1995 318i, boring to roaring in six weeks (v8 inside) CHANGES UNDERWAY SEE POST 61!!

Yeah, I have 5 of them...all either torn up or stained/faded. I'm dying the best set of cushions black.

A few small updates:

Front seats ready to go in...I tore them apart, cleaned them with alcohol, heated the covers up and painted them with a vinyl paint I've had good experience with. If it doesn't hold up, oh well. But it should be find for how little I drive the car.



Got the rear suspension touched up and put the wheels on the ground for the first time in months: (4x4 status whoaaa)



And the engine bay is almost ready for paint:



I'm hoping to have the car pretty much together by the end of next week, I'll be starting a second job soon to fund some remodeling (and some boost. Shh, don't tell) so free time will be slim after that. Being that I'll have no time, I'm going to spend any extra moments I get in the next week getting things accomplished.

Almost time to get the engine back in!





My Uncle is the best painter in the bunch of us so he does the honors:



Shave The Bay.







Getting friends to do the dirty work (Valve seals, cleaning the heads, lapping valves, fun stuff.)




Waiting on some packages to "rebuild" the front suspension so to speak and hopefully next week things start coming together and it looks like a car again!

Very nice! That's something I want to do when my engine is out. Any tips for shaving the bay?

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Don't. Haha, it's not a lot of fun and since it'd take years to do it without using filler I'm gonna constantly worry about it cracking out.

Moving the fuse box was a pain but well worth it.

I'm not going crazy. Fuse box will stay but I want to smooth some things out and repaint it.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Bimmer

The ugliest areas on mine were the shock towers, they used some thick extremely textured seam sealer there. We scraped it out, used a smoother caulk and then filler to smooth it out. Cutting out any unnecessary mounting tabs and such helped as well. We just cut them off, ground it smooth and finished it off with a thin coating of filler. Doing those little things will clean the bay up immensely.

Just what I plan to do.

What's next for your car?

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I just want it back together so I can drive it again.

Hello hey Fazda am also in PA and trying to do the same swap using a 355 short block I was wondering if u would like to make me the motor mounts ofcourse some $$ involved for ur time

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I'm assuming that you found this thread while searching for some info on the swap by your join date and post count. (Which is cool, and I'd like to welcome you here)

At the moment I am extremely busy and my car takes priority. It'll be late summer until I have the time to make up another set of mounts.

I don't want to come off as rude or discouraging but if you looked at the pics of my mounts and can't figure out how to make them and can't personally weld them up or have a close friend that can, this swap is not for you.

The mounts were the easy part. Driveshaft, trans cross member, radiator setup, hood clearance, slave cylinder, headers, exhaust, among many other things all took much longer to figure out and execute.

I could likely write a book trying to explain it all in detail.

Originally Posted by Fazda

I could likely write a book trying to explain it all in detail.

You should! Really!

I don't think there's much of a market outside of a few of you guys on the forum haha

naa man dont do it for the money

Engine and tranny were the easy part yo figure out engine is done tranny is bought I just dont know how to weld :/ driveshaft was easy too Nassau in NY can build.it Trans mount a few bends. Diffferential not that hard just cut and stick 9" rear pay somebody but just cant weld.

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Smh this swap.has been done for many many years I think the.oldest one was like 10yrs ago the most powerful build ive seen is 1000HP in NJ.

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We all have our strong points in mechanics here am sure that something that difficult to u would of Ben a chuckle to somebody else and vise versa if anybody is interested that knows how to weld and fabricate hit me up and will get something going just want to shove a sbc in my e36

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Bimmer

Well it sounds like you've got it all figured out. Good luck with your build.

Fazda, well played, sir. Please proceed with your thread.

Thank you, thank you

On a good note, we're making good progress. I have the back half of the interior together and I love it. Today also consisted of running brake lines and wires. Hopefully this weekend the engine can go back in!

Getting some work done lately...

Passenger side doors re-hung after sill touchup, and M3 mouldings. (Don't mind the quarters, they need some love once I've got my wheels/suspension dialed in.



Two-tone Black/Tan Interior coming together



Suspension Overhaul





Engine Beautification



The only brake lines that will be seen in the bay.



Access holes covered, Bay ready for the engine.




Hopefully we'll have the engine back in by the end of the night Friday, then the rest of the pieces can fall into place much easier.

Looking very nice!

wow that's a lotta work there...and we've still got, what,...7 & 1/2 more months to go before b'fest east??.....ya gotta bring this thing thre for sure!!!



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Looks like things are coming along nicely. Can't wait to see the final product!

Greetings from South Australia one and all. I have followed this thread with interest and much admiration for your workmanship and ability Fazda.

Please keep the pics coming - I am loving them