Reply With QuoteYou are going to need to use a flywheel/clutch setup off a 540i, the parts off your m30 will not work. I am not sure if the transmission is the same dimensionally
Lunched the M30 motor. Time for an upgrade.
Hi there everyone,
Been a long time since I dropped in here. Nice to see the board still going strong.
The venerable 535 shat itself a few days ago. Damn, I thought this motor was bulletproof. Accellerating nicely, shifting into third at about 5000 rpm and 'thunk'... compression gone, weird sounds up front, sudden death! F**k. Had the car towed to my mechanic and he gave me the news - dropped a valve, munched up the insides.
Well, enough of the bad news. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Spare E34 engines are pretty thin on the ground out here in New Zealand, but it turns out my mechanic has a donor motor from a 740i, complete with computer and exhaust and can transplant this into the 5'er for about $4K (that NZ dollars - lets say $2,500US).
Unfortunately he doesn't have the six-speed to go with it, so he's going to bolt my old 5-speed onto this beast (with a new bell housing)
Got a few questions if anyone can enlighten me:
1. I'm pretty sure this motor is shared with the 540i?
2. Will my 535's 5 speed gearbox/clutch handle this motor? I just had my clutch replaced at huge expense about 6 months ago & would hate to have to do it again soon.
If anybody's done this I'd be interested to hear. Will let you all know how it goes. :-)
Tim
1992 E34 //M5 3.8 Avus Blue
1992 E34 535iS Diamond Swartz 5-speed
1999 E39 AC Schnitzer S5 Diamond Swartz auto
1977 Porsche 911 Carrera Black
Major Contributor
You are going to need to use a flywheel/clutch setup off a 540i, the parts off your m30 will not work. I am not sure if the transmission is the same dimensionally
Derek A.
90 535i 5 Speed - Style 5 17"
Yes, all sounded too good to be true. Getting the full work description and final quote tomorrow from the mechanic - let's see what he has to say...
Tim
1992 E34 //M5 3.8 Avus Blue
1992 E34 535iS Diamond Swartz 5-speed
1999 E39 AC Schnitzer S5 Diamond Swartz auto
1977 Porsche 911 Carrera Black
Major Contributor
The engine compartment has things in different places on the E34 V8 cars. Off the top of my head, you'll need a coolant expansion tank, brake booster, brake MC, and I'm not sure the PS system is the same either.
I don't know if you can swap the pieces off of a 740, but I'd be very surprised if you could. Sounds like a lot more work than it's going to be worth. What about an S50 or S52? Might be cheaper, and it would sure be easier.
5-10 Grand Master
if you have hydro boosted brakes it will be easyer to fit the motor, some of the early us 535s had hydro boost caryed over from the 735, not sure whets on the euro cars, then they figured out a vacuum booster system that cleared the intake, the 540/740 has the booster mounted behind the left headlight assy in the front of the engine compartment connected by a linkage. the flywheel will have a different bolt pattern and the v8 uses a larger diameter ring gear anyway
all america wants is cold beer warm cat and a place to take a poop with a door on it
Big, Big Time Poster
Any ideas of what past events may have contributed
to this failure?
Originally Posted by BigTim
Big, Big Time Poster
Would it be possible to just get an engine from the US and ship it? I know they can be had here for less than $1000 (used). Even if it cost another $1000 to ship to you you're still coming out ahead.
1992 535i TCD-s2
Moderator
True, and without the need to breed a mutant . . .
Hmm, no idea what caused this failure. The valves were getting out of adjustment and (as is always the case) the car was due to go in for servicing in a couple days.
I drive the car enthusiastically, but not without mercy. The engine was just about to tick over 200,000 miles and has always been reliable.
My mechanic gave me the full run-down of the damage this afternoon - seems the valve punched a hole in one of my pistons and there's a nice big hole in the head too.
The V8 idea is sounding a lot harder than initially thought. There's some guy down country who has a 535i motor with 40k miles on the clock that sounds like a better (and cheaper) proposition. Might spend the money saved improving other aspects of the car instead.
Cheers,
Tim
1992 E34 //M5 3.8 Avus Blue
1992 E34 535iS Diamond Swartz 5-speed
1999 E39 AC Schnitzer S5 Diamond Swartz auto
1977 Porsche 911 Carrera Black
wasn't there someone on this board saying there was a LHD M5 in NZ that couldn't be registered - or the owner had lost interest in registering - now that would be a nice donor car!
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