Thinking about installing an BMW M6 engine in my Z

[RyanT67]

Ah, gotcha.  

I run the stock seats and keep my battery behind the passenger seat - it's a tight squeeze to lift it out of there since the seats only slide so far forward and the back rest has minimal adjustment.  I could be wrong, but I think it would be near impossible to get it out if I had it in a recessed box like yours.  Not bashing, just challenging the practicality of the modification given my own experiences. 

I'd suggest throwing the passenger seat back in and giving it a quick check.   Better to find out now than later

[disepyon]

I would have never thought so much customization would be needed to fit an inline 6 M Motor, considering these cars came with inline 6's.  Lots of great ideas in here and work. Your progress with your build makes me feel like huge slacker with my project, haha.  I hate it when things come up like your rad hose problem and there isnt any way around it.  Just eyeballing your pics, looks like your front wheel at full turn lock will clear the radiator hose area. Interested to see this thing done and running. I wanted to do an inline six upgrade form the L6 engine, but at the time I didnt have much money, so I opted for the cheap LS1.

[Zed Head]

Apparently they make a sealed battery with a vent hose, for inside the car applications, like in the trunk (BMW's).  Found a Carquest link also about venting, but there's a bunch of odds and ends links out there also.  Can't find a battery that's labeled as "vented" but it may be that the vents are there on most batteries and just need to be opened up.  Check the first link, it has some good information.  I went and looked at my spare battery and it has two holes on the side like he shows, but I can't tell which are open (didn't try very hard).  Yours probably does too and you could just rig a up a vent hose as he does, he even gives a BMW part number.  The explosive gas problem is a real one though, along with corrosive gases.  His fix is easier than venting the box itself.

http://www.rtsauto.com/battery-venting-fitment-and-options-for-most-bmws-and-particularly-e30s/

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=396536

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/faqs.php?action=1&id=12

http://www.carquestprofessionals.com/batteries/faq_myths.html#9

[grannyknot]

21 hours ago, RyanT67 said:

Ah, gotcha.  

I run the stock seats and keep my battery behind the passenger seat - it's a tight squeeze to lift it out of there since the seats only slide so far forward and the back rest has minimal adjustment.  I could be wrong, but I think it would be near impossible to get it out if I had it in a recessed box like yours.  Not bashing, just challenging the practicality of the modification given my own experiences. 

I'd suggest throwing the passenger seat back in and giving it a quick check.   Better to find out now than later

That's probably a good call, pretty sure my measurements are correct but now is the time to make sure.

 

 

19 hours ago, disepyon said:

I would have never thought so much customization would be needed to fit an inline 6 M Motor, considering these cars came with inline 6's.  Lots of great ideas in here and work. Your progress with your build makes me feel like huge slacker with my project, haha.  I hate it when things come up like your rad hose problem and there isnt any way around it.  Just eyeballing your pics, looks like your front wheel at full turn lock will clear the radiator hose area. Interested to see this thing done and running. I wanted to do an inline six upgrade form the L6 engine, but at the time I didnt have much money, so I opted for the cheap LS1.

It is a big engine and the M6 it came out of was a wide car, yeah I really didn't want to cut into the fender but could find a way around it. You know, you are the man for the job of making a shallow bowled patch panel to give the rad hose some room. I'll hammer away for weeks and will still end up with something barley passable, maybe you will take pity on me when I show you what I come up with

19 hours ago, Zed Head said:

Apparently they make a sealed battery with a vent hose, for inside the car applications, like in the trunk (BMW's).  Found a Carquest link also about venting, but there's a bunch of odds and ends links out there also.  Can't find a battery that's labeled as "vented" but it may be that the vents are there on most batteries and just need to be opened up.  Check the first link, it has some good information.  I went and looked at my spare battery and it has two holes on the side like he shows, but I can't tell which are open (didn't try very hard).  Yours probably does too and you could just rig a up a vent hose as he does, he even gives a BMW part number.  The explosive gas problem is a real one though, along with corrosive gases.  His fix is easier than venting the box itself.

http://www.rtsauto.com/battery-venting-fitment-and-options-for-most-bmws-and-particularly-e30s/

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=396536

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/faqs.php?action=1&id=12

http://www.carquestprofessionals.com/batteries/faq_myths.html#9

Good info on those links, I'll make up a dedicated breather line. One of your links suggested that my Wally world battery might be better quality then I thought.

[grannyknot]

I have been working on this adapter for a couple weeks now and just finished it today, it will mate the bmw CV joint to the input shaft of the Nissan R200 diff. Also, the drain tube pouring water down between the fender and the body is something I have been meaning to fix for a while, no more rusting fenders.

[Namerow]

11 hours ago, grannyknot said:

 

I have been working on this adapter for a couple weeks now and just finished it today, it will mate the bmw CV joint to the input shaft of the Nissan R200 diff. Also, the drain tube pouring water down between the fender and the body is something I have been meaning to fix for a while, no more rusting fenders.

 

Don't forget to put a chipmunk screen over that cowl drain tube!

[Captain Obvious]

Need a screen? Use a couple handfuls of that swarf!! 

Nice machining work! Is that adapter aluminum or steel?

[grannyknot]

The Summit Racing elf came early this year, I love that little guy! The resonators will be welded together and sit under the drive shaft, all the pipes are pre-bent mandrel 3" T304 SS.

I'm hoping this will be quiet enough but also be able breathe, I'll try make the exhaust tips look like the old twice pipes.  Also finished the extensions on the shifter linkage.  All the pretty parts of the shifter linkage are UUC stuff, very well made and engineered.

CO, thanks, the adapter is aluminum.

 

[RyanT67]

The exhaust set up looks a little similar to what I run, albeit with two thicker resonators vs my single thin 18" one.  My muffler is a perforated core one too, 3" in/2x2.5 out.  With the windows up, it's actually reasonably quiet inside the car, although I do have new weather stripping and lots of sound deadener.  It is very loud outside the car.  I suspect the two thicker resonators will help a little more to keep things a little quieter than mine.  I do get pretty much no drone on the highway though, which is nice.

 

 

[Careless]

was there not another radiator hose that would fit? it looks like it could be pointed upwards right from the engine rather than in the stock bmw direction. seems like it would have been less intrusive to the body and less work to find something else...

When I couldn't find compound bends for my V-mount setup, I used two 45* silicone hoses and put a coupler / joiner in the middle. The ones with the temp gauge port are excellent, because if  you don't want to use it for a temp gauge you can substitute the hole that's there to really aid in cooling by utilizing it to feed a swirl-tank. They can be had on ebay for super cheap:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Water-Temp-Gauge-Sensor-Adapter-Universal-1-1-2-38Mm-Aluminum-Blue-/112082905371

CV shaft joiner looks awesome!!!!

Edited November 3, 2016 by Careless

[grannyknot]

On 11/3/2016 at 7:22 AM, Careless said:

was there not another radiator hose that would fit?

Nope. Raff, I think you have been working on purely original so long now you might be succumbing to   Stockholm Syndrome

 

Well I have finally finish installing the drive line, engine mounts, transmission mount, drive shaft and diff are all in and I think, are perfectly a lined. As best as I can measure it I think I'm within half a degree in both axis. So hopefully the drive line will be vibration free    Also got the oil cooler plumbed in, the accelerator linkage installed and air filter sorta finished. As much as I hate K&N filters I bought one anyway, after spending lots of money and time trying build or adapt a paper filter airbox that just didn't work.

The K&N filter will get me on the road until I can figure something else out.

 

[Careless]

have you looked at 944 S2 panel filters from K&N?

great for making air boxes! you'll just have to sandwich them between a flange and use a latch or two like the battery box you made.

 

http://www.promaxmotorsport.co.uk/images/thumbs/0000536.jpg