Alex And Vard's 1993 Manual 530I M60B40 Conversion

[Vard66]

Bought ostensibly as a banger rally car, but realistically as a drift waggon!

Fair warning, epic thread, lots of pictures. 56k'ers, might as well put the kettle on.

Someone in the past has fitted M Sport seats, wheel and gear knob.

Comfy and supportive enough, if a bit mismatched with the rest of the interior.

We chose a bad week to undertake the conversion really - mild for the last three weeks, and this week it choses to get really bollock-shrinkingly cold.

Left to right, my mate Ian and Alex SBY.

God save us... :-\

Bonnet off first thing.

This is what we discovered upon unearthing the DME - it appears to already be a 4.0 automatic unit... Curious, but possibly a contributor to the abysmal fuel economy, and constant smell of unburnt fuel....

"Well, I've got no use for it... would you put down that !Removed! camera and take this!!"

Plus some completely redundant wires - this is 90% of the contents of the O/S bank's wiring box. Mildly unsettling to us Rover boys, this - we're not used to the idea of having all the wiring in place for every possible option, and just blanked...

We reckoned it must be all the wiring that would've gone to the plug on the slushbox.

This photo was taken at about five to nine, the frost had been on the cars for a good two and a bit hours at this point;

After this evening, we celebrated the progress with a litre bottle of Morgan's Spiced rum between Alex and myself, followed by six or eight pints of Magners.

[Vard66]

The following morning I was not the happiest of bunnies, and progress on Sunday ran at two speeds - slow as hell and stopped for a break.

Now, us being Rover boys, and used to transverse mounted lumps, we've not played with anything like this before. That's not really a defense for not looking well enough though, and we didn't spot that in order to remove the engine, we needed to remove first the exhausts, and second the gearbox - otherwise the exhaust manifolds foul on both the bell housing and the steering column.

Yours truly;

Alex and myself looking rather disheartened by the lack of continued progress, thanks to our ignorance for what needed removing.

Then Ian showed up...

... and managed to get us enthused again for half an hour

Achieved nothing with the grinder except two f**ked N/S bank exhaust manifolds, but it felt rather good for a few minutes.

The following morning we removed the loom to prevent it snagging, as we decided to reuse the 3.0 loom to simply do away with the surplus plug for the slushbox, and then realised that with the lump lifted up by about a foot, we had enough access to get the exhaust manifolds off - and then with a bit of pushing and pulling we could work the engine off the input shaft and out of the bay.

Loom off.

Engine out.

Empty engine bay.

Choice of new powerplants, though all likely to die in the traces.

The next morning we were joined by my mate Joe (possibly known to some BMW forumgoers as 'Munky', particularly in e30 circles?), who had come up from Plymouth to help out.

We removed the clutch and the nightmare that spanned three days began. There's a goddamn dual mass flywheel on the M60B30. Why is there a dual mass flywheel on the M60B30? It's unnecessary, irritating, and frankly, somewhat anachronistic - never encountered a DMF on anything pre 2000 MY until now.

Inside the DMF on the '93 M60B30, you will find nine T50 headed captive M10 Torx bolts, only accesible with a proprietary BMW tool, part number 11 3 380.

N.B: this changed in 1994, when BMW began using T60 headed bolts - something we nearly didn't realise before trying to find the right tool for the job!

Before we discovered this, we attempted to recreate such a tool using a standard T50 Torx bit, and grinding the hex points off the shaft to get it through the hole in the front of the DMF.

It got one of them undone, but in the process we managed to twist the points on the head the first time we used it, and wrecked it.

We then however went to d1ck Lovett Swindon, and through my friendly tech, managed to get two 11 3 380 tools, for the princely sum of £13.somethingity something each.

They still did not do the trick, until we put the whole lump in the back of Ian's Mondeo, and let him take it away with him to use the compressor at work, a mighty 450lb-ft jobby. That also failed, so it's no wonder we were having grief with impact screwdrivers and 2' breaker bars.

Plan B then, off to T. H. White's, where he used an airgun developing a peak of 1000lb-ft of torque to remove them.

As you do.

Et voilá!

[Vard66]

Once the DMF was off, progress was resumed.

Munky looking (presumably in a satisfied fashion?) at the DMF on the new M60B40.

...

Finally.

Joe having a crack at getting the gearbox on; it took a fair bit of jiggling to get the splines to mate.

Gearbox on, loom on, inlet manifold on, coolant rail swapped over, stat housing changed for the new item we bought for the M60B30 - no sense not using the new item - keeping the old M60B40 item as a spare.

Lifting it into position to drop it back into the bay;

Issues with supplied equipment? Perhaps just a minor one.

Joe manoeuvering the new lump into place, Alex looking happy for the first time in three. miserable. days.

Absurd angle to lower the lump in, required us repositioning the straps twice at various points of progress.

Engine pretty much slotted into the bay, with much heaving and shoving to try to squeeze it between the aircon pipework and the ABS module.

As I speak, the engine stands supported by the crane, with a jack under the gearbox drain plug.

Today we will refit the new downpipes and then lower the lump onto the engine mounts and prop shaft.

After that point, really it's just a case of plugging things back in, doing a few securing bolts back up, banging in the new 4.0 DME and off we go.

Once this whole thing is done and running, I will do a bit of a write up and edit the OP with a list of everything we needed for the conversion, hopefully this thread can help someone else afterwards!

[IanIOM]

It is nice to know im not the only person in the world that works no matter what the weather.

Now its cold enough to wear many layers, and a jacket and a hat, by why not gloves?

[Vard66]

Because.... I don't possess any that aren't motorbike gloves <_< And they aren't particularly practical for spannering with, I have found. :P

It's on the list of things to buy in Swindon this afternoon when we go in for oil and coolant.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Great stuff guys... As I mentioned on "The other side"... Great help to the other members, keep it up :)

[prestige interiors]

great thread well done lads

as for the cold i went out with three jumpers two coats two hats and a pair of snow gloves on this morning and was still freezing then i thought maybe i should of put some trousers on !!!!

[Vard66]

Minor update - the bonnet is back on!

We deemed it a crucial move lest it should snow again, so more or less as soon as we didn't need the bonnet out of the way, we hoiked it back on this afternoon.

Coolant system, all the electricals, fuel lines and induction/vac lines are all reconnected.

Now it's just prop bolts, two nuts on the slave cylinder, three brackets on the SLS line around the sump, exhaust manifold --> cat section bolts, lateral gear linkage, torque the viscous properly once I can put it in gear, and then fluids - fill and bleed.

We have discovered however that the 4.0 MAF is a different external diameter than the 3.0, so it turns out we actually need either a 4.0 airbox, or a 4.0 airbox cover, in order to make it fit; which is rather irritating. Can anyone confirm for me if the airboxes themselves are the same between 530i and 540i v8s? If it turns out that's the case, I'll simply buy a new cover, with the wider aperture for the MAF in it.

Alex has just vacated Chez Vard, headed back for Devon, much to his chagrin, as he really wanted to stay to hear her fired up the first time.

I'd like to say I will refrain from starting the BM until he returns on the 17th, but I'm pretty sure it'd be lying. Same goes for stripping the old 3.0 V8 block down to complete nuts and bolts - I'm fairly sure I'll not be able to stop myself doing that in the next few days if I'm honest.

Also worthy of note is that I have reviewed stocks here, and in the last week we seem to have drunk our way through six pints of milk, two kilograms of sugar and about a thousand of PG Tips' finest.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Bin the box guys...

[Vard66]

Another question I meant to ask in that post - do we need to change anything in order to remove the airbox and run a simple cone filter arrangement?

I seem to recall that you need to replace the MAF on a lot of Japanese cars, and something very similar on Mercedes Benz' finest.

The question is academic at the moment, because in the time I was at work after making that post, Alex has sourced and bought a 540 airbox, posted to Chez Vard.

*Edit*

I also have to add; I just spotted your 'First Name' in your profile there, and it tickled me beyond what I'd deem a reasonable response.

[IanIOM]

I love this, although i am dissapointed you have stopped working because of a little bit of snow.if only you had gloves!

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

Hehehehe ;)

[Vard66]

Tbh, it's less the snow than that my time off ran out so I'm working splits again, and Alex has gone back down to Devon. :-P Difficult to work on a car while you're behind a bar, or about 200 miles from said automobile.

[IanIOM]

Pubs are an easy distraction for me

[Vard66]

Ditto, whether on the right side of the bar, or t'other.

Some pics of the engine going in.

Goddamn cold.

The balaclavas we bought in The Range to try to keep warm;

Lump in

And here, the answer of a curiosity we encountered; 'How does one tighten the N/S engine mount on an M60 in an e34 5er when there's such &#33;Removed&#33;-poor access?'

[Alex SBY]

I've kept quiet on this thread, mainly as Vard has been doing a sterling job (see what I did there?!) of writing this up.

We are so close to completion. I suspect another few hours worth of work and it'll be ready to run. It's really galling that time (and the weather) eluded us and I had to leave on Sunday.

Never mind though - in a few weeks I'll be back at Chez Vard where we can finish this job off, fully service the car and give it an initial shakedown. A 250 mile round trip should cover it nicely! :D

[IanIOM]

....

See I miss this, I used to have the time and the energy for larking around in the snow messing. Now marriage and family buggers this up, however I do missing the grumpy moods and shortly follow joy and delight when it all comes together and starts!

So I am a bit jelous !

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

If there was an award for topic of the year... This would win it for me !

With Ian's bonnet fiasco a close second :lol:

[Vard66]

Quick update - she runs!

As of about twenty minutes ago, she started first turn of the key... and ran like a bag of spanners.

Then she ran beautifully after being switched off and started again, once the other bank had fuel. It appears I do need to wait for the 4.0 airbox to arrive before she'll run perfectly, as the difference in airflow past the MAF really does seem to feck with the running.

Only niggle now is that the clutch isn't returning for some reason. Haven't lost any fluid from the system so it can't be lack of fluid.

*Edit*

According to the Bentley Manuals, the 5er, much like the R17 Rover 800s, shares the brake fluid with the clutch slave cylinder. So once I have topped up and bled the brakes, we should have the clutch back too. Job for tomorrow though, hell with trying to do that this evening!

I want to double check the slave cylinder too, as I'm not 100% that it's located perfectly - there seems to be a circular spiggot affair just behind the flange that looks as though it should've been located in the box...

*Edit again*

Question, guys - what is the brake bleed order on an M60 equipped '93 5er with SLS? Can't seem to find it in either the Haynes or the Bentley manuals...

*Edit again*

Just found it in the Bentley one, seems to be the same across model range - right rear --> left rear --> right front --> left front.

Y'know what? I think I'm going to ceremoniously edit the car information in my profile. Hell yes.

[Alex SBY]

Are we correct in thinking that the brake fluid is filled through the cap/reservoir shown at the bottom left-centre of this picture, rather than into the brake master cylinder reservoir itself (on the opposite side of the car)?

[IanIOM]

Im sure thats clutch?

good to hear its running!

Dabys wait until i tell the story of the blown head gasket on the E30 in Milan and the drive home..... one for the pub meet!

[Vard66]

Aye, after a little more research, that was the conclusion we came to. Ok, no, it was the conclusion Alex came to while I was busy failing epically on Survival mode on Modern Warfare. :P

[Vard66]

Minor update again - transpires the reason I can't get a pedal back is because the slave cylinder has shat it's piston - found a good rebuild thread here - http://www.bmwland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=130725.

Looking into buying a rebuild kit tomorrow morning, hopefully will have one after lunch through d1ck Lovett's parts delivery.

[Guest Mister Dabsy]

I would've gone for a replacement slave, less arsing about !!!

[Vard66]

I don't mind the &#33;Removed&#33; about, truth be told.

However, I won't be going to get the kit tomorrow, or a cylinder - thanks to the snow this evening, and me writing my beautiful Vitesse off with the help of a tree.

I don't even know what to say right now.