A ti swap thread like no other!

[KINGAMR]

^Good effort!What are the numbers/gains like on these headers?I was actually thinking about opening up the ports on my cylinder head and modifying the design a bit like bavarian solutions did.

[PhotoMotion]

Honestly I don't know what the headers do in terms of power. I had heard good things about the "ebay headers" and picked them up from a local guy that put a set up on craigslist he had decided not to install.

Getting them to fit right is a lot of effort, and you have to plug a bunch of holes with bolts or welds as it's a clone of the euro headers and there is a breather/EGR tube at the top of every runner.

I'm going to have the car on the dyno March 20th, so I'll get some numbers, but it will be a composite of a Dinan chip (pre-installed), intake, headers, and complete exhaust. Because this motor was pulled from a wreck I bought, I don't have a baseline.

[PhotoMotion]

Well, it's been a long time coming, but it's starting to come together guys!





I hope to have the motor mounted (or at least test-fit) tomorrow night. Gotta get this thing out the door!

[ChItalian1027]

drool

[PhotoMotion]

Ok, so after 10 hours of work yesterday the S50 is finally mounted in the engine bay! Now the fun part begins: Trying to figure out what plugs in where! To that end, I have a couple of questions for the swap veterans in the audience.

1. Brake booster electronic connection:
I left my ti's brake booster and master-cylinder in place as I think they were upgraded to 6-cylinder parts before I owned the car. The master cylinder appeared to be the same external size as the M3 one I pulled out of the donor car. During re-assembly though, I noted that the M3 brake booster had a small electrical connection on it, where the ti doesn't have one. Since the brake system is largely intact, I can't imagine I really need that electrical connector. (unless it's a vacuum gauge of some kind?) Anybody familiar with this?

You can see it here:

2. Power steering reservoir relocation:
The stock PS reservoir location will no longer work as it and the alternator cannot occupy the same space at the same time. I have the M3 rack and reservoir which seems to bolt to the motor mount bracket (from looking at a 97 M3 anyway). Any other ways folks have dealt with this?



3. Heater Valve control
So my OBD-1 harness has a connector for the heater control valve. Well, the ti has that on its internal harness, and the connectors are different. Should I just wrap up and secure the OBD-1 connector and leave the ti one in place? That would be my first theory.



Thanks a million guys. I'm scrambling to get this done before Wed. So it can get to the exhaust shop. The car has a date with a dyno on Saturday.

[campaiar]

I used the same approach concerning the Power Steering, Coil Pack and Secondary Air Pump brackets.

Angle Grinder and Paint.

[campaiar]

I've never seen the electical connector on the brake booster.

The vac line is in an interesting place which may require a new rubber line.

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by campaiar

I used the same approach concerning the Power Steering, Coil Pack and Secondary Air Pump brackets.

Angle Grinder and Paint.

Me too. I used the Ti brake booster with the M3 master cylinder/reservior/ABS pump. Not sure what you should do with the heater valve. My swap is OBDII-OBDII and I didn't have that problem. Here's some pics of the brackets grinded off and painted:
http://www.318ti.org/forum/showthrea...=22341&page=27

[PhotoMotion]

OK, status update, some lessons learned, and a question.

Status Update/Completed Items
-Transmission cross member & shifter components attached
-Valve cover installed
-Engine harness installed and plugged in
-Cooling lines routed
-Starter hooked back up
-EWS Unit swapped out
-Filled the motor with oil
-Installed M3 throttle cable

Problems Solved
1. Looks like I'll have to use the hoses and reservoir from the M3 rack, and attach it to the motor mount bracket.

2. I'm planning on using the ti booster. I believe the Master Cylinder has already been upgraded to a 6-cylinder model by the PO.

3. The "Heater Valve" connector was mis-labeled. It was actually one of the knock sensor cables. Mystery solved.

Lessons learned
1. All reports indicate that there are multiple kinds of M3/325/328 manual transmission drive shafts. Some have the standard U-Joint with 4 bolt flange, while others have a CV-Joint with a 6 bolt flange. My donor driveshaft has the 6 bolt flange, which will not bolt up to my diff. My 318ti rear shaft cannot be connected to the donor M3 front shaft as the 318ti uses the old "collar" securing method, and the M3 uses a bolt through the center of the shaft to connect the two pieces. Anyone have any other ideas on how to make these two go together? Otherwise I'll be talking to a custom drive-shaft company.

2. I wish I would have labeled my vacuum lines a little better. I did great with the electrical connectors, but not so much the vacuum lines.

[PhotoMotion]

Status update for today:

First thing in the morning, I went to a local driveshaft shop to see what they could do for my application. The guy there was very helpful in discussing my options, including one that gave me an idea for another option. After speaking with a diff specialist, I determined that the differential's 4-bolt input flange could be swapped with the 6-bolt one from the M3 diff, which should line up all the drive shaft and diff components. I'll be dropping off the diffs at a shop tomorrow morning to have them do the swap. Hopefully by the evening I will have all the components I need to complete the drive-train install.

To-day's list of completed items includes:
-Cut-off bracket for the 318ti's power steering reservoir.
-Installed Power Steering rack, pump, lines and reservoir. (Man, getting all that lined up was a PITA!)
-Attached more under-manifold wiring and vacuum lines
-Dropped differential out for driveline swap.
-Installed coil-packs and
-Attached fuel lines
-Attached clutch slave
-Routed O2 sensor and reverse-light wiring
-Test-fit intake manifold


Hopefully for tomorrow I'll be able to put in the diff and driveshaft, and then do whatever I can to test-fire the motor by the end of the day, and see if I can get it down to the exhaust shop on Thursday.

Happy St. Paddy's everyone!

[PhotoMotion]

Well, after 3am and 5am nights trying to get the car ready for the deadline needed to get exhaust put on the car before my Saturday event, it's looking like the exhaust shop has a bit too much scheduled for this week to fit me in. It's not their fault, there was no way to know if I'd be ready in time, and that's just how his schedule loaded up.

The good news is I can now justify taking a night off from the non-stop car work. This is an awesome project, but working on it every available second day after day can wear you down. I took some time today to get caught up on bills and such, and was utterly shocked to realize that a full two weeks had gone by since I last looked at anything aside from the car's to-do list.

How do we let it get this bad?

Work starts again on Friday and Sunday.

[sokat1989]

Originally Posted by PhotoMotion

I'm going to have the car on the dyno March 20th...

Are you by any chance referring to the Tech-O-Rama at Lynch Hummer?
If so, I'm looking forward to seeing you there in your newly swapped ti.

P.S. Do you by any chance remember meeting me at a stlbmwcca meet a long time ago? I was the one that went inside, stayed for a few minutes, and left without saying a word. lol.

[PhotoMotion]

Yup, I'll be there. Unfortunately, per my post just above, the ti won't be yet

The exhaust shop wasn't able to sneak me in under the deadline, and the build was coming down to the wire either way. Better to not rush it, but I'll still be there with the PhotoMotion table showing off pictures, etc.

Come by and say "hi"!

Best,
Rob

Originally Posted by sokat1989

Are you by any chance referring to the Tech-O-Rama at Lynch Hummer?
If so, I'm looking forward to seeing you there in your newly swapped ti.

P.S. Do you by any chance remember meeting me at a stlbmwcca meet a long time ago? I was the one that went inside, stayed for a few minutes, and left without saying a word. lol.

[PhotoMotion]

OK, so tonight I took a break from the Engine side of things and moved to the back of the car. I've dropped the rear sub-frame and started looking at how to get the bushings out of the frame and trailing arms. Of course, now that I realize that I'll need some piping and threaded rods to do the job, the hardware stores are closed.

With not much left to do at the back, I started looking at the cooling system up front. It looks like I can either add a cooling hose to the ti radiator, or use the M3 radiator and extend the sensor wires for the expansion tank sensor.

What did you guys end up going with? Ti Radiator or M3?

[campaiar]

Originally Posted by PhotoMotion

What did you guys end up going with? Ti Radiator or M3?

M3 for me.