jeffbebe 1559 Report post Posted December 22, 2023 Started this project almost two years ago after I sold the 850i and finally got the car road legal yesterday (cert, WOF and rego). The goal was to build a very fast, comfortable tourer that I can use for daily driving, which meant retaining the automatic gearbox, ASC and AC - which all turned out to be pretty complicated!! Had a lot of help from a bunch of people but a big shout at to Brendon (Assault) and Westy as this would just be a paperweight without them! Car has an M62b44 (non-vanos) drivetrain with custom sump mounted to a modified front subframe. Gearbox is a 5hp24 tiptronic slushbox from the same donor car as the engine (97 E39 540i) with modified driveshaft. It has a bunch of other interesting mods and, at some point, I'll document everything we did to get this thing working. As far as I know, it's the only RHD M62-powered E36 in the world with auto, ASC and AC!! 18 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gaz 1061 Report post Posted December 22, 2023 Nice one mate, photos look weird on my phone for some reason but I already know how good this car is 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeffbebe 1559 Report post Posted December 22, 2023 The mobile site resizes everything but they look normal if you click and open the photos on phone!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Neil McCauley 394 Report post Posted December 22, 2023 Suspect that E9x wheel with paddles isn't just for show! Looks amazing. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KwS 2425 Report post Posted December 22, 2023 1 hour ago, Neil McCauley said: Suspect that E9x wheel with paddles isn't just for show! Looks amazing. Not to mention the tiptronic gate on the shifter too Gorgeous looking car and awesome conversion. I bet the colour combo with the leather looks great 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeffbebe 1559 Report post Posted December 27, 2023 On 12/22/2023 at 8:29 PM, Neil McCauley said: Suspect that E9x wheel with paddles isn't just for show! Looks amazing. You’re absolutely right! All working but definitely need a tune for the EGS. Trying to get my hands on the Dinan trans software. It makes a big difference with these gearboxes! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jeffbebe 1559 Report post Posted January 4 Before I post up pics and a bit more detail, here's a summary of what we've done so far... M62B44 engine from donor E39 540i 5hp24 gearbox from donor E39 540i E36 oil cooler and E39 hoses DME and EGS from donor E39 540i ASC from 99 B 318ti Front brake calipers E46 330i Rear calipers E46 328i Coilovers E36 M3 steering rack M62 power steering pump + reservoir Frankenstein E36/39 PS hoses E9x M3 steering wheel Steering shaft - PG Hydraulics Driveshaft- Driveshaft Specialists Custom driveshaft hoops Sump and subframe - Cybul E30 sway bar custom mounts Strut-mounted tie rods E28 OEM engine mounts Modified E38 headers Stock exhaust E38 alloy wheels E36 M3 alloy radiator 320d viscous fan (E39 clutch) E38 AC compressor, E36 condensor, E36 and custom hoses DME 5.2 (pre-97 E39) EGS 8.55 (96-97 E39) Nissan Dualis expansion tank Interior swap (beige to black) with microsuede headlining Started out with this lump. 135K kms on the clock and ran really well. Had been used as a farm vehicle then sat for a while so I got it for a song. Spent the first couple of months stripping everything I would need and getting the motor ready. It's a dirty job... The motor turned out to be in really good nick so really only needed a good clean. I replaced the valley pan, coolant hose o-rings, valve cover gaskets etc whilst the engine was out and stripped and powdercoated the typically sh*t valve covers. After a bit of research I settled on a sump kit from a Polish company called Cybul. Build quality is great and came with modified sub-frame, engine mounts, custom sump (to fit over the steering rack) and a modified oil pump - though the latter is relatively straightforward to do yourself - though it's not quite the plug and play solution promised in a RHD car. Turns out this swap is a great deal easier LHD which is why BMW never did a production V8 and Alpina only did a LHD B8. Anyway, more on that later. The sump was super easy to swap and the subframe and engine mounts all bolt up with no problems. Subsequently had to modify the driver's side mount to accommodate the A/C compressor - and I now understand the Adamat kit is a better fit if you intend to keep A/C, although I don't think the build quality is quite as good. It was about this point that Josh (hybrid) came to see how it was progressing so I pretended I wasn't going to clean it anymore. Since he can't stand things not being clean he attacked it with a bottle of degreaser and a toothbrush. The results were very satisfying (to be fair, I didn't leave him to do it alone!!). < More to come... 4 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
