S52 OBDII to OBDI M50 Manifold Swap DYI

[dahamler]

First of all I would like to thank a few people that were instrumental in helping complete this swap.

StealthBimmer (Ken)
Campaiar
J!m

I was lucky enough to find a ti with 235k for sale locally ($2000) and a S52 swap (transmission, engine harness,diff, DME etc.) with 49k (verified) in a 97 Automatic M3 for $2000. I sold most of the components from the drive train and reinvested it into the swap (more on that later).

I wanted to build an aggressive street/ mild track car that I could enjoy and have no problems with vehicle inspections (including California’s smog test). I decided to covert the S52 to OBD I while retaining the OBD II headers and mid pipe, which supposedly flows better. I also wanted to use the famed M50 manifold and have the huge aftermarket support for the OBD I engine (mostly from software tuning).






As you can see from the pics the ti was in fair condition with only minor cosmetic flaws. The biggest problem was the rusted swap bar mount that needed to be repaired. I decided to allow Turner Motorsports to repair the vehicle and while they did a good job we did have some problems. See the details here: http://318ti.org/forum/showthread.php?t=19766