E30 M52 Power Loss Sorted, Time To Drift

E30 M52 Power Loss Sorted, Time To Drift. Finally sorted the lack of power from the engine today! Yesterday put the Beemer on the exhaust gas analyser at JTs garage. Yes it was running rich but not excessively. No codes coming up on his scanner either. He gave me the number of BMW specialist at Highyms park. Gave them a ring and explained the symptoms.

He said he couldn’t do anything until Monday and it would be £60 an hour + vat to run a full diagnostics as it was a conversion they hadn’t dealt with before.

Well I didn’t fancy them numbers….was going to drive to Wembley to meet Oz from the E30 zone who had a new camshaft sensor I could try.

It was another really hot hot day and on my way to Enfield there was a lot of slow moving traffic. The engine was losing even more power, now holding back from 2000rpm?? Continue reading

BMW E30 M52 328i Engine Swap Complete

BMW E30 M52 328i Engine Swap Complete, almost! Just a few finishing touches & the beast is back! That was the plan but you know what they say about the best laid plans……. So when things don’t go to plan, Suck it up and make a new plan! So it was plan B and at times, plan C!

A couple things you will need is Patience and Persistence……….You will get there in the end 😉

BMW E30 M52

The 1st job to do was to get the electric fan wired up & fitted to the radiator. Should take about an hour, hmmm, I think not, time for plan B!

I got one of them cheap fan fitting kits of eBay, where you put cable like ties through the rad and the fan but read a lot of bad things about em. So decided to make some brackets instead. Continue reading

BMW E30 M52 Conversion part 5

My BMW E30 M52 Conversion part 5. The day of reckoning is finally here. Time to get the Bimmer up and running! The wiring conversion & ECU with the deleted EWS (Anti theft system) arrived on Thursday, thanks to a man named Dan from E30 Zone!

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The plan for this weekend is to

  • Fit and connect engine loom & ECU
  • Wire up and fit an electric fan to the Radiator
  • Fit E30 brown temperature sensor to M52 head
  • Fit power steering reservoir
  • Fit Inlet Manifold
  • Fit throttle cable
  • Fit thermostat and housing
  • Fit airflow meter & RamAir cone filter
  • Connect the fuel pipes & Brake vacuum hose
  • Finnish of exhaust
  • Get Engine running

Rilus once again towed me & the Bimmer to the garage from around the corner. Started connecting the wiring loom to the engine, I figured it would take 40mins to an hour, well I was wrong, it was going to take much longer! Continue reading

BMW E30 M52 Conversion part 3

Back again for my BMW E30 M52 Conversion part 3. Hmmm the conversion is dragging on a bit longer then I thought it would. I really wished I won the eBay auction for the M52 conversion a few weeks back, would of been up and running by now!! Anyhow The plan for the 3rd week was to get the:

  • Gearbox fitted
  • Prop Shaft bolted up
  • Exhaust modified and fitted
  • Coolant Pipes sorted

1st Job, Get the Gearbox Jack of JT before he disappeared again. Just caught him before he left and got the G Jack! After a bit of running about for Marsh (Rilus) I was ready for action. By the time I got started after a late lunch, it was 3pm! Damn…

Marsh helped me tow the Bimmer over and got her on the ramp. 1st job was to remove spigot bush bearing from crankshaft. Easier said then done if you don’t have a spigot bearing puller.

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After some chiseling and drilling, it wasn’t looking good! I was going to try the old school trick of packing grease behind the bearing and then tapping the clutch alignment tool through the bearing which compresses the grease forcing the spigot bearing out, but this method can be a little hit and miss. Continue reading

BMW E30 M52 Conversion part 2

The 1st and 2nd of June, My BMW E30 M52 Conversion part 2. This week end i want to get the E34 sump fitted to the M52 lump and get it into my Bimmer!

bimmer ft

Other jobs to do before fitting the lump is to change the:

  • Water pump
  • Rear crank oil seal
  • Thermostat
  • Spigot bush bearing
  • Fit the power steering pipes to the E36 steering rack

JT F`cked off again without leaving me his engine crane! Went to Raders to get his crane got back to the garage, Rilus gave me a hand to tow the Bimmer from around the corner to the garage.

Got straight on it, whipped the bonnet of and got the M52 lump out. Put these to one side and got started with the power steering pipes. Got the 1st pipe fitted and bolted to the steering rack, nice n easy. Not the case with the 2nd pipe! Continue reading