3.5 donor

I am sure that Mario is not concerned about the photo being rampantly distributed unless there's something I am not seeing here. His comment might have been simple curiosity, as we spoke on the phone a couple of times a week or so ago regarding his interest in a Cabriolet project I had proffered his way earlier.

vince said:
Ran,

Maybe you've answered this but I can't find it. Can you confirm the HP and torque on a 3.5 FI motor out of a euro 1985 M535i? Is it 218 or 194? I've heard different viewpoints on what years the euro motors had higher compression than the US car's motors.

Thanks,
Vince
Click to expand...

If you review the M30 chart posted earlier I believe at the very bottom you can find the 3.5 euro variants and see the HP rating in bhp/SAE values for the model year indicated including the compression ratio's for each engine.

Picture4-4.png
 
Mario L. said:
Jranmann . . . just where did you find that picture of the CS Coupe we did at VSR??
never knew I let that one out of the box!

Mario L.

www.VSR1.com
Click to expand...

I should have added in my post above that perhaps the fella who owns the car and for whom you did the work released that picture and others in the public domain to show off his car. Rightfully so. It is a fantastic restoration.

Andre
 
I did review the chart, but there looks to be a big difference between 1984 and 1986. I'm trying to find out if the 1985 euro motor has the higher HP.

Thanks,
Vince
 
andre said:
I should have added in my post above that perhaps the fella who owns the car and for whom you did the work released that picture and others in the public domain to show off his car. Rightfully so. It is a fantastic restoration.

Andre
Click to expand...
Duane Sword has been featured in many articles since that time and likely other photos exist that Mario is also proud to display himself there at the shop.

DuaneSword-2.jpg

Good quality hardly goes unnoticed by those following later in time...

Vince I do believe they are 2 different euro versions and the chart might incorrectly show them as the same...I also think Mario can comment further on this when he again sees another photo of Duane's car here that he hasn't before...

Stay tuned for the correct information as if it exists Mario has the reference material to help you sort that year/model issue out with high level of certainty.

Ran
 
WALTER said:
To answer Bertocchi's query, there have been a few M5/M6 (S38) transplants done for coupes; however, aside from the motor I have not seen a complete listing of all the parts/ labor required for this swap. I have to admit to being very, very tempted by this conversion. I have the 3.5L, 1.3 motronic FI conversion now and while I am really pleased with the enormous bump in performance/reliability over stock I have to admit that I lust after having a true sleeper. Yes, I know putting on a turbo would probably net more gains than a stock s38, but what did someone say about turbos; 'power too late,' and there is just something about that s38 in the e9 that looks so right. Cost is obviously the big concern for this conversion, because while I am seeing plenty of M cars of the right vintage for amounts that are reasonable, the fact remains that a likely rebuild for the motor will run close to $10K from all the research I've done. So, you add the cost of the motor, rebuild, and labor, you are looking at $20K easy.

That being said, does anyone know if the s38 from a 1990s M5 has ever been dropped in a coupe as this would be an out of the box rating of 310HP (s38b35) or 340HP (s38b36) over the 1980s s38's rated at about 256HP?

-Walt
Click to expand...

Walt,

One night, with little else to do, I surfed through this board's archives and found the attached photo. Looks nice but I am guessing there is a fair bit of work to do?

David
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    93.5 KB · Views: 172
David and Ran,

I think that e9 w/ s38 is Doug Dolan's. Man, that engine just looks like it was meant for the coupe. I've got a line on a '91 M5 w/ 165K miles that has some accident damage and is in need of a valve job; seeing pictures like this might make me crazy enough buy it for my own conversion.

Walt
 
Man, that engine just looks like it was meant for the coupe
Click to expand...
It does look sweet...BAT did a work-up on a similar conversion RHD unit and the challenges (significantly more difficult than LDH) involved fitting the engine and modifying the trans. tunnel but more importantly the weight factor seems to be harder to overcome given the suspension modification required to handle it cornering and the lessening of ground clearance as the oil pan is then exposed below the crossmember significantly more than stock. On that project it requires several heavy metal crash plates making the increased weight factor even more of an issue.

111166_6mg-1.jpg


111166_5mg.jpg


111166_4mg.jpg


The car looks beautiful though.
 
Here it is.............apart from having too many projects on the go already, I am about to do an M90 swap that I have had hoarded away here for some time.

Can anyone tell me if an M90 swap with L jet( i know, i know) is lucky enough to have a plug and play type wiring harness adaption diagram done by anyone. I am only worried about wiring, not physical swap. I hear some Carl Nelosn La Jolla type harness adaptors are around, but are they a pipe dream for me with this early engine swap?

Thanks and sorry for any hijack comments in advance.

Oz
 
Ran,

The only thing I don't like about the black, RHD s38 conversion is that wild K&N cone type air filter. It looks too rice rockety for my taste. The other later (91-95) s38 swap I have seen also used this type of air filter (it was on a fjord e9 and was turbo'd; subject of many youtube burnout videos if I remember correctly). I wonder if the later s38 conversions require this mod? I'm not a big fan of those wheels on the RHD either; they look like they are off an older Mercedes.

Walt
 
WALTER said:
Ran,

The only thing I don't like about the black, RHD s38 conversion is that wild K&N cone type air filter. It looks too rice rockety for my taste. The other later (91-95) s38 swap I have seen also used this type of air filter (it was on a fjord e9 and was turbo'd; subject of many youtube burnout videos if I remember correctly). I wonder if the later s38 conversions require this mod? I'm not a big fan of those wheels on the RHD either; they look like they are off an older Mercedes.

Walt
Click to expand...

+1

In my dream world I will have a nicely restored e9 to original specs and a track car with an s38 motor in it tuned to a very high state of performance.
The six speed gearbox with a low axle ratio sounds like a good idea also.
(I wonder if Santa monitors this BB?)

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

David
 
andre said:
I should have added in my post above that perhaps the fella who owns the car and for whom you did the work released that picture and others in the public domain to show off his car. Rightfully so. It is a fantastic restoration.

Andre
Click to expand...

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Andre,
I rather enjoy seeing folks enjoy the fruits of VSR's labors and the owners expenditures. As I see it . . building and restoring cars to hide them away is a bit of a waste. I just didn't recognize the pic and seeing the wiki desciption tells me who took the pic originally . .

Mario L.

www.VSR1.com
 
You need to consider the Euro 635 CSi motor

Acat, I've been in carb and fuel injected B35 equipped E9s and those are certainly nice and very common as you point out. My mechanic just completed my 1984 B34 Euro 10:0.1 compression ratio engine swap. We used L-Jetronic intake pieces from a late 70s 5 Series combined with the injection system and ECU from a 1989 635CSi and 735. I consider this motor the finest single overhead cam engine BMW ever built inside the M30 family. The short block only needed bearings, seals and an oil pump; the pistons, rings, etc were in great shape so only $500 was needed for all that. The head had some mileage on it and at least one loose valve guide, so we did a valve job, clean up and pressure test for less than $500; that is good piece of mind so I can drive this car 100-200K miles without worry of structural top end things going wrong. All other mechanical parts were junk yard pulls with some clean up, except for 02 sensor, spark plugs and gaskets, etc of course.

I've not dynoyed her yet but she pulls like a freight train and revs like a motor cycle engine. We are still tweaking the intake/fuel management pieces, but I'd estimate I'm getting at least the 218 crank hp and 225 lb ft of torque this engine was supposed to provide with its original ECU. Depending on how the next few weeks go, I might add a B35 exhaust manifold (I kept my stock exhaust for now and simply added an O2 sensor on one of the downpipes) with larger diameter pipes and resonator, and the Dinan chip.

Honestly, though, I'm amazed at the power increase already.

I also can't endorse my mechanic, Don Lawrence, enough. If you want his contact info or to discuss this more, send me a pm. Good luck.

I will post a long write up and pictures before too long.

Happy turkey day everyone!

Wayne
 
Wayne,

Nice combination! Certainly the best of the period correct pieces mixed with contemporary electronics. I'm certain you spent a fair amount of time locating the components to pull it all together.

Mario L.
www.VSR1.com
 
Bitter sweet aspect is that I drove my own coupe yesterday and realized how much better Wayne's powertrain is than my own. Sad indeed to have tasted refined power and then drive my own tired m30 b32 Jetronic.

The search begins for a good euro spec dirty motor for myself!
 
For OZCSi

Just finished two m90 installs. There are only eight or nine wires that need to be jumped- no big deal to the wiring. The key is the extra spade connector at the ecu needs to be jumped to coil.
 
sfdon,

thanks so much for the reply. I am putting the M90 engine on the stand at the moment and just going to prepare and paint etc after normal attention to the tappets and gaskets etc that I can easily get to or as required.

The engine is currently attached to a 5 speed with speedo drive, but my head is telling me to not take this all on at once, but maybe I should just get this done in one hit.

May pm you if required re install. Cheers and thanks

OZ
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top