316i to 328i converstion

[Rich]

More progress today. The engine is in!!!

After a fair bit of jiggling the engine slid in perfectly. We had to temporally remove the left engine mount to let the engine sump swing past. It was very tight to squeeze the engine in with the front cross member in and the bonnet on however it just slipped passed. The left engine mount need to be temporally removed to let the engine sump past. Once the engine was on the engine mounts (which fit perfectly) the back of the gearbox was lifted and the mounts attached to the car. The new equipment means the gearbox mounts are about 20 mm further away from the engine mounts. The gear box mount has 4 sets of holes which means that the extra length can be compensated by using the front set of holes in the gearbox mounts. The extra length also means that the front part of the 328i prop shaft needs to be used as it slightly shorter than the 316i compact one (also the gearbox flange for the 2.8 5 speed has wider hole spacing).

The fuel lines and throttle cable have been attached. A few items are needed to link the rest of the engine. One of the key items will be to replace the one way value to the brake cylinder from the straight one from the original engine to a 90 degree one need for this engine. Also the main power cable need to be moved from the right to the left as the compact has the battery in the front and on the left.

Also the ESW modules were replaced with those from the new engine. This included the key chip reader under the steering column and the ESW module behind the glove box. Hopefully this will work first time without any issues.

Additionally after researching into other people who have upgraded their compact the exhaust plans have changed. The original plan was to use the supplied 328i mid section and have a custom back end made. The new plan is to use a Z3 2.8 midsection and Eisenmann back box for the Z3 2.8. These parts should fit on as it is with out major modification.


Engine bay cleaned ready for fitting the engine.


Engine next ready to go in.


Changing the ESW unit.



Ready to lift the engine in, time to hope for the best that it will fit.


Engine in!

[Rich]

The covers have been given a quick clean. Look nice and shiny



Hook up some of the engine connections, also test fit of the various engine accessories. The air box is going to be replaced with a BMC carbon filter.

[Rich]

A quick picture to show the whole car + engine, (its not a trick hehe)


Bonnet down.. doesn’t look like anything has changed.

[pnosker]

Wow... awesome!! Nice work. How hard was replacing the non-engine components (ECU, etc.)?

[Rich]

So far only the ESW wiring has been changed, this was not difficult. Its a simple case of finding and replacing the modules under the steering column and behind the glove box. I have kept the original key barrel so I have also changed the chip out of the new key to the old key. This means I that the door locks etc will still match the ignition.

The ECU is exactly the same size as the old one so should fit in the same mounting as before. Its not been mounted yet but should be in next weekend.

As more parts are connect up I will report on what does and does not fit, as I have done so far.

[fushigii]

Nice work Rich!
Keep the report and pic coming!.
This will be a good reference for those planning to do conversion.

[Rich]

Progress update

Today the engine cooling system was connected to the internal heater and the main power wiring has been re-routed. I also gave the radiator a good clean inside and out so its ready for use.

With the engine in place it became apparent that the one of the connections from the engine cooling system to the cars internal heater would not fit. The pipe for connecting these parts together was the wrong shape. Patrick suggested that I use the pipe from the old engine. After removing the pipes from the new and the old engine you can see the difference.



The top pipe is from the 1.6 and bottom from the 2.8. After a trial fitting of the 1.6 pipe it was clear that it would fit however it was about 2 cm too long and therefore caused a small kink in the pipe. With the pipe shortened and some help from Fairly liquid the pipe slid on to the engine & heater perfectly.




With that complete the main power wiring need to be re-arranged. Since this engine and engine loom came from a saloon or coupe e36 the main power connector was on the right of the engine bay as those cars have the battery in the boot. The compact has the battery in the front and on the left (as the car is right hand drive, the brake servo & cylinder are on the right).
First step was to remove the distribution block.



Next the engine loom box was opened to expose the wiring. There were 3 main power lines to move around.
1. The starter and alternator wire, this need to be directly attached to the battery.
2. The fuse box power (car), also directly connected to the battery
3. The ECU power, This need to be connected to the battery via a fused link (to protect the ecu)



The two thick wires as seen in the picture above were pulled out of the engine loom box from the right of the car to the left (in the picture right to left). The ECU power was also pulled through and was looped out of engine loom box via the grommet where wires 1 and 2 originally ran. In the following picture you can see the red wire (on the right of the image) looping back and out.



With the engine wiring loom back in place the ECU was fitted and connected. It was a perfect fit in the original mounting. Even the rubber grommet form the ECU loom fit perfectly into the ECU compartment cover!



To finish the wiring I will need to get a battery terminal for all of the positive power connections.

[fushigii]

Nice works.Can't wait to see it finish and run.

[albi901]

Good work........if you dont mind me asking how much do you reckon the whole transplant has cost ?

[Rich]

The transplant budget was around 4000 GBP. The exhaust has pushed the cost up more than initially expected so its going to go over.

[fushigii]

Rich,

With this engine conversion, is there any current functional features that cannot be use such as OBC, digital climate control, etc. Maybe due to different type of engine harness or no connection point to the engine.

[Rich]

I looked over the wiring diagrams for both the compact and saloon. I've included my comparison chart I made a while ago (its a zipped excel file). The x20 connector on my car has less pins as it does not have all features. (the x20 connector is the main connector to link the car loom and engine loom)

It should work, hopefully I will be able to find out soon.

[fushigii]

Thanks for info man! A good info for reference.
Keep us update on your project progress.

[Rich]

Time to catch up a little with the progress
Last weekend I got quite a few new parts. This included a full service kit which contained:-
- Fuel Filter
- Oil Filter
- Air Filter
- Thermostat
- Water pump
- Spark plugs
- New fan belt (the old one was missing a hole section :O )

A note about the water pump, the M52’s came with plastic impellers, these have been known to malfunction causing the engine to over heat. The impeller in my engine was plastic.

I got a full set of fluids for, engine, gearbox, brakes/clutch and power steering.

There is also a full calliper repair kit. I am planning on rebuilding the callipers I received from the breakers. These brakes will be equivalent to those from stock 328i apart from the rear disks are solid rather than vented.



The new thermostat o ring turned out to be incorrect and in the process of putting the new thermostat cover on the cover was broken. Arg! So I’ve ordered another new thermostat cover along with an OEM thermostat and o ring.

The old spark plugs were a little sooty and oily.


New fan belt, this fan belt was really easy to change, as the engine has an auto tensioning system, simply turn the auto tension with a socket wrench and slip of the old belt and side on the new one.


The gearbox was checked for oil, it was near enough empty. Unfortunately the filler plug had completely ceased, not even the big breaker bar would budge it. I had to use a car jack + breaker bar!!! The gearbox oil will be filled later.



Also have some good news, after reading an article BMW magazine about the Nikasil problem. It stated that you can identify engine with the replacement block with steal liners by a pair shaped steal plate under the starter. If there is just a pair shape stamped into the block this is an original block. I’ve not been able to confirm if this is fact yet so it may not be true.

[Rich]

Some Wiring

I’ve also done some wiring. The extra wiring needed for the mpg gauge was added, the main +ve wires were cut and moved to the correct place and the other engine wiring was arranged to fit the compact.

Adding MPG wire
The first problem was where to get the pins from as my car’s wiring did not include any extras. Luckily there is part of an e30 wiring loom lying around the garage. This is left over from the donor car which was used in the kit car my brother and I are building (see link in signature). On this loom I found a connector with pins that are 100% correct for the x20 connector (the main engine loom/car loom connector).


Perfect match



To keep the x20 connector protected from water each pin has a rubber seal. I simply cut a hole through the solid rubber seal and pushed the wire through.


There is a metal sleeve that goes with the pin this need to go over the pin before its pushed into place. The MPG pin goes into pin 24 on the x20 connector.