The 535i build thread. m30b34->302ci->m30b35 holley terminator x

[BDKawey]

Recently picked up this 535i for 1300. 152k miles. Had a busted strut tower when i got it so it sat at a friends house waiting till I could swap the nex coilovers from my 528e that has been sitting in my barn for months. Beautiful condition interior aside from cracked dash. Car has some typical rust but it'll be taken care of to an extent eventually. Pictures:



Got the coilovers on, new battery and brought her home.


Its got dents all over both sides, looks like someone threw a penny grenade right beside it. Plans are to fix all of that along with customizing the bumpers sort of how Riley Stair did his as shown in his stanceworks feature, and give it a full respray of alpine white. Going to run my brown style fives until i get bored with them.


Had some fun drawing on it for the lolz
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[leadphut]

Keep the pics coming.

[BDKawey]

kinda bringing back up my old dead thread that just never really got started, car was far too rusty to sink money in to paint and what not. thus began the fun/idgaf build that is this junk pile. theres plenty more pictures on my instagram if that's your thing @aaron_wey. this update post was thrown together real quick using pictures of random friends flickrs because I don't have a simple way of getting pictures off my phone.

stripped the paint off and threw my style fives on.
sunday_12 by Jeremy King, on Flickr

then I had some 16x9.5 +38 work ewing mesh wheels fitted with 50 mm spacers. same fitment as corvette wheels
aaron6 by Jeremy King, on Flickr
aaron by Jeremy King, on Flickr

then one day before a show I decided to lower the car a touch in the front, on the drive up to a friends I put a small crack in the pan. no biggie. jb welded it and its fine. on the way to the show the very next morning I hit a massive bump on the freeway and shatter my pan in half.
aarongoofed by Jeremy King, on Flickr

at this point im over coilovers, traded them for a set of bbs rs's that I refinished myself to help fund my airrde.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

made some strut extensions at a buddy's machine shop to be able to fit the fronts with camber plates
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

finished up the airride
1 by Jeremy King, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

eventually got new wheels, Carline cm6, refinished them and rebuilt them to 17x9.5+2 and 10.5+14
Untitled by Jeremy King, on Flickr

8 by Jeremy King, on Flickr
5 by Jeremy King, on Flickr

hilarious photoshop
boom by Jeremy King, on Flickr

moved houses and packed just about my entire garage into my e28
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

threw a Christmas tree on my roof rack and plugged it in for the lolz, got some funny looks around town
aarons bmw by Jeremy King, on Flickr

installed catuned camber/toe kit with the camber parts welded to give me the most camber possible. I might be the only person to have done this
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

tucking 17x10.5's pretty far
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Sowo-0375 by Evan, on Flickr
Sowo-0487-2 by Evan, on Flickr

that pretty much brings it up to date, at this point im over the car and just about over stance. ive wanted to restore and have a nice e28 for the longest time, but im too young and have no where to really do anything that extensive or have paint and body skills so ive kinda held off on that. the other idea was just to part the car out and just kinda see what happens or hold on to the money. my friend just recently finished putting a ford 302 in his 240 for drifting and its pretty tough. ive wanted to build a drift car for awhile but just didn't have a car for it. ive mad the decision to put a 302 in this thing and drift it until it inevitably goes to the scrap yard. as of last night the motor is out and im waiting to find a 302 for a good price that fits my needs.

[Kyle in NO]

How can someone possibly drive something so rediculously low on public roads?

[BDKawey]

How can someone possibly drive something so rediculously low on public roads?

By simply pushing a paddle valve on your airride

[leadphut]

i like this photo




still amazed at how much influence SpasticDwarf has inflicted.


keep going Man!

[BDKawey]

some updates:

got the old m30 pulled awhile ago, was pretty simple. with the motor out figure it was a good time to freshen up the suspension since theres so much room for activities and my upper control arms were shot and my lowers were ground down almost to the bushing. new tie rods will be going in as well. sucks I cant torque them and cross it off the list since I have to preload the suspension. was considering the 302 swap for awhile, when the car decided to cost me a tow bill home that kick started the swap. i suspected it to be a dead in line fuel pump so i swapped the in tank with a walbro 255 and plan to delete the inline.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

picked up a 89 302 and t5 trans out of a mustang gt. all there except intake and distributor.
from someone else I was able to get the upper/lower intake with injectors and fuel rail, engine harness with ecu, and throttle body all for 160. a steal when most people want 200 just for their wiring harness.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

been spending a lot of timing freshening up the 5.0. you're able to fit the 302 using a single front sump oil pan and pickup from a 66 289 mustang motor. so an hour trip up to the ohio summit store and a big bill later im good to go.
an issue I soon found out later is that I cant use the dip stick since the pan sum is now in the front where the old one was in the back. plan was the just do away with the dipstick and now worry about it.

began to change the water bump and put a new timing seal on it. easier said than done. broke a few bolts off holding the timing cover on and ended up having to beat the cover off with a hammer. cast metal didn't like that much. so then I needed a new timing cover, which isn't a bad thing because now I can get a 66 timing cover which has a whole for the dipstick.

can see the broken bolts here
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

painted the valve covers, lower intake and accessories. then last night I got to set it in the bay for the first time. fits nicely and I wont have any issues with sub frame/pan clearance or brake master cylinder clearance. 535 still has the hydroboost which ill stick with for now then maybe do an 540 remote booster in the future.
Untitled by Aaron Wey, on Flickr

ordered a new clutch form summit but I need a slide hammer to get the pilot bearing out so a buddy is gonna bring one by.
plan is to get some friends over tonight for standing around and drinking beer while I make some motor mount templates.

that's all for now.

[BDKawey]

** bonus material **

a video a friend made of my car in the spring, came out pretty good for his first video he put some effort into.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH09ks16S6Y

[BDKawey]

still no mounts made yet.

im bored at work so i'll fill in some issues with fitting the 302 for anyone thinking about it.

biggest issue is clearance between the starter and idler arm. you have to get it back far anough so that it clears when steering. which requires fire wall hammering and cutting off the plastic heater hose lines in the back. the main reason i dont have mounts made yet is because i havent had anyone around to help me wiggle it in place exactly where i need it so i can tack up some tube steel. hopeing to get that done once some buddies get back from sema.

my wiring harness is done as well. so after mounts are made i should be able to keep on chugging. all in all this is going slower than I had hoped it would, im just trying to get as much done as i can before it gets cold out.

[BDKawey]

**double post**

[Germz]

Im curious about this swap. I follow you on IG and didnt realize you were doing this swap. But anyway, what is your goal for power with this swap? and wouldn't it have been easier to go with a carbureted 302? I'm curious, it just seems like more work for the wiring harness and all. I have no experience with swaps, so im genuinely curious.

[BDKawey]

Im curious about this swap. I follow you on IG and didnt realize you were doing this swap. But anyway, what is your goal for power with this swap? and wouldn't it have been easier to go with a carbureted 302? I'm curious, it just seems like more work for the wiring harness and all. I have no experience with swaps, so im genuinely curious.

i have zero swap experience too.

wiring was not bad at all. just as simple as doing it in an e30. i used the e30v8 instructions and converted it to work with an e28 using this; http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=57255. just the c101 connectors for the fuse box is pinned different so you gotta watch for that. wiring is probably the least of my worries over this though. i think the trouble of making the harness is still worth it over going carbed.

dont really have a power goal right now. my goal is just to get it in and running, then ill most likely do gt40 intake a heads possibly to get me closer to 300hp. if i can get my wheels sold id like to throw together a junkyard turbo setup. but for now im just worried about getting it going then ill go from there.

[Germz]

okay now seeing the wiring doesnt seem so bad. i suppose there is plenty of good info out there for v8 swaps. im really excited to see where this goes dude.

im thinking of getting more power out of my e28 as well. right now i have the m30b34, but my buddy and i are researching doing a supercharger set up on it. i know everyone likes to go turbo, but i kind of want to do something different. my other option is the 302 swap. this seems like a pretty rad swap.

[white chocolate]

This is awesome.

I like the whole mentality behind this car, keep up the good work!

[BDKawey]

yeah a supercharger would be pretty sweet, ill be updating this thread some more as things get rolling more. im using hockey pucks as motor mounts so they'll be a little more solid. the ilder arm is seriously so close its ridiculous, im afriad it would hit the starter if im turning just right and i hit a bump.

[Germz]

could you lift the engine any more? or push it back any farther?

[BDKawey]

im gonna go play with it tonight if i find the time, im either going to beat the shit out of the firewall some more and get it back or say fuck it and have the motor higher and do something with my hood

[delvin]

They make a mini starter, not sure if that would help or not. Now would be a good time to throw a cam and new valve springs in there if you can get the fundage. If you do it now you can put the oil pan on with a one piece gasket instead of having to piece it together later.

Love this car man and this new kick ass direction you are headed with it.

[oldskool]

This is going well, keep on keepin' on.

[BDKawey]

They make a mini starter, not sure if that would help or not. Now would be a good time to throw a cam and new valve springs in there if you can get the fundage. If you do it now you can put the oil pan on with a one piece gasket instead of having to piece it together later.

Love this car man and this new kick ass direction you are headed with it.

thank you
i bought a "high torque mini starter" its 6.5" from the mounting surface on the flywheel to the very end where the armature comes through, looks like a little metal nipple. just that very end hits.

ive been searching all over but i believe all the even smaller starters are like $200+

[BDKawey]

They make a mini starter, not sure if that would help or not. Now would be a good time to throw a cam and new valve springs in there if you can get the fundage. If you do it now you can put the oil pan on with a one piece gasket instead of having to piece it together later.

Love this car man and this new kick ass direction you are headed with it.

thank you
i bought a "high torque mini starter" its 6.5" from the mounting surface on the flywheel to the very end where the armature comes through, looks like a little metal nipple. just that very end hits.

ive been searching all over but i believe all the even smaller starters are like $200+

[BDKawey]

been extremly slow making progress with this thing but last night we got motor mount templates tacked and the real mounts should be done this week and have the motor sitting in the bay on its own very soon. these mounts use 2 hockey pucks per side for mount bushings.



a lot of firewall hammering had to be done as well as a few cuts in it but its back far enough for the idler arm to clear the starter when turning. pictures coming eventually

[LeiseyJr]

Hockey Puck thing isn't too bad of an idea. Cheaper than poly lol, but those motor mounts look a bit weak. If you want to be doing the mad burnout with the mad 302 torque and skids than I would reinforce or something. They just look weak, other than that Good Luck and Keep Trucking!

[BDKawey]

Hockey Puck thing isn't too bad of an idea. Cheaper than poly lol, but those motor mounts look a bit weak. If you want to be doing the mad burnout with the mad 302 torque and skids than I would reinforce or something. They just look weak, other than that Good Luck and Keep Trucking!

we just tacked some thin rods to the mounts so that we could remove them andf work outside the car, i have thicker gauge metal that we will cut to fit and weld in then cut those thin rods off. thats happening tomorrow and ill get some pictures.

and yeah $14 dollars for 4 hockey used pucks = 2 motor mounts

[BDKawey]

Mounts are done and we got it in last night to make sure it all fit again. Its gotta come back out one more time to do a few more things.

And shes in!


Passenger mount is a little funny looking to miss the steering box


Drivers side mount puts the ilder arm very close to the starter like I said before but hockey puck mounts should keep it away.

289 front sump oil pan and pick up clears the subframe and sits about flush with it


Bellhousing mounting surface to the shifter is 19.5", it lines up perfectly.


Gotta beat the hell outta the firewall but it can go back far enough to miss the idler arm

[BDKawey]

while the shifter lined up nicely i still had to do some cutting to get the transmission to sit up high enough where its supposed to with my mounts.

the cnc hydraulic slave that i bought and planned on using was never going to fit in the trans tunnel and the shifter fork wasnt going to fit without trimming it and beating the tunnel. i opted to purchase one of these from summit racing which is only a short 45 minute drive from me.

http://www.jegs.com/i/RAM-Clutches/798/ ... oreDetails

talked to a guy who is currently running one in his e30 using the stock master cylinder to actuate it. just need to adapt the fittings and it will be good to go. deleting the clutch fork and no more tunnel beating necessary.

plan is to install the TOB tonight then i can move forward plugging everything in and getting this thing fired up soon.

[StolenFox]

Something.....looks.....familiar.....

It's interesting watching someone else face the same engineering challenges as I did with my swap and compare solutions. Welcome to E28/SBF club!

Now I've got to decide if I'm selling my 5.0L / T5 "swap kit" (to put in the 450+ HP iron 6.0L LSx I just finished) or sell the E28 as is and build a LSx E39.

Build looks solid, good luck getting her finished up!

S.F.

[BDKawey]

Something.....looks.....familiar.....

It's interesting watching someone else face the same engineering challenges as I did with my swap and compare solutions. Welcome to E28/SBF club!

Now I've got to decide if I'm selling my 5.0L / T5 "swap kit" (to put in the 450+ HP iron 6.0L LSx I just finished) or sell the E28 as is and build a LSx E39.

Build looks solid, good luck getting her finished up!

S.F.

haha yeah there are many challenges with this, ive learned a lot through this project already and you've been a big help

I've had a fair amount of people ask me questions about this swap on instagram so I think if you found someone close enough to you that you wouldnt have much of a problem selling your drivetrain.

[BDKawey]

first start video with open headers

https://youtu.be/B8lG6iLeGsI

never wrapped headers before but i tackled the forward facing driver side header today

[BDKawey]

double post