M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

General conversations about BMW E28s and the people who own them.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

I guess we don’t get a radiator cap with these?
Anyway. Here’s my mounting system I came up with. Nothing fancy.


ImageImage
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

Way more professional than my setup. If you want to keep the check control happy you'll also need the coolant level sensor (threads into the bottom of the end tank), the sensor connector, and you'll need to extend the wires from the original level sensor to where the new one is.
Panici
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Panici »

stubble88 wrote: Sep 15, 2022 7:16 PM I guess we don’t get a radiator cap with these?
Anyway. Here’s my mounting system I came up with. Nothing fancy.
Looks good! Aluminum?

May I suggest some rubber isolation between the rad and mount? All factory rad mounts I've seen have some rubber involved.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Galahad wrote: Sep 15, 2022 11:59 PM Way more professional than my setup. If you want to keep the check control happy you'll also need the coolant level sensor (threads into the bottom of the end tank), the sensor connector, and you'll need to extend the wires from the original level sensor to where the new one is.
Got it. Thanks!
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Panici wrote: Sep 16, 2022 6:56 AM
stubble88 wrote: Sep 15, 2022 7:16 PM I guess we don’t get a radiator cap with these?
Anyway. Here’s my mounting system I came up with. Nothing fancy.
Looks good! Aluminum?

May I suggest some rubber isolation between the rad and mount? All factory rad mounts I've seen have some rubber involved.
Thanks! Yeah. I was thinking about that. I’ll add something. I have a lot to do before the radiator permanently goes it.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Any suggestions for air intake?
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

I use the stock elbow, stock MAF, a dumb cone filter, and - you guessed it - zip ties!
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Does anyone have there heater all hooked up? I guess I can just use all e28 stuff for that?
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

I used the e28 hose to go from the heater core to the control valve and the e34 parts for the rest of the hook up. Should work but I haven't thoroughly checked everything
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Galahad wrote: Sep 18, 2022 8:21 PM I used the e28 hose to go from the heater core to the control valve and the e34 parts for the rest of the hook up. Should work but I haven't thoroughly checked everything
Using the e36 control valve?
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

It has the e28 heater core control valve
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Let’s talk about power steering. The e28 hose will not work with the e36 pump. I do have and e28 one with res and hoses. Not sure I can swap the pulley. Or if this is even something I should do.
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

Don't swap the pulley, the e28 pump won't bolt up to the m50 block anyway. I'm using an e34 pump and e28 everything else. Get most of the PS fluid out of the car before you disconnect anything, I got absolutely covered in the stuff attempting to be lazy.

On my m20 car:
The e28 hoses are shorter than you'd want but you can get them to reach, I'd suggest loosening the hose connections to the reservoir to allow some rotation while you're getting everything settled in. The reservoir ends up right around where you want the intake elbow, following the trend I solved this with zip ties but the correct way to do it is probably making a bracket that moves the bottle out of the way.

Not sure if that will all apply to your car since it started with an m30 but I bet it's similar.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Looks like I have an e30 pump for some reason in the parts box. 1 137 951.

Eliminating the accumulator I take it?
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

Best I can tell (based on realOEM) I have one of the two following pumps from a 92 525i. Can't tell what the difference between the two is.
32411137013
32411137083
The number you gave looks like it could work - it came up as 32411137951 for m52 e36s on realOEM. Looks like it has banjo bolt input and outlet which you'll need, I've got a m54(?) pump that has a hose clamp outlet which doesn't work unless you use a different return hose.

There's no accumulator in my system, I have the m20 vacuum boost brakes.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

I’m lost on this one.
I need to see a schematic of what your doing.

So your not running the cooler either?
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

I should know this. But I’m guessing I’ll need an e36 drive shaft?
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

I think I'm using a m20 manual driveshaft but it's right at the edge of fitting.

My PS system:
reservoir - > pump -> steering box -> reservoir

I don't have a cooler or any brake booster parts in the system
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

I’m calling a place tomorrow about lengthening and changing the flange. I don’t think there is any other option. I need a 64” drive shaft. I think the e28 is roughly 61.5” and I dont want to max out the length at the splines.

I’ll also need to cut and lengthen the shifter some how. Everything is too far forward.
Mike W.
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Mike W. »

stubble88 wrote: Sep 25, 2022 8:33 PM I’m calling a place tomorrow about lengthening and changing the flange. I don’t think there is any other option. I need a 64” drive shaft. I think the e28 is roughly 61.5” and I dont want to max out the length at the splines.
Given the availability of many E28 parts now, it may be a moot point, but remember there are at least 4 different E28 driveshafts, G260/5, G265/6, 3HP22 and 4HP22. Not counting G260/6 which may be the same as 260/5 let alone G280 on M5s. 3HP22 and G265/6 are nearly the same length, I've interchanged them both ways.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Mike W. wrote: Sep 25, 2022 10:41 PM
stubble88 wrote: Sep 25, 2022 8:33 PM I’m calling a place tomorrow about lengthening and changing the flange. I don’t think there is any other option. I need a 64” drive shaft. I think the e28 is roughly 61.5” and I dont want to max out the length at the splines.
Given the availability of many E28 parts now, it may be a moot point, but remember there are at least 4 different E28 driveshafts, G260/5, G265/6, 3HP22 and 4HP22. Not counting G260/6 which may be the same as 260/5 let alone G280 on M5s. 3HP22 and G265/6 are nearly the same length, I've interchanged them both ways.
Where can we find the lengths of these?
Used shafts look pricey. Let’s see what customizing them cost.
Mike W.
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Mike W. »

stubble88 wrote: Sep 25, 2022 11:32 PM

Where can we find the lengths of these?
That's a very good question. One I've been trying to figure out for several years as I've got a couple I don't know the origin of.

This will paste terribly, and I don't even know where they are measured from and to, but here goes. Big number is MM, small is inches obviously. Technically this is from Realoem for an E28 based E24, but should work.

DRIVE SHAFT ASSY FIVE SPEED GEARBOX G260/5 L=1592MM 260/5 1592 62.7
0.0
DRIVE SHAFT ASSY FIVE SPEED GEARBOX G265/6 L=1522MM 265 1522 59.9
0.0
DRIVE SHAFT ASSY FIVE SPEED GEARBOX G260/6 L=1566MM 260/6 1566 61.7
Used shafts look pricey. Let’s see what customizing them cost.
I've looked into it before. It seems rebuilt D/S are expensive and custom D/S are expensive. BMW driveshafts are expensive, period. And hardly anyone will work on them.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Ok. I can get it lengthened no problem $175. But I still need an e36 yoke welded onto the shaft or swap the output flange on the tranny with one from an e28 (not even sure that’s possible). I can’t be the first one to do this. Right? :shock:
Galahad
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by Galahad »

Revshift sells a conversion guibo that I used, unfortunately it's poly so not everyone will want it.
I believe you can swap the output flange on the transmission but you'll need someone else to confirm that.
stubble88
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Re: M50 swap, who’s doing or did one?

Post by stubble88 »

Galahad wrote: Sep 26, 2022 1:39 PM Revshift sells a conversion guibo that I used, unfortunately it's poly so not everyone will want it.
I believe you can swap the output flange on the transmission but you'll need someone else to confirm that.
Haha. I was just going to post this.
Looks like it will work. I need to go from 96mm to the 78. Looks like I’m getting closer. But yeah. That stiff guibo means transferring the stress onto other parts.

https://revshift.com/collections/flex-d ... -flex-disc
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