The V8 Owners Forum -

Hello,

This a rough guide and what options you have as to fitting a V8 into a E36 3 Series. There are all ready the Rover derived engine conversions on
here being covered so I wont cover that, only to say that I did consider it, but to get the power I wanted I was going to have to purchase a 5.0ltr
TVR unit and they fetch a pretty price.

Quick history I had a 400 bhp cosworth sierra saloon up until about 18 months ago, which I owned for approx 8 years, got a bit bored with it,
as everybody and his dog had one, so I strip it and was going to put the engine in my wife's 3 series bm...

Then the purist in me kicked in and decided that the best course of action was to fit a bigger BMW engine, I had a brief moment and considered a
3.8ltr M5 six cylinder, but soon forgot that due to cost. So back to the drawing board, I did some research and found that the V8 BMW units the
sump is mounted forward of the cross member, but thought so what I'll make a new sump...? No apperently not, BMW in there wisdom thought it
would be a great idea to put the oil pump in the sump, and not just a bit in it, it sticks out of the block 7" or so.

But not be beaten and I love a challenge, impossible odds, that sort of stuff, I went on ebey and found an engine, £300 not bad, now to make it fit............







Engine now out, what's in the way of the new transplant....

Heater valve had go sideways.



Cut off a few brackets that are not required and cover with paint..



Then test fit the replacement....







And the storey continues, more soon.

Steve.

More soon please

ian.stewart wrote:More soon please

Chris.

Hi Steve
Mrs G still won't go for it even though she can see how easy it is to fit
The BM motor is such a smooth running unit I would love to go the same route as you have.
Will watch this thread with great interest.

cheers
Paul

Hello again,

Right, well I think it's best to give an idea of my "making it fit" strategy, I got hold of an Alpina e36 B8 4.6 parts manual (in german), so i could
see the parts they used (alpina built 225 of these, 221 for europe, 4 for japan (4.0ltr versions), and they came in saloon, coupe, converible and
estate). From this I got the list of special parts they used and an idea of how they went about it.

So your all thinking easy, he just bought the parts to do the job..!! Not so, as to buy every thing they made for it come into production would have
probably cost me at least £25,000. Considering they chage everything, engine, gearbox, propshaft, gearlinkage, exhaust (inc manifolds), diff, all
mountings, etc...!!!!!! The list is huge.

Not having a bucket load of cash I had to take a different route, and arguably a better one, I think anyway.

Engine mounts are easy, anybody with a little know how and a mig welder can do them.



The issue, as I'm sure you have now realised is the oil pump and sump, alpina fit a special pump (£800 - 1000 I believe), and a special sump
(similair cost to oil pump) and still mount it in front of the cross member, the issue I have with this is, it's still to far forward and to high, hence a
different propshaft and special 6 speed gearbox....

I, on the other hand, put the engine in the best place, right back, and as low as possible, as you can see in the under shot the oil pump chain hanging just in front of the steering rack, but I'll come back to the oil pump in a bit, I sourced a 5 speed geabox from a E34 530i V8, which I
mounted on the original geabox alloy mount and bolted it in the original position in the car, which ment original prop, gear linkage etc... All good.







Now the oil pump, sump and stuff.... More research, I bought a new oil pump from BMW (not the alpina one), which cost just over £250, it's from
a V8 with a slightly different sump, but still wont bolt straight on, I came up with an idea and went of to see a mate how just happens to run his
own machine shop, I said "I need this to be longer", he replied OOOKKK.! A little causious he said "how do you want it done?" I replied "good but
cheap". A plan was hatched to make a jig, cut my new pump in half and extend it the required amount, weld it back together....









See the timing chains new location.



He then made a flange that mates up to the bottom of the block, I purchased a race sump for an 351W ford V8 of ebay (£65) cut off the
mounting flange and starting making the new sump...







That's it for today, will continue soon....

Steve.

Nice fabrication.

Did you consider using an external oil pump - like they do for dry sump systems?

Hi,

Yeah did consider dry sump pump and run it from my new sump, and it does have an remote filter, which would have worked fine, but they run
by a toothed belt and if they fail thats it, one dead engine..! Also buying one is not cheap and then you have to mount it. So yes, but decided to
go my way, as if it worked it would be no more problems and mantenance free..!!!

Hi,

that's a very interesting setup you've come up with (not messing with the suspension geometry or cross-member and keeping the engine far back)!

I'd like to ask you some questions.
- Will you/can you remove the original dipstick tube?
- Did you extend the rod in the oil pump that carries the pinion or did you just replace it with a longer one?
- What do you mean by "timing chain's new location"? Is the chain that goes to the oil pump no longer driven by the original pinion?

You may have clearance issues with the alternator (fouling the chassis rail). It's the case on E30s anyway.

Keep up the good work and please keep us posted!

Hi,

Yeah, main reason for getting the engine right was to retain the E36 handling, I didn't want to make it to nose heavy, i.e pushining the engine
to far in front of the front wheels.

I took the original dipstick tube, cut to the required length and mounted it in the sump wing that protrudes on the passenger side, then filled the
sump with 8 ltr's of oil and marked the stick.

I had a new shaft made for the oil pump.

The chain still run's of the same gear on the crank, but on the original V8 oil pump the chain is directly down under the crank, my new pump moves
the drive for the pump up and to the drive side and the chain is shorter as well.

The alternator did give me a few concerns to start with, the E38 740 one did touch the chassis rail, but after some research I found that the
alternator of an E34 530i was slightly small, so took a gamble and bought one to try it and it clear's by about 1/4" and doesn't rub so all good..!!

Hello again,

Just a quick one, I have mentioned the friend with the machine shop, well they also make flywheel's and other motorsport parts, so a quick
phone call, and asked "can you make me a M62 V8 flywheel to a s50 M3 clutch pattern?" , "yes" was the response........



Then obviously the clutch, hmmmm... The M3 clutch being light and more readily avaliable was the main reason for the strange flywheel
request, but the standard M3 produces 260ft/lb ish of torque, a standard V8 romps out about 315, and mines not exactly standard, so should
be about 340ft/lb..!!!

So looked on ebay in the uk, M3 clutch £400+ for an uprated one, and £600 for the torque rating I required...... Looked to the USA, much more choice... One rated to 485bhp and 435ft/lb £265 delivered, brilliant, and only took 5 days to get here....!!





Then a quick mod on the rear water housing......



Then bolt the gearbox to the engine and into the car....

Exhaust next time.

Steve.

All nice work. But wouldnt a standard V8 clutch have fitted and worked ?

Spec clutches can be hit or miss sometimes, assuming that is spec.

Hi,

Standard clutch would have worked well enough, but the flywheel, which is a dual mass, and not very common (most V8 bmw are auto) weighs
in at a hefty 20 ish Kgs + the v8 clutch, total about 25kg and about £750 to 800.... My proto type flywheel, which they have now put into
production for kit car and race car boy's, weighs in at 7kgs, and 10Kgs together with the clutch.... £500 ish.

So yes, but now it revs like a bike engine, so I love it...!!

Steve.

Cool.

Have you been to woodbridge suffolk recently?

BMWE36V8 wrote:Have you been to woodbridge suffolk recently?

End of october, yup. Slippery down there lol