Having a daily(winter) driver faster than my ‘project car’ was really pissing me off. That was untill George gave me a call that he finally managed to persuade the seller of a M535 to part with his rotting away jewel.
Time was a factor, as we were bracing ourselves for the hottest winter to date, so we rushed to collect the engine out of the rusty corpse.
With the help of a bunch of enthusiasts picking their nose that particular day we got the trailer heavy in a blink of an eye and headed home.
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#coolguysedontlookbackatexplosionsorbigengines #hottestalbumcoverever
Back home some long shifts were waiting for me…
Out with the 3.0:
Like two drops of water… one with alot more torque and power than the other tho:
All clear for landing:
My new engine block had the right mounts, so my customisation was no longer needed.
Also all the wiring adaptations for the e32 harness was obsolete, thus I had to reverse some changes I made earlier, all done in less than an hour.
I was very curious to check the camshaft of my new lump, as we never even measured compression pressure. To my amazement it was in prestine condition. So being skeptical I just checked the banjo bolts for the cam lubricaiton line, sure enough one of them was a full two turns loose. My solution was to drill a hole through the banjo bolts and run a steel wire, in order to secure them (thats how they do it in aircraft you know : ) )
Interesting facts I discovered while I compared the two power plants:
B30 has larger exhaust manifold exit ports – about 43mm versus 36mm on the b34;
B34 from e28 does not use a lambda probe for fine tuning the mixture;
B30’s intake has smaller ports on the manifold by about 3-4mm, but identical on the heads;
B34 did not have a vacuum port for the brake booster (the donor used hyraulic boosting), but a preparation for one – this one is easily drilled, threaded and a hose connection can be added;
In the bay:
Because of some clearance issues with my expansion tank (sourced of e32) I had to use the fuel rack from the M30B30 and eliminate the cold start injector. Despite of missing the 7th injector later on, I can say that in 80% of the cases it starts faster than the B30, I have tested it in -2 degrees centigrade – takes a bit more cranking, but it starts okay. I’d say if your car is a summer driver you can safely ditch the additional fuel injector, as it was a reliability concern for me (leaking fuel out or flooding the engine).
A bad photo of it ready to start:
In conclusion:
The high compression ratio m30b34 cranks alot like a diesel 😀
The european version of the engine without catalitic restrictions is a very lively one – with it the e28 is by far not a fast car, but it is fairly enough for you to never be irritated by the lack of grunt.
The newer wiring harness out of e32 or e34 is alot cleaner and the later motronic uses only one speed sender on a trigger wheel at the front pully damper. The b34 uses two identical sensors on the transmission bell housing, reading from the flywheel (that made me get the transmission from the donor too, as my getrag had no holes for the sensors, only preparation for ones).
If you have anything less than the b34 (i.e. any of the smaller m30’s or m20/10), I consider this a swap to be worth the effort.
When I started I really wanted to have the iron block lump, but now I really consider the m52 a very good alternative if not a better one – more a matter of personal preference in fact.
I really can’t wait for the summer 😀
I hope this article helps anyone in a pickle, don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.
Many thanks, to George Karadjov and everyone that contributed with their share of elbol grease!
Kind regards,
Stanislav Todorov.