My E36 S54 Swap Thread

[blk3]

nice, glad it all went well for you

[Steve30]

Next I'll be replacing the early vanos bolts with the updated stronger versions. For those of you that don't know the vanos bolts are known to shear or come loose which can grenade the engine. High maintenance engine but It will be worth it! All I need to do is order the engine mount arms and euro cluster and this thing can go in.

[dcramer]

I assume you wired the oil pump nut when you put it back on ?

[Steve30]

The oil pan is still off. I'm going to the dealer tomorrow to grab a new oil pump nut since they are one time use. I'm going to use red thread locker and maybe deform the last thread with a punch.

Originally Posted by dcramer

I assume you wired the oil pump nut when you put it back on ?

[dcramer]

it's pretty easy to wire. Just drill a hole through the outside of the bolt and wire it to the sprocket.

[Steve30]

I think the loctite should hold it in place. When I pulled the pan the nut was still very tight. I've read stories where people have found wire in their oil pan after safety wiring it.

[dcramer]

personally I'll take safety wire. The physics behind why it comes off is because of rotational inertia when the car spins.

[e30_kid89]

Great build! good to see guys doing something different versus just throwing in a s52, vaders, m3 bumpers, mirrors and calling it a day

As far as the sprocket goes i'd get it nicely tack welded versus, loctite, safety wire etc...Just make sure you (or whoever is welding) doesn't use too much heat as it can cause the shaft to become brittle and possibly snap at higher rpms..

Looks like a lot of nice projects will be coming out of the woodwork next spring

[dcramer]

I've seen a few people tack these, how do you ever get them apart again, or does this now become a throw away item ?

Also seems a little nebulous, how much heat is too much heat ?

[Steve30]

They have a revised nut for the pump which will probably never come loose especially with loctite. the problem seems to be a lot more common on the m52/s52 and m54 engines. S54 guys seem to do it just as a safety precaution. I wonder if the s54 is better balanced from the factory which reduces the vibrations that cause the nut to back off.

[dcramer]

The rotational inertia I mentioned is why I think it comes off. When a car spins on the track for instance, the direction of the moment of inertia is inverted which means all of the spinning inertia of the nut is reversed, and it spins off the shaft. There are other ppl who believe that the car has to spin first as well.

Either way better safe than sorry.

[Steve30]

The only problem i see with safety wiring is that the sprocket doesn't have holes in it like the s52 one. Its just a flat surface. The ultimate solution to this is getting the VAC shaft and sprocket which uses a bolt rather than a nut. It's $200 though.. I'll see if I can get it tacked since one of my friends is a professional welder.

[dcramer]

Didn't know about the sprocket. If I had a professional welder at my disposal I would probably go that route as well.

[Steve30]

Finally got this in the mail, z3m s54 airbox with hfm. Don't ask me how I got it lol.

[dcramer]

this didn't come with the engine ?