The Euromurican; a 242 with an M60B40

[Arn02]

So a few years back I made the 245 GT. Unfortunately I no longer really had a use for it and I wanted an e30 as daily driver again. So I sold it to this character:



Who is in fact the builder of the other Dutch 245-with-m50-transplant: http://forums.turbobricks.com/showthread.php?t=329198. He sold his (again) and wanted it back (again) so he bought mine.

All the while I had this 242 which I bought little over 4 years ago. It's a '76 with b20 and 4-speed.



I drove it every now and then but I had it parked at my retired father's place and he uses it mostly for himself and to drive the grandchildren around. I used it for a holiday to Romania few years back. It was great on the Transfagarasan, one of the best roads in Europe. It was however horrible on the highway. I have very little love for the b20. So at first my idea was to build a b230fk with bigger t for it, then I scrapped that. Then I built a b230+16V head for it..... and sold that. The main reason is that I never really got a concept for it (and I need a concept when I build a project car) other than another 242 with 16V engine.

So I bought a M60B40 from a 1995 e38 740i. I decided the concept should be an american muscle car, but completely made from european parts. Anything non-metric is banned.
The car will have an automatic, comfortable black leather seats, airco.



And a 5HP30 5-speed automatic. It's huge. And 109kg.


And a drop bar from STS:


I could prepare the swap without the car so the last months I've spend some time building engine mounts and resealing and checking the engine. So some pictures of the fabrication of the mounts and resealing of the engine.






















Stuff for engine:


Engine:





Nozzles for LPG injection:



Some modifications to the "bridge" that connects the cilinder heads:





Then the car finally arrived at surgery. Out with the old, hateful block:



And in with the new...



Enough space in the rear.



Front:



Making the bmw radiator work:







And the airco rad:





This is it so far. I'll keep updating.

[hiperfauto]

Do you want to sell the B20 M45 bell housing?

[Arn02]

Originally Posted by hiperfauto

Do you want to sell the B20 M45 bell housing?

Already sold.

[JW240]

Great work, as always!
Really like the 245 too and love how it rides, curious how this will be!

[Sander]

Cool project! The M60 looks right at home in there.

[Arn02]

Small update.

Made a strutbrace to compensate for the added torque. I will make linke to the firewall later.





Flat black. What else?



Fitted the airco unit inside the car. This will work just not sure yet how.



Chow for now.

[Hank Scorpio]

Rad!!

[Harlard]

Neat!

[Broke4speed]

You had me at

Originally Posted by Arn02

metric

[740atl]

How are you going to control the 5hp30?

[stick70]

Hell yeah, this is badass.

[PeaceEngineered]

Awesome. That fit in there surprisingly well! I would think weight-wise the engines are close? Lookward to engine management integration.
Will you be updating suspension after the swap?

[Walter]

M60s sound so good. Can't wait to see this finished.

[Arn02]

Originally Posted by 740atl

How are you going to control the 5hp30?

The engine loom is connected with the automatic. I need to plug this in and it will run. I'd have to do the wiring obviously but not there yet.

Originally Posted by PeaceEngineered

Awesome. That fit in there surprisingly well! I would think weight-wise the engines are close? Lookward to engine management integration.
Will you be updating suspension after the swap?

I think the m60+5hp30 is about 90kg heavier than a b230+m46. That's like having a passenger with you all the time.

[Arn02]

So it was time to get the engine and transmission in.







The 5hp30 required a bit a massaging the tunnel. Nothing too serious though.




Room enough to get place the steering rack, or take it out if needed.




Motor mounts seem fine. Tape measure to the frame rails. 37cm exact to both sides.




Fitted the brake pedal and tossed the clutch.




After the engine was in, it was time to make the transmission mount.









Bolted through the hardy and used it as a spacer, and made a template to help center the drive shaft in the center bearing.



It sits fine so next are the headers.

Chow for now.

[Vol242vo]

Well, this should be stupid fun.

[JW240]

Nice update!

[LC4CARL]

Really nice. Like the black under hood / blue body.

[Arn02]

Thanks guys!

Originally Posted by LC4CARL

Really nice. Like the black under hood / blue body.

Yes I'm happy with it as well. I was a bit reluctant because of the boy racer-look, like the under-the-hood equivalent of carbon mirrors, but it turned out just fine.

[miguel.760ti]

This is rad, M60 sounds amazing and loves to be wrung out to high RPM.

[Arn02]

Small update time. I have been puzzling and testfitting to get everything in the eniginebay in it's right place and connected. For the sake of it and because this is a budget build I want it all simple and elegant with the least amount of (non-necessary) work and effort. So M60 remote oil filter housing and airfilterbox have been kept. I won't bore you with too much text so on with the pics.





Because the window washer reservoir is moved to the driver's side and the headlights will be connected on relays, I was able to delete the whole wiring loom on the passenger's side. The engine itself and the wipermotor will be fed from inside through a new hole in the firewall.



I was lucky because an m54 vanos pressure line was a direct fit from the steering pump to rack. Return also connected so the power steering is sorted.




Made a new strut brace from some oval tube I have laying around. The round one didn't clear the intake manifold.





The m60 airbox (requires some sheet metal wort in the engine bay to work) and the reservoir from a 245 turbo. Not shown yet are the dryer and expansion can for the airco, and the LPG reducer. But I'm positive I'll manage to get those in too.



Chow for now.

[JPS]

very cool project Arno, keep it going!

[pwaes]

Very nice. What is the plan for the exhaust? 2 times through the hood?

[Arn02]

Originally Posted by JPS

very cool project Arno, keep it going!

Will do!

Originally Posted by pwaes

Very nice. What is the plan for the exhaust? 2 times through the hood?

If only No probably 2x 2.5" to 1x 3" and then under the rear axle and out.

[reiernumans]

My friends stock 245 didn't get a pass for its APK with the exhaust lobbed off behind the rear wheel (with a turn-down on it), apparently there's some regulation since about two or three years that the exhaust has to be stock length.. 75 car too, you might have to go over/under axle and finish it there, though I'd ditch the bend and muffler that usually sits behind the bumper to exit the exhaust on the left. Looks odd from the rear of the car and there's plenty of space to add a muffler or two in the remaining exhaust length.

Cool project btw! I need to show this to the 240 people I know and convince them the stock engines are too slow.. :D