
Originally Posted by
Dr. evil
So you used the E 36 VF system?
sure did. here's an email i sent to them:
okay, first i gotta apologize for lying to gary and telling him i traded the 5 for a 3 series. i can't say i feel too terrible about it, but i did lie to the guy about it.
anyway, i put the e36 m50 (with vanos, no ews, no traction control, dme ends in 413) kit on my e34 525. it worked out pretty damn well. the only problems i ran into were the dipstick tube and the belt.
the dipstick tube didn't fit in the oil pan and the bracket at the same time. so i hacked up that and my stock one and welded that together. the drain tube went the exact opposite direction as the bracket, if you're interested. super easy. i did have to grind the little fins off my dipstick to get it to go all the way down, but i didn't think that was too big a deal. probably cause i'm not the world's greatest welder.
also, the belt needed to be about 2-3 inches longer to be routed the way it was in the picture. i ended up routing it another direction and shortening it by two inches. works great. i was a little concerned that the blower pulley stuck out about 1/16 of an inch further past the bracket than any of the other pulleys, but it's staying on. if you want pics of the belt, i'd be happy to send them.
as far as the instructions went, everything was pretty much the same, except i didn't remove my bumper, and my charcoal canister didn't need to be moved. also, i had an extra wire on my maf harness. then again, so did my buddy's e36 with the exact same engine. so i called and that was cleared up real nice and easy. the resistor goes on the gray/yellow wire.
the ducting actually turned out pretty well, too. filter's down in the bumper right under the headlight. i'll fab up a cover sometime to prevent it from getting wet. not a huge danger herein fresno.
i did all this up in reno at my buddy's house, and was pretty disappointed with the gains at first. when i got back down to sea level, i realized my mistake. i'm sure it's just as powerful as advertized. in fact, on the way back, over donner pass and down into the central valley, i managed to pull off 36.2 mpg! that's at 75 in fifth, about 3100 rpms if i remember correctly. i was getting 28 mpg before. in town, or anytime i let my foot get into it, it's a different story, naturally.
so the moral of the story is: it wouldn't be too hard to adapt the system for the 5 series, there's even some interest at the bimmerforums.com... anyways, i'm very happy with the product and the service i've recieved, and i really appreciate all the help i got from gary and the other guys, whose names i can't remember.
SchwarzII 95 m50b25tu. smoked rear, clear front. bilstein/eibach, uuc flywheel/M5 clutch, RD strut and sway bars. VFE supercharged!!!