1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

splitty456
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My E21(s): '79 320/6 S54 Project

Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by splitty456 »

Haha, nah i'll squeeze a rad in there somehow!

Not sure where the oil cooler is going to go though...


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Duracel79
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by Duracel79 »

You may want to look at my two builds on this forum ;)

Exhaust manifolds, engine mounts (only exhaust side fits with all 4 bolts), radiator & oil cooler etc.

Regards

Ben
1982 323i (S54 "Test Mule" - to be rebuilt into M20 powered track car)
1983 316 (Taiga Thunder - The refined S54 Race car)
1982 635csiA (New project)
1985 728iA (For Sale)
2004 330d Touring (The Daily Hack / Tow Car / Load lugger)
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Jeroen
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by Jeroen »

Good thinking, and if you make a cut out you'll be able to fit a radiator as well. Needs more cutting for the oil cooler!

As for the intake elbow to the airbox, that is an issue and you have to be very careful that is not becoming a bottleneck. Believe I've seen situations where they moddd the airbox to change the angle. Maybe you have to talk to Jeremy who fitted the same engine, sadly I only found a pic from the 'wrong' side

Image
Regards/groeten, Jeroen
splitty456
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My E21(s): '79 320/6 S54 Project

Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by splitty456 »

Duracel79 wrote:You may want to look at my two builds on this forum ;)

Exhaust manifolds, engine mounts (only exhaust side fits with all 4 bolts), radiator & oil cooler etc.

Regards

Ben
Yes, i've been following your threads actually, I love the green!

Thanks for the heads up on the engine mounts, I'll make sure to have a look at that before I come to fit the engine :lol: have you got any pictures of the offending mount?

And Jeroen, it looks like Jeremy has mounted his engine at more of an angle (as it would be in an E46). Also he's using a Z3 engine, and I think they have smaller airboxes, although probably not by much.
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uwbuurman
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by uwbuurman »

Yep, thats a z3 engine with 325 bhp. Same block, different details
It's the man next door!

1978 BMW 323i
1980 BMW 528i maior restitutio
1987 BMW 325iA cabriolet
2006 BMW 320d touring High Executive
2015 BMW 320dA touring xDrive High Executive ///Msport
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Duracel79
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by Duracel79 »

splitty456 wrote:Thanks for the heads up on the engine mounts, I'll make sure to have a look at that before I come to fit the engine :lol: have you got any pictures of the offending mount?
You may be lucky with the early steel mounts you have (just rechecked your pics and see the car is all pre-facelift). 3 of the bolts holes are correct. the lower right on the M20 is to the right of making a rectangle with the other 3, whereas with the s54 block the 4 bolts make a perfect rectangle. You may be able to re-drill your steel mount to suit, the alloy ones cannot be done like that.
My homemade replacement mounts just replicate the mounting faces of the original M20 mounts just with the right hole positions for the S54 and to bring the engine forward a bit to clear the bulkhead.

My oil cooler fits easily between the grille and radiator, bolted into the top of the box section in the front panel. This maybe different to yours being pre-facelift.

Where abouts in the uk are you? maybe pop to Hertfordshire and you can have a look at mine.

Ben
1982 323i (S54 "Test Mule" - to be rebuilt into M20 powered track car)
1983 316 (Taiga Thunder - The refined S54 Race car)
1982 635csiA (New project)
1985 728iA (For Sale)
2004 330d Touring (The Daily Hack / Tow Car / Load lugger)
splitty456
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My E21(s): '79 320/6 S54 Project

Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by splitty456 »

I was going to wait until I'd got a bit further with this, but since someone asked on retro rides I'll go through my plans for the brake setup

As i mentioned earlier, i want to get rid of the remote servo and linkage. I was originally going to modify the stock pedal and mount a tandem M/C to the firewall as Nigel did with his S50 car: http://www.bmwforums.com.au/showthread. ... ject/page5

But then I found an OBP bias pedal box for half price (end of line stock) so I went with that as it should be easier to mount and has a pedal ratio of 7.5:1 which should keep the brakes relatively light. Also being a bias box I won't need to faff around with a hydraulic rear bias setup.

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The firewall is flat here, so bolting the pedal box in should be a doddle once the old hole is welded up etc

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Heres the pedal box mocked up to check position

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Also tried the E46 electronic pedal in place

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Here's the room you have to play with in the engine bay. Single master cylinders are only about 100mm long with remote reservoirs, so plenty of room for 3 in there.

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To match this setup i'm using a set of brembos from a Mitsubishi Evo, they're about the cheapest set of matching brembo callipers you can buy, usually a fair bit cheaper than porsche callipers that a lot of people use. 4 Pots from a Nissan or Subaru can probably be had for less, but they don't say brembo on them and that just ain't cool :lol:

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Sky remote for scale :o

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They need a clean up and new stickers on the rears, but for just over £200 I ain't complaining

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They'll be running on 300mm discs up front from an E34 540, and 276 discs in the rear from E36/E46 3 series, but I want to buy some wheels for it first to confirm everything will fit before i go any further.

Then to top it off i'll use a .625" master cylinder for the front and a .7" for the rear. This should keep the pedal fairly light and get the bias close, but this can be fine tuned with the bias bar. Obviously if i end up changing the disc sizes then this might affect M/C sizing.


And Ben, can't believe I hadn't spotted that before! Now you've said it the bottom right looks obviously off to the right.

I'm based in Essex, but I need to head up to Bedford at some point to pick up my motorsport valance from a friend, so i could pop in on my way past or something? I'll PM you :)
Last edited by splitty456 on Fri Mar 03, 2017 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jeroen
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by Jeroen »

Can't believe I didn't think of Ben :oops:

Nice plans, curious how these discs will work out, want to go a big bigger than stock on my E21 although 275-285 would prolly be more than enough and still allow 15" I think
Regards/groeten, Jeroen
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nige21
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by nige21 »

Hey Splitty, fantastic project you have going in here! Lovely bit of engineering those S54's.

I like they way you're going with your pedal box, i think ultimately its the best way to do it. I'm constantly evolving my car, you never know, i might borrow some of your ideas in the future!

I would maybe suggest you try and brace the firewall to the shock tower. You would notice the factory pedal box extension is bolted to the inner wing with a big m8/m10 bolt. I cant quantify it, but i've always felt i've had a bit of firewall flex since deleting the booster.

Anyway curious to follow this project!
E21 323i M50 (now s50b30)
E30 318is
MK1 Escort Cossie (sold)
splitty456
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My E21(s): '79 320/6 S54 Project

Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by splitty456 »

Thanks Nige!

I'll be honest, my pedal box was a bit of a gamble in that i couldn't find any dimensions for it, but it seems to have paid off. A lot of these pedal boxes are designed for caterham type kit cars so the pedals tend to be quite short.

And yes, I have already thought about bracing the firewall - it is just a flat sheet of metal in that area. I'll knock something up when the engines out completely.

As an aside, what do people do for quicker steering racks on E21s? I know from E30 onwards you can use a Z3 or E46 rack, but the E21 rack mounts to the rear of the subframe so i can't see those working easily...

Has anyone used one of those universal steering quickener boxes?
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by jimbob »

These guys offer a quick rack http://www.steering-racks.co.uk/
E21 323i [kashmere] Off the road pending restoration
E21 3231[Graphite metalic] Restoration and conversion to M52
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nas80
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by nas80 »

oh god, i had that same OBP pedal box in my car and i really had to weld lots of support to make it rigid. The pedals angles are bad and you cant adjust them. by the time you do a neat job its just expense you didnt need. i wont use obp ever again.

Edit - just realised you havent got the reverse mount but the firewall mount. maybe you'll find it easier then i did.

below is a link to my bias pedal box build.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AroTrkVwCclciH96myvp38ClRF5q
[img]http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a285/nasbucket/forumsig.jpg[/img]
splitty456
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My E21(s): '79 320/6 S54 Project

Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by splitty456 »

I know it's been a while, but i have been chipping away at this project. Nothing that interesting or critical, but still jobs that need to be done sooner or later!

The next main job on the list is to get the gearbox mounted and all the sheet metal work that will involve (see here for an idea of what to expect: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showt ... E21/page81). While i'm at it i'll finish off the pedal box install and fix the rust in the foot wells and sills, but i'm waiting for warmer weather before I start that weldathon!

The engine build is stopped waiting for piston rings (been on order for 3 weeks now) and I also need to get the head skimmed, so not much more to be done there. I do need to look at the sump, but again - welding - cold outside - can't be bothered! :lol:

So, to keep me busy, and keep some momentum on this, I finally got round to picking up my motorsport valance from my mate. I bought this about 6 months ago and got said friend to collect it for me and stash it in his garage. I needed a new valance because, as you may remember, my original one looked like this
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Not long after getting the car, I picked up a typ 2 valance as it was cheap and nearby, but it still needed a bit of work and i prefer the typ 1 valance to be honest. Ideally I wanted a motorsport valance, but all sellers wanted £300+ for one and, frankly, I'm too cheap for that! So when this knackered one turned up on ebay for £35 i snapped it up! It needed a LOT of work, but worth the risk i'd say.

Here it is once i'd got it home - very twisted, peeling paint and bodged cracks at both corners.
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First task was to get it un-twisted, so I removed the rubbing strips and the worst of the loose paint and left it hooked over the radiator with some things weighing it down for a week.
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Worked a treat!
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Next up, the cracked corners:
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Started by removing the various layers of paint and filler, and the previous repair - a sheet of metal riveted behind the crack. This probably would have worked if they'd drilled the end of the crack to stop it growing.
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Other side:
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Weld up the cracks and holes with ABS filler rod and a soldering iron.
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Then sand down
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I'll need to do another pass with the welding rod to bring up the low spots (instead of using filler), but all in all it's turned out alright. The welds seem to have taken well and the welded area is strong and flexible, just like the rest of the bumper!

I still need to strip the rest of the paint. Although alot of it peeled right off, the bits that remain are stuck fast! I've tried sanding, but the paint is over 1mm thick in places so it takes aaaaages to get down to plastic!
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splitty456
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My E21(s): '79 320/6 S54 Project

Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by splitty456 »

Long time no see!

Don't worry, I have been chipping away at bits of the BMW (no literally), but this weekend I made a start on one of the biggest jobs - fitting the gearbox. Obviously the first job is to remove the old gearbox, where i was to busy swearing and crawling around under the car to take pictures, but eventually it was free. And here it is next to the M3 box that will be replacing it....
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Yeah, that's quite a size difference!

Next up, mount the new gearbox to the M20. As the pilot bearing is bigger on the M3 box I had to remove the clutch and flywheel and then remove the M20 pilot bearing. After lots of struggle I got it up in the tunnel
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At first, I thought it fitted quite well, but with it pushed up against the top of the tunnel it was still about 10mm lower than it needs to be, so I had to take a brave pill...
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This got it to the right height, but it was still touching the body, so some more cutting happened:
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There, fits like a glove now! Just a small hole for me to patch up...

By this time I was truly knackered and covered in bruises, so i had a quick look at the gearbox mount and shift linkage and called it a day.

For the mount i think i'll use the E21 mount upside down as a starting point and go from there, it's pretty much the right shape, just needs some modifications.
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The linkage started out as an E46 330 5 speed linkage, which I then chopped about 8 inches out of. The finished thing will be propper diddy!
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Then today i've been measuring up prop shafts and have hopefully found one that wont need modifying, but we shall see when it arrives!
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uwbuurman
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Re: 1979 BMW 320/6 - S54 Project

Post by uwbuurman »

Nice metal work!!
It's the man next door!

1978 BMW 323i
1980 BMW 528i maior restitutio
1987 BMW 325iA cabriolet
2006 BMW 320d touring High Executive
2015 BMW 320dA touring xDrive High Executive ///Msport
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