1st Real Project: E30 BMW 4.0 V8

[Jimmy No Hands]

Mines an M10 which as reliable as it is it's terribly noisy, slow and character less. It's begging for something a bit nippier but surely it makes sense just to sell and grab a 325i or something similar for the price it'd cost to do.

[MrWhippy]

Nah, grab a non-vanos m50 325/328 engine and box from an e36. Piece of piss to get it in there and wont cost much if your willing to do it yourself!

Decent MLS head gasket and ARP's will see it handle 500 horses :-)

[Jimmy No Hands]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-520i-E34-SERIES-M50-...

Realistically, it'd probably be beyond my capabilities, I'm dying to attempt it though, I really am..

[MrWhippy]

Maybe a little pointless using the 2.0 for big power, but the swap would essentially be the same.

Go for it, if you don't try then you will never know!

[Jimmy No Hands]

Yeah that was just the first browse on the bay. I wouldn't be after major power to be honest, just something with a bit more character and that wont bore me to tears. Complete lack of garage space/tools/knowledge make it a pipe dream though I'm afraid..

Unless I found a garage willing but it'd presumably not be cheap.

[daymoon]

Got a 525i engine here! 190bhp

Great project, great skills! keep it up!

[swad]

Loving this project really thinking out side the box top job

[gifdy]

My new favourite thread !

[MrWhippy]

Cheers for the kind words folks!

Updates may be a little more scarce in the coming weeks/months, as my work load at uni has gone a bit mental, meaning I have less free time to spend in the workshop.

[MrWhippy]

No time for any progress lately, but today something good turned up in the post!!





It took a while to arrive, but looks like it will be worth the wait. Weighs less than 5kg too

[MrWhippy]

Another little update, this time illustrating why I have had no time to work on the BMW lately....

Essentially, a friend asked if I could take a look at his uprights with a view to relocating the outboard pick up points and changing the type of bearing used.

After a load of reverse engineering of the original upright in order to determine its strength and stiffness, both empirically and in CAD/FEA, and a load of dynamics simulation to determine optimal pick up point location for this application, as well as real world load cases for physical testing, this is the end result.........









Sorry about the poor pictures, but the camera on my mobile is playing up!

Just thought I would share, as I am quite proud of the results!

[MrWhippy]

Took advantage of the weather today to whip the engine and box out.

Box being cleaned, as its filthy.....



Then flywheel and clutch on......





And its all back in the car now ready for the prop, diff and shafts to be fitted next weekend!

[Jimmy No Hands]

Is it you who has a Z4 as well MW? If I remember rightly.

[MrWhippy]

Tis not I, possibly a different MrWhippy?

[Jimmy No Hands]

Hah what a coincidence, there actually is another one.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=0...

Resume normal service. will be watching progress on this btw!

[Dave Hedgehog]

stunning skill involved in this build, deeply impressed

[LordFlathead]

Dave Hedgehog said:

stunning skill involved in this build, deeply impressed

Yes I agree. Fantastic mechanical engineering at grass root levels. Your welding and fabrication is spot on

[Blair357ci]

Lovely work, keep it going.

[MrWhippy]

Cheers for the kind words all!

Had a bit of a trial fit of the new upright today, works well apart from some minor teething troubles.



Wish bone angles now look a lot more sensible, even if it is a little hard to tell from my dodgy pictures....

Original:



New:



Fingers crossed that this sorts the issues!

[aka_kerrly]

I do admire the TIG welding.

Good progress!