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Originally Posted by themightyquinn  Philly...so upgrade to 328i fronts? I planned on doing a big brake swap sometime so that's a non-issue. What if I bought some Bilstein sports/H&R sports for the car in a month...would I later need to replace the 318ti Bilstein/H&R fronts with 328i Bilstein/H&R fronts?
Philly, is there any good documentation/info you could point me in the direction of? I'm mechanically inclined, but haven't tackled anything more than suspension work, and don't have access to a lift/tools (currently...that might change). How long did actually removing the engine/swapping in the M52 and related components take? (IE: amount of time I'd need a engine hoist/lift/etc) |
Sorry for the late reply... im back to working again - boo
As for the brakes... you'd have to take care of them relatively soon after doing the swap. I ran mine for a little but it didn't even feel right.
FWIW, if the BBK upgrade is not in the near future, a front brake conversion can be done for about $200.
I got 2 used calipers from BavAutoRecyclers of Ebay for $50 plus shipping and a 6mo warranty. Some new rotors ($120 for me) + pads ($100) and your geared.
Suspension, Im still using the H&R 4cyl springs, and that is not fun... I can't have much fun in the twisties or I bottom out (due in part to my massive tires). I plan on purchasing 2.8L Z3 springs when I have some spare cash, Im assuming they will do the trick for what Im after.
But Im sure if you bought H&Rs for the Ti with the M4x engine, that when/if you swapped, im sure someone here would grab them up pretty quickly to buy the proper ones.
As for documentation, J!m here on the forums sells a very handy little manual. It doesn't explain everything (little obvious things you should know anyways if tackling such a project), but it will explain everything your going to question when doing your swap and what parts you may need. It was one of the best things I bought while doing this. If you don't want to spend the cash, go to the swap section and look at Phamsters thread as well as Bluebimmas thread (if u can sift through a gazillion pages of nothing), those threads helped me alot more than I coulda hoped for.
How long? Well it took alot longer than anticipated but if you really had it all figured out in your head, and made sure you had everything you need, you could do it in a few weekends.
I ran into alot of little problems along the way.
Originally I had planned to rent a hoist and pull the motor myself, but that wasn't feasable, so I took it to my mechanic (with everything disconnected and the whole front end off the car) and all he had to do was disconnect the driveshaft and hook a chain up and pull the engine/tranny. Then I had him put the tranny on the 2.8 - mainly cause I didn't quite trust myself to install my clutch/pp/fw on properly and he just dropped it all in for me, reconnected the driveshaft and then I took back to my house and finished up the wiring, put front clip back on, swap diff, etc etc etc etcteceteetc.
In all honesty, its very easy, everything is basically plug and play.... I had little to no mechanical experience other than tinkering here and there and I pulled it off.... but I did a
helluvalot of reading around and asking questions.
oh and as far as tools, everything I did - front bumper/grill, cooling system, brake swap, etc - was done with a 72pc socket/wrench set + a tq wrench + a couple other random tools. It doesn't take much to tear these cars apart
I want more power...dicsuss how I can get it! 
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