Swap e28 driveline in to CS?

jac1d

jac1d

Member
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
I'm still mulling diving in to the CS world, but I'm very intrigued about putting the large M30 3.5L and 5 speed from a later car under the hood.

I have located a very well kept 1986 e28 535i for a very affordable $3500, with history back to the original purchase. Would this car provide most or all of the parts needed to effect a driveline swap in to an E9?


Thanks,

-Jeff
 
Last edited:
It would be a shame to take apart a perfectly good 535I when you could find the engine and transmission online or at a local wrecking yard.

Here is a link to a 3.5 for sale on Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Used...ies?hash=item518c500d04&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245

And a gearbox out of 635CSI also on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/bmw-...ceac6de53&_trksid=p4506.c0.m245#ht_500wt_1182

The other alternative is to find a cheap e28 or e24 on craigslist and use it as a donor car, then you can sell the rest of the car and cover some of your costs.

Other members with more experience will be able to tell you which engines have more power and what fuel injection to go with . I would just hate to see a nice car get used for parts.
 
Many many CS coupes have the 3.5L and the 5 speed from "donor" BMWs
It works well. Installation....well I am not a mechanic but Mario Langsten, Peter Sliskovich and Carl Nelson have extensive experience doing this.
Stan
1973 3.0 CS
Chamonix / red leather
3.5 L
Weber 32/36
5 speed
LSD
 
Indeed, there have been many, many threads on this topic over the years. Search around a bit, I am certain you will find what you are looking for.
 
jac1d said:
Would this car provide most or all of the parts needed to effect a driveline swap in to an E9?
Click to expand...
Parts can be adapted, but an E12 would be a better choice, if you could still find a decent one.
Some E29 complications:
E28 intake manifold needs most of the space where the E9 brake booster is located.
E28s use electric speedometers, with a pickup in the differential, which won't fit in an E9 without a lot of work.
E28 suspension and brakes are all different.

Still they are popular donors and I plan to eventually swap the 86 535 engine I have into one of my E9s....
 
Motronic/5 Speed Conversion 2800 CS

I am presently in the process of the same conversion, the donor was an euro 1985 e24. I have a 1971 2800cs 4 speed. I have finished the installation completely and am now performing the integration. Although I have documented the process with photos and journal, I am not prepared to start creating a full scale documentary about the process because this task will prove to be more time consuming than the actual conversion. Stay tuned...
I will say that all the parts I needed to get to this point were from either the e9 or the e24. The trans. AND shifter linkage fit perfectly. (all posts mention that the donor should be e28) I did use the trans support from the e24 which bolted up after a modification (will provide photos) The drive shaft from the e9 after shortening. The speedo drive from the 1971 US 2800 CS cannot be used. I had to purchase the speedo drive ring AND speedo drive shaft for the e24 trans. These parts may be interchangeable from the 3.0 CS (claims in other posts) but not for my car. There is a plug in the e24 trans that will need to come out to facilitate the use of the mech. I used the fuel pump/filter assy from the e24 and mounted in the e9 in the same location in e9 (fabricated bracket) Ran additional fuel line because a return to tank is needed for the FI. (installed an additional nipple on fuel tank)

I am at present, integrating electrical and hydraulic, keep e24 engine harness intact for this as well as all hydraulic hoses. Some hyd. hoses will need to be modified and or created. Keep hyd. reservoir from e24 because all hose nipples for returns are there.

I suppose that all I want the reader to glean from this post is that I am attempting to do a top-notch conversion (not ala Rube Goldberg) on my 1971 US 2800CS using a 1985 euro 635 as a donor. I have not encountered any situation where either the e9 or e24 part can be used, sometimes with only slight modification. I have found descrepensies in blogs as to which parts can/should be used, but I think primarily due to the fact that there are more posts relating to the conversion of the 3.0 CS. (not attempting to disparage the hard work that others have done for completely unselfish and altruistic reasons other than to share personal experiences with other enthusiasts!)

My intension is to provide a substantial report replete with photographs when all is done. Forgive typo's and spelling errors, Good Luck
 
Last edited:
2tonic6 said:
The speedo drive from the 1971 US 2800 CS cannot be used. I had to purchase the speedo drive ring AND speedo drive shaft for the e24 trans. These parts may be interchangeable from the 3.0 CS (claims in other posts) but not for my car.

I suppose that all I want the reader to glean from this post is that I am attempting to do a top-notch conversion (not ala Rube Goldberg) on my 1971 US 2800CS using a 1985 euro 635 as a donor. I have not encountered any situation where either the e9 or e24 part can be used, sometimes with only slight modification. I have found descrepensies in blogs as to which parts can/should be used, but I think primarily due to the fact that there are more posts relating to the conversion of the 3.0 CS. (not attempting to disparage the hard work that others have done for completely unselfish and altruistic reasons other than to share personal experiences with other enthusiasts!)
Click to expand...
Two comments on your experience: 2800CS (and 68-71 E3 sedans) used ZF 4 speeds which use a different speedometer drive mechanism than the Getrag 4 & 5 speeds. As far as I can tell, even the 4 cylinder Getrag 4 & 5 speeds used the same speedometer drive mechanism.

Your 85 635 is the only year of the E28-based E24s which used the Getrag 265 overdrive 5 speeds which can be converted to the cable drive speedometer. All the other E28-based E24s (83-89) used Getrag 260 5 speeds which have no capability to drive speedometer cables.

I'm looking forward to further info on your swap as I will be doing this some year.
 
Swap Feaver

Everyone is doing the 3.5L swap, 5 spd 265... My car was at the point of who cares, why not a aluminum heads on a Chevy 350 block, with a auto box in there? Then my heart just sunk into my chest, and said, apples, and oranges don't mix, but if your planning on a conversion at least keep things somewhat BMW.... Why not a 850i V12 with a 6 speed, if your going to cut metal, you might as well cut German metal to match German metal... Personally I like the funky old style side loader rear end, and the sound of the 6 zinlinder , but only mated to a 5 speed with long gears...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top