E21, Project Swap - BMW Forum

DJProfessor · 04-05-2005, 12:26 PM

so reluctently i am undertaking this project......got a wrecked 325es with a good motor/trans and i got my 320i back from my parts guy (mainly he didn't want to mess with it, he has mad love for E30's, but not so much for the E21's).....basically it was a package deal i couldn't turn down ($400 bucks are you kidding me? hells yes i jumped on it).

so after results of my poll my project is begining. i am in the process of parting out the E30 right now.......so this thread will be the progress and details of my little swap i am undertaking.

i removed the wiring harness from the E30 last night. i checked the front loom that runs from the fuse block to the lights and such. i found that there were wires for the low level coolant warning thing, but seeing how i am not planning on running the "warning" block i just went ahead and cut all that off. also found the driver's side loom running to the rear was something i don't need, and it met with the knife. i know i know, not the cleanest way to do it, i will clean it all up later. i am crunched for time to get this car gutted, cut up, and out of my garage......cause i need to bring the 320i home ASAP cause the city is on my part's guy for having too many cars (hence part of the reason i got such a good deal on it all). well that made up my night, getting all that out.

also saw the wiring for running the power back to the battery. but seeing how i have a battery relocation kit complete with master racing kill switch......i am going to put that inline as a further theft deturant (sp). but rip it out none the less just in case.

exhaust is the mission tonight after soccer, trans tomorrow, and motor thursday......i hope to start cutting friday night/saturday morning and have it all out by mid-day saturday. i would love to have the 320i residing in the garage saturday evening, and be motor-less by sunday......

i know i will run into problems along the way, and make mistakes as this is the first one of my BMW motor swaps i am undertaking. I use to be a certified Mercedes tech, as well as a dealer trained BMW tech, as well as a background in Audi/VW.......but we won't talk about that last one..........so i have the tools and hopefully the skills for this sort of undertaking

so sit back and enjoy the story that follows as i keep you guys up to date on project E21

DJProfessor · 04-06-2005, 12:36 PM

so i got behind schedule due to soccer practice running late, oh well. gonna try to make up for it tonight........but i found something rather nice. found that along with the ECU and alternator that was stolen off the car, they also took the set of three relays (fuel pump and i forget what else) up on the driver's side near the cruise contol unit......lovely. so i need to add those to my list of parts i need.

and the oil pan is for sure cracked, looks like some moron jacked up the car via the oil pan, and that will need to be replaced. inspected that last night. so that has been added to the list as well, goodtimes......

i am hoping for a better progress report tomorrow

DJProfessor · 04-07-2005, 12:14 PM

exhaust came out and she looks like a newer unit, also noticed that someone was in the process of taking her (only two nuts holding her on to the exhaust manifold, nice).......so i am glad i got her towed when i did, otherwise i would be missing a bunch more parts.....

after looking her over i see that to expidite engine removal i can just remove the front cross member and rear trans support and pull her right out all as one. so hopefully with some assistance this evening i can have it all out as one. i plan on cutting the front core support off so i can just tug her right out, as that was pretty jacked up in the accident this car was involved in.

i started to remove the dash last night and got most of the vents out and other misc items that i won't be reinstalling into the 320i. i plan on installing the dash, but with just minimal items.

it looks like the trans will hopefully just bolt up using the E30 trans cross brace. so i can retain the 5 speed that the 325 came with. however seeing how my 320i is an 80, it does have a five speed, but second gear syncro's are toast. the motor worries me a bit, but if the motor mounts from the 320 motor will bolt on my 325 motor i should have nothing to fear. if not, then a bit of welding will be in order

also the driveshaft gives me some cause for concern, but here again i will see what will work when i, hopefully, get the motor and trans in. i would love to retain the stock 320 rear end as it appears a shorter unit. and seeing how i am not making a freeway flyer that would be all good with me.

more updates tomorrow

jze325i · 04-07-2005, 12:39 PM

Hey, can you post PICS as this project goes on, I am very interested because I used to have a nice '82 320i, which I was looking for a 6 to drop in it , until one COLD LATE night, could not make the hairpin corner at the rate of speed I was going, understeer straight through the corner and SMACK into a big ROCK, that sucked (see pictures)

I ended up selling the car to a fella for 200 dollars and he cut the entire front end off and fixed it (see pictures, very nice) Hooked it right up..

Either way this is a very interesting project and if you make it happen that car will be sweet. Take care..

DJProfessor · 04-07-2005, 12:48 PM

thanks

yeah i will take pics, right now the removal process is quite boring and not really picture worthy.....but i will take some pics tonight of the engine removal. as i am without a diggy cam right now, i will just take some pics with a disposable and put them on disk so i can share with the group.

your E21 looks almost the same as mine, same color and everything. however, mine has some paint issues so she is getting primered up grey when finished. or perhaps black, haven't quite made up my mind in that reguard........

i also have a full roll cage out of my GTI that i am going to modifiy to make fit, my friend has welder will travel.....so we are hooking it up. already have a sticker made for her that says "never trust a primered car with a roll cage"

also have a set of 16in TSW imolas for her (off GTI yet again) that will be going on as well as the racing seats i have left over from the old race car. she will be looking sharp when i get her back on the road no doubt

jze325i · 04-07-2005, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by DJProfessor@Apr 7 2005, 12:48 PM
thanks

yeah i will take pics, right now the removal process is quite boring and not really picture worthy.....but i will take some pics tonight of the engine removal. as i am without a diggy cam right now, i will just take some pics with a disposable and put them on disk so i can share with the group.

your E21 looks almost the same as mine, same color and everything. however, mine has some paint issues so she is getting primered up grey when finished. or perhaps black, haven't quite made up my mind in that reguard........

i also have a full roll cage out of my GTI that i am going to modifiy to make fit, my friend has welder will travel.....so we are hooking it up. already have a sticker made for her that says "never trust a primered car with a roll cage" also have a set of 16in TSW imolas for her (off GTI yet again) that will be going on as well as the racing seats i have left over from the old race car. she will be looking sharp when i get her back on the road no doubt

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Awsome man, Yeah, that 320 was very nice when I first got it, I bought it from a little old lady who was the second owner, she could not drive 5 sp. anymore though...

Definatly needs the 6 in it though for sure, I went from an 88 super ETA 528e, with a 5spd in it so there was a substantial power loss, had to get money for school though so by-by 5 series!

Hey, what year GTI did you have, I used to be big time into them, I built an 84 and an 83, in my 83 I had dropped an 89 8v motor in it with 10.5/1 pisons, erogrind cam, autotech header, knock sensor Ignition, hollow cat with a supersprint exhaust, that cat was FAST!!!!!

DJProfessor · 04-07-2005, 01:02 PM

i had an 85 GTI among many others, thing was gutted had a 16v on side draft webers, 4 into 2 straight back to supertraps, nimbus grey, etc.......she would rock 13's in the quarter.......

after a few mods to the motor after the swap i am hoping to hit the same times, but reliably hit those times.......with VW's you spend more time under them than in them

i likey the ETA motors, my dad was the original owner of my E30 that is my daily (out bid my step mom for it) and i totally love it. it was cared for very well and i continue to do the same, these are great cars........wish i would have gotten into them sooner

DJProfessor · 04-08-2005, 09:13 AM

ok, so my friends had other prior plans and couldn't come over last night......but tonight it's on for motor drop. i pulled the drive shaft last night and removed little odds and ends and started to cut up the front clip.....also noticed that the fuel pump was stolen as well......hope that's the last of it that comes up missing that i need........

and like i said i was going to make, i noticed my first mistake. in my haste to get the wiring out i cut the wires going to the aux fan. no biggy thought cause i seperated them out from the rest of the loom left in the car, so all i have to do is match them up and a little sodiering and heatshrink and i will be back at one. also took some pics tonight of the donor car.

so tonight will be motor removal, tomorrow will be car cut up, and sunday the 320 will come home and i will start working on pulling that motor too

jze325i · 04-08-2005, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DJProfessor@Apr 8 2005, 09:13 AM
ok, so my friends had other prior plans and couldn't come over last night......but tonight it's on for motor drop. i pulled the drive shaft last night and removed little odds and ends and started to cut up the front clip.....also noticed that the fuel pump was stolen as well......hope that's the last of it that comes up missing that i need........

and like i said i was going to make, i noticed my first mistake. in my haste to get the wiring out i cut the wires going to the aux fan. no biggy thought cause i seperated them out from the rest of the loom left in the car, so all i have to do is match them up and a little sodiering and heatshrink and i will be back at one. also took some pics tonight of the donor car.

so tonight will be motor removal, tomorrow will be car cut up, and sunday the 320 will come home and i will start working on pulling that motor too

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Awsome man, sounds like the wheels are really turning there, you must have a pretty nice garage setup to be doing all of this, good for you! I cant wait to have my own house with garage, soon enough I guess.... That's when the projects will start for me!

Is that 6cyl going to bolt right up to the E21 drivetrain??

used

DJProfessor · 04-08-2005, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by jze325i@Apr 8 2005, 07:24 AM
Awsome man, sounds like the wheels are really turning there, you must have a pretty nice garage setup to be doing all of this, good for you!* I cant wait to have my own house with garage, soon enough I guess....* That's when the projects will start for me!

Is that 6cyl going to bolt right up to the E21 drivetrain??* * * used

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well, the garage isn't the biggest, waiting for spring to finally hit so i can begin construction on the 2+ car gargage that will go behind the house, that one will be nice. putting a lift in to make future projects go much more smooothly....

but right now i am in a pretty wide and deep single car garage that i can get the job done in, reguardless of weather....

well, what i am going with for the convo is to rock the motor and tranny from the E30.....the tranny cradle attaches exactly the same to the chassis, so no problem there.....i am a bit worried about drive shaft lengths, BUT seeing how the motor and trans will be sitting in pretty much the same spot, i think i can use the drive shaft that is in the E21 with a bit of adjustment to make it work. the trans in the E21 is a five speed, so they both use the same flex disk and the drive shaft attaches the same way (the three bolt flange)........

right now what worries me the most is the motor mount issue. if the motor mount arms from the E21 motor will bolt right up on the E30 motor i should be set.....if not then i can either modify the current arms on the E30 motor or slap the whole subframe from the E30 under there. the latter being something i am going to try to avoid at all costs. but seeing how they would put straight sixes into these chassis (ie the 323) i would think that i should be able to get this rocking with a bolt and go operation, hopefully.......but we shall see

german-speed-demon · 04-08-2005, 12:12 PM

sounds like you have ur work cut out for you, man. If i can help a litttle, i'm thinking your right on the motor mount issue. I have a 323i (Pix soon), w/ a 6, and playing around at the parts shop, i thought the computer said they SHOULD match up. Don't hold me to it though. I can;t really do any research right now. have fun, and hope you don't find any more parts gone.