BMW powered 280 project

[Zacky94]

It all started a few months ago when my wedge had been sat on my drive for a few years engineless and the chassis removed , I work at a BMW specialist and the opitunity arrived to get my hands on a 2.8 straight 6 BMW engine from my boss's old car

Engine was very well looked after and only done around 80k (seen the same engine do over 350k in customers cars )
I managed to get a gearbox all the ancillaries and everything I needed for a small amount of money and got it home

So getting slightly excited I decided to offer the engine up in the chassis and it fit .. Very snugly! ,
left it for a few days while a mounting kit arrived etc . Then got to work



Got it in welded the mounts up etc , and then removed again for some paint to be put on the chassis




Then after that was set the body needed to be out back on for transporting purposes at a later date to a work shop I'm building

Couple with the body on

[Zacky94]

I was debating between the cosworth v6 or this bmw lump but i know bmw very well so its probs the best route plus a hell of a lot lighter and more powerful than the only cologne lump!

I'll keep the updates coming, the car is a lot further advanced through the conversion at the moment I'm just trying to remember what I have done and post it in order! Ha

Thanks for the feed back , that made me chuckle 'Blackpool motor works' brilliant ,
of course it's not a Tvr with out the soundtrack!

[Zacky94]

I know what you mean I told a few people what I planed to do and they sorta looked me the same way , being a young lad most of them thought I was dreaming!

It wasn't too bad there was a lot of problems with sump an exhaust manifold clearance obviously needs to be as low and as far back as possible , but I've got it somewhere near I want to iron out a few creases when the body is back off and I need to sort the outriggers out and give it another coat of POR-15 , but it does drive under its own steam at present ,

That is a very clean engine bay indeed! , the BMW lump is pushing around 193 bhp - approx 200 and something torque wise at the moment but with an m50 manifold and a few other bits it should see 210-220 ish , I'm not going to spend a massive amount on the engine I'd rather save for an m3 lump personally

[Zacky94]

I'm Poly - bushing the whole lot when I get the body back off , could do with some 350i drive shafts so I've read somewhere there abit more beefy if that's correct?

Brakes currently have brand new billet alloy 4 pot willwood fronts with a fast road compound pad , dual bias pedal box , , hydraulic hand brake and standard jag rear calipers with EBC green stuff pads , suspension are avo adjustable all round , alloy fuel tank in the boot with braided lines etc , that's about the spec so far I have another shell that is in better nick too that I'm swapping it all over too , always a good idea to have a spare seem as tho there getting rare now

[Zacky94]

Cheers mate ,
I'm in no hurry at all to be honest I can stroke it to a 3.0l quite easily and cheaply if I want a few more ponies but I think I'll be happy enough with that power ....for a while!

I have had a nose around this site a few times and seen what's about there not really much else about to help you out with the wedge to be fair had to learn the hard way!

And don't even get me started on trying to find parts! Haha

I love bmw's engines! to be honest the wiring wasn't too bad at all either with bmw's logical diagrams its pritty simple the only thing that worry people is the EWS (immobiliser) but I've took all that with me an wired it into the Tvr so I didn't have to send the DME away , essentially it has a Thatchem cat 1 imboiliser now witch is a plus

Any questions just ask

I'm based in Shrewsbury West Midlands sort of area but I will be going to some meets when it's complete! May see a few of you about!

[Zacky94]

I've seen a couple of BMW powered TVR's but not a wedge , may be safe to say its a first?

The m52 is a cracking engine defiantly , don't have a lot of problems with them to be honest , mines a M52B28 TU (technical update) tho it was the basis of the M54 pritty much with the duel VANOS rather than just inlet , mid range torque is defiantly an advantage,
The identical bore and stroke make it pritty well balanced and pritty good all round the rev range

[Zacky94]

After I got the body back on I started to tackle the wiring abit after a few hours of studying a diagram and abit of labelling later I got the soldering iron out and got to work after all that was soldered in I got abit of power to the car and checked of the relays were dropping in etc and all was fine ,

Next was the EWS / imbobiler to sort out , I had 2 choices either send the DME / ECU away to have it deleted (witch I wasn't positive was possible with EWS 3 ) or take the lot off the donor and get or to work in the Tvr (EWS module , key and reluctor ring)

Enjoying a challenge I chose the latter , after a bit of research I was completely aware of how it worked and what wires went were on the BMW so I got my multimeter out and started proding around and worked it out took it all home and applied it to the Tvr , checked the relay was dropping in for the EWS , all seemed to be fine!

Luckily I had a fuel pump knocking around and I found a beer bottle witch became the fuel tank! Riged it up and went to turn the key!

First turn it fired but was running rough , later found to be an air leak on the intake bellows , puts away lovely now!

It really felt like I was gettin somewhere at this point and I started spending some money

First was the fuel system
Alloy tank
Alloy swirl pot
High pressure pump
Low pressure pump
pre and post fuel filters
Filler neck
One way breather valve
And Tank sender

We're on the wish list so I ordered these and when they arrived got them fitted!



After this was all in I sorted all the ignition feeds out so it would work off the key , installed a relay for the fuel pumps and
Fuel pumps were running off the ECU rather than straight from the ignition

Happy chap at this point everything was working like a car should

Next purchase was some wilwood 4 pot calipers and a fast road compound pad for the front , duel bias pedal box and the hydraulic hand brake all plumbed in


Recently I have acquired another shell and will be swapping everything over to that one when i finish off my shed/workshop couple of the other shell etc

Few bits of interior fitted here


This is as far as I've got with it so far updates will be here on the near future
Last one of the workshop in progress

[Zacky94]

Sorry this is the other shell !
I brought off a chap not far from me witch I believe is on this forum somewhere!

[Zacky94]

That is the car! Haha ,
yes it was originally white many years ago but it was painted at some point to the strange green colour , I love the colour personally but it doesn't really go with the red interior amazingly well , I wanted to go back white with the greenish shell but for now the car will be silver till I decide what colour I want it!

[Zacky94]

I was thinking about the top cover also but I'm not sure yet ,
I haven't got as far to look at the rear too much I know the o/s UJ on the drive shaft are batterd , and the bushes don't look clever so they will be replaced ,

I've found the rt racing site and had a ganders , and a few bush kits here and there but haven't had a proper read up yet , thanks for your knowledge on the trailing arm pins/tubes I will keep that in mind! I'm not sure on the poly bush bit or the trailing arms I was just guessing there would be a kit of some sort
(Guessing is never good!)

[Zacky94]

Here you go ziga ,

[Zacky94]

It was more of a green to be fair in the flesh it is a strange colour tho ,
I admire your attention to detail looks awesome !
I don't know if I would have the patience for that!
I get my kicks out of fabricating things , should have been an engineer ha ,

I've just had a ganders on the superflex site looks like I'm goin to be taking out a morgage for a full chassis set!
Oh we'll it needs to be done I don't plan on taking the body off again after its done for a long time!

Just out of intrest does anyone know where to source some new / recon rear calipers?
And a power steering rack , is it off a cortina or a mk3 granada I'm not positive !

Thanks in advance
Zack

[Zacky94]

I see sounds like your speaking from experience!
To be honest I think I'll get the lot front and rear while its in bits it would be worth it in the long run I would have thought i' have a think about it
, thanks for the info! The calipers are a pain to get hold of! Mine arnt much good I had a go at rebuilding them but I'm not happy with them at all! Would rather another set to be honest

I have a recon rack on it at the moment but was thinking of swapping it out to power steering , it's still ridiculously heavy! (Awaits for the grow a pair comment haha)

Didn't they swap the rear suspension set up on the later models from the trailing arm set up ?

Thanks for all your help appreciate it!



Thank you , it was good to meet you too mate ,
I'm sure you will see it about when it's done

[Zacky94]

I wouldn't like to say to be honest , an m3 lump would fit giving the same sort of power if not abit more after all they are a similar size to the M5X series of engine

[Zacky94]

Thanks! I'll have a read up seems as tho its not far to travel

[Zacky94]

Ahh I see ! That sounds like a good plan of action to be fair , thanks for the info!
Appreciate it!

I've been having a look at the upper wishbones today and ordered a few bits ,
I've designed a camber adjustable upper wishbone and hope to start some fabrication some time this month
It consists of 2 inner polyurethane bushes and a rose joint that will bolt to the hub
With a threaded insert for the adjustment pritty basic design really but hopefuly effective
The caster and toe is obviously already adjustable be nice to be able to set up the lot spot on

Will post some pics of the progress!

The price people are asking for bushes and ball joints for these wishbones is awful if you ask me! And the wishbones them selfs!

[Zacky94]

Got myself a few more goodies this month ,
Got a full set of front super-flex bushes and hope to fit them some time soon and also got a roof on my 'man shed' at last
So the TVR will finally be under cover to sort the chassis out

Will keep the updates coming as I go havnt spent a massive amount of time on it recently due to building the shed
And other projects on the go

[Zacky94]

Its very much a prototype as it stands , alot of bits and bobs ive fabricated like engine mounts i want to send off to get engineered properly out of aluminium etc so it looks tidier doing the hard Part myself makes There life easier and my wallet abit easier to bare!

I'm hoping to have it MOT'd by next summer I don't want to rush it as I know I will regret something ,
But as most of you will know these projects are never actually 'finished' always something to do lol

There is defiantly something about them isn't there! I love mine can't wait to get it road worthy and get all the creases ironed out

Plus i work on new cars every day they bore me to be honest too much technology it's nice to have a simple car where it's just man and machine (how it should be!) engine facing the right way and the right wheels are driven , it's not driving anymore it's just a computer doing it all for you where's the fun in that?

My generation the majority of them don't have a clue about carbs ,distributors and points etc. how are you supposed to understand if colleges don't even teach you the basics!

It's quite sad really because who will keep all the classics going in the future

[Zacky94]

Good news! Finally managed to get some rear callipers in good working order!

And some EBC green stuff pads to go with them
Already have new disks

Starting to see a ray of light at the end of the tunnel

Also rang up a place to price up an exhaust system
Today so I will be saving to get that sorted


To do list now is :

Fit rear calipers and pads
Finish off brake pipes
Full set of rear superflex bushes
Finish off painting/treating various bits and bobs
Couple of bits to go to the engineers to make up
Fit the new wilwood calipers and pads
Bit of welding
Refit interior and fabricate harness mountings
New hood
4 tyres few other fiddley bits for mot
Service
MOT!

Keep me out of mischief!

[Zacky94]

Quick update

Callipers have arrived so I've cleaned and greased the carriers and slotted the green stuff pads in
Hopefully fit these tomorrow morning

Ordered some braided brake hoses should be hear next week ish

Bit of interior back in now I've tidied all the wiring up
Found my seats to be knackerd! depressing!
Subframes are rotten!
So nicked the bucket seat out of my bmw for now , grown on me slightly may be staying yet I'm not sure
Thoughts?

All the near side front bushes are in , tedious little things those poly bushes are!
Another update tomorrow