Yet another rescued E36 328i M Sport project...
Discussion
RickBristol said:
Well,
It eventually took around ten hours to fit the manifolds with the engine in situ. Was an absolute b
d though. You'll need a ramp to fit some of the manifold nuts from underneath and fit some from above in the engine bay.
I was quoted around £11 each + VAT for the original M3 studs from BMW. That's why I bought mine from America for around $40 for originals. The individual manifold gaskets I bought direct from BMW as they weren't that expensive.
We removed the steering column for greater access AND had already deleted the air con pump and associated pipework, which would have been a major obstruction.
Not sure of the technical details of why the 328 Lambda sensors had to be changed for the 325 sensors. Apparently they don't read correctly for the new setup. If you do a full stage 2 remap, you can dispense with the Lambda sensors altogether.
Ah OK. I ordered M52 studs, I suppose that's where the difference is. It eventually took around ten hours to fit the manifolds with the engine in situ. Was an absolute b
d though. You'll need a ramp to fit some of the manifold nuts from underneath and fit some from above in the engine bay.I was quoted around £11 each + VAT for the original M3 studs from BMW. That's why I bought mine from America for around $40 for originals. The individual manifold gaskets I bought direct from BMW as they weren't that expensive.
We removed the steering column for greater access AND had already deleted the air con pump and associated pipework, which would have been a major obstruction.
Not sure of the technical details of why the 328 Lambda sensors had to be changed for the 325 sensors. Apparently they don't read correctly for the new setup. If you do a full stage 2 remap, you can dispense with the Lambda sensors altogether.
I managed to pick up a centre and back box last weekend for 300 so that's that sorted... I Just have to set aside a weekend to do it!
For what its worth the bloke I bought the cat and back box from said he had no troubles with the 328i lambdas in his s50 headers.
Dave0321 said:
Ah OK. I ordered M52 studs, I suppose that's where the difference is.
I managed to pick up a centre and back box last weekend for 300 so that's that sorted... I Just have to set aside a weekend to do it!
For what its worth the bloke I bought the cat and back box from said he had no troubles with the 328i lambdas in his s50 headers.
I was fairly reliably informed that the 328 AND M3 Lambdas don't 'read' correctly for the S50 exhaust on the M52B28 engine, so just went with it. I was also advised to use the S50 studs for the manifolds...I managed to pick up a centre and back box last weekend for 300 so that's that sorted... I Just have to set aside a weekend to do it!
For what its worth the bloke I bought the cat and back box from said he had no troubles with the 328i lambdas in his s50 headers.
Read my previous comments and be warned. It's an absolute b
d to fit the manifolds with the engine in the car. You'll also need the arms and hands of a six year old to reach and tighten the copper nuts...So glad this is going in the right direction again.
Ta for the updates, still following with interest. Your knowledge is wide and well earned by your hard work and tenacity.
I found low millage original cats for my 328i. Thinking I got a great find I wire brushed and sprayed them up - only to realise that one of the hangers was missing and it was slightly bent. Your second hand exhaust seems a much more astute buy, a great addition to the project.
Ta for the updates, still following with interest. Your knowledge is wide and well earned by your hard work and tenacity.
I found low millage original cats for my 328i. Thinking I got a great find I wire brushed and sprayed them up - only to realise that one of the hangers was missing and it was slightly bent. Your second hand exhaust seems a much more astute buy, a great addition to the project.
RickBristol said:
I was fairly reliably informed that the 328 AND M3 Lambdas don't 'read' correctly for the S50 exhaust on the M52B28 engine, so just went with it. I was also advised to use the S50 studs for the manifolds...
Read my previous comments and be warned. It's an absolute bd to fit the manifolds with the engine in the car. You'll also need the arms and hands of a six year old to reach and tighten the copper nuts...
Everything I've read says how much if a bRead my previous comments and be warned. It's an absolute b
d to fit the manifolds with the engine in the car. You'll also need the arms and hands of a six year old to reach and tighten the copper nuts...d these are to fit... I'm a bit scared!Do you have a part number for the sensors you ordered? What's the difference between the 328 and the sensors you have?
iSore said:
I would imagine supporting the engine on a cross brace and dropping the front x-member would make the job 1000 times easier....?
No! We tried all that. We even got to the point of considering taking the engine out... The main problem is accessing the lower set of nuts on the rear manifold as the twists in the manifold pipes prevent you from being able to use sockets and a wratchet to tighten them...Dave0321 said:
Everything I've read says how much if a bd these are to fit... I'm a bit scared!
Do you have a part number for the sensors you ordered? What's the difference between the 328 and the sensors you have?
Don't be scared. Just gonna be around eight hours of stress and ball ache.d these are to fit... I'm a bit scared!Do you have a part number for the sensors you ordered? What's the difference between the 328 and the sensors you have?
The part number for the correct Lambda sensors is NTK 0486
Dave0321 said:
So besides the pain of fitting, how is it now with the exhaust set up compared to the standard manifolds?
The biggest problem we faced was with over-fuelling due to the rear bank of exhaust manifolds not being quite tightened up enough. This meant that there was a slight blowing from the manifold, which resulted in over-reving between gear changes. The ECU then threw O2 sensor faults on bank 2 and a couple of other erroneous errors, due to the bank 2 O2 sensor not getting the balanced amount of exhaust gases and un-burnt fuel readings with bank 1. Once we 'clicked' what was going on, and tightened the offending nuts, the car then ran properly. With the S50B30 exhaust manifolds, the S50B32 exhaust system and the racing cams, the car has been totally transformed. "Goes like stink" is a total understatement. RickBristol said:
The biggest problem we faced was with over-fuelling due to the rear bank of exhaust manifolds not being quite tightened up enough. This meant that there was a slight blowing from the manifold, which resulted in over-reving between gear changes. The ECU then threw O2 sensor faults on bank 2 and a couple of other erroneous errors, due to the bank 2 O2 sensor not getting the balanced amount of exhaust gases and un-burnt fuel readings with bank 1. Once we 'clicked' what was going on, and tightened the offending nuts, the car then ran properly. With the S50B30 exhaust manifolds, the S50B32 exhaust system and the racing cams, the car has been totally transformed. "Goes like stink" is a total understatement.
Fantastic! 
No clearance issues of the headers on the gearbox?
Hello again. Well, after running the car for a number of weekends now, it at last seems to be happy and is a real pleasure. Have only experienced a couple of minor problems that had to be resolved, including having to replace the main engine fan clutch - an OEM 'Sachs' version from Euro Car Parts for £60, instead of around £160 for the same from BMW....
The other issue was having to re-tighten the rear S50 exhaust manifold as it was slightly blowing and was affecting the performance....
However, yesterday I was driving down the motorway when I started to get a low-end grumble from the front of the car. Took it to the garage to get it checked out and.... The front passenger side wheel bearing had started to fail. So, went to Euro Car Parts this morning and bought two new OEM FAG front wheel bearing kits for just under £170, instead of nearly £360 from BMW. Probably another £60 or so to fit...
Gonna get the car four wheel tracked next week for around £60...
The other issue was having to re-tighten the rear S50 exhaust manifold as it was slightly blowing and was affecting the performance....
However, yesterday I was driving down the motorway when I started to get a low-end grumble from the front of the car. Took it to the garage to get it checked out and.... The front passenger side wheel bearing had started to fail. So, went to Euro Car Parts this morning and bought two new OEM FAG front wheel bearing kits for just under £170, instead of nearly £360 from BMW. Probably another £60 or so to fit...
Gonna get the car four wheel tracked next week for around £60...
Edited by RickBristol on Wednesday 5th December 21:15
It's a never ending story!
I decided to have a go at fitting the S50 manifolds after reading your posts about it... and you weren't kidding. What a nightmare. I wish it only too me 8 hours like you said... took me 3 days! I had clearance issues with the crank case AND the gearbox! Nightmare!
I decided to have a go at fitting the S50 manifolds after reading your posts about it... and you weren't kidding. What a nightmare. I wish it only too me 8 hours like you said... took me 3 days! I had clearance issues with the crank case AND the gearbox! Nightmare!
Dave0321 said:
It's a never ending story!
I decided to have a go at fitting the S50 manifolds after reading your posts about it... and you weren't kidding. What a nightmare. I wish it only too me 8 hours like you said... took me 3 days! I had clearance issues with the crank case AND the gearbox! Nightmare!
Have you heard the E36 song? "Its got 99 problems..." I decided to have a go at fitting the S50 manifolds after reading your posts about it... and you weren't kidding. What a nightmare. I wish it only too me 8 hours like you said... took me 3 days! I had clearance issues with the crank case AND the gearbox! Nightmare!
Not sure that I should be sharing this on here but....
Had a little 'indiscretion' with another vehicle a couple of weeks back. Basically, a young and nervous young lady that was driving in front of me decided to hit the anchors full-on, as we where approaching a roundabout doing around 10 mph, just as I looked over to check the time on my stereo...
Basically, as my car is lowered by 6 cm when I hit her car, her bumper hit above mine and I caught to impact in my 'soft spot', bonnet, lights, nose cone etc.... Uffffffff!
Luckily, I know of a guy up in Shropshire - Paul Glover, on Facebook, who regularly breaks E36 M3s. Gave him a call and he had all the bits I needed to sort the car out.
So off to the car repair garage to get sorted...
Had a little 'indiscretion' with another vehicle a couple of weeks back. Basically, a young and nervous young lady that was driving in front of me decided to hit the anchors full-on, as we where approaching a roundabout doing around 10 mph, just as I looked over to check the time on my stereo...
Basically, as my car is lowered by 6 cm when I hit her car, her bumper hit above mine and I caught to impact in my 'soft spot', bonnet, lights, nose cone etc.... Uffffffff!
Luckily, I know of a guy up in Shropshire - Paul Glover, on Facebook, who regularly breaks E36 M3s. Gave him a call and he had all the bits I needed to sort the car out.
So off to the car repair garage to get sorted...
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