SOLD - 5 Lug E30 with 2.8Liter M52 OBD1 Conversion

1986 BMW 325e has 1999 328i M52 engine and 5 speed transmission. OBD1 wiring with Dinan muffler and Dinan performance chip. V8 mass air flow meter and K&N filter. 5 lug conversion with 17" staggered Z3 3.0 wheels. Eibach lowering springs and Bilstein struts. M3 front brakes with 318ti rear control arms and brakes. Z3 short ratio steering rack. 318ti leather/cloth sport seats. IX Rear seat with arm rest and head rests. Rare glass manual sunroof. Power windows. 13 button OBC. Center console arm rest.

S50 B30 injection schematic / wiring diagram

These are the injection harness wiring diagrams for a 95 M3 3.0 S50. Click to enlarge the pictures










Here are the pin assignments for the connectors

BMW Engine Oil Capacity Chart

Not sure how many quarts of oil your BMW take? I found this BMW engine oil capacity chart. Click on photo to enlarge. The first number is Quarts and the number in parenthesis is Liters.

BMW transmission fluid levels charts

These charts are helpful for knowing what fluid goes into which automatic transmission and the amount of fluid. You should be able to click on the photo to enlarge it.

Manual Fluid. Sorry, I haven't seen a chart for the manual transmissions. I do know early transmissions use 90 wt gear oil. around 1986 or 1987 they started to use ATF. There is a green sticker on the tranmission that says ATF. In 1996 manual trnamsmissions went to BMW Lifetime oil. These transmissions have a yellow sticker that says life time oil.

Automatic Fluid. I have not found a substitute for BMW Lifetime Automatic transmission fluid. I do know if you do not use lifetime fluid and try ATF it will ruin the transmissions that use lifetime fluid.Most automatics after 1992 do not have a dipstick to check the fluid level. As with manuals, there is a fill plug and a drain plug on most transmissions. Full is when the fluid runs out the fill hole. I believe some of the transmissions must be filled when at op temp and running. Pelican Parts has some info on filling early auto tranmissions.

Wrecking Yard

where 850's go to die
e46 ttraffic jam
vintage BMW 2000

BMW Year/Model E-Type F-Type

BMW Generations at a Glance
BMW E3 — (1968–1977) 2.5, 2.8, 3.0, 3.3 "New Six" sedans
BMW E9 — (1969–1975) 2800CS, 3.0CS, 3.0CSL "New Six" coupés
BMW E12 — (1972–1981) 5 Series
BMW E21 — (1975–1983) 3 Series
BMW E23 — (1977–1986) 7 Series
BMW E24 — (1976–1989) 6 Series
BMW E26 — (1978–1981) M1
BMW E28 — (1981–1988) 5 Series
BMW E30 — (1982–1991) 3 Series
BMW E31 — (1990–1999) 8 Series
BMW E32 — (1986–1994) 7 Series
BMW E34 — (1988–1995) 5 Series
BMW E36 — (1991–1999) 3 Series
BMW E36/5 — (1995–1998) 3 Series Compact (US market known as "318ti")
BMW E36/7 — (1996-2002) Z3 Series Roadster
BMW E36/8 — (1998-2002) Z3 Series Coupé
BMW E38 — (1994–2001) 7 Series
BMW E39 — (1996–2003) 5 Series
BMW E46/5 — (2000–2004) 3 Series Compact
BMW E46/4 — (1998–2005) 3 Series Sedan
BMW E46/3 — (1999–2005) 3 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
BMW E46/2 — (1999–2006) 3 Series Coupé
BMW E46/C — (1999–2006) 3 Series Convertible
BMW E52 — (2000–2003) Z8
BMW E53 — (2000–2006) X5
BMW E60 — (2004–present) 5 Series
BMW E61 — (2004–2007) 5 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
BMW E63 — (2004–present) 6 Series coupé
BMW E64 — (2004–present) 6 Series convertible
BMW E65 — (2002–2007) 7 Series short wheelbase
BMW E66 — (2002–2007) 7 Series long wheelbase
BMW E67 — (2002–2007) 7 Series Protection
BMW E70 — (2007-present) X5
BMW E83 — (2004–present) X3
BMW E85 — (2003–present) Z4
BMW E86 — (2006–present) Z4 Coupé
BMW E87 — (2004–present) 1 Series
BMW E88 — (2008) 1 Series Convertible
BMW E89 — (2009) Z4 roadster
BMW E90 — (2005–present) 3 Series
BMW E91 — (2005–present) 3 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
BMW E92 — (2006–present) 3 Series Coupé
BMW E93 — (2007–present) 3 Series Convertible .
BMW F01 — (2008) 7 Series .
BMW F02 — (2009) 7 Series long wheelbase .
BMW F03 — (2008) 7 Series Protection
BMW F04 — (2009) 8 Series Light Base
BMW F10 — (2010) 5 Series
BMW F11 — (2012) 5 Series Touring/Sports Wagon
BMW F12 — (2011) 6 Series Coupé
BMW F13 — (2011) 6 Series Convertible
BMW F14 — (2011) LC5
BMW F25 — (2011) X3

E30 Bumpers 1984-88

E30 Plastic Bumpers

Broken Dreams

Dinan Muffler

So I waited and waited for a Dinan Muffler to come in to work because I knew my muffler was bad. Originally I had put a slightly used SuperSprint exhaust aside and some one at the shop sold it out from under me. Then when I couldn't wait any longer and my old muffler literally fell off, I put on a stock M3 muffler assy. 1 week later this shows up. Well, I have it now. I hope to get this on the car as soon as I get a chance. It's off of an E36, so I'll need to add a couple brackets to make it fit, like I did the stock M3 muffler.

E36 M3 suspension

If you are considering swapping your 4 lug suspension for 5 lug, a few notes about using M3 suspension.

Front - You will need the complete front struts/springs froma 96-99 E36 M3 for the 5 lug swap. Also required are the front control arms and offset control arm busings.

Rear - I do not know of any way to use the rear E36 trailing arms. You cannot use the E36 M3 differential or the axles either. The M3 diff will not bolt to the E30 subframe, and has a CV input flange. E36 M3 axles only work with the M3 diff and M3 control arms, due to the large diameter spline where it goes into the wheel bearing.


Rear suspension needs to come from a 318ti or Z3. If you can find them, and have the cash, you can use the MZ3 rear control arm which are beefier and allow you to use the larger diameter M-tech brakes.

I have another post about doing the 5 lug conversion

Driveline

What driveline do I use for the M50/S50 M52/S52 change over?

If you are using the ZF five speed that came in 328/528/M3 cars, you can use the E36 328i five speed driveline. Obviously, this driveline matches the 3 bolt flange at the back of the five speed tranmission and uses a rubber flex disc (guibo) to couple the driveline to the driveline. At the opposite end, the E36 328i five speed driveline is an exact match to your four bolt input flange on the E30 differential.

The one thing that will need to be changed when using the E36 328i five speed driveline is the center carrier bearing. You will need to install an E30 center carrier bearing on the E36 328i driveline.

Differential

I have recently had several people ask me what gear ratio differential I am running with my 2.8L M52. I have a S3.25 posi from a 1987 535is E28.Originally my 1986 325 came with a non-posi 2.93. Horrible! Spun the tires at every corner, even with the old 2.7L M20 engine. Even before the engine swap I changed the differential.

There are plenty of gear ratio choices and BMW's to get differentials from. The E28 and E24 diff's will work in a E30, as long as you change the rear cover and the output flanges. Gear Ratios are as follows:

2.79
2.93
3.25
3.46
3.73
4.10
4.27

2.79 and 2.93 are about the lowest gear ratios, which while great for the freeway and gas milage, makes for slow starts. You can go all the way to 4.27 which I believe came in the 91-93 318i convertables, but this makes first gear useless in a five speed car. Even the 4.10 which came in a lot of the 325i automatics and also in the S14 M3, make first gear pretty quick and limit top end speed. I have heard good things with the 3.73, very quick, gas milage isn't too bad either.


I believe the S3.25 is the perfect gear ratio, it is both quick off the line and has plenty of top end. I run at 2200rpm at 55mph while in 5th gear . I am getting about 18mpg in commute traffic and I drive with a pretty heavy foot.


All these diffs are available in posi and non posi. Make sure if you buy the posi (limited slip) that there is a "S" in front of the gear ratio. The "S" signifies posi (limited slip).

When changing the diff out, you can put a MZ3 rear diff cover on which adds and extra quart of fluid and has cooling fins that hang down in the slip stream below the car.

If you are doing a 5 lug change over, you can keep the E24/E28 output flanges if you use the 318ti axles. I think you also need the E24/E28 out put flanges for the MZ3 axles and trailing arms.

Important note: When replacing the diff, make sure it is aligned and completely pressed up against the subframe or the bolts will not go back in.

BMW wheel bolt pattern

I see a lot of people looking for the BMW bolt pattern. It is as follows:


4 lug -> 4x100mm or 3.937 in. ---> All 4 lug BMW's all years


5 lug -> 5x120mm or 4.724 in. (chevy is very close to this) ---> All 5 lug BMW's all years


A four lug or five lug bolt cirlce is an imaginary circle running through the center of the lug holes. A 4 lug pattern can be measured from center of one lug to the center of the lug diagonally across from it. A 5 lug pattern is much more difficult to measure, due to the fact that the lugs are not equally opposite and would require a bolt pattern gauge.

Offset: The offset is where you run into trouble. The offset of a wheel is as follows: the distance from the mounting surface of the wheel to the true centerline of the rim. A positive offset means the mounting surface of the wheel is positioned in front of the true centerline of the wheel. This will bring the tire in to the fender well more. A negative offset will mean that the mounting surface of the wheel is behind the true centerline of the wheel. This will cause the tire to stick out away from the vehicle..

Most 5 , 6 and 7 series wheels will work on each other.
Early 3 series cars were 4 lug. The 3 series cars that are 5 lug, E36, E46 and E90, have a front wheel drive offset (negative offeset). This pushes the hub portion to the outside edge of the wheel and cause 3 series (5 lug) wheels to not fit on 5, 6 and 7 series cars. The back of the wheel will hit the strut before the hub surface makes contact. The 5, 6 and 7 series wheels will bolt onto a 3 series (5 lug) but tend to stick out and rub on the fenders (posative offset).

Here is a link to a bunch of factory wheels
http://picasaweb.google.com/BavarianAutoRecycling/Wheels#

M52 Dual Mass Flywheel

SO my new year started off with a Bang!! Right when I shifted from 2nd in to 3rd. BANG! We'll find out tonight what it was. I think my dual mass flywheel became 2 single mass pieces. The fly wheel has been shaking and chattering for the last couple weeks and I was hoping to get a lightened single mass replacement. No such luck right now. I'll just have to replace the one that's in there with another M52 oe flywheel. Hopefully it's not the transmission.

Late night update.....Dropped the trans out tonight in the driveway. Found out not only is my dual mass fly wheel bad, the car stopped moving because the center broke out of the pressure plate. Wierd! I haven't seen that before, the welds that hold the splined ring that fits over the input shaft on the trans, all broke. Maybe the vibration from the fly wheel caused it to break apart. I will post a picture of it when I get the pressure plate and fly wheel off tomorow.

All righty then, one week later and the E30 is back on the road. I ended up installing a 2000 528i E39 flywheel and self adjusting clutch. The pedal feel takes a little getting used to. Its's kind of soft. I didn't install the pressure valve on the clutch slave. I may add it later this week if I end up not liking the soft pedal.

It took me so long because of a leaky injector that wouldn't seat properly into the injector rail. I had removed my intake to make it easier to get at the starter and top trans bolts. Plus I needed to fix my pinched heater hose. I broke the bottom of the #5 injector when I popped it out of the intake and the replacement injector o-ring wouldn't seat into the fuel rail properly. What a pain in the ass.

I also have a clicking in my right rear axle shaft, so later on today I will be swapping that out. I guess this engine and injection set up is just a little bit to much for some of these old E30 parts. Luckily I can do most of the work myself.