M2 madness

[jgerock]

Great work! I see Greg's radial arm saw worked out fine.

Motor re-installation on Sunday?? Let me know.

[M3M3]

the coolant pipe shortened.

the oil pan.

target for engine in this weekend.

[jgerock]

Hot dog! Congrats on the aluminum welding hook-up. Hope traffic wasn't too bad.

I can help Sunday - Saturday will be on the Central VA 02 drive.

[Lee]

Good work.

When I cut and welded my coolant tube, I made as big a chamfrain on each end, then welded the gap. Because of the chamfrain and the weld penetration, I was able to file the excess weld bead on the outside and inside.

BTW Your trick to bolt the upper pan on a piece of wood is a great find as it ensures that both cuts are perfectly parallel. When I do mine, I will remove that "hump" on the main upper pan's side.

[Dsigner]

I agree on the cut technique "it will become legendary" lol

[M3M3]

i did the "bolt to a 2x4" trick when i cut the coolant tube also. only way i could think of to secure the odd shaped item and get parrellel cuts.

thanks for extra pics of cooling hoses Lee. just about to start that phase!

Got a little work done tonight..

Took out horizontal baffle, cleaned, reinstalled. Also clearanced the area around the top of the oil return boss so that the 17mm top would screw down all the way. Will use a regular oil drain plug to fill hole as I don’t plan on using the oil return.

Then went about installing the baffles in the lower oil pan. filed off the corners as Lee instructed so the panels would fit in the slots. Then put the rubber flapper doors in. well tried to. No amount of heat or oil would allow me to get those suckers in the slots in the baffle, even when trying with the baffle out. (they must be put in after the baffle is inserted.) ended up having to file the slots just a tad bigger to get them in. and heated the rubber, and used light amount of oil.

Next up was the coolant pipe. Replace the little o-rings at each port and bolted on. Added back in the temp sensors. Thermo switch for ecu in rear hole, water temp for gauge in front hole. If you are doing this swap, you must use the 2002 temp sensor. The M3 has a different temp gauge on dash and uses a higher range temp sensor. If you use the M3 sensor, your temp gauge will give incorrect readings. Of course, now you have to cut the nice plug off the s14 harness and put a female spade connector on to plug onto the temp sensor.

[Lee]

Don't forget some Loctite on the five bolts that hold the baffles. As for sliding in the baffles, I found they can be slid in from the bottom if the long slots are filed (widened) where the bent tabs would go thru. The benefit is hat it becomes easier to fit the flaps with the baffles out of the pan. Then fit the long one from the bottom, then the shorter one.

The rubber flaps are indeed hard to fit, but the small slots are exactly the same dimension as in the original baffles.

[M3M3]

good tip. never thought to try fitting from bottom.

yes...did use locktite on the 5 bolts. thanks!

[Lee]

One more

[Swiftus]

Looking good Marshall.

About the coolant switch. Is it possible to correct the reading from the M3 sensor for the stock 02 gauge with an inline resistor? That way one wouldn't have to cut the pretty harness stock from the motor.

[M3M3]

a resistor in line or parrellel would move the slope of the resistance curve of the sensor. could probably get the top end of the gauge correct, but the mid range readings would be off. M3 is 150c, 2002 is 120c. two minutes with with wire cutters and connectors and it will be fine!

assuming since it was missing from my porch that you picked up the driveshaft wrench!

[M3M3]

Spend time to day finally finishing the oil pan saga. Got the parts cleaned up and bolted it on. Done!

Then went about preps to put the engine in. found the engine dipstick in a bin and slipped it in. hmmm. Tried again. Nope. Stops 2in short of all the way. @#$%^&*()!!!!!!

Unbolted everything and cleaned off all the gasket goo I had just covered everything with. Sure enough. Top of lower oil pan was scratched where the dipstick I had been pushing on was hitting the pan top plate. The hole in the top plate is about an inch too far to the left. If you bought this pan, check yours before installing…..

Sigh. Taped up as much as I could to keep the filings out of the pan innards and broke out Bill’s air saw again. Now hole is bigger and dipstick works.

Sealed and bolted it all back together…again. Ran out of time to get the clutch on, but ready for tomorrow.

[jgerock]

Here's Jay on the right (Mr. N47 super-swapper) assisting Marshall with the clutch this morning.

[M3M3]

After we got the clutchmasters Kevlar clutch on, it was time for the engine. Here we go!

Its in!

Jim working on the header nuts

After that, the trans, driveshaft, shifter, header and a few other items went in. actually had to remove the tranny support brackets from the tunnel to get the trans in.

Best part is everything appears to fit.

Oil pan

Radiator with 1/2in plus clearance.

Header clears the idler arm easily

Airbox clears the brake booster

And the diagnostic plug

And the IE strut bar clears the airbox

And the throttle

I hope I do not have to take this thing out again!

Big thanks to Jay and Jim for all the help. 4 hours of it!

[Bill_Riblett]

Looks great! The oil pan is really impressive - sure hope you never hit anything with it...