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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Powertrain and Drivetrain Discussions > N54 Turbo Engine / Drivetrain / Exhaust Modifications - 335i > E92 N54 Engine Swap Build into E36!



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      04-19-2019, 09:29 PM   #1
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E92 N54 Engine Swap Build into E36!

What is up guys! I’m Frank Macaluso and I recently took on a lofty endeavor, but I’m no stranger to engine swaps.

I started this swap literally on March 1st - Looking to complete it in 3 months exactly. I have a 1997 M3 (auto), looking to swap a 2010 N54 Twin Turbo Drivetrain with a 6 speed. So there is a pedal swap being done too!

I’m here to tell you all how I did it! I do have a youtube series, but I wanted to help on the forum too. There are many ways to skin a cat, but this is the way I’ve chosen. I am getting ya’ll while in the middle of the swap, but I value your help, so any advice you’re willing to dispense, questions you may have, or general comments about the technology and common failures would be most welcomed!







My Customer/Friend, Ben!


And an intro video I made summarizing the swap!


I plan to bring this puppy to Gutenfest 2019 in June, along with my E30 S62. So I hope you enjoy where I’m going with this build and have some constructive comments!

This is a 1997 Alpine M3, bought by a customer of mine earlier this year. He bought it because he was in a front end accident and wanted to swap the drivetrain. This was an AWD E92, so we had to purchase a few parts to make it more user friendly to a RWD swap!

So I purchased
RWD oil pan from a E90 335i
RWD 6sped from an E90 335i
Other than that, most everything else can remain.

Engine positioning is always first on the list, and the most important because it dictates everything else on the car and as a result, all other ancilliary devices must work around the engine position.

I have a video on how I determined engine position here:



From there, I was able to build my transmission bracket, then shorten my shifter linkage. I did some live IG videos, but i shot myelf in the foot because I couldn't save it and take screenshots to show pictures at a minimum on how I did it.

As of today, the driveline is perfectly positioned where I need it.

I wanted to share my progress with the group here because I have done a lot of lurking up until this point to better understand E36 and E9X. So here I am offering an amalgamation of the 2! I hope you guys enjoy where I go with this swap. I should be done by May, so this will be a pretty quickly moving swap.

Again, any comments, updates, help, or advice you have I always welcome! Many thanks and stay tuned for more updates this almost daily!
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      04-20-2019, 09:41 AM   #2
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Some more pics of latest progress. Engine positioned - Done. Shifter Done, Trans Bracket Done,

Overall engine position while the E36 is in the air. Not too bad!

You can see that the 6 speed transmissions are in fact quite different, and as such are different part numbers: AWD on the left, RWD on the right.


Shifter parts, shortened. Need final welding.





Trans Bracket looks pretty good and is pretty strong. Might want to add more bracing just because. Going 80A poly mounts here, so that means that the bracket itself will need to absorb more impact, so maybe I might brace it up a bit more.


When replacing oil pans, found the engine to be quite clean!


Extracted the entire CAS3 system so the installation is plug and play - Now I need to figure out where to install the start button and key holder. Center Console perhaps?
[IMG][/IMG]

EKPS Fuel Computer Ready for installation. It's all part of the PT-CAN bus, so I'll need to wire this up with the DME, along with the relay. Shouldn't be too hard.


While we're on the subject of wiring, I need to figure out which one of these harnesses are necessary and which ones aren't. I know for certain that the X6011 connector is for the Starter and Instrument cluster functions. That one is the white one on the very right.


This engine position dictates that the stock E30 M3 driveshaft can be used with good spline engagement. This is good news for anyone looking to save $600-$700 on a custom sized driveshaft.


That's all for now. Next is Engine Mounting. I just got my 80A poly mounts from Garagistic, so I can now position the engine with custom subframe mounting. Hoping to take dimensions so that engine position can be replicated for yall.
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      04-20-2019, 11:50 AM   #3
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Cool project. Thanks for posting pics and making it a real build thread. A lot of times new posters show up, say to check out their YouTube, then disappear. The regulars spot the view whores a mile away.

Do you intend to leave the engine stock, or do at least some bolt ons while it's easy to get to everything? Also, why does the customer want an n54 swap? Because it's unique? I know it's cliche to ls swap, but there's a reason people go that route.
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      04-20-2019, 05:29 PM   #4
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I actually have a backlog of posts that I plan to sprinkle. Standby for tonights update!

This is not my car actually, but my buddy who owns the car plans to leave the engine stock, with the exception of the upgraded intercooler.

And watch the intro video I posted in the initial post. It explains the accident he was in and looked me up to see if I wanted to swap into "whatever". Turns out he bought an E36 M3. He was thinking E30 or Z3, but that M3 was a good deal, so he ended up using that as the chassis!

Thanks for the comments.
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      04-20-2019, 05:40 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by srey View Post
Cool project. Thanks for posting pics and making it a real build thread. A lot of times new posters show up, say to check out their YouTube, then disappear. The regulars spot the view whores a mile away.

Do you intend to leave the engine stock, or do at least some bolt ons while it's easy to get to everything? Also, why does the customer want an n54 swap? Because it's unique? I know it's cliche to ls swap, but there's a reason people go that route.
x2. Please post more pictures. I will not bother going on youtube so people earn money.
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      04-20-2019, 09:01 PM   #6
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Thanks for the feedback. I'm happy to help! As you can see I'm a new member with very few posts, so I respect the more senior members on the forum. I used to live on R3V when I was big into E30's, but now I have a few newer BMW's and have been getting into the newer engine swaps.

Today, I installed the Passenger Side Engine Mount. I did this one first mainly because I am still waiting on my E85 Z4 Driver mount. Need that mount in order to clear the steering column. Learned that trick from Hackentt on the forums here. Thanks again!!

So here are some pics of the in process build, but my youtube does have more info on it too if you wanted to see the details!


Now on to the pictures. The bracket is plenty strong to handle the weight of the engine and then some.

First was to get the trans mounts updated from the rubber to the poly as well. Need to make sure that any driveline settling due to the rubber was addressed early on before welding the motor brackets:


Here is the bracket, sans mount, but marked and getting ready for the bracket weld


Here is the bracket, sans mount!


Bracket with mount!


Now, I have the Trans mount and Pass Mount ONLY. I did not do the driver side. But the oil pan is sitting on a couple of wood spacers on the subframe, so it's braced pretty good. Having said that I was able to remove any jacks I had under the car, so I can lower the car and start working on radiator design if I want while I wait for the driver engine bracket.
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      04-21-2019, 09:33 PM   #7
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Exhaust Time!

For now, some exhaust work on the rise. I’d like to get the cats and v bands installed ASAP!





This was not very difficult, but I had the lift so it made things easier. Overall, I used 2.5" 304SS Tube (16Ga) and used about 5-6 bends to get the cats in a vertical up/down configuration as opposed to side-by-side. This allowed me now to clear the control arm lollipop, thereby ensuring that the engine can be installed with the header downpipes installed. Makes things just a tad bit easier.

I had to bang back the passenger firewall to make the upper (cylinder 4,5,6) cat fit in place, but now that's just fine tuning.





If you were interested in more details, I did a video on the exhaust headers too.
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      04-22-2019, 11:18 PM   #8
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Updates! So I got the radiator fit...for now. I think so might want to push it further forward just another inch, because it will make plumbing and electric fan integration much easier. So this will involve cutting the edges of the frame rails yet again, but at this point I’m basically planning to weld completely new frame rails anyway with all the gusseting I am planning to do.

As of now I have the radiator in a spot that is secure, with some good mounts welded up.

Intercooler will be upgraded so we’ll definitely have room for that in the m3 bumper. All radiators are planned to be plumbed including air conditioning.
So enough of me blabbering on.

Some pictures below








I ended up moving The radiator forward another inch so a little bit more fabrication work was necessary. This allows the use of the existing electric fan, which you can see at the end of the video below. Most of everything is lined up but very loosely installed. Now that everything is set in its position I need to connect the dots and design some Brackets to connect them all and braced up the entire front end structure.
Moving the radiator forward even further allows me the opportunity to use a lot of the existing plumbing for all four of those radiators in that sub assembly. A little bit more work up front to save me more fabrication work later.











Final pictures are forthcoming as I make more progress
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      04-24-2019, 08:02 PM   #9
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Radiator Placement Completed! Part 3 of 3. Now on to the next!

All the details are here!

But I gotta vent here. This took most of the entire weekend to complete. I'm talking the planning, cardboard cutting, metal cutting, final welding. A lot of thought went into this section and I am actually pretty proud of how far this has come.

I completed the passenger frame rail and will complete the driver side soon!

On to the pictures. The Radiator core support was really challenging, but the final welding was pretty fun! I think I'm getting better at the welding here.



Close up on my sexy welds. Probably my best ever!


he work on the frame rails. First, cut the pieces you need with cardboard. So quick and easier to fab than the metal.




Then cut it out of steel. I am using 16ga (.054") mild steel.


I decided to use a 2.0" stainless steel 16ga exhaust pipe to REDEFINE where the bumper bracket shock mounts within. So I faced it to the frame rail mount and tacked it in...for now


Traced a circular support bracket to help brace it in. This will get welded.


Then tacked it all up.


Now that that's all complete, it's simply a matter of placing the sheetmetal pre-cut parts, lay it over, hammer and shape it as needed, tack, shape, tack, shape, then final weld until you're happy with the final product.

I'm happy with the final product. I don't know for sure but it just feels stronger than stock. Maybe it is!



In this last photo, you can see how the radiator support bracket is integrated. That thing ain't going anywhere!


These pictures really don't do it justice. I was able to show the process in much more detail in the video here. Click at your own will!
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      04-24-2019, 09:04 PM   #10
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This is a very aggressive project, considering there are engines far easier to swap with similar or higher power capabilities. Interested to see how the electronics go, amazing work so far.
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      04-26-2019, 10:39 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gurusan View Post
This is a very aggressive project, considering there are engines far easier to swap with similar or higher power capabilities. Interested to see how the electronics go, amazing work so far.
This is preparation for my S85 into my E31 that I plan to pick up later this summer! The reason this swap is being done was a combination of happenstance and convenience. But hopefully when it's all done it will be a very unique car!

Yes this is difficult, but it is cheap. custom part buying is minimal due to all of the time spent in the welding and fabrication.

I've done a few engine swaps in the past so I have experience compartmentalizing the various aspects of the swap as to more easily break it down, piece by piece. Each aspect of the swap is a mini independent problem to solve, all the while keeping the end goal of efficient integration in mind.

Some more updates, but no pictures. Not many really to share on this one. Sort of a boring update. And that is.

PEDALS.

Accelerator Pedal swap from the old cable driven to the new E92 Electronic.
Auto to Manual Swap and discussing hydraulic clutch theory.

Not one of my best, but still probably my most educational
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      05-01-2019, 09:57 PM   #12
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Power Steering Rack/Lines/Reservoir!

Time for power steering. This was not plug and play for this swap, but it also was not difficult. Just need to be mindful of your welding. I did this for my E30 S62 swap back in the day and it worked perfect for both the power steering lines as well as the air conditioning lines. Just cut, reposition/add/remove, and then reweld. All 4 major components were set in their place, and then it was just a matter of connecting A to B.
Power Steering Rack
Pump
Reservoir
Cooler
Once I had it set in place, connect the tube to each of the components and figure out how to make them connect with minimal interference to other items (frame, other tubing...etc). When welding, I needed to make sure I didn't overheat the tube welding close to the rubber hose. So other than that, it was pretty cut and dry.
Here is the layout of the reservoir and lines before modifications:


I know it looks dirty for now. But it will all be cleaned up after final install. Here I have the high pressure tube in a vice before I cut it for reweld.


Positioning the reservoir in the general location I need it. This is not rocket science, so I needed to make an appropriately sized angle, shave it to conform to the wheel well housing, drill the holes where I needed them (using a vernier caliper), weld the nuts to the backside, then assemble.





Here's a shot of the necessary positioning of the lines going into the power steering cooler (part of the radiator subassembly)



Some pics of the lines themselves after having been welded, repositioned, and then installed.



And finally, what would this be without a video to complement the details not mentioned here!?
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      05-02-2019, 09:46 PM   #13
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Time to weld the stainless steel exhaust!

What's up everyone! Another update this evening and that is EXHAUST!! So to discuss a little bit of what I did and how I did it. I wanted to keep the exhaust as stock as possible, but with a bit of a kick, so to be honest nobody knows what an exhaust will truly sound like until it's finalized and installed, but I think this will sound reasonably tame, for now.

First of all, the turbos themselves do a good amount of muffling before it even gets to the Cats. And yes, I'm keeping the catalytic converters. I'm trying to be environmentally responsible here, but more important than that I want to pass inspection, so I'll have probably a few videos on that in the future. That is my most commonly asked question for my engine swaps is emissions and inspection.

So from the turbos, they come down the modified downpipes through the cats. Keeping both O2 sensors, they then go through the 2.5" V band clamps. These are sometimes a pain to line up, even with the alignment lip built into the assembly. Especially given the welding warpage and other factors like that. Just something to keep in mind.

Then it goes to the X-pipe in a weird pre-cross over. I know it looks funky, but it's functional, and actually more efficient than doing it the other way around. Easily avoids any interference to the passenger footwell.

From the X-pipe, it gets simpler. It goes straight through to the E36 M3 stock muffler, which is also 2.5", so no restrictions there.

Like I said, this will probably be relatively quiet. If we want it a bit sportier, we can always put a magnaflow glass packed dual in/out muffler.

So I have 2 hangers. One under the transmission bracket as pictured, and then stock hangers at the muffler. This is designed as one big exhaust piece, as designed. I thought about incorporating another set of V-bands for say, any rear suspension or diff work, but the work involved with removing the back half of such a suspension is just as much work as removing the suspension from the downpipe V bands.

Now on to the pictures and the Youtube video if you care to watch!!



















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      05-06-2019, 08:02 PM   #14
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Now it's time for the oil Cooler Install. This was not difficult. Just again connecting A to B. I used the existing E92 N54 Oil Cooler Installation location. So all parts involved are stock parts, except the mounting to the body. That's all welded. Pretty simple. I didn't take any pictures, just a video. So watch if you'd like!


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      05-06-2019, 11:33 PM   #15
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Impressive work. Keep it up!
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      05-07-2019, 03:32 AM   #16
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Yeah! Really interesting project!
Well done on idea and execution so far!

This will be quite unique car once ready, looking forward to your first test drive too!
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      05-07-2019, 11:00 PM   #17
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Thanks Guys! more updates coming tomorrow!

I know it looks dirty now, but this is just prototyping. Everything will be cleaned, detailed, painted as needed to make this look like a real beauty!
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      05-12-2019, 03:25 AM   #18
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Really enjoying the progress on your build. Great work
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      05-12-2019, 07:32 PM   #19
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Quote:
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Really enjoying the progress on your build. Great work
Thanks a lot for the comment! More updates coming shortly!
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      05-13-2019, 10:30 AM   #20
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This is awesome. So much custom Fab that I wouldnt be able to do (yet?!) though. I dream of an n54 swap into my e46, becasue I think the n54 would make a fantastic drifting motor. Maybe one day, I would prefer to build a fun street car, like an n54 swapped e46 wagon.
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      05-14-2019, 09:41 AM   #21
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Quote:
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This is awesome. So much custom Fab that I wouldnt be able to do (yet?!) though. I dream of an n54 swap into my e46, becasue I think the n54 would make a fantastic drifting motor. Maybe one day, I would prefer to build a fun street car, like an n54 swapped e46 wagon.
Oh man, I can't wait to get this thing started. It's been a long time coming and first key turn is going to be schweeeeet. For all of our benefit!
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      05-14-2019, 06:58 PM   #22
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Now it's time to install the coolant reservoir, tank, heater hose lines, and bleed line to the radiator, not to mention the actual radiator hoses themselves! The radiator was positioned perfectly to allow the upper and lower radiator hoses to be installed without obstruction. The heater hoses required the most amount of fab work, but even still it wasn't that bad.

The bleed line was also pretty easy. Being a 1/4" hose for routing, it was generally pretty easily manipulated.

Now on to the theory. This is how the coolant routes in the E36 with the N54 hoses.


Coolant Reservoir Installed with new welded mounts as well as the lower third mount (cannot see below reservoir)


The heater hose (hard line from E92) also mounted pretty easy, but I needed to cut it short and allow a 3/4" heater hose to then install on it so it can go into the heater valve on the firewall. I installed this hard line to the steering rack bolts. Just needed to make a few extra relocating brackets to accurately position it.


And just for fun, 3 Swapped 3 series!
E30 S62,
E21 S54
And the work in progress E36 N54!


Now on to the video of progress!!


Thank you guys for reading - Hope you are learning something!
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