elias 253 Report post Posted November 16, 2023 1 hour ago, charles28 said: A good time for a turbo CHRA upgrade. yeah will be looking into turbo options once the engine is out. Will all depend on how much the new engine and all the gaskets, bolts, seals etc cost me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted January 3 Been a minute... Have been very busy with work. Recently acquired a new motor for the car, 89,000km semi complete engine, missing a bunch of bits but I plan on using most of my own parts from the old engine anyway. Collected it from Kamo, just north of Whangarei with a trailer and the trusty E91, and have been stripping it down and cleaning it up in preparation for a thorough refresh. It will be getting all new gaskets all round, new rod bearings and a baffled sump. Still need to order the parts for it, hopefully will get around to it in the next week or so. Had a look under the valve cover and pulled the sump off and it all looks exceptionally clean, no sludge whatsoever. Have also managed to acquire some VTT high flow turbo outlets, as the factory RHD outlets have a kink in them which reduces the flow. Was a lucky find on marketplace as they are very hard to find nowadays, seemingly discontinued. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted January 3 Have been busy finishing off cleaning the engine, now that ive removed everything, all bolts in labeled bags. Also been ordering parts for the new engine. All new gaskets for the motor, everything from oil pan to oil filter housing, font and rear main seals, vanos solenoid seals, valve cover gasket, complete turbo install kit (all manifold studs, nuts oil/coolant feed and drain gaskets/o rings, intake and exhaust manifold gaskets etc, basically everything except the head gasket. Rod bearings and rod bolts on the way also as well as a new drive belt. New solid UHMW engine and gearbox mounts ordered from Condor speedshop also as well as a oil pan baffle from VAC motorsport. Now just a matter of waiting for parts to arrive... In the meantime I have also purchased walnut blasting tools, managed find the official bmw service tools for sale locally, so will be cleaning the intake valves soon. Got bored waiting for parts so I decided to take the oil pan off, oil pump out and pull a rod cap off, rod bearings looks in good shape, but will be getting replaced regardless, just wanted to see their condition as an indication of main bearing condition. In the meantime will order new oil cooler cores as I don't want to risk reusing ones that have metal in them from the old motor, and one I pull the old motor out I will be sending turbos off for a rebuild too. Car should be absolutely mint once its back together, tempted to try make a stainless exhaust from the downpipes back... 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted January 4 Put the rod bearing back in, and decided to do the walnut blast while i wait on gaskets and rod bearings to arrive. Found the genuine bmw vacuum to intake port adapter, media blasting lance, large bag of walnut media locally, and then got a portable sand blaster from SCA. Already have a shop Vac and a Air compressor. Brother machined a brass adapter on the lathe to get the lance to fit the blasting gun, and it all worked pretty well. Intake valves are now nice and clean. Will be selling the tools now that i no longer need them so let me know if anyones keen to do their N54. Definitely worthwhile doing, this engine only had done 89,000kms and the valves were caked. happens very quickly due to the motor being Direct Injection and there is no fuel to was the valves clean as you would have on a port injection engine. Before and after 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
M3AN 4016 Report post Posted January 5 Since it apparently happens so quickly, wouldn't you be best advised to keep the tools? And perhaps hire them out from time-to-time to recoup the cost? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted January 6 22 hours ago, M3AN said: Since it apparently happens so quickly, wouldn't you be best advised to keep the tools? And perhaps hire them out from time-to-time to recoup the cost? that is correct, but i will be installing a catch can which reduces carbon build up, and it will be quite some time before the car does enough kms to require another walnut blast, as it is not daily driven, so probably wont be required for a few years yet. Been offered enough money for the tools that i could buy/make them again for less anyway. In the meantime with all the parts im needing/wanting to purchase it makes more sense to put the money towards that. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted January 14 (edited) A bunch of parts have arrived, the entire ECS tuning order of all the gaskets and one time use bolts, as well as the rod bearings. Condorspeedshop engine and transmission mounts showed up too, as well as some oe braided vacuum line. Also got the aftermarket oil pressure sensor and wiring i will be hooking up to the ECU as from factory there is only a pressure switch. Pulled the sump back off again, oil pump back out, and began replacing the rod bearings. Pretty straight froward job just have to pay attention and be careful, and make sure to work in a clean environment. Did rod bearings one at a time, cap off, push rod off crank, remove both bearing shells, clean surfaces, install new rod bearings, clean crank shaft, install dry with plastiguage, torque back down with old bolts, remove cap, check clearance, clean up plastigauge residue, lubricate bearing surfaces and crank, bolt back together with new OEM rod bolts and torque to 20nm + 2x 70* as prescribed by bmw NEWtis. Just got to do it 6 times. Then put the oil pump and tray back on, all new bolts once again, torqued and stretched to spec. Then placed sump back on, not putting on new gasket/bolts just yet as I am still waiting for VAC motorsport to ship my baffle, they are being extremely slow. In the meantime, trying to organize turbo rebuild, also need to order 6x new injector seals and decoupling elements from bmw as well as a coolant temp sensor. Will also need new oil coolers... but getting there. Been seeing lots of interesting videos of turbolamik 8hp swaps which have me intrigued, the shift times look pretty damn quick... Edited January 14 by elias 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted February 6 Has been a busy few weeks but have managed to get a fair bit done. Took advantage of the long weekend (Auckland Anniversary) and pulled to old motor out the car. Wasn't too bad of a job, a bit messy with all the coolant and oil that keeps spilling out and a few bolts that were a little tricky to reach but not too bad all in all apart from the downpipes that put up a real fight. So, old motor is out, most parts stripped off it. New motor is mostly assembled apart from the hot side. Turbos will be getting dropped off for a rebuild and slightly different CHRAs tomorrow. Have since installed a VAC sump baffle in the new motor, put on the sump with a new gasket and new bolts torqued to NEWtis spec of course. Valve cover is on, also new genuine gasket, same with oil filter housing vanos solenoids etc etc, all new gasket the whole way round and new bolts where applicable. Injectors are in again new seals and decouplers. Front main seal going in soon, wiring loom is half on. Waiting on turbos before i install water pump and thermostat. Then inlets and outlets will go on and the motor can go back in the car. I have cleaned the entire empty engine bay subframe steering rack etc and installed new Condorspeedshop engine mounts, have matching ones for the gearbox also. Have also stripped and cleaned the inline oil thermostat to ensure there are no metal bits in it and reassembled it with a 93C insert instead of the 85C insert to help car reach operating temp when street driven. Some photos below. Front end of the car coming off Engine coming out Sump baffle going in New motor with baffled sump installed New genuine gaskets Inejctors getting new seals and decouplers Engine bay being cleaned up Valve cover and injectors on the new engine New engine mounts Loom half on Oil thermsotat rebuild 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted March 31 Been a minute... very busy time. Engine is back in the car, everything is connected back up. Cut and welded the chargepipe and throttle body for a wiggins style clamp, bonnet latch got zinc coated and a few other bits and pieces tidied up. Downpipes are back in also, very painful job, o2 sensors back in and new exhaust is almost finished. Full stainless 3inch exhaust from the downpipes back, with a single adrenalin r louvre baffle resonator. All thats left now is the oil cooler setup, parts are on the way, fresh aeroflow oil coolers and all teflon line and fittings. Also will be putting in a check valve and a tee to allow for an accusump to be fitted at a later stage. Parts should arrive soon and then it will be ready to be fired up and dyno tuned. Will try and keep this updated more often. 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted May 30 Car has been running great for the last couple months. Everything more or less finished off. Oil coolers and lines are done, made a custom catch can set up using aeroflow catchcans, essentially a fully external pcv system. Used Rob Beck fittings as well as some custom machined adapters to adabt oem fittings to -10AN flares for the high side. Also made a blanking plate for the dash where i removed the radio. In other news, car will be getting a major change in the next few months thats been planned for a long time... 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vass 831 Report post Posted May 30 Manual swap incoming? 👀 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted May 30 22 minutes ago, Vass said: Manual swap incoming? 👀 👀👀 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted July 21 (edited) Took the car to the Springfield road hillclimb up in Whangarei on Sunday, was great fun but far from ideal conditions for a rwd twin turbo car on semi slicks, absolutely no grip, was pouring down for most of the day. Made it home safely in one piece which ill call a win. Have now began the next project one ive been wanting to for a long time, a manual conversion. Diff, driveshaft, exhaust, intake manifold, starter motor and gearbox are out after a few hours of wrenching on the weekend, really not bad at all to do on jackstands. Have also removed drivers seat, brake pedal, accelerator pedal, various trims, center console, etc. Am now waiting for more parts (clutch,flywheel,diff and various shifter linkage bushings, dssr etc). Have made a start on the wiring in the meantime, removed the auto box wiring, plugged in the manual gearbox loom which is mostly plug and play, just need to disassemble DME connectors, with the exception of two plugs which are missing on the manual loom (most likely all the communication to the TCU). Only issue I can forsee is potentially some ground wires going through those plugs that other modules rely on. Next up will be figuring out the clutch switch wiring to FRM/CAS/DME. Will also need to get a clutch line made as I dont really want to try have to run the factory hardline behind the dash. Edited July 22 by elias 3 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Harper 548 Report post Posted July 21 (edited) 12 hours ago, elias said: Next up will be figuring out the clutch switch wiring to FRM/CAS/DME. Will also need to get a clutch line made as I dont really want to try have to run the factory hardline behind the dash. Clutch switch wiring is easy. On my 130i manual swap I was able to snake the factory hardline behind the dash without too much trouble honestly. 135i looks to be the same. I'd use the OE line if you can imo. Edited July 21 by Harper Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1662 Report post Posted July 22 I thought that dumb clutch line routing was an E46 thing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Harper 548 Report post Posted July 22 (edited) 34 minutes ago, Eagle said: I thought that dumb clutch line routing was an E46 thing. E46 is worse. The line went through quite a bit easier on my 130i than my compact. Might have actually been the worst part of the manual swap process on the e46. Very hard to get the tight bends out of the master cylinder looking OE. Jealous of the LHD guys who basically have a straight shot from the pedal through the floor. Edited July 22 by Harper 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1662 Report post Posted July 22 If they made it like the RHD E36 and E39 it wouldnt be much of an issue, just another example of cost cutting really. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted July 22 11 hours ago, Harper said: Clutch switch wiring is easy. On my 130i manual swap I was able to snake the factory hardline behind the dash without too much trouble honestly. 135i looks to be the same. I'd use the OE line if you can imo. Just the 4 wires for the clutch switch correct? One ground, one to pin 18 on ecu, one to pin 3 on CAS and one to pin 41 on CAS? had another look at the clutch line routing tonight, don’t see how I’m going to route the hardline through there, no room whatsoever struggling to even get a welding wire through behind the AC box. maybe I’m doing something wrong… wiring loom takes up pretty much all real estate (looking from passenger side). HEL make a nice soft clutch line for e82 RHD. Might order one of those, but any tips/advice for how you routed the hardline would be appreciated. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elias 253 Report post Posted August 18 Been slacking on keeping up with the progress here. Manual swap is all done now, was all reasonably straight forward. Installed a lightened SMF, 550i clutch, all new shifter bushings, m performance short shift kit, braided clutchline, removed the CDV and swapped to a large case 3.08diff with a Quaife ATB LSD in it. Everything works like an OEM manual car, no lights, no errors, cruise control works, reverse lights, mirror dips when going into reverse etc. 7 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deedub 32 Report post Posted August 19 I've just finished reading through this thread from the start (I'm looking at getting one of these in the next year or so as my daily). Stunned at how you have done all this work as a student. Takes a lot of passion for the project and maturity I didn't have when I was a student. All my spare money went on beers and I wouldn't have had the motivation to do something like this (on the side of study plus part-time work). To have done all as a uni student - mean. Car is sick. Hopefully you now have it off the street and in a private space. Look forward to seeing what comes next. 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
