"Mad Max's " S54 powered E9 project

[bdigel]

I saw Max Fischer's ad selling his E9 project , I decided although the timing was terrible that this was a project right up my alley that Ive wanted to tackle . My buddy Anthony Neu and I drove up to Max's place In VA and bought everything , the E9shell, the S54, the wide body kit, the e 36 style suspension, etc. etc. I have to give major shout out to Max. Max is great guy to deal with and couldn't have been more helpful in helping load up an entire disassembled car !

It was quite the task to load this project into an F150 and an open car trailer . The car didn't have any front suspension , and the F150 was barely big enough to fit an Engine, tranny, interior, suspension pieces , glass, and entire fiberglass body kit , etc, etc. we loaded all the loose stuff into the truck and I brought a Dolly Ive used on other BMW projects that bolts into the front end . we Dragged the car out of Max's Garage and pulled it on to the trailer .

Tony and I towed it back to ATL. wher the next task was to find safe place to store stuff until its needed. Body parts and mech. stuff is in my place , Don't tell my wife . hahah, and interior , trim pieces are at Tony's , and the car currently is in a storage until I get the front end on it so I can drag it over to my shop

The BMW type shot with the body kit and seats

Truck starting to get unloaded

Using the dolly for front suspension in storage

Once again like to Thank Max for all his help , and for being kind enough to sell us his project

 

[Gransin]

Very nice! Looking forward to follow another crazy project from you!

 

[bdigel]

Very nice! Looking forward to follow another crazy project from you!

Thank you ! hope you guys find it entertaining .

One huge benefit of this project is Max had done a lot of work already and modified various things and already purchased needed components . In particular the project came with his modified E30/ e36 front subframe . Max had this thing built so an S54 should fall right into place , along with being able to use a a different suspension ( which is one of the setbacks for installing an S54 ) . Max also had already acquired an e36 based billet front control arms, and Ground control front shocks . The rear suspension is out of an E28 , subframe and trailing arms.

BMW style pic of front suspension laid out

E36 front strut assembly with camber plate

The modified front cross member and front suspension in the process of getting installed

Close up from top of the new front subframe

E36 M3 front spindle going together

adj camber plate

 

[maxxfish]

I'm already jealous and regretful! But I couldn't imagine this project going to anyone other than Brendan, I know he's going to make it as amazing as I had dreamed. Maybe he'll sell it back to me when it's complete! Good luck to you and Anthony, and thanks for starting a build thread. I'll be watching...

 

[bdigel]

Mounted the control bushing in the frame rail temporarily so we can get the car on the ground . Slit a small hole in the side of the rail , drilled some holes and slid a plate with nuts welded in place . eventually all this will be welded , and boxed in .

 

[bdigel]

After getting the control arms located , the next step is to install a steering rack and get it hooked up to a steering Shaft . For right now Ill using a steering rack out of an e46 ( unlikely it will stay ) , then I used several shaft pieces from a whole bunch of different cars, E9 parts, e46 parts , some e28 and maybe an e30

E 46 rack installed in the modified e36 subframe

Bump steer corrected tierods

The multi chassis steering shaft assembly

E46 lower shaft with e28 universal and who knows what above that

view from above

Got really lucky to find a combination that worked so well without having to cut or weld !!

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

I am also jealous, the only thing lacking is time!

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

Also, I knew that shell would not last long!!!

 

[bdigel]

Put some old race wheels on the car now that the suspension is bolted on . Nice to have the car on the ground and able to roll it around

 

[bdigel]

Ran into and fixed our 1st major issue. The modified late model subframe ended up being to far forward, which would not allow the engine to be mounted with out making custom engine brackets, and also put the suspension at awkward angles . We cut off the boxes that the cross member bolts to , made new one and welded them further back into the car . This took care of the engine mounting issue and corrected the suspension angles

Engine placed into the bay trying to locate everything

the stock cross member mount ,

Cutting the box off and making a new one

Old boxes/ mounts cut off, sealers, and undercoating ground off and ready for new parts

new boxes welded in and subframe bolted in . now the engine sits far enough back the headers fit and a radiator can be slid in place

engine bolted in place , E36 cross member, e36 motor mounts brackets

with the subframe in the right place , now the suspension geometry is correct , forward and aft, still need to fix the bump steer

 

[daddywad]

Hi, do you need front and rear Alpina replica strut braces?

Thanks

Mark

 

[bdigel]

Another complication with an s54 install is Brake booster/cly clearance with the stock airbox . This gave us an excuse to remove the airbox and use "naked " airhorns . Might lose a little bit of HP but I think the bling factor will make up for it. The stock S54 airbox has airhorns already in it encased in the plastic . We cut off plastic until it was weak enough to force the airhorns free

Stock S54 airbox sacrifice .

Placed on the engine before test fit in the car

Clearance issue sloved

 

[aearch]

great job
thats exactly what i would have done im redoing my 74 w/ the s38 and have had to do
a real lot of those things to have the fit and finish
a bunch of fun
isn't it
good job

 

[PrussianMotors]

Oh man. I came in here hoping to see a completed monster. Got a little bit left until that's happening. =)

 

[burky]

Very Impressive

 

[bdigel]

Next in mounting the drivetrain was to make a trans mount

so we looked at several stock BMW mounts, from various cars to see if we could find a way to make one work , and eventually decided to make the entire mount from scratch

Bolt access holes for the trans mounts

New mount bolted in place and holding up the trans

 

[bdigel]

Test fit brakes, going with e36 M3 front brakes and e34 540 rears

Front Brakes

 

[bdigel]

One of the unique things Max Sold us was the interior, the project cane with some restored Scheel seats , front and rear . The rest of the interior was in fair shape , so we cleaned and dyed it . Took some time this last weekend to see how things would mount up and what we are missing

Door cards and other pieces in the condition we got them in

bare metal interior

Door card with new backing plate, cleaned , and dyed

Rear seat. and restored side bolsters placed in car

Figured out how the front seat's get mounted and temp. installed the door cards

We are really pleased and excited about how the interior is coming together,

Tony's restored door card, , have to say it turned out well , just need to find the wood trim

 

[maxxfish]

Awesome!

 

[zinz]

What's not to love about all this? Love the fabrication work... makes me think of Project Binky

http://www.badobsessionmotorsport.co.uk/category/projects/project-binky/

Bare airhorns should sound amazing, but the thought of all that dirt running through the engine is scary. What color you gonna paint the horns? Any thoughts on exterior color/livery?

Ed Z