BMW Engine Swap

[jfbrink]

A few months ago, I was offered a free engine and transmission from a BMW 2002. A little research showed me that it could be upgraded to modern EFI, and a bit of measuring suggested it might fit nicely in the 520's cramped engine bay. Well, earlier this week, I got it running well on a MegaSquirt EFI conversion, so today I drove the truck into the garage, pulled the old engine and did a test fit:

 

 

Tomorrow, I'll fine-tune the fit, but it looks good so far. I believe that if I flip the steering center link I won't even need to modify the oil pan.

 

If people are interested in the EFI conversion, I can post that stuff up here, but otherwise I'll just post about installing the engine in the truck.

 

Jesse.

[Draker]

Well.. seems to fit in there!

[Charlie69]

That is one way to make a Datsun high maintenance!  LOL

[tr8er]

Those 2002s were easy to work on. I think you could have fun with that

[difrangia]

Now that's what I see as a vintage swap. That swap could have well been done (maybe sans the FI) back when the pickup was still a fairly new vehicle. Should be able to litterally scare the caca out of yourself and a passenger. I'd sure be looking at upgrading the brakes & suspension. Don't know how many miles you have in one of these little trucks, but they certainly have their limits being so short, narrow, high-pockets stanced, and stiffly sprung.

 

Don't try this in Australia.

[banzai510(hainz)]

harder to get BMW part and they so much more $$$$$ for parts. when Jap stuff cheaper and just as good

[Charlie69]

Free is always good.

 

One thing you might consider is the stock 520 rear diff is 4.88 gear ratio.  You might have a burnout queen.

 

More pictures of the truck please.

[flatcat19]

Well, that looks....um, fun?

 

 

 

Kidding. Way to think outside the box.

[difrangia]

If you could get that 2002's suspension under that pickup, you could have some real fun. Oldest daughter's first car was a 1972 2002. She developed a reputation of a little 'Hellion of the Streets' in a short time. I tried to go a bit easy on her as I knew what a blast the little Bimmer was to operate.

[G-Duax]

If people are interested in the EFI conversion, I can post that stuff up here, but otherwise I'll just post about installing the engine in the truck.

 

 

No thanks, I've read quite enough on Mega-Dribble systems.

[jfbrink]

Well, I've been driving the truck around a bit, albeit with no exhaust system. Even with the noise from the open pipes, the driving experience is very smooth and pleasant... and, I'm sure there's room for improvement in my tune. Below are some random details from the build.

 

This was my first serious, well-tuned, hood-on drive. I was almost out of gas, so the timing was good.

 

These are the five mounts I made to hold the engine and transmission in. The lower engine mount brackets bolt the the sloping cross member mounts. The engine isolators (not shown) are stock from the 520. The transmission bracket (long piece at top) mounts to the front of the stock 520 transmission cross member and uses an industrial isolator with the same form factor, but a bit less height, compared to the stock BMW item.

 

I used a radiator from a 2004 Toyota Echo because it is very, very thin. And, even so I had to trim more than 1/2" off the BMW water pump snout. These 520/411 engine bays are just too darn short. These are the upper brackets for holding the radiator. This is my wife's truck, and these are her initials.

 

Radiator in place. The fan is a low-profile SPAL pusher, front-mounted.

 

Again, dealing with the very shallow engine bay, I had to cast a custom rear cam cover because the BMW piece had all sorts of bulk from holding the distributor which hit the firewall. This was my first attempt at sand casting with core to create a void. It's ugly, but works perfectly.

 

Hey, more clearance issues. I had to move the brake line junction, so I made a clutch master cover that was also a mounting bracket.

 

Granted, I had plenty of space for the battery in the engine bay, I just hate seeing batteries, so under the bed it went. I use these relatively small "Miata" Group Size 51 batteries in all my Datsuns. When I remote mount a battery, I put a circuit breaker as close to it as possible. In this case, it's helpful for disconnecting without opening the box.

 

I like to use an in-tank fuel pump for my EFI swaps. Specifically, I always use this '90s Honda style of pump, with some sort of hand-made sump/tray. The install is so easy: it just takes a 2-1/2" hole saw hole in the top of the tank and modification of the bracket to put the pump at the right height. I then drill five more holes around the big hole and solder in studs for the pump assembly.

 

I'm using the stock 520 throttle cable with a wonky bracket made from stuff I had around.

 

I dropped the steering center link to clear the oil pan. It seemed way easier than modifying the pan, especially given that the oil pump pickup was right where I needed clearance. I had to turn a custom center link bar on the lathe because I couldn't fine heim joints with the thread of the stock 520 bar. The heims take more turning effort than the stock ball joints. The bolt setup here is not ideal; I'm going to deal with that, now that I know that it all works. You can see the passenger side engine mount in the background, there.

 

I welded three studs to the stock shift hole cover plate and the BMW 2002 gear selector bolted right up in the correct position.

 

OK, that's all I have for now. Hope it's been interesting for you. I'm going to get an exhaust system installed in the next few days and then just drive it for a bit before I clean up the harness.

[datzenmike]

Very interesting...

 

I briefly owned and drove a ti? It was 2 liter and carbureted and like driving around in a greenhouse for visibility.

[banzai510(hainz)]

I cant see the photos!!!!!!!!!!!

 

put a exhaust on there

[Pedro]

 

Has taken me 6 years to get a J15 into my 410 bluebird and you are doing a conversion every 6 months! awesome work.

[jfbrink]

Thanks, Pedro! I'm pretty obsessive. I try to do something new with each swap. For the truck, it was about converting an carburetted engine to megasquirt. For my 411 wagon, I'm building a custom A/C setup with a custom case for the components. If it weren't for the A/C aspect, I think the wagon swap would go much faster.

 

Back on the 520, I just redid the cooling system with a bigger radiator. The Toyota Echo radiator worked fine, but was on the edge of under-capacity. I switched to an 80s VW radiator that works really well. You have to sit dead stopped for a while for the fan to kick in. Any forward motion holds the temp down just fine.

 

Jesse.

[mklotz70]

Very cool swap. :)

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

I dig it. Tough to come up with new engine swap ideas these days, and you nailed it.

 

The heims on the tie rod...not a huge fan. Even the best heims get loose after only a couple thousand miles. Not so loose that things get scary, but just enough to start hearing clicking and thunking. I always try to find an OEM solution when faced with a heim situation.