 |
S50B30
3.0l Euro Motor Transplant Project |
|
|
April 3,
2001 |
Call me crazy but we decided to take on putting a 3.0l euro engine in the E36
M3. We had a nasty oil leak in stock engine and we suspected the rear main
seal as the source. This was going to necessitate removal of the
transmission to get to it. As chance would have it a 3.0l euro motor from
AKG Motorsport had just become available from a wreck in England. The
motor was an ugly duckling but the salvage records indicated that it was a
running motor. The price was right and since we had resolve the oil leak
with the existing motor we decided to do the swap. As promised when the
motor arrived it was pretty grubby but nothing appeared to be damaged other than
the air box and HFM. As describe by the salvage yard the car had taken a
right side impact so the damage to the air box and HFM made sense. So,
with what looked like a decent motor we began the project.
We spent the first couple of days preparing the motor before we began the
removal of the old motor. The new motor needed to be inspected, detailed
and prepared for installation. The car was from England we had to convert
to left hand drive. This meant installing some country specific parts and
a left hand wiring harness. As we inspected and prepared the motor we
found several surprises along the way. Since the car is primarily setup as
a track car we opted to remove some of the emissions control devices and install
the GT dual pickup oil pan and pump. At a later point we may convert the
car to the GT International specification after we complete the parts search and
do some more research. For now we are content with just adding the oil pan
and pump.
The basic installation took about 80 hours of shop time. The first 5
days were dedicated to engine preparation alone. The engine removal and
another to drop the new engine in the car. The last three days were
devoted to connecting the transmission and exhaust as well as installing the
cooling system and placing the wiring harnesses. The project took a lot of
hard work and a pound of flesh as I picked up seven stitches as I sliced my
knuckle across a sharp edged bolt installing the fuel lines. Unfortunately
I had rely on extra help the last few days when two hands were needed on the
project. On the last day we turned the key and the engine easily came to
life. As promised it was a running motor. It smoked quite a bit as
it had been shipped full of oil but as the engine heated up it dissipated and
the engine began to settle down and run smoothly. We cleared the ECU of
error codes and monitored the engine. All signs looked good but we did
notice that all cylinders were firing consistently. We believe that that
will shake out as we break in the engine. If the problem persists we may
need to change some spark plugs. Right now we are waiting for some more
euro parts to arrive before we start seriously shaking down the motor. The
extreme cold weather here in Chicago does not help the process either.
Once the parts come in we will finish the section on motor installation and add
quite a few new pictures. Other areas will be expanded so please check
back from time to time to see how we are doing.
Outlined below are the major steps we took in this project:
Inspection
If you received an engine from salvage then you should spend extra time to
inspect the condition of the engine. An engine from a wreck is often sold
"as is". Therefore, you should look for potential problems
before going to the effort and expense to install the engine.
 |
Inspect
the condition of the belts. Look for cracks in the "V"
grooves to indicate if the belt is brittle. Look for any frayed
edges on the belts. This will tell you if any pulleys are out of
alignment. Look for any leaks around the oil filter housing and
around the water pump for any coolant leaks. |
 |
Check
the fuel rails and injectors for any gas leaks. Check the condition
of the rubber washers and seals around the head cover. Look for
cracks in the seals and washers. If they they are cracking or
brittle then they should be replaced. |
 |
Inspect
the headers and look for leakage around the header gaskets. The
bolts may have loosened. If a connection is loose or deteriorating
you may see some black soot around a gasket it may be worn or the header
nuts may need to be tightened. |
 |
There
are quite a few hoses under the intake manifold. Check them for wear
and tear. It is a good practice to change all hoses every five years
so you may want to consider replacing them before installation. |
|
|
Detailing
I highly recommend that you detail your engine. You do not have to take
it to Concors D'elegance level but cleaning up the engine will force you to go
over it in detail and may help you find any leaks or loose parts. Also by
cleaning the engine you will be able to spot any problem leaks after you install
the engine. You also spent some serious money to get this engine, you
might as will have it look nice when people want to look under your hood.
There are lots of smelly caustic cleaners out there but I found two that were
very friendly to the environment and kept you from getting stoned and sloppy on
fumes. I got lots of tooth brushes and other mild scrubbing tools and hit
the engine section by section working top down. Be sure to put wads of
paper towels in any openings, ports or tubes before you begin to prevent
cleaning fluids from entering the engine. I used citric orange like tooth
past on a tooth brush and started scrubbing. Nothing takes the grease off
your hands like this and it works really well on an engine and is friendly to
the rubber parts. I would scrub a small sections then spray that with a
foaming engine cleaner and wait 30 seconds. This would lift up the grease
and it would ooze down the engine block onto a waiting baking pan below. I
would repeat until the area was as clean as I could get it. Don't be surprised
if some areas just don't come completely clean. The throttle bodies are
very difficult to clean and be sure that they are stuffed with paper towels to
avoid having cleaning fluids enter the engine. For really sticky areas I
used brake cleaner or goof off to remove old sealers and other gummy
substances. Keep these fluids away from any rubber parts, o-rings or
gaskets. Detailing supplies:
- Citric Orange
- Foaming engine cleaner
- Goof Off
- Brake Cleaner
- Various brushes
- Paper towels
Left Hand Drive Conversion
Close to half the cars BMW produces are right hand drive. Chances are
good that the motor will come from one of these cars. Mine did. In
this case you will have to take several steps before installing to motor to
ensure a successful installation.
Basic Maintenance
The ideal time to perform basic maintenance on the engine is while the engine
is out of the car. The 3.0l euro engine is very sturdy and durable but
depending on its age and or mileage it may be wise to replace common wear
items. I chose to replace the following items:
 |
The euro engine typically runs at much higher
rpms than the US engine and keeping the engine cool is a greater
challenge. Given the unknown status of a salvaged engine we thought
it best to to ahead and replace the water pump. |
 |
The hosing for the water temperature sensor is
an integrated part of the water pump. Since we replaced the water
pump it was an ideal time to go ahead and replace the water temp sensor. |
|
At any point where we removed an item from the
engine we replaced the gasket or seal that went with the item. In
some cases we found that the new gasket or seal was much improved over the
original. For example the head cover gasket now has ridges on both
sides. Since this gasket has to cover a wide area this new design
will significantly reduce oil leakage that was common around the head
cover. |
|
It is a good general practice to replace hoses
every 5 years and given that this motor was from a 94 production car these
were due for a change. |
|
It is a good idea to inspect the belts and look
for signs of wear such as cracks in the "v" grooves or frayed
edges. Since we remove the ancillary items from the engine only one
belt remains and it appears to be in good condition so we chose to use the
exiting belt. |
|
|
Surprises
While performing basic maintenance and inspecting a salvaged engine you
should be prepared for some surprises. In our case there were a few.
 |
Our first surprise occurred when we tried to
remove the center portion of the head cover. It is held in place by
four hex nuts. Unfortunately two were stripped beyond recognition
from being over tightened. We drilled holes in what was left of
the bolts and had to use screw extractors to get them out. It took a
long soak with penetrating oil and some serious torque to loosen these
bolts. |
 |
It is smart to inspect the cams before trying
to run a salvaged engine. The gasket was leaking upon initial
inspection and it was replaced with a newer one. Clearly the old one
was inadequate. It had ridges on only one side and at some point
during a previous opening some sealant had been used. This sealant
had hardened and compromised the effectiveness of the gasket.
Inspection showed that the cams looked fine. We did notice that the
head of one of the bolts holding the Steuerhause was stripped. We
figured that some Vanos work had been done on the car in its past
life. If we install the GT cams and GT Steuerhause we know we will
have to drill this out and replace the bolts. As we break in the
engine we now know to pay special attention to the Vanos performance as we
do not know the nature of the work done. |
 |
Our next surprise came as we attempted to bolt
down the head cover. The bolts used are only to be tightened to 10nm
as they have stops and the bulk of the hold is done by the integrated
rubber washers. The bolts use a fine thread and go into the aluminum
head unit. Aluminum is very soft and you have to be careful when
you retighten these bolts. We found that many of these had been over
tightened and the threads on the head were stripped. You can clearly
tell when you have a stripped thread when you tighten down the bolt to
10nm and it just keeps spinning. You have to remove the head and
re-tap the offending recess. Evidently this is a common repair
mistake made by less that skilled mechanics. We had to use a Time-Sert
kit to drill out and re-tap the holes and fill with the proper
inserts. Fortunately this kit leave the head better than new as the
inserts are steel vs. aluminum. The ugly thing is that next time I
remove the head cover I know that I will have to re-tap some more of these
holes. Before you put the nuts back in be sure to check the threads
for any aluminum in the threads. You will strip the good threads on
the head if you don't clean these out. |
 |
After installing the engine and filling it with
oil we noticed an oil leak on the exhaust manifold. We could easily
see that the source was a small port near the rear of the engine
block. This port contains a small screw style plug that is the
Constant Pressure Valve (11-11-1-318-185). This device contains a
small spring loaded ball bearing that maintains a constant pressure
between two portions of the engine. For what we are not sure.
We removed the offending valve and found that the rubber o-ring was hard
as nails. This is not surprising as the rubber o-ring must take the
heat of the engine. We ordered a valve that includes a new
o-ring. There is no part number just for the o-ring so we ordered
the whole valve. Installing this valve corrected the leak. If
you click on the picture you can see where the old o-ring is compressed
and the new one is round for a tight seal. |
|
|
GT Conversion
If you are serious about driving your car on the track e.g. Drivers Schools,
Club Racing, and Autocross you will want to consider bringing the engine up to
GT specification. The GT specification included several goodies that
improve the reliability and life of the engine under harder driving
conditions. BMW produced several hundred GT Models for Europe only and the
US saw some of the GT specification parts on the LTW. If your 3.0l engine came
from a GT car then you are in good shape. My engine was from a stock M3 so
it did not have these parts. If you plan to use the engine on the track
you should at least install the GT oil pan and pump.
 |
Removal
of the oil pan on a Euro engine takes a few extra steps over the US
counterparts. You must first dismount the power steering pump.
You must remove the fan belt and then dismount the pump (do not disconnect
the lines). This will make way for the removal of the pan. You
will also release one end of the emissions control pip that feeds
underneath the oil pan. Remove the second screw holding the pipe to
the oil pan and the pipe will swing free. You can now remove the oil
pan. |
 |
Removing
the oil pan will give you access to the oil pump. Remove the
sprocket (screw mounts counter clockwise so turn clockwise to
remove). Unbolt the oil pump. You will also unbolt the crank
guard to the right of the pump. You do not use the guard with the
LTW oil pan. Note that the stock engine has the single oil pickup at
the lower right of the picture. |
 |
Here
is a picture of the the GT oil pump included with the LTW oil pan
kit. It has its own pickup (the brass end on the right). The
pump has a higher capacity and heavy duty bearings. |
 |
Fit
the sprocket on the chain with chain taught on the non-tensioned
side. Slip it onto the pump and then bolt the pump into place. |
 |
You
will remove the single bracket that held the pickup for the old oil pump
and install the two brackets on the crank shaft mounts. Be sure to
torque those bolts back to speck. This is an excellent opportunity
to inspect the crank and the brackets for any unusual wear. I could
still see the original milling marks so things look good. |
 |
Install
the pickup and return pipes. Be sure to coat the small o-rings with
oil and install in the proper receptacles. I also coated the ends of
the pipes with oil to make sure they would slide in without damaging the
O-rings |
 |
If
you look inside the oil pan you will see various baffles and channels that
are not in the stock oil pan. It is quite a bit different than the
stock oil pan. Be sure to clean the surfaces on the engine block and
oil pan. Use a new gasket for the oil pan installation. This
is a must as I could see bits and pieces of the old gasket and had to
clean them off the engine block prior to installation. A super clean
installation will save you lots of grief later by avoiding unnecessary
leaks. |
 |
Install
the oil level sensor blank and the oil pickup strainer. Coat the
O-rings with oil and make sure the surfaces are dry and clean before
bolting these on. These are common leakage areas. A number of
oil pan kits came with a simple washer for the oil level sensor, however,
you will want to make sure you have correct washer (12-61-1-227-129). |
|
|
If you want to bring the engine to full GT specification you will need to
locate and install the following parts:
|
|
|
 |
The
GT used different intake funnels to help feed more air to the
engine. The GT funnels are larger in diameter, have shorter stems
and the intakes are flared to improve air flow. The GT funnel is on
the left. These are the same funnels that were used in the 3.2l
engine. (2) 13 54 1 404 637 Cylinder 1, 3
(1) 13 54 1 404 638 Cylinder 5
(3) 13 54 1 404 639 Cylinder 2, 4, 6 |
| Cams |
The
GT has a different set of intake and exhaust cams.
(11-31-1-404-660) Intake Cam
(11-31-1-404-662) Exhaust Cam |
| Steuergehause |
This
consists of a sturdier set of brackets and bearings used to guide and support the cam
shafts. This is the successor part for stock 3.0l engines.
(11-12-1-404-966) Steuergehause |
 |
The
emissions control pump draws air in from the air box on the other side of
the engine. One part of the intake consists of a metal tube that passes underneath the oil pan. Since the oil pan for the for the GT
has a different profile a different air intake tube is needed.
(11-72-1-404-626) Air intake tube |
| Chip |
The
GT did have its own software profile. The speed limiter was raised
to 155mph and the horsepower was increased to 295hp @ 7100rpm from 286hp @
7000rpm. Torque was increased to 238lb @ 3800rpm from 236lb @
3600rpm. These are the BMW figures but rumors indicate that
the actual performance gains were greater. |
 |
The
GT used a heavy duty gasket set for the engine block. The kit
included a heavy duty oil pan gasket and main engine seals. The rest
of the gaskets and o-rings appear to be stock.
(11-11-1-402-381) Gasket set engine block |
| ? |
There
may be some other GT parts to used that we are unaware of. |
|
|
Track Preparation
The sky's the limit! You could prepare the car to stock spec by having
the engine blueprinted. Blueprinting involves breaking down the engine and
making sure that parts are as close to factory specification as possible.
Some things that are checked include cam profiles, valve seating, ring and
piston diameters and so on. Although BMW bills a certain level of
performance for an engine they actually vary quite a bit and most fall a little
short of the engines potential. Blueprinting helps ensure that you are not
leaving power on the table before installing the engine. You could take
the car to the next level by preparing it to a Group N specification or fully
race prepare the engine for Group A or other race spec such as the Motorola Cup
series (which allowed the 3.0l euro engine). Each of these classes have
various rules for what engine modifications are allowed.
Since our car is primarily a track car I chose to eliminate the emission
control pump and air conditioning. The emission control pump helps control emissions during
engine startup. Once the engine is warmed up the unit disengages and is no
longer needed. Eliminating the emissions control pump, bracket and related
items saves about 15lbs. Removing the AC pump and related items saves
about 40lbs.
Engine Removal
Removal of a US engine is well documented in the Chilton and Bently Guides
and is not covered here in detail. In general you have to perform the
following major steps to remove the engine:
- Disconnect the battery
- Disconnect the exhaust oxygen sensor
- Remove exhaust as one unit up to but not including exhaust header
- Detach the AC pump
- Detach the power steering pump and reservoir
- Drain the oil
- Drain the coolant from the radiator and engine block
- Remove the fan clutch
- Remove the radiator
- Remove air box and HFM to throttle body
- Remove intake manifold and throttle body (optional)
- Disconnect engine ground
- Disconnect coolant return
- Disconnect heater in/out hoses to interior
- Disconnect throttle cables
- Disconnect brake vacuum hose
- Disconnect carbon air filter
- Disconnect fuel lines
- Disconnect wiring harness
- Loosen engine mounts
- Remove shifter linkage clip
- Remove transmission
- Remove clutch and flywheel (optional but recommended)
- Attach engine lift with a load balancer and put some tension on the lift
- Disconnect the engine mounts.
- Pull the engine
Some major points to watch out for.
Use a high quality engine balancer. There is a cable based one that
lets you make fine adjustments. Screw based ones may look hefty but are
are too hard to adjust.
Disconnecting the transmission was probably the trickiest and most difficult
portion of the engine removal. With the engine mounts loose (not
disconnected) you can drop the transmission at a angle. Using a 3'
3/8" socket extension with a swivel head you have to loosen and remove the
torx bolts that hold the transmission to the engine. Reaching the torx
bolts at the top of the transmission is very difficult. One person would
reach up and guide the socket onto the head of the bolt and hold it there while
the other would break the hold and unbolt the transmission. The top bolt
holding the starter motor is very difficult to reach. We were lucky as it was
not there. It must have fallen out at some point. We did not remove
the intake manifold but I would suggest it. All the stuff that had to be disconnected underneath
it would have
been much easier to get to. We don't have any pictures as it took both
pairs of hands to extract the engine. There just wasn't time to say "hold this while I run over and take a few
pictures" while the other holds a 100 pound transmission in the air.
Engine Bay Preparation
This is one of the few times that you will have a chance to
detail your engine bay. I highly recommend that you take the extra few
hours to clean things up. If nothing else a clean engine bay will help you
spot any leaks after you install the new engine.
 |
Here
is a shot of the engine bay. |
 |
Another
view of the empty engine bay. |
|
|
Engine Installation
Installing the engine was a fairly straight forward
process. The real trick to an easy install is to use a cable based engine
balancer. You want to make sure the engine is as vertical as
possible. Several tricks would have made it easier for us.
- Remove the headers and install after dropping the engine
in. It is hard to bolt these on but easier than trying to get them to
snake in the engine well while you are trying to drop in the engine.
The headers are a real tight fit near lower control arm bushing. If
you keep the headers on then detach the lower control arm bushing to help
make way.
- Remove the aluminum steering column linkage. It is
the section that goes between the universal joint in the steering column and
the rack and pinion link. This item is very easy to bend and damage
while installing the engine. The slightest ding and it is out of
round. It is a one time use item. If you bend it you have to
replace it.
- Run the engine balance cable over the 6th throttle
body. Cushing the throttle body with some thick rubber to avoid
damage. This approach will keep the engine vertical making it much
easier to drop it into place.
- Be very patient and move the engine in place in very fine
increments. You do not want to drop or bang things around and do
damage to the engine, oil pan or surrounding parts.
Once the engine was in the flywheel and clutch were installed and then the
transmission and so on down the line. This was an excellent time to
inspect the condition of the clutch and flywheel or to install
new ones. For the exhaust
system we selected the Supersprint Euro resonator and Euro exhaust.
The engine installation was fairly straight forward. The installation
of the ancillary pieces was another story. The euro models come
with different brackets welded to the engine bay and various bits and pieces are
mounted in different locations. After a lot of research and some trial and
error we were able to find solutions to each of our problems.
Install ECU and Vanos Control Units:
Installing the ECU was the same as it was with US motor. However, the
Euro motor includes a Vanos control unit. This needs to be located inside
the cage that secures the ECU. The US model cage does have a slot that is
normally used to hold the control unit for cars with automatic
transmissions. A cage from a Euro model may have done the trick but we
opted to work with what was there.
| pic |
The
trick to installing the Vanos unit was to turn it upside down. This
way the wings of the unit have full contact with the underside of the top
of the control unit cage. We took 1"x3" strips of Velcro
and attached them to the wings. We slid the control unit up into the
cage and applied pressure to secure the Velcro adhesive. We used a
wedge to hold pressure on the unit, which is upside down, until the
adhesive on the Velcro had cured. We did a dry fit of the unit of
the unit as you have to navigate past some tabs and you only get one shot
to secure the Velcro. |
 |
The
wiring harness for the Euro is completely different than the US model so
we had to install the Euro control box cover (12-51-1-401-211).
Unlike the US cover the batter cable passes through the enclosure and back
out near the fender to attach to the terminal. The cable for the
diagnostic plug also comes back out of the enclosure on the right hand
side of the cover. |
|
|
Relocate Battery Terminal:
On the E36 M3 the battery is located in the trunk. However, the battery
+ terminal is located in the middle of the old battery tray in the engine
compartment. The terminal must be relocated as this is where the coolant
expansion tank goes.
 |
The
battery + cable comes through the engine firewall as well as a smaller
power cable for the engine electronics. These cables are too short
to make the move so they have to be extended. We obtained a 1 gauge
18" battery cable and some 10 gauge wire from NAPA. The battery
cable had terminals but we had to add them to the 10 gauge wire. We
used heat shrink to ensure an water tight seal for the terminals. |
 |
We
bolted the extensions to the existing wires. The 10 gauge wire we
could bolt end to end. We doubled back the 1 gauge battery
extension. There was not enough room to bolt the cable end to end
and leave enough slack needed to reposition the battery + terminal. |
 |
We
covered each connection with electrical heat shrink insulator and then for
good measure gave a good wrap with electrical tape. |
 |
Somewhere
BMW has a bracket for mounting the battery + terminal but we were unable
to find it. We opted to fashion our own bracket out of some heavy
gauge L shaped aluminum from the local hardware store. We used some
nut-serts in some pre-existing holes in the fender wall to mount the
bracket. The aluminum was thick enough for us to tap some bolt holes to
hold the battery + terminal to the bracket. |
 |
We
installed some rubber washers between the bracket and the fender wall to
avoid rubbing that would scratch the paint finish. |
 |
The cable
extensions easily fit through the gap between the fender wall and the
battery tray and there is enough slack that the cables are not rubbing
against any fittings. |
Mount Expansion Tank:
On the US model the expansion tank is attached to the radiator. On the
Euro model it is located in the empty battery tray. The Euro model has
brackets welded to the shock towers and the fire wall to support the tank.
We identified these brackets and installed the tank.
 |
The
clip bracket is normally welded to the shock tower and has has slots to
hold the diagnostic terminal. If you have access to a good welding
source you would cut of the old bracket and weld a the whole new one into
place. Since the US model already has the diagnostic terminal welded
to the car we trimmed the bracket, finished it and riveted it to the the
existing bracket. We cut of the old post and drilled a hole 1"
to the right. The Euro bracket mounts about an inch around on the
shock tower so we had to compensate by relocating the mounting clip. |
 |
Here
is a picture of the bracket riveted to the exiting diagnostic port
bracket. We used a 1" square of Velcro to hold the other end in
place. |
 |
The
lower water bracket (41-12-2-256-492) was a much easier
installation. We drilled three matching holes in the fire wall and
riveted it in place. Note that it rides high as the euro models fit
the carbon canister underneath the expansion tank. |
 |
Here
is a close up of the relocated mounting clips holding the expansion
tank. The tank snaps into the clip. The clip is screwed onto
the bracket with a stainless steel sheet metal screw. |
 |
Here
is what the completed installation looks like. |
|
|
Relocate Carbon Canister:
The carbon canister filters air that is needed by the fuel tank to keep it
from collapsing as the fuel is pumped out and as a clean source of air into the
engine when the idle control valve is closed.
 |
The
carbon canister is located right under the single throttle body in the US
setup. The euro engine uses a much larger intake requiring that the
canister be relocated. On the euro model it is located right under
the expansion tank on the other side of the engine bay. It proved
difficult to obtain the OEM parts to relocate this so we came up with our
own solution. Since we had removed the cruise control we had space
to locate the canister in its place. The tank can be mounted
horizontally so this turned out to be an ideal location. |
 |
We
wanted the couplings to face towards the engine so we had to sacrifice the
old mounting bracket. We trimmed it off using a band saw and then a
standard file to clean off the rough edges. We were careful not to
slice into the main canister. |
 |
Using
a strip of thick aluminum we fashioned a bar that could be bolted between
the two posts that hold the cruise control and air box to help hold the
canister in place. We
used large hose clamps to hold the canister to the bracket. We
clipped the hard blue tube and used the appropriate size fuel line to
extend it to this new location. Since we eliminated the vapor intake
bypass on the throttle control valve we used a short length of fuel line
to extend and plug off the corresponding nipple on the carbon canister. |
|
. |
|
|
Relocate Heater Control Valve:
The Euro engine uses some different tubing to support the heater and AC in
the engine compartment. There are two solutions to this problem. The
quick and dirty solution was to use the existing hose from your old engine and
disconnect the heater control valve from the engine wall and let it hang
free. This is not the Euro factory solution but it works.
 |
The
coolant hoses also feed the passenger compartment for heat and
defrost. I used the hose (yellow) from the old engine block to
connect the new engine block to the heater control valve. I also
used the old hose (red) from the engine to the the passenger
compartment. I did have to shorten this hose to meet the connection
with coolant pipe (11-53-1-318-403) that was installed while converting to left
hand drive. |
 |
Unless
you relocate the heater control valve you can not install the intake
plenum. If BMW had only located the bracket about 1/2"
lower. To solve this problem we detached the valve from the bracket
and drilled a hole in the top mounting pin of the control valve.
This allowed us to pass a zip tie through the bracket on the fire wall and
through the bracket on the control valve. This allows us to lower
the assembly and hold it in place. |
|
|
A more elegant solution is to obtain the proper set of tubes that relocates
the heater control valve over by the left shock tower.
 |
To
relocate the water control valve you will need the Euro hose
(11-53-1-401-728) that runs from the engine block to the water control
valve. You will also need the hose (64-21-8-391-239) to run from the
fire wall to the water control valve if you have AC. This is a dual
hard pipe with rubber hose extensions. The part looks nothing like
the part listed in the BMW diagrams so don't let that fool you. If
you do not AC in your car then you will the need single hard pipe hose
with rubber extensions (64-21-8-391-240) |
|
We
attempted this installation but abandoned it after we determined that a
number of supporting brackets are needed that are welded to the body on
the original Euro version. |
Replace Instrument Cluster:
The ECU looks for a Euro cluster and signals a check engine light if it can
not find it. You could us the US cluster but if you did encounter a real
check engine code you may not be aware that it occurred.
 |
The
US cluster was replaced with the euro version. The euro version is
needed to properly converse with the ECU. The euro version has an
oil temperature gauge. This is very important as the 3.0l euro
engine has to warm up before it is pushed. |
|
|
Throttle:
The euro
engine requires a cable that spans a different length to actuate the
multi-throttle body mechanism.
 |
You must install the euro throttle cable (35-41-2-228-504). |
Exhaust Installation:
The euro exhaust installation presented a minor challenge in that Supersprint
only provides mounting parts appropriate for installation on a euro body.
The resonator needs to be stabilized by attaching the supplied brackets to a
cross member that attaches to the transmission housing. The US bracket
only accommodates the smaller diameter of the exhaust so we had to order a euro
bracket. Since we maintained the US transmission the mounting holes in
the bracket did not line up for proper fitment. We had to drill two holes
in the bracket so that it would mount shifted one inch to to the left.
This allowed for a proper fit. The high quality manufacturing usually found
in the exhaust did not carry over to the Supersprint mounting parts. We
had to obtain a metric tap and clear the threads of the nut-serts in the
mounting parts.
 |
We
had to modify the BMW Euro bracket (18-31-1-404-477) by drilling two holes
so it would shift one inch to the left. |
Fun Stuff
This was a major project and involved lots of hard work but we
had fun along the way. It's hard not to when you are doing something this
exciting.
 |
Another
12 reps as I train for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. |
 |
This
is the ultimate green car, powered only by my hot air. |
 |
The
wiring Octopus has found its lunch. |
|
|

Copyright 2001, Green Light Motorworks, Inc.
All rights reserved