need4speed1299 Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 So I've been busy doing some swapping the last couple years and thought I should share what I've been up to. I currently have 2 e30s, red s52 supercharged and blue m50nv(sold). I picked up an s54 with a 420g(6speed) that has a hole in the block. The head and cylinder are destroyed from what looks like a piston going through an industrial ninja mixer. The flywheel was a bonus, lightweight with new sachs clutch kit. I found a good cylinder head. I also picked up a mystery block that supposedly had 80k miles on it. Sure enough after disassembly, it looks as though it did. I cleaned everything up and am currently waiting for some new rings and rod bearings. My goal is to sell the s52, zf310(lightweight flywheel, act clutch)supercharger kit, and mspnp to swap in an s54 turbo. (Sold) For the s54, I'm going to use arp head studs and the oe mls gasket. The rod bearings are ACL. I'll be opening up the ring gap a little bit as well. Any input is great. I'm deciding what kit or parts to use for this build, as well as a hp goal. Definitely want to go turbo, more tq. timmer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B C Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 Nice cars! Glad to see you around again. check out www.nam3forum.com, there is a forced induction section. Its the continuation of the very good M3forum.net Which is now gone. Become acquainted with Lang Racing as well.They are probably the world’s foremost S54 experts. https://www.langracing.com/ https://store.langracing.com/bmw-s54-engine/ https://www.langracing.com/addressing-the-s54-rod-bearing-problem-lang-racing-development-crankshaft-modification-kit/ https://store.langracing.com/lang-racing-bmw-s54-turbo-prep-bottom-end-kit/ need4speed1299 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted August 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 Thank you, Brian, for the information. The more I think about it, the s54 is better suited for an e36 chasis. The e30 has a few drawbacks, such as engine bay space, tire sizing, and rear axle. I may sell the blue e30 and supercharger kit, in favor of keeping my red e30 na and finding a clean m3 shell. There was an avus blue e36 m3 shell on marketplace not too long ago I missed out on. I need to work on my picture taking skillz, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungCR Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 2 hours ago, need4speed1299 said: Thank you, Chris, for the information. *Brian. I think we’ve had a few user name changes each haha. Welcome back, cool projects! I tend to agree that the S54 would be more suitable in a E36 as well. @m42b32 has a M54 swap E30 if you haven’t seen his thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m42b32 Posted August 5, 2020 Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 hour ago, YoungCR said: *Brian. I think we’ve had a few user name changes each haha. Welcome back, cool projects! I tend to agree that the S54 would be more suitable in a E36 as well. @m42b32 has a M54 swap E30 if you haven’t seen his thread. Hey that's me! I would agree that the s54 is better suited in an e36 too, probably one of the best engines you could put in that chassis. I'm a little biased, but the M54B30 is pretty great in an e30 haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted August 5, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 5, 2020 I'll check it out. The m54 transplant has some similarities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelBlue Posted August 6, 2020 Report Share Posted August 6, 2020 Is that a euro bumper on the red car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted August 6, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2020 3 hours ago, SteelBlue said: Is that a euro bumper on the red car? Yes, I bought it from a guy in Poland and color matched it, brilliantrot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted August 10, 2020 Author Report Share Posted August 10, 2020 I've decided to put the s54 in the red e30 and sell the entire powertrain. I love e30s 😁. I am at a standstill until the new piston rings come in from the UK. The ACL bearings came today, woohoo! Rekpoint 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted September 16, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2020 Im currently in the process of getting all the parts together. Decided to paint the block white. I'll be going NA, power goal of 350whp with cams/intake/pulleys/exhaust/tune. I went with megan racing headers and a vac single collector. I'll be running AC through a CAN module. Pusher and puller fan setup. Dual sump pan. ZHP rack, born2drift axle adapters, garagistic secondary diff mount. I'll post more as I go. jc43089 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m42b32 Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 15 hours ago, need4speed1299 said: born2drift axle adapters Very interested in these, but couldn't find much info. Do you need to use different output flanges in the differential too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaiserRolls Posted September 17, 2020 Report Share Posted September 17, 2020 White block, I see you like to live dangerously lol need4speed1299 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted September 18, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2020 12 hours ago, m42b32 said: Very interested in these, but couldn't find much info. Do you need to use different output flanges in the differential too? Here's a link to their site. https://www.born2drift.co.uk/shop/bmw/bmw-e30/rear-axle-shaft-adapters-bmw-e30/ I do not recall if I had to use e36 output flanges or not. Regardless, they held up very well. The inner cv is much larger. m42b32 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted September 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 Alright I made some progress on the engine! Rings, rod bearings, and bottom end. Head gasket with ARP. I installed the 288/280 cams and vanos. New oil pump is on. I also ceramic coated and wrapped the headers. I found a spot on the block the e30 cluster temp sensor screws right into, I'll see how it goes(may read too hot?). I have the adapter harness ready to install, as well, with a CAN module. I'm setting up my oil coolers in front of the condenser fan with some brackets. 2x 10 row coolers linked together. I'll also be running a puller on the radiator. B C 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted September 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 The steel breaded AN hose is a challenge to work with, very tight. The setup fits on the original condenser mounting points, no modification to the radiator support or valance. B C 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B C Posted September 26, 2020 Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 Clever oil cooler mounting. What is the plan for the tune? Remote dyno tune or an off the shelf tune? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted September 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2020 5 hours ago, B C said: Clever oil cooler mounting. What is the plan for the tune? Remote dyno tune or an off the shelf tune? I sent my DME to Kassel Performance for a full CSL hardware/firmware conversion. They have awesome products and customer service. The cat cams have the same duration as CSL, but more lift. I'll also be running a CSL MAP sensor from them. https://www.kasselperformance.com/product/mss54-mss54hp-full-csl-hardwarefirmware-conversion/ I built a flash harness and can do some adjustments as needed, as well. https://github.com/saildot4k/MSS54-XDFs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipMF Posted September 27, 2020 Report Share Posted September 27, 2020 On 9/16/2020 at 5:51 PM, need4speed1299 said: Decided to paint the block white. On 9/17/2020 at 2:56 PM, KaiserRolls said: White block, I see you like to live dangerously lol Oh man, don't get me started on white engines... I love seeing when people go 100% OCD and spend hours smoothing out the casting and then spray the block pearl/metallic white. Not that I have the ambition for that kind of stuff. I also considered painting my block white, but then Ben talked me out of it. To make up for it, I cleaned the hell out of all of the aluminum castings and then just left them bare, uncoated metal. Shiny stuff is nice, but the patina that comes with age and use can be nice too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted October 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2020 I've made a lot of progress since my last post. I ended up replacing the oil pump with a new unit. I got my oil pan and subframe back from Bayside Fabrication(Ben Sipson). I wired in the CAN module from gpetersen(r3v). I built a steering shaft using 2 e46 knuckles. I found a 3turn 712 zhp rack at a junkyard, e36 outer and e46 inner tie rods. I had to extend a few harness to fit into the glovebox, lots of soldering. I'll need to tuck the wiring. My DME came back from Kassell. I ended up having an H bridge installed in an mss54hp, MAP sensor, and csl tune. I used ecuworx for the swap coding. I went with the e46 m3 driveshaft and e30 CSB. 1 1/8" was removed from the front and I installed a 4 bolt e36 flange on the rear(32") for an overall length of 1374mm with the guibo. The shifter is an ebay AC Shnitzer euro e36 m3 6 speed spin off. I shortened the dssr to 109mm. I used a premade s54 3" exhaust adapter and it just so happened to bolt right up to the rest of my exhaust. I modified the airbox to clear the booster. I installed the fuel pump and FPR with some fresh fuel line clamps. The oil cooler AN lines are done. I briefly started the engine and it runs good! I need to finish up the cooling system and break in the rings/hone before running the engine anymore. jc43089, B C and patsbimmer1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted October 14, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2020 E28 m5 motor mounts, I spaced up the drivers side. Underdrive pulleys. I need to hook up the power steering lines and a handful of other things. B C and jc43089 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HipMF Posted October 14, 2020 Report Share Posted October 14, 2020 Engine in the car just in time for Halloween. Good to see things are getting back to normal around here! need4speed1299 and B C 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B C Posted October 14, 2020 Report Share Posted October 14, 2020 It isn't WIBIMMERS official until the compression test happens P_Roloff, need4speed1299 and GunMetalGrey 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted October 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2020 I successfully seated the piston rings last weekend. The engine sounds amazing. I installed my s54 swap cluster from "e30 clusters" on Facebook. They did an awesome job. I installed a check engine light and hooked up the oil temp sensors. jc43089 and timmer 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoungCR Posted November 1, 2020 Report Share Posted November 1, 2020 The E46 tach is the same size? That's cool. My OCD wants the gauge faces to match though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
need4speed1299 Posted December 12, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2020 I installed the velocity stacks from the s54 manifold. I need to build a catch can next. The oil pan on these engines offers a drain for the oil, allowing a maintenance free setup. With the possibility of snow tonight, the roads may get salted. Needless to say, I wont have the e30 back out until spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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