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Kato Kids BMW M3 powered 71' 240Z


KatoKid

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This meant I could position the top of the sill in the correct place on the car but that would leave the bottom lip of the sill where it needs to be welded to the lower edge of the inner sill hanging well below where it needed to be. I could with fair bit of force bend and clamp the sill in place in the middle of the sill but the compound shape of the front and rear “boxes” of the sills prevents you from being able to bend them so after much deliberation there was no other way than to make cuts in the front and rear of the sill boxes to allow the whole length of the panel to be slightly squeezed together so the distance from the top edge to the bottom edge matches the inner sill.

 

Once I had made the cuts in the front and rear “boxes” of the sills it was pretty easy to bend the whole sill slightly along its full length. I bent it in two places……..along the line which forms the gap with the door and along the bottom where it returns to meet the inner sill. I had to take more material out of the cuts as they closed up as I squeezed the top and bottom edges together. Bit hard to explain….pictures may help.

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On to the RH sill. This wasn’t nearly as troublesome as the LH side, it was slightly too deep but with a bit of force it could be made to fit. The main issue was that the lower edge wasn’t formed properly. It was more of a larger radius bend than a nice 90 degree like it should be so I had to spend some time to make the bend more defined. In the photo Ive reworked the first 100mm and you can see how the rest is not as defined.

 

As with the LH side it required lots of trial fits before final check of positioning with the templates and welding. I’m pretty happy with the way the templates worked out. As Loui suggested, ideally you should hang the doors and guards to confirm the position and gaps but this really is a PITA and using the templates I’m 100% sure the new sills are in exactly the same place as the old ones.

 

The shell is going to a panel shop on Saturday to have the sills properly welded on with their 3 phase spot welder as I now have 3 layers running the full length of the sills and my borrowed single phase spot welder just won’t cut it.

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Not an engineer Simon, I'm a motor mechanic by trade but haven't worked on the tools for over 20 years. Ive built a few cars a long time ago......

SBC, Toploader and 9 inch into an LJ.

SBC, glide, 9 inch into a 2WD Hilux before mini trucks were cool (are they?).

460 BBF into an XD for a mate.

And lastly a BBC, glide, 9 inch, 3/4 chassis, ladder bar, tubs etc...into a MkI Cortina.

 

Dropped the car off to the panel shop on Saturday morning and they had it for a few hours as their 3 phase spotty is only air cooled and needed a rest after every few welds. Plug welded the remaining holes on the base of the A pillar and all that's left to do is trim they excess off the top and bottom of the sills once its back on the rotisserie.

 

Was nice to see the car on wheels and moving again....even if it was on a trailer!

 

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Next job......I found some rust holes in the front of the LH chassis rail above where the sway bar mounts. Could see some spot welds so envisaged there was a bracket of some kind inside the rail to reinforce the mounting. I cut out the offending area and found what was left of a reinforcement inside. The reinforcement was pretty well gone so I drilled it out and cleaned up the surface rust on the bottom of the chassis rail. The top and both sides inside the rail looked surprisingly free of rust. Seems anywhere they have layers of steel in these cars it attracts the dreaded rust worm.

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I had some 50 x 50 x 2.5 Duragal right angle that was perfect for a new reinforcement. Had to make it in two sections and then weld it together in situ to get it inside the chassis rail as well as plug welding where I had drilled out the original spot welds.

 

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All that was left was to fill in the hole in the rail and repair the other small hole just behind the radiator support panel. This one is a bit bizarre……no reason for it to rust a hole through the rail here as the inside of the rail was perfect. Can only put it down to the fact that it’s the side where the battery sits and the battery gases must sit inside the rail and do the damage? The RH side rail is perfect.

 

Must admit, after the big job that was the sill replacements this was an easy and enjoyable little job! Wish the whole car was this easy.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Had a big night in the shed last night, didn't finish until 1:00 but very pleased with how things went. Wanted to give you all a glimpse of what Ive been working on in the background for nearly a year now, I haven't posted anything about this previously as Ive had some trials and tribulations along the way and at times even doubted I would get to this stage.....and there is still a long way to go before I could say I'm happy. Will post heaps of detail on how I got to here in the next week or so but basic details are:

 

S50B32 engine from a 1998 E36 M3, Ive got the matching Getrag 6 speed but have installed for now with the ZF 5 speed from the earlier 1995 E36 M3. I'm going to run the factory ECU and have the matching EWS, harness and keys to make the anti theft system work. Ive been working in the back ground with Ron Tyler of RT diff mount fame, Ron is putting the US spec S52 engine in his car http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/79806-rt260-bmw-m-powered/ While the basic block is similar the engines are actually very different. The US engine is designated S52B32US and is derived form the production M52 engine with single Vanos, lower compression ratio, hydraulic lifters, single throttle body and is rated at 240 HP compared to the the S50B32 (also referred to as the S50B32 Euro) which has 6 throttle bodies, constantly variable dual Vanos, Siemens ECU, solid cams, 11.3:1 compression ratio and is rated at 321 HP and is one of first production engines to make 100 HP per litre.

 

Until last night I was making lots of assumptions based on Ron's swap about how the S50B32 would fit, turns out the difference in engines will cause some issues but nothing that cant be dealt with. Ron was kind enough to provide me with a set of his engine block mounts as the blocks are essentially the same and using E30 325 rubber mounts it pretty much bolted in...after I removed the bonnet latch bracket. Trans crossmember is nearly a bolt in too and the best news is that the trick factory stainless exhaust headers look like they will fit with the slightest massaging.

 

Biggest unknown is the drive line alignment, Ive got good clearance to my Subaru rack but the BMW runs a guibo joint on the output of the trans and this must be perfectly in line with the diff or else they self destruct. Lots to do and I will post as I make more progress.

 

Cheers.

 

 

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Sensational Mate,

 

Lurch mentioned we should look out for this at the BBQ, and he was right, think a lot of ppl will be following this thread, know I will.

 

Cheers

 

John

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Very impressive stuff Dave! 8)

Where does the shifter position end up?

 

Tim, IIRC it's a 3.6ltr.

3.2 to be exact - give way was the "First production engine with 100HP per litre" and at 321HP = 3.2l + the engine code gives its size away too S50B32 (S50 series and 32 or 3.2 for the size) a S50B30 - go figure is 3.0l :D

 

Good to see the engine has made it way into the engine bay - sits nicely - good way back 8) I see the need for the short clutch MC setup now. Looking at the pic looks like you might be better to see if you can have the MC completely inside the car ie modify the pedal so it is longer and then have MC facing towards the firewall. I believe we discussed the sizing of the BMW MC it is 3/4 vs the stock 240z/260z which is 5/8. I know Tilton make the 75 series which are nice and short - come with a remote res option so maybe this will be the best setup for extra clearances.

 

I was look at one of the RockyAuto RB30 installs and could not see a MC on the firewall at all. The engine was hard up against the firewall so I thought they must have done the same.....but then I found more pics of the same car on a other website - it was an Auto lol.

 

Those S50B32 engines are pound for pound one of the best in-line 6 in factor spec. NA and 321HP so that should be 240HP at the wheels for a factory engine that is just fantastic.

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Lurch.

 

Believe or not the shifter on all BMW's are remote body mounted so you can position it where ever you want.

 

S50B32 is pretty highly strung unit. BMW went all out to make 100 HP per litre for a production car and they have their issues but as long as you know what to look for you can make them pretty safe. The engine for the McLaren F1 is essentially two of these put together to make  a V12.

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...Biggest unknown is the drive line alignment, Ive got good clearance to my Subaru rack but the BMW runs a guibo joint on the output of the trans and this must be perfectly in line with the diff or else they self destruct...

 

Dave - I am running the same prop shaft concept with Jurid couplings (rubber couplings are one of those items that seem to adopt the manufacturer's name). I received advice from a very reputable automotive engineer (PM me to discuss) and he advised "...about one degree compound angle across each coupling  is absolutely fine, I'd get nervous at 4 degrees".

 

I haven't run mine yet but I was very fortunate to have the engine offset 25mm which matched the pinion offset on the diff. I just used cheap laser pointers from Tandy and made up circular targets. With a bit of plasticine I could centre and hold the pointer and target. Of course you have to do it from both directions. I left the gearbox and diff nose mounts 'til last so that I could fine tune the alignment.

 

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8) Thats fantastic Dave. What sort price do the motor/box's go for, I would imagine that they don't come up for sale too often?

Not sure what Dave got his for - but I know when the S50B32 in the Targa E36 M3 Evo that I sometime pit crew for put a leg out of bed (bank + hitting it = hole in the sump = bang in the engine) the replacement was $4K NZ Funny money. Which is around $12.50 an HP ie 321 x 12.50 is approx $4000 - so that is cheap really :D
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