As I mentioned in my header build thread,
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=829844&highlight=
a buddy of mine was DD'ing. Long story short, I egged him on to drive the car hard and he money-shifted it. Based on gear ratios and engine speed when he shifted, I calculated 8500 RPM. I suspect a bent valve, causing rough idle, but won't know until I tear the M52tuB25 down.
So, I purchased a 100,000 mile M54B30 from a local guy, complete with MS43.0 DME, EWS, key, and tumbler. I am just about to drop the 3.0 liter in the car. I only have 1 week to do it (Christmas shutdown at work), and spent 13 hours on Monday pulling the engine and transmission (what a BEAR!). The last 2 days have been spent researching the drive by wire conversion and swapping the old parts (accessories, oil pan with baffle, headers, etc.) and installing new parts (water pump, coolant hoses, valve cover gasket, Vanos seals, etc.). I had to visit a junkyard to get the harness connector for the new throttle pedal and to get the pins on the DME side so that I can wire in the new pedal. More on the conversion later, it is very late and I need some sleep.
Here are some pictures of me pulling the engine. I had to remove the front bumper and core support to facilitate removing the engine and transmission as one assembly through the front of the car.
![Image]()
I also removed the intake so I could easily get the straps onto the rear engine hook without having the strap wrap over the intake and put stress on it.
![Image]()
I also removed the exhaust and driveshaft, pulled the shift knob off, and popped off the rear bushing on the shifter assembly, allowing me to pull the whole shift assembly with the transmission. I then disconnected all wires that went to the chassis and pulled the whole harness with the engine. I also had to remove the right side engine mount bracket, and the left side rubber engine mount to allow for clearance between the front frame rails.
Here's a picture of the exhaust and secondary pipes/collectors still on the car. It has held up very well, especially since the exhaust and headers have been through 2 track days and 45,000 miles.
![Image]()
As you can see, there's a pretty bad oil leak, which I later found to be a combination of the oil pan gasket, rear main seal, and oil filter housing. I guess its a good thing I'm replacing the engine now, as these problems would be a pain to do in the car (well some of them aren't hard to fix, but whatever).
Engine coming out. Yes, those are ratchet straps, yes it's ghetto, and yes I've done it a bunch of times. One of these days, one will fail, I'll drop an engine on the ground, and I'll learn my lesson. Moving on...
![Image]()
![Image]()
Here's a picture of the header attached to the old M52tuB25. Pretty good shape. The heat shield did its job. No problems with the valve cover gasket. Headers are not cracked or deformed, and are showing good signs given the abuse they've seen.
![Image]()
They did, however, have one problem. One of the brackets I made to mount the heat shield, which was a crappily made after-thought, cracked.
![Image]()
I welded it back together, and braced them all up with a triangle brace. Please excuse the crappy welds. I'm in a huge hurry to finish this project and didn't take my time to make it nice.
![Image]()
Here are the headers installed on the M54B30.
![Image]()
And now with the heat shield on.
![Image]()
New coolant hard lines.
![Image]()
I thought this was a cool picture.
![Image]()
I replaced a bunch of parts. Waterpump, thermostat, all new gaskets (intake, throttle body, exhaust manifold, oil pan, rear main seal, Vanos seals, valve cover gasket, oil filter housing gasket), new coolant hard and soft lines (the small ones). I also had to buy a new throttle pedal for the drive by wire, got wiring harness connectors for the new pedal from a junkyard.
Anyway, that's it for now. I plan to install the 3.0 liter tomorrow, and start working on the new DME conversion.
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthread.php?t=829844&highlight=
a buddy of mine was DD'ing. Long story short, I egged him on to drive the car hard and he money-shifted it. Based on gear ratios and engine speed when he shifted, I calculated 8500 RPM. I suspect a bent valve, causing rough idle, but won't know until I tear the M52tuB25 down.
So, I purchased a 100,000 mile M54B30 from a local guy, complete with MS43.0 DME, EWS, key, and tumbler. I am just about to drop the 3.0 liter in the car. I only have 1 week to do it (Christmas shutdown at work), and spent 13 hours on Monday pulling the engine and transmission (what a BEAR!). The last 2 days have been spent researching the drive by wire conversion and swapping the old parts (accessories, oil pan with baffle, headers, etc.) and installing new parts (water pump, coolant hoses, valve cover gasket, Vanos seals, etc.). I had to visit a junkyard to get the harness connector for the new throttle pedal and to get the pins on the DME side so that I can wire in the new pedal. More on the conversion later, it is very late and I need some sleep.
Here are some pictures of me pulling the engine. I had to remove the front bumper and core support to facilitate removing the engine and transmission as one assembly through the front of the car.
I also removed the intake so I could easily get the straps onto the rear engine hook without having the strap wrap over the intake and put stress on it.
I also removed the exhaust and driveshaft, pulled the shift knob off, and popped off the rear bushing on the shifter assembly, allowing me to pull the whole shift assembly with the transmission. I then disconnected all wires that went to the chassis and pulled the whole harness with the engine. I also had to remove the right side engine mount bracket, and the left side rubber engine mount to allow for clearance between the front frame rails.
Here's a picture of the exhaust and secondary pipes/collectors still on the car. It has held up very well, especially since the exhaust and headers have been through 2 track days and 45,000 miles.
As you can see, there's a pretty bad oil leak, which I later found to be a combination of the oil pan gasket, rear main seal, and oil filter housing. I guess its a good thing I'm replacing the engine now, as these problems would be a pain to do in the car (well some of them aren't hard to fix, but whatever).
Engine coming out. Yes, those are ratchet straps, yes it's ghetto, and yes I've done it a bunch of times. One of these days, one will fail, I'll drop an engine on the ground, and I'll learn my lesson. Moving on...
Here's a picture of the header attached to the old M52tuB25. Pretty good shape. The heat shield did its job. No problems with the valve cover gasket. Headers are not cracked or deformed, and are showing good signs given the abuse they've seen.
They did, however, have one problem. One of the brackets I made to mount the heat shield, which was a crappily made after-thought, cracked.
I welded it back together, and braced them all up with a triangle brace. Please excuse the crappy welds. I'm in a huge hurry to finish this project and didn't take my time to make it nice.
Here are the headers installed on the M54B30.
And now with the heat shield on.
New coolant hard lines.
I thought this was a cool picture.
I replaced a bunch of parts. Waterpump, thermostat, all new gaskets (intake, throttle body, exhaust manifold, oil pan, rear main seal, Vanos seals, valve cover gasket, oil filter housing gasket), new coolant hard and soft lines (the small ones). I also had to buy a new throttle pedal for the drive by wire, got wiring harness connectors for the new pedal from a junkyard.
Anyway, that's it for now. I plan to install the 3.0 liter tomorrow, and start working on the new DME conversion.
