The engine came complete with the transmission, harness, driveshaft, headers, all accesssories, torque arm, pedal assembly, and the PCM. Overall I was pretty impressed with how clean everything was. Lots of the stuff I'll be able to sell off as I won't need it. In person, you gain an appreciation for how big this thing is, even though it is a small block. Definitely going to be a challenge to find the sweet spot in the engine bay for mounting.
In preparation for some reliability mods that I'll be doing, I started tearing down the motor, taking off the harness and some of the accessories. I removed the coil packs, motor mounts, headers, AIR plumbing, AC compressor, and the power steering in order to give me access to lifting points on the heads.
I tried to label all of the connectors as I was taking it off the motor so I'll have an idea of what I need/don't need when I'm splicing harnesses together later on.
I noticed that the A/C idler and tensioner pulleys felt a bit rough, so I popped the bearing seals off, degreased them, and repacked them with some Redline CV-2 grease. Small simple shit like this saves you a couple bucks.
I popped the valve covers off and also checked the spark plugs for any abnormal coloration. Everything turned out okay there, and the rocker arms looked clean - which suggests that the PO kept up with oil changes.
Pretty much all stripped down.
I wanted to get a look at the clutch, so the next step was to get the transmission apart from the engine. But from how it was sitting on the crate, there was no way in hell to do this without putting a decent bit of the load on an unsupported input shaft. I didn't want to chance it, so I picked up an engine hoist from Harbor Freight. I was able to score a deal on the 2-ton capacity model. I also picked up a 1500 lb-capacity load leveler which will help to finesse driveline angles upon removal/installation, as well as balance everything.
All together.
Overall I'm pretty pleased with the construction. I know it's Chinese made but you really can't beat the price. I had a bit of trouble initially get the bottle jack to support a load - my first lift attempts would retract the ram. After bleeding it and tightening up the release valve with pliers it worked fine.
Starting to get packed in the garage! Not that I have much room to begin with - shit everywhere and it's only going to get worse.
As I mentioned, I had to remove the power steering to get to the lift point on the front of the driver's side head. Kind of tricky without removing the pulley, but it can be done.
I was able to get my pick points, lift up the motor/trans from the crate, unbolt the trans from the bell housing, then block it up level and wiggle it free slowly. Getting ready to lift:
The result:
With the clutch assembly exposed now it was quick work taking everything off the engine. I braced a breaker bar against the pallet to keep the crank from spinning as I broke the bolts loose. Here's some detail of the pressure plate / flywheel:
And for gigs, a comparison of the stock LS1 clutch against my OE 325i clutch that I pulled off this past spring:
In case you were wondering, the joke is on the right.
Upon initial inspection, there's some pretty serious heat marking and gouges in both the pressure plate and flywheel. Either the PO didn't know how to drive or they flogged the shit out of this car. I was hoping to be able to sell this off but I'm not sure I'll be able to do so without getting them resurfaced. Oh well. I'll be needing a new clutch kit regardless - considering an LS7 assembly or an aftermarket equivalent.
Everything stripped from the engine, except for the pilot bearing which I'll need to replace. I will more than likely do the rear main seal while I'm in here.
With the transmission separated now, I decided to move the engine onto the cart I built and cut up the majority of the pallet to free up some floor space. It's at a premium in my garage.
All stabbed up. It's surprisingly stable - I'm pretty confident that it won't be going anywhere when moving the cart, though it's still probably a 2-man operation to move it to be on the safe side.
I did save a bit of the pallet to set the transmission on, and used some scrap to prevent it from rolling around. The rest of it was burned in celebration of Al Gore's birthday.
A picture of the starter motor and solenoid, pretty filthy:
I also took some measurement for the AC compressor mount - I am likely going to need to fabricate something to bring the compressor in closer to the engine to give me some more clearance at my frame rails.
It looks as though I've got about 2.5" to play with, though if I gain an inch and change back that would be extremely helpful. You can see from this angle how the compressor really sticks out there.
I had a bit of luck - the same week I bought the engine, I was able to find a custom made driveshaft from a guy that did the same swap I am doing. He wrecked his car and no longer needed it, so I picked it up and ended up saving myself a good bit of change in the process.
Here you can see the original shaft (aluminum) is a bit shorter than than what I needed.
This shaft is 2.75" steel with 3110 rebuildable u-joints. It has a t56 spline and a JTR flange for connecting to the 4-bolt flange on a 188 mm BMW diff. Exactly what I needed.
Over the past couple nights I started messing with the wiring harness too. After looking at it more closely, I'm pretty sure a 5 year old could have done a neater job wrapping this harness up. Corrugated black tubing with a shit ton of electrical tape under it. I stripped everything down to allow me to delete unnecessary wires from the harness, and then I plan on heat shrinking everything when it's done.
For the time being, I guess I better figure out what goes to what.
And here's the big pile of smelly, black plastic bull shit. Seriously, it smells like shit.
And I made another friend :D
That's it for now, more to come soon.
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