This is a 97 BMW 328i that I fanaingled a sbf engine into a couple years ago. The car had a blown head gasket and after I tore it down ended up having a crack running from the exhaust valve across and down the adjacent water jacket on most cylinders. My co-worker had the bright idea that since I had so much junk/extra mustang stuff lying around, that I should put a 5.0 in it lol. The purpose was to see the extent of work, as opposed to actually expecting a useful product. This is the finished car and then the original engine minus head.
5.0 bimmer
- Thread starter dft1121
- Start date
I removed the front of car and we pulled the i6 and trans. The short block came from an 88 fox body gt, that I had over-reved on a missed shift and had been sitting in my basement. The heads are a spare set of gt40p heads i had under my box and I installed an old Anderson cam I had sitting in a bucket in a bag of oil. I made some mounts from angle steel and set engine on the factory BMW poly mounts. It took about 3-4 tries to get the bellhousing lined up with tunnel correctly.
I used a holley blue kit for fuel and gutted bmw sending units and turned them into pickups to feed fuel to the holley pump and forward to a regulator and then to a old holley from an f100 mounted to a weiand intake I had bought a while back for $40. I used a 85gt distributor and a med 6al to run ignition. The trans is a c4 from a 66 mustang that I bought as a core and rebuilt. I made a linkage and installed a B&M ratchet shifter under the Bmw trim and a bracket for throttle cable. I through together some brackets for the accessories and ran a 3g alternator and a fox Ps pump with a mustang line and cut the rack end off and installed a swivel with the BMW fitting welded with nickel silver. I mounted a radiator from an old ranger due to hose location and space issues. Exhaust was 2 passenger side manifolds with drivers side turned backwards to clear steering shaft. Pipe went forward through bumper and turned back on passenger side and connected with Y pipe into factory exhaust. I made a template for trans mount out of aluminum bars to support driveline while I measured for driveline angle and driveshaft length. I had Oliver's drive shaft in Winston Salem make me a driveshaft with Bmw flange for diff and mustang trans.
After everything was tested and driven for a week or so. I pulled the previously hurt engine and built a nicer short block for the car and reinstalled with new lifter, pushrods, rockers, valve covers, a new edelbrock carb. I cleaned up the wiring and ran everything into the factory ignition switch and adapted bmw gauges. The only non factory appearing interior component is the shifter. The only exterior change is the hood cut for air cleaner to stick through. If anyone has any questions about anything just ask and I will try to answer it lol
Almost forgot, while trading out the short block, carb, air cleaner, etc for pieces I hadn't previously thrown away, and also making legitimate/cleaner/"i know itll drive" mounts, lines, etc, I also pulled the "core" c4 and freshened it up. It went back in with a converter that half way matched the can as well lol.
This link is the first fire up using all the original thrown away/junkyard parts. Hurt short block, 70's truck carb, explorer manifolds, etc. https://www.facebook.com/774902626/videos/vb.774902626/10154219429632627/?type=3
I uploaded to YouTube, hopefully it works lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1C2H_aVJVISHOdded said:unable to view
It was all worth it when we dropped it off at the BMW dealer for an oil change
They were a good sport and even gave me a thorough "inspection & "service recommendations" lol. Apparently the car showed a few discrepancy's from it's o.e. condition and was missing some key items.
They were a good sport and even gave me a thorough "inspection & "service recommendations" lol. Apparently the car showed a few discrepancy's from it's o.e. condition and was missing some key items.Haha not that dumb, but they did ask why I added the second oil drain plug. It had a stock fox body oil pan, I guess they hadn't ever seen or changed oil on one before. My initial reaction (being a mustang person) was shock, but other than that they seemed relatively cool/knowledgeable (about factory bummers' at least). The forward facing drivers side header that runs forward, behind bumper cover, and then Y piped into cat back tripped them up as well, but it was either that or fab multi-joint steering shaft.
After the weird initial period it feels like driving a mild fox mustang(budget hci) w/ light suspension upgrades (shocks, LCA's, panhard bar. Car starts right up in cold weather, is mild enough to not need regular carb adjustment, and with a lightly upgraded c4 it cruises around with little effort needed. It actually pulls up to speed with alot less throttle input needed, so you could argue that besides fuel pump whine and some interior vibration due to the cam at stoplights, it is more relaxing than before.Macgyver said: