MyE28.com

Probably about time I make a swap thread related to my M50 533 build.
Cliff notes: 2 rockers broke in my stock 270k 3.2 in october, decided I wanted to do a b35 swap, spent the following months trying to find one I could afford, ended up following a craigslist add that lead me directly to a $400 M50.


It's a non-vanos M50B25 from a 92 525, with a claimed 110k miles. ZF trans and a new clutch too .

I suppose this is the real start to the swap. Yesterday I took a trip to a mechanic friend to get the M50 checked over and compression tested. It passed both with flying colours, 200 psi across all 6. I must say I was very relieved to see those numbers.
Today I assembled the brand new engine hoist, and grabbed the M50 out of the back of the truck. The M30 is pretty much ready to pull out now, just have the drive shaft and transmission mounts to disconnect.





Tomorrow will see the M50 inside the garage ready for cleaning and removal of the old tubing etc so I can put a parts list together and get new parts ordered as needed. The M30 will also come out, so I can begin to part it out in order to pay for this swap.

Updates as they come, I'll also try to make this as detailed as possible since this swap hasn't been done that often.

Cool swap! If you could, please post this on my site also: bmwengineswap.info. I'm trying to get the site going as a "one stop shop" resource for engine swaps. Thanks.

Good for you.
I have my non vanos M50 from my old Touring sitting inthe backyard. I made a parts list and priced it out for all the gaskets and seals to replace, about $200.

Mounts are the hard part, what trans are you using? Download my trans and diff spreadsheet from my sig to figure out different combos. The g250 has a ridiculous 4.21 1st gear and 1:1 5th so a 3.25 or 2.93 will work well.

I can shoot you some pics of the custom exhaust that Logan had made from his car, it's also in the side yard.
Too bad you didn't get the cats too.

Looking forward to your progress.

Cool thanks, the trans says ZF on the side not sure what that means exactly . I planned on using the stock diff in my car, 3.25 lsd, seems like that should work fine? I have a couple of ideas on what to do about the engine mounts, not sure about trans mounts yet.

Some pics of that exhaust would be awesome, I will probbly stay pretty stock for now... get it ready to be swapped around for a reff if need be. I may even be able to pass smog in Santa cruz without going to a ref, so we'll see.

mtnman533 wrote:...I have a couple of ideas on what to do about the engine mounts, not sure about trans mounts yet.

Get some hockey pucks!



Just kidding. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

mtnman533 wrote:Cool thanks, the trans says ZF on the side not sure what that means exactly .

Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen

Thank you for the clarification, now I can use that in awkward silences during conversasions .

haha more like some good ole fashion steel!

No prob.

ZF made the trans, as opposed to Getrag.

mooseheadm5 wrote:No prob.

ZF made the trans, as opposed to Getrag.

That's good. I couldn't tell from the other pictures if it was a g250 or not. Means you can probably use your 260/5 driveshaft and crossmember. You'll see once you've got it in there. Otherwise you'll need a g265 driveshaft.

That's good, I didn't fancy having to go to a yard and getting one. Makes it all that much simpler.

Stock gearing on the 525i w/m50 was a 3.23, so the 3.25 should be just right. It'll rev higher at freeway speeds than the m30 did due to the lack of a true overdrive gear, but the m50 likes it.

Jeremy

mtnman533 wrote:That's good, I didn't fancy having to go to a yard and getting one. Makes it all that much simpler.

I believe the ZF uses a specific driveshaft and trans mount that can be tough to locate. I am doing some research to do a ZF swap in my E34 right now. will be watching this thread for updates.You may run into issues with the a/c compressor too .

johnnye23 wrote:

mtnman533 wrote:That's good, I didn't fancy having to go to a yard and getting one. Makes it all that much simpler.

I believe the ZF uses a specific driveshaft and trans mount that can be tough to locate. I am doing some research to do a ZF swap in my E34 right now. will be watching this thread for updates.You may run into issues with the a/c compressor too .

Having just finished up another s52 swapped e30 with a zf, I just went through this. For e30s there are two options for driveshafts, tracking down an e30 m3 Ds, or using a zf drIveshaft from an e36 and swapping in an e30 csb.

E30 m3s use a g265, therefore a g265 driveshaft should work in an e28 with a zf.

Pretty slow day today, about 6 hours of work, mostly getting the exhaust out. Decided I'll probably go custom all the way back since I'll need custom downpipes anyway.

Cleaned the top covers on the engine up a bit, but it still needs a proper clean before I put it in. It's currently sitting on plastic with the pil pan and road grim covered in wd40 to loosen it up a bit.



The exhaust was a real pig. I thought to myself after lunch "hmm if I quickly drop that down and out, I'll have more space to futz around with while removing the engine". Well, a "quick drop" turned into 3+ hours of pain and cursing.

But, now it is out


After that I disconnected the drive shaft and the transmission mounts. Then tidied up for the day since I had some other chores to do.



More tomorrow .

Yum. Factory cat.

Meow. Me---

Nom, nom, nom. Burp.

wkohler wrote:Yum. Factory cat.

Meow. Me---

Nom, nom, nom. Burp.

...More eating cat noises....

Can't wait to see this finished!

wkohler wrote:Yum. Factory cat.

Meow. Me---

Nom, nom, nom. Burp.

I presume there's a joke here I should be getting... but I don't

Shouldn't be too long till it's finished I hope!

Factory catalytic converter.

Cats meow. Cats stop meowing when you start eating them - even mid-meow as the above post proves.



I hope this doesn't prove to be too much of a headache for you. I happen to really like the M30 (I've got a few), but this should be interesting.

funny stuff.

yeah, I like the m30 too, but it finding one was more hassle than it's worth. I hope it isn't too much of a headache aswel, time will tell me. It'll be at 5erwest this year, for those going you can check it out then in person.

and subscribed.

Good bye M30





So empty...


Break down of the M30 will happen tomorrow, along with test fitting the M50 to figure out the best way to rearrange the engine mounts.

I wish you were closer... I figure the best way for me to learn more would be to rebuild an M30... or at least take one apart.

Jumping in and just working on it is the best way to learn. Maybe go to a caryard and spend the day just taking one apart . I also read the bentley front to back several times over the last two years...

MOAR!!

Can't wait to see it!

hello. i'm doing the same thing to my e28 m30b28. i got the m30 out and i'm getting ready to get the m50b25 in. how do you plan the solve the problem of the engine mounting and supports?

Well, I did plan on moving the mounts back a couple of inches, but that's a bit hard with the drivers side mounts. So if need be, I will just use some steel going from the engine mount on the block, to the mount on the chassis. From initial measurements, it seems the mounts are only half and inch out, but with things, wiring, etc, to fit between the engine and the firewall, the engine will need to be a couple inches further forward than where the mounts put it.

How much refreshing are you going to do with the M50?

Does this have the metal tstat cover?
What about the water pump?
Valve cover and profile gaskets?
intake manifold gaskets?

I mention some of these since they are common vacuum leak areas and failure points.

any news?

Cool, I'll check those. The temp housing is metal, same goes for the water pump.

Finally got something done, the weather let up at last.

Started the day by cleaning up the engine a bit, and it's coming along quite nicely. After a while I decided I should do something useful, so I dropped the engine in at last!!



It's not mounted yet, but it's at least in, which makes me happy. There are a few things I need to remove still to make it work. There is a bracket under the front of the trans that needs to go, the back isn't sitting as low as it should be. I think right now I will be doing the same thing as logan did, just extend a piece of metal from the car mount to the engine mount.



The drivers side seems a bit cramped, but because of the mount plate on the bottom I can't move it around enough. I also test fitted the front strut brace (bkbimmer specialty), and I'm pleased to say it still fits! So I gave it a bit of paint, something I neglected to do before I installed it the first time.

Tomorrow I'll probably pull the motor back out, finish cleaning it, remove the last bits and pieces I need to, then throw it back in. I may even be able to make the metal extenders, we'll see. Still trying to source a complete M50 wiring harness, it'll come along eventually I suppose...

A couple more, I spent a little bit cleaning the side of the engine bay too .

Looks good. Glad to see you're making progress. What's wrong with the harness that came with the engine? Is it all hacked up?