Nigels E21 M50 (now S50B30) project

[nige21]

Almost finished on the radiator panel clearance. Just need to weld up some bits that were previously spot welded together. Small mod was needed to the RHS headlight mounting bracket too. All in all the new thing fits - just. It does gain me about 40-50mm clearance to the motor over what i had previously.

[nige21]

With the M50 in the car, the M52 headers would just touch the rubber coupling on the steering uni on full throttle with some lock on.

Big thank you to Jason for making up the steering shafts to eliminate the rubber coupling.

This is made up of a couple of e28/e34 steering uni's and an e21 shaft.



Pressed the old unis out, managed to drop the tiny needle rollers everywhere, 4 times! Wasnt a total loss, ended up repacking the bearings with new grease before re-assembly.







Also started on one of the trickier jobs. Mounting the stock brake master cylinder directly to the pedalbox... going to try and increase the pedal ratio while im there.



Looking at the e21 MC, i dont think i will be able to use it, its mounting holes are either side of it, which will interfere with the clutch master...I think i have found a suitable replacement. More to come on this.

[Jason_323i]

Good work there

I checked my flywheel, no markings on the clutch(sprung) and the cover is a sachs MF-240

Jason

[murran]

i'll be interested in your ideas with the master cyl. be watching this.

[nige21]

Making steady progress, got quite a bit done over the weekend. Made up some engine mounts. As we know, no std bmw mount arms are suitable for sitting the motor at correct e36 angle on an e21 subframe.

Began trial fitting the motor, trying to get the slant angle right (using sump and oil filter housing as reference) and the crank on certreline of the car. After lots of measuring, pushing, pulling i finally had something i could tack in place.






Went a bit overkill on the mounts, needed to start somewhere, and at least now i have something i can take measurements off, show the engineer etc. If everything goes to plan, these will be remade slightly lighter.

Had another idea in my head for LHS mount, but version 1 of the mounts look like this.







And finally reached a huge milestone for this project, engine finally sitting in the bay under its own weight without the aid of a crane. Definitely thrilled to be at this stage already!

pics:

[e-einundzwanzig]

very nice work there!

already seen this site? http://www.superbmw.com/

Martin

[e21-Mark]

Awesome. Wish I'd been able to go the same way with the engine choice.

[alschux]

That is brilliant work, can only wonder how quick that thing is going to be!

[fan1s99_e21]

amazing job , bravo!

[nige21]

Thanks guys, yeah it should be a lot of fun! To be honest the m50b25 was all the power an e21 needs, anything above that is a bonus!

very nice work there!

already seen this site? http://www.superbmw.com/

Martin

Thanks for the link Martin, I have seen this car many times, but for some reason i always thought it was a s38 m5 engine. I am now looking at his pictures more closely! It appears his engine sits lower than mine, his sump must be even closer to the road

[rob0r]

Nigel, you are a winner! This is going to be epic, I'll be interested in seeing how your exhaust manifolds turn out (which was the reason I leaned the M50 in the first place).

[jsf]

NICE work This must be a rocket!!!

Do you have any pics that shows the clearance, engine to firewall and front-beam, sump to ground etc?
Is your front-beam original or modified?

Keep up the good work

jsf

[nige21]

Rob, remember this whole m5x stuff started cos you of...couldnt have done it without your help first time round.

jsf, i will upload some pics later with sump clearance (not much!). Front subframe is standard 323i, and standard steering rack.

[340i]

thats awesome, good work! only thing id change is give the radiator a little more clearance to move. keep it up, this is going to be great

[nige21]

Updates! The motor now sits on m20 mount arms and rubbers with a G260. Tailshaft is correct length and the g260 shifter comes out right in the middle on the hole on the tunnel. This has saved me a heap of work, no need to get a tailshaft made up just yet, will do that once i fit an e30 diff.

Also started cutting up the e34 sump that i modded last time round for the m50 conversion. Have a few ideas with this, will do another update once i get a bit further along.

pulled modded sump off m50



e34 sump clearance with s50 on e21 mounts!!



hacking the old sump



and got my hands on a g260, lined it up with the e36 m3 ZF 5 speed and original e21 getrag 245



For reference i weighed each one, they were alot closer in weight than i thought, and tbh the getrag 245 wasnt that much lighter.

M3 ZF 5 speed 36kg
E30 Getrag 260 35kg
E21 Getrag 245 32kg

Those figures should be +/- 1 kg, tricky things to weigh!