318Ti to 325Ti convertion

[andrei]

So...On Friday I have officialy began my swap project. I bought a few weeks ago a complete 1991 e36 325i 4doors, so I get a 2.5 M50 non-VANOS engine to put into my car. I Took the engine out on friday and began working on it. I added the fallowing new components:
- new clucth assambly
- new thermostat and thermostat case
- new engine mounts
- new gearbox mounts
- new viscous fan clutch
- new gasket for the cylinder head cover
- new spark plugs
- new oil filter, fuel filter, air filter etc.
- Castrol TWS 10W 60 oil
- new gearbox oil
- new diff. oil

Today I took the cylinder head cover out to replace the gasket and I painted it in black. I hope to have the car up and running by the end of next week. One starnge thing I noticed...(since I am using the 325 gearbox and drive shaft) the label on the tarnny sais ZF. Souldn't the 325 have the getrag gearbox? I will post pictures later.

[andrei]

My car!

[andrei]

[andrei]

[mooseheadm5]

Out of curiosity, are there vehicle identifications numbers on the engine and trans (not sure of EU rules) and if so, do they match? Let me know if you have any questions, as I just finished doing this.
-Paul

[andrei]

Nope. vehicle identifications numbers are the on the engine and the body. There is no serial number on the tranny ... I think. Any way the only numbers that are used to identify a car arre those on the engine and body.

I ahve one question:
- Did you swap your front suspension to. I don't have money to do that just now so I want to know how it will handle on the stock M-teck 318ti suspension.
- Did the standard 325 Muffler fit the TI? I know I have to modify the pipes but did the muffler fit?

[mooseheadm5]

That is 2 questions

In USA, there are numbers on the transmission, too. Maybe that is not the original transmission and someone installed a 328i or M3 transmission? Who knows. Anyhow, I did swap the front suspension, but ONLY because I found used M3 struts cheap, and mine were worn out original stock struts. The weight difference between the M50 with manual trans vs M44 with auto is negligable (actually, my new setup is lighter!) The car will be more front heavy, though, but the only way to find out how well it works is to try it. You can change it later. You could try to use the 325 springs or complete front struts, but the upper mounts are different than yours (I am guessing that the 325 was made in 92 or earlier because it is an M50 non-Vanos,) so I don't know what problems that could cause.

The muffler fit after shortening the pipes by about 7.5 inches. I used an M3 rear muffler, which is actually harder to weld because the pipes are larger and closer together. I have a few pictures of the muffler modifications I made, but I was in a hurry and didn't have time to take too many. I had to dent the pipes where they go under the rear crossmember, otherwise they would either hit, or I would have to mount the muffler too low to the ground. I am not sure if you need to do this with 325 mufflers, because the pipes are smaller diameter. Even if you do, you will not have to dent them as much. I made mounts that fit the ti hangers using steel rods bent to fit. I welded the steel rods to the parts of the hanger that bolt on to the muffler (pic below.) I also had to trim the rear valence for the tailpipes. I will post pictures of this under my thread next week.

I do not recommend using a 325 sway bar as I had thought was proper in the past. The 318 front sway bar is much larger than any of the other E36 including M3 (except that the M3 suspension has less leverage on the bars, making them effectively larger, but you would need M3 struts for that to work.) This is to increase understeer due to the light rear end of the car. When I originally installed my M50TU, I thought the 318ti sway bar would not clear the oil pan. After everything was mounted, I found that it barely cleared, but would probably hit under certain conditions, so I shimmed it further from the oil pan using aluminum plates bent to match the curve of the body (you cannot use a flat plate because the shape of the bushing, and you cannot just use washers because the top of the sway bar bushing will not have anything to push against.) This gave me more than .25 inches of clearance, which is fine by me. Let me know if you have other questions. If your car has EWS (built 1/95 or later for US models, not sure about EU) then you may need to bypass the starting circuit of the EWS computer and clip one wire to the X20 connector (maybe not, though) or remove the EWS system completely (which I did.)
-Paul

[andrei]

Found the answer on the gearbox. It seems that the US model came with the getrag tranny and that the european model came either with ZF or Getrag.
Euro
US


I won't Have any EWS issues since my car is OBD 1 and so is the donner car. I studied the sway bar issue and it seems that the Ti came with either a 24.5 mm standard and M 25mm while the 325 hase 22.5 mm standard and 23 mm M so the 318ti sway bar is stronger == better.

Thanks for all your answers. I hope to see new pics with your car.

[mooseheadm5]

US cars (even OBD1 cars) produced from 1/95 on DO have EWS, although OBD1 cars have EWS1, which is easy to remove/fake out. I know your donor car does not have it, but the ti might. Look at pin 11 on the round diagnostic connector on the original ti engine. Is there a pin in there or is it a blank? If there is a pin, chances are you have no EWS. If it is blank, you probably do have EWS. Pin 11 is the cranking signal to the starter. Non-EWS cars have a pin there that allows you to crank the engine from under the hood. EWS cars do not have it because you need to have the key in the ignition for it to crank. Like I said, though. It is easy to remedy any problem you may have with EWS because your donor engine ECU definitely does not have it. It is simply a matter of clipping one wire. And, yes the ti sway bar is the best for the ti.
-Paul

[andrei]

My Ti is a 1994(see for yourself with VIN AM04646) so I am preaty sure it doesn't have EWS but I will look at that connector tommorow to see if what you say is true.

[Rich]

Edit: Deleted, was accidentally posted in the wrong thread

[campaiar]

Originally Posted by andrei

My Ti is a 1994(see for yourself with VIN AM04646) so I am preaty sure it doesn't have EWS but I will look at that connector tommorow to see if what you say is true.

Wow, this is scary how familiar this is. I thought the same thing, 1995 M42 to a 1992 M50 swap 2+ months ago, I had some issues. Maybe you won't who knows.

[andrei]

Originally Posted by Rich

I bought a set of CCFL lights from http://www.ssdd-motorsport.com/show_...hp?prod_id=237

They look really good.

You do need to take the headlight unit apart to install them. Its not hard, just takes a little time. I installed the rings in front of the lens rather than behind as see in the link.

????!!!!!

[andrei]

Originally Posted by campaiar

Wow, this is scary how familiar this is. I thought the same thing, 1995 M42 to a 1992 M50 swap 2+ months ago, I had some issues. Maybe you won't who knows.

Can you identify exactly what issues you had and what was the solutions to it?

[mooseheadm5]

Check out his post in the engine swap section:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13392
-Paul