead i got these spaces made, lengthen the bottom piece of the bushing plate and brought longer bolts to hold the 328i sway bar in place. 

Found out the m3 diff flange and 330i driveshaft cv joint didnt fit due that dust cover cap on the 330i cv but taking that off made fitting perfect and has same bolt pattern. Due to the M3 diff being larger this made the diff slightly longer too. which made the rear half of the shaft sit about 20mm forward of where the centre bearing bolts to the body. 

M3 diff

330i diff

Managed to line the gearbox up as you can see it was 30mm from the factory holes. So what i did was drilled two small holes further in on the gear mount area on the box itself, now allowing me to bolt the gearbox mount to the factory mounting points.

shifter arm and selector rod are also now pushed back 30mm due to the adapter plate.

So currently this week at the engineers getting the shifter assembly shorten by 30mm and the block to have the oil return hole blocked and an AN -12 fitting welded to the oil feed hole.

Both front and rear driveshafts at the shaft shop getting shorten rear by 20mm front by 32mm.

Also the exhaust manifold for the driver side doesn't work with the b40 heads as the stud pattern is different, so will be looking at getting a custom set just made for the driver side for now.

Also managed to get some cleaning done, so once block is back this week. I can hopefully start putting together this weekend.

Edited July 2, 2019 by e46v12

[zero 1162]

Great progress!

When you said zf 390z gearbox earlier did you mean 310z or 320z? I've not heard of a 390z?

And why did you decide to not use an m3 rear swaybar?

And, I gotta say, that dry sump setup is awesome - it solves so many issues with engine placement.

[e46v12 477]

Hey Nathan

The Zf 390z is a diesel box that came behide the 330d or 530d motors. 

and i never got a m3 rear sway bar so didnt want to pay some ridiculous price for one either.

It certainly does solve a whole heap but tell you what it looks like alot of work went into making it work too, custom brackets for power steering and alternator were made too.  Glad i didnt have to go through it to be honest  

 

[BM WORLD 1283]

m3 rear sway bar $180 if you want one 

[e46v12 477]

Thanks Brent ill keep that in mind.

For now ill just leave the 328i in

[e46v12 477]

Another update team

working hard to try and get this thing on the road. 

Last two weeks worth.

Got all the bits back from driveshaft shop and engineers. 

shaft bolts up now.

shifter all centered or close to it.

oil feed AN fitting welded on.

return plugged up.

This where i drilled 30mm inwards to match factory mounting holes for x member.

diff sits quite low now due to being a bigger diff, so i brought these.

Gone from 18" to 19" hope it will raise the car alittle to stop smashing of the diff.

Heres one for you nathan, not full bolted up tight but gives you an idea of the block to fire wall distance, roughly around 100mm from firewall to back of short block.

also changed the rear main seal while i was at it.

So heres the fun part,  had a spare block and heads which i just roughly threw together to mock this baby up.

the Bmw intake studs is where it was sitting on.

So took them out and its almost like its meant to be

also had to cut these bits off to get it sitting better, not needed for my build.

sits alot lower and forward. Pulley almost bang on too.

Just need to find where is is going to sit and make an adapter plate. Two back intake holes almost match the front two start miss in line with each other.

These are the driver side headers that unfortunately wont work with my heads, so am sending the car off to get some custom ones made.

but see how restrictive number 4 and 3 are. Ugly!!!!!

 

Once back from getting manifolds made ill be putting the motor back together in N/A form and running with that till i get the supercharger set up made and done on the spare block.

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by e46v12

[zero 1162]

Such an epic build.

That supercharger fits snug and looks so good on the engine - will it clear the bonnet?

 

Just need to grind off the 'amg' now.

[Michael. 2313]

Very nice!! I remember the 3-4 cylinder RHD drama well with my V8 E36 swap, no room for much play room at all! 

 

[0-60Motorsports 8]

coming along nicely

[e46v12 477]

Thanks guys very excited to hear this thing running, 

Havent tried it in the car yet Nathan so not sure on bonnet clearance ,would love to get the M insignia engraved into it but actually dont mind the amg either

[Olaf 3317]

Where’s the WOW! button?!  Awesome.

[e46v12 477]

Aw thanks Olaf.

So question has any one used one of these before? electric water pump. 

Base on the supercharger on the mock engine im thinking of installing the water pump by the lower radiator hose area and converting the factory water pump to a tension pulley for the supercharger

This would make things so much easier to set up for the belt side of things.

[zero 1162]

I've never used one, but I would be scared of it failing.

I don't think they are as reliable as a mechanical pump.

[e46v12 477]

Hey Team

Small update

while cars still getting manifolds made im ticking away with the supercharger bits.

Finally got the charger where i want it to sit on the block

The rear water coolant pipe is fowling under the charger, so the coolant pipe is at the engineers getting flattened out a bit.

 

The water pump itself getting welded up as well, thermostat hole is getting plated up. 

Propeller blade ive taken off and the small hole on the right will be blocked off too.

Have found a factory M5X alloy water pump pulley that i have had a spacer made and the ribs machined down to accept the back side of the belt.

Also purchased the factory injectors and fuel rail for the AMG supercharger.

Decided to go with the electric water pump too.

And lastly got some stencils done for both motor and charger intakes. Have a mate going to draw up some CAD images of it and then will get a shop to machine  the adapter plate up.

 

Slowly getting there.

 

[zero 1162]

Looking so awesome man.

Here are some pics of the inlet manifold flanges I was telling you about;

If they are of any use to you for designing your intake adapters let me know.

 

That electric water pump looks the business too. Does it remove the need for a mechanical thermostat too?

[Creaver 55]

Great work Richard!