Need some troubleshooting on a 328i engine swap into a 318ti

[FastGuys]

Hey guys, I have a 98 auto ti and a motor from a 98 328is. I did an auto-manual conversion on the ti and am now doing a motor swap.

I'm using a getrag tranny out of a 318is. I purchased new mounts that (I believe) are for a 328is. I dropped the motor and trans in this weekend. I have not installed the new driveshaft yet.

I noticed that I had to use the two from holes on the transmission mount whereas the 318is the tranny came out of used the rear holes. The two sets of holes are about 1" apart.

Also, the shifter is pushed back about 1" from being centered in its hole and looks like it's in 4th gear when it's really in neutral. So it appears that I may have the wrong motor mounts, but I wanted to see if I could confirm that as the problem before ordering anything.

I see that the 318(all models) use one set of motor mounts. Then, the 328is uses one unique set while the 328ic uses another unique set. The motor mounts I have look similar to the pictures on pelicanparts.com of both the 318 and 328is mounts. They are definitely not the 328ic mounts. Will the 328ic mounts move the engine forward and put the trans mount and shifter in the correct position or is there another issue I am not aware of?

The 318 chassis has not been in any wreck and everything looks straight, so bent/deformed parts are unlikely to be the culprit.

I hope someone can chime in here as I'm a bit puzzled!

thanks,
Russ

[FastGuys]

Here are some pics to help illustrate the issue. I've included a pic of the engine's current position, the engine/firewall clearance, the transmission mount, the shifter position from below, and the driver's side motor mount orientation.

I appreciate any insight you guys can provide.

[FastGuys]

And here are pics of the motor mounts from below.

The pic titled "mount1" is the driver's side mount. "mount2" is the passenger side mount.

[familytruckster]

There is a button on the mount that I noticed when I did my motor mounts, I noticed that there were different possible orientations of the mount. That could move the motor around a bit.

[FastGuys]

Originally Posted by familytruckster

There is a button on the mount that I noticed when I did my motor mounts, I noticed that there were different possible orientations of the mount. That could move the motor around a bit.

I know what you're talking about. I believe there is only one option though as I played around with moving the mount around before dropping the engine in.

There are 4 holes. The bolt on the mount can only go in 2 of them though as the other 2 are blind and so you could not thread the nut onto the stud. Of the 2 holes you can use, only 1 is far enough from the frame rail to allow the mount to be inserted through the hole. Once in that hole, I was only able to get the "bump" on the mount to go into one of the other 2 holes.

I hope all of that makes sense, but moral of the story is I tried multiple configurations and was only able to make 1 combination work.

What mounts are you guys using in your swaps? Anyone use mounts that they know are not from a 328ic that had no alignment issues? If so, what mounts did you use?

[BMW_Hatchback]

Welcome to the site.

If you did a little bit a research you would have answered all of your questions yourself. In my M52 swap thread I ran into every problem you did. Turns out they weren't problems at all.

The shifter sits forward a little bit because you have to bend the arm downward with a vice, making it more of a U until you get the desired adjustment. It's cake.

I would go with the matching engine mounts from which the motor came from. For example, my M52 came from a 328i, so I purchased 328i engine mounts (not 328is, 328ic, not 318, not M3). Any mount will work just the same, but I went with the 328i mount to keep things as simple as possible (and budget).

The transmission mount holes won't line up where the old "o" shape hole is, you have to use the oval hole, which shouldn't be a problem.

Do some research, there are plenty of M52 swap threads on here to go off of. Trust me

[FastGuys]

Actually, I did search for the better part of an evening. I saw where people bent their shift rod but my thing is the shifter is backwards not forwards. If I bend the lower steel rod it will make my problem worse. Are you suggesting I try to bend the upper aluminum piece? I can only imagine that thing snapping if I attempt to bend it. Cast aluminum is quite brittle.

So no one has done the swap and gotten the shifter to line up without rigging it?

I'll keep looking but any help is appreciated!