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rt260, BMW M Powered


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I would buy another M3 just to pull the engine out and throw it in my 240 right now!!!! I almost got rear ended a year ago in my M3 and sadly the first thing to come to mind was I wonder if i can make this engine work in my Z????? You are my hero right now for doing this :D

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The Engine angle looks a little steeper then the z motor but after losing my brain trying to figure out the angles you were mentioning about the position to line everything up im guessing thats the only way.. might be the pic angle too..

 

Boy that looks like a natural fit though!!!!

 

 

 

 

If you insist :mrgreen: First fit into my 260...

 

 

FirstFit.jpg

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The Engine angle looks a little steeper then the z motor but after losing my brain trying to figure out the angles you were mentioning about the position to line everything up im guessing thats the only way.. might be the pic angle too..

 

The trans output shaft is within 1/8" of stock. The front of the motor is a bit higher than stock (at the crank damper). In angular terms, the BMW drivetrain is 1.4 degrees more inclined. Combined with an adjustment of pinion angle, I should have driveline geometry equal to, or better than stock.

 

 

Great beauty, great union.. Great Photo!!!

 

:cheers:

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Couple more items off the checklist. Poly motor mounts arrived (Ireland Engineering) , and drive shaft is completed (Driveline Service of Portland)...

 

 

 

 

IrelandMount2.jpg

 

 

 

IrelandMount1.jpg

 

 

 

 

DriveLine.jpg

 

 

 

A note on the poly mounts: Close friend has a stunning E30 M3 2.5 4 cyl, with a handcrafted turbo conversion. He tried the poly mounts from Vorshlag and they were not street friendly. He switched to Ireland Engineering poly and noise/vibration are much more tolerable. Enough so, that I'm expecting them to be not completely unreasonable on a 6 cyl. Fingers crossed.

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I haven't made any effort to keep a running tab. Even if I had, it probably wouldn't be terribly useful to others. I've been very blessed in that the 260 was virtually given to me, BRAAP sold me the BMW drivetrain for less than a 1/3 of typical pricing, my ties with Wolf resulted in reduced EMS costs, Roostmonkey donated an RT mount, I own a machine shop, so related work is 'free', and the list goes on. My out-of-pocket expenses aren't real-world reflective, so to speak.

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I haven't made any effort to keep a running tab. Even if I had, it probably wouldn't be terribly useful to others. I've been very blessed in that the 260 was virtually given to me, BRAAP sold me the BMW drivetrain for less than a 1/3 of typical pricing, my ties with Wolf resulted in reduced EMS costs, Roostmonkey donated an RT mount, I own a machine shop, so related work is 'free', and the list goes on. My out-of-pocket expenses aren't real-world reflective, so to speak.

 

Wait a second, you had someone donate a RT mount to the project? That's just hilarious if you ask me.

 

Keep it up though, it's looking good.

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Wait a second, you had someone donate a RT mount to the project? That's just hilarious if you ask me.

 

 

Your entertainment is justified :wink:

 

Probably three people know the history, so why not here?

 

In 1997 I had completed and was campaigning the LT1/T56 powered 240z http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/52346-lt1t56-240z/

 

Bob Maggio had completed the same swap in a 280z roughly six months prior but, as far as anyone knows, it had never been done in a 240. There was no documentation and no HBZ.

 

I was having problems tearing the diff mount. I don't recall how many mounts I tore or how many band-aids I applied. What I remember is, Friday afternoon, 'busting another'... with a race scheduled for Saturday. At the time, I was much more fanatical, and this was an EMERGENCY dammit! All I had on hand was some scrap aluminum, a MIG machine, and a local, cheap auto parts house. In desperation I built the ugliest diff mount in history. If you've ever welded aluminum with a MIG machine, you'll likely empathize with that sort of 'fun'. I was gun shy and concerned about tearing the isolators again. The long nose R200 has four holes right? Why not *TWO* turbo 350 mounts? So there it was, in all it's funk... two trans. mounts, on top of the diff, mated to a soda can bridge, a few hours before flag down. It survived the race.

 

At the time, I was also struggling with driveline vibrations. This led to further experimenting. Pinion angles, lower contact areas, shaft material, and so on. In the end, I built a steel 'bridge' with a single, shim-able, GM mount. I was on mount number three or four by this time. It was simple and I was making progress.

 

I don't recall the specifics, but I remember a few of us talking long distance. JohnC, Rags, Ross Corrigan, Pete Paraska, Jim Biondo, BRAAP, etc. This was before HBZ's time. In fact, it was before Internet forums were generally in vogue. Pete and I began discussing this very topic, and I shared my 'experiment'. He asked me to replicate it for him. So, I made ONE more, expressed my desire to avoid production, and asked him to keep the cost to himself ($20.00!).

 

Pete kept his promise, and posted the mount and prints on his website.

 

Regarding the donation, my relationship with Roostmonkey is top secret :mrgreen:

 

The few I built for myself are destroyed. Does this make Pete's a collector item? :P

 

 

In my best Paul Harvey impression... "...and now you know the rest of the story..."

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Nice bit of history there.

 

I think the funniest part is that the beauty of the mount design of yours is that it can be fabb'ed up in an afternoon with just some simple scrap pieces if you have them. It's dead simple. And roostmonkey donated one???

 

Roostmonkey is your troll isn't he? Ah-ha, mystery solved!

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I've never liked the position of the stock Z shifter. It's too far forward for my tastes. I much prefer the shifter be on a similar plane as the steering wheel. Exaggerating the problem is my 2 1/2" steering wheel spacer. Fortunately, the BMW trans. is external rail and lengthening the rails was not much effort. I lengthened them exactly 8" with 1/2" solid aluminum round stock, welded to either side of the original upper rail. The lower rail was done with a single piece of steel tubing. I believe it's possible to do this this swap with the shifter landing in the stock location, but you'll need to get creative with shifter offset.

 

 

ShifterLengthend2.jpg

 

 

ShifterLengthend.jpg

 

 

ShifterTunnel.jpg

 

 

 

The third picture (above) also shows the aluminum block machined to accept the stock BMW bushing for the rear shifter mount.

 

 

Needed a notch in the tunnel stiffener. The upper shift rail needs this 'pocket' to run through. Notched, sealed, and undercoated...

 

 

TunnelBraceNotch.jpg

 

 

 

 

An 18ga sheet steel plate was fab'd, welded in, seam sealed, painted, and undercoated to accommodate the new shifter location...

 

 

 

ShifterInside.jpg

 

 

 

ShifterInside2.jpg

 

 

 

Driveshaft installed (notice the copious exhaust room!)...

 

 

 

DriveshaftInstalled.jpg

 

 

 

I can now address the driveline geometry question with some certitude. After shimming the RT diff. mount 1/4", the guibo is running at an angle of 0.1 degrees (it's able to run with some angular deflection, but it needs to stay as straight as practical). The CV joint is running at 1.6 degrees, well within the comfort zone of CV's.

 

Today, I can officially claim the drivetrain to be fully mated. Think I'll have a beer :mrgreen:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just seen this thread. As an owner of both a "72" 240z and an "02" E46 M3, I'm really excited to see the outcome of this project. This Z is going to fast as *$#.... ;)

 

Cheers to your ongoing project. Can't wait to see/hear this MZ once the union is complete. Job well done so far. Godspeed the rest of the way....

 

**EDIT** removed the quotes.... :)

Edited by Z Speed
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Just seen this thread. As an owner of both a "72" 240z and an "02" E46 M3, I'm really excited to see the outcome of this project. This Z is going to fast as *$#.... ;)

 

The S54 in the E46 M3 has about 90hp on the S52... Not that the S52 is slow, but it's not really apples to apples. ;)

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The S54 in the E46 M3 has about 90hp on the S52... Not that the S52 is slow, but it's not really apples to apples. ;)

 

True. I wasn't comparing just stating being an M and Z owner it's just come natural to want to see an M (S5x) motor place into a S30. It's going to be fun to see.... :)

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Hey Ron, so it's no go on the S54 I was hoping for, unless you feel like spotting me an extra 5 grand as there is a nice one for sale in Portland right now :D

 

But...I did kinda track down an S52 from a guy who is, get this, doing an LS1 swap in his 97 M3 sedan...and it's NOT Braap...weird I know.

 

Gonna check out the engine tonight (still in his car), but I may some serious motivation to work faster on my 240 once I get a motor.

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