1996 BMW 3-Series

328i Sedan

-

Manual

WBACD4328TAV41816

Gasoline

Power Windows

This very rare BMW has been significantly modified with an engine conversion to the venerable Mustang 5.0 V8 Engine. This car is fast, clean, and priced to sell, as I've set the reserve price very low. Don't miss this opportunity to own a very fast car without having to do all the dirty work! More Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/65Matt/350iBMWWith50Engine# Videos: Most recent: www.youtube.com/watch?v=seWYVz368-w All videos I’ve taken: http://www.youtube.com/user/E36V8 Conversion information (my website): www.e36v8.com Chassis: BMW 1996 328i with approx. 190k miles. No accidents. The exterior color is original BMW white paint, and the interior is black leather. I’ve owned the car since 2003. In 2009, I installed brand new H&R sport springs, Koni single adjustable shocks, M3 strut hats (offset for more caster). Several years ago, I installed polyurethane rear trailing arms and replaced the front control arms. With the car, I will include the original stock springs and front struts, if the buyer wishes. I removed the rubber rag joint on the steering shaft and replaced it with a custom Flaming River U-joint. The wheels are staggered M3 17”, where the rear wheels are wider than the front. The fronts are 8” and rears are 9”. The tires are Michelin Pilot sports. They are not bald, but they could probably use replacing. Two of the tires don’t hold air that well. I replaced the brake pads with new in 2009. Engine and drivetrain: The Engine is a Ford 5.0 (302) EFI from a '91 Mustang in good condition. Mustang T5 transmission and new clutch. It runs great, and has the following modifications to it: Explorer intake & throttle body, K&N filter, aftermarket shorty headers. Custom mandrel bent single 3" exhaust w/ high flow cat and summit turbo muffler (single 3” in/ 3” out). It has fully functioning Ford EFI, mass-air system. The motor mounts eare E30 polyurethane units, with custom steel welded mounts. For more information on the 5.0 engine conversion, please see my website, see www.e36v8.com for more details. The drivetrain consists of a stock Mustang 5.0 T5 World Class manual 5 speed transmission in good condition. I replaced the clutch with a new stock clutch when I installed the engine. The rear end is the original stock BMW rear end with 3.90 gear ratio. The rear end tag does not indicate limited slip, but when you launch it hard, both tires will spin. Recent maintenance: All of these things were done to the car during the conversion, within the last year or so: • New springs, struts, strut hats • New fuel filter and fuel hoses • New clutch and new flywheel • New hydraulic slave cylinder for transmission, including hoses • New exhaust, complete with catalytic converter and Summit turbo muffler • Replaced steering rack with used unit (I messed up the splines on the original rack) • All new hoses, belts, etc. • New radiator and cap • New driveshaft and U-joints • New K&N air filter • New fluids and oil filter • New gaskets on the engine – oilpan, valve cover, intake throttle body • New injector O-rings and injectors cleaned • New front brake pads • Brake fluid flushed Go fast goodies: I installed the following go-fast parts when I did the conversion (upgrades/mods) • Koni shocks • H&R sport springs • M3 spring hats • Custom 3” exhaust • Explorer intake and throttle body • Aftermarket Mustang shorty headers • K&N filter • Underdrive pulleys History: I bought this car for my wife in 2003 with around 120k on it. The car had been well cared for, and my wife drove it for years with the 328i engine and automatic transmission. No accidents. When she bought a newer car, I inherited this car. I always had dreams of stuffing a 5.0 in it. I was in awe of the guys putting LS1’s in their cars, but there was no way I could afford the 20k it was going to take to put it in. I spend about a year from teardown to running condition, figuring out things along the way and documenting my progress. I had so much interest in this swap that I started getting requests for motor mounts, transmission mount, and a conversion manual so that others could do this swap cheaply and easily. The 5.0 engine conversion has gained momentum as many other people have finished their swaps and people see that there is an alternative to the LS1 or BMW turbo kits. Other info: • Car is very clean with no accidents, approximately 195k on chassis • Car works great with a few thousand miles on it • Issues: A/C is not connected, chip in windshield, one tire loses air, and I haven't corrected the tach: To correct tach, just install a Dakota Digital Tach converter, approximately $75 from Summit Racing • Car is located in Columbus, GA FAQ’s and other info: • How does it feel? It’s weird, I can’t decide if it’s more like a Mustang or a BMW. The best way to describe it is: The steering wheel and brakes feel like a BMW, but the gas pedal and the sound feels like a Mustang. • How does the engine run? It starts, idles and runs fine, just like if it were in any car. Definitely more raw-feeling, with tons of torque and power. • How is the transmission, drivetrain, clutch? It works good, reverse is a little loud. I have removed the stock BMW flexdisc, so there is more of a direct connection from the engine to the wheels, so it doesn’t feel as smooth as a BMW transmission. The shift rod I made to fit under the console is directly bolted to the transmission rod with no vibration dampeners, so it definitely feels different. The clutch pedal is super easy to push, almost unbelievably easy. This is because the slave cylinder has just enough travel to actuate the clutch. You take out any slack by adjusting a nut on the rod that pushes the clutch fork. If you wanted a stiffer pedal or more travel, down the road one day you might install a larger universal type clutch master cylinder. But it works fine as is. • How many miles have you put on it? Probably a few hundred to a thousand. I drove it some, then my brother drove it for several months. Honestly, I dont drive it much because I have a company truck for work. • Any maintenance issues? During the time we drove it, we sorted out a few things, like adjusting the slave cylinder travel as the clutch broke in. We redid the header gaskets, and redid the front exhaust pipe after it popped off and • What is the gas mileage? I haven’t measured it, but it’s probably about the same as a Mustang, I would guess between 12-20 mpg. • What is wrong with the car? What work does it need? There are a couple chips in a windshield. The A/C is not connected. The left rear tire leak air over time. The tach is not calibrated correctly. It needs either an aftermarket tach or a tach adapter from Dakota Digital (available from Summit racing). • How much power does it have? Well, it is certainly worlds better than the BMW 6-cylinder. It has plenty of power to break the tires loose. The bolt-ons help. Don’t get me wrong, it has tons of power, but to really make this beast scream, I’d bolt on a set of aluminum heads and put a camshaft in it. Then, you’d have more power than you could need. • How high are the RPMs on the Highway? The T5 transmission has a top gear ratio of .68 and the rear ratio is 3.90 or 3.91 (I can’t remember exactly). I don’t know exactly what the RPMS are but you could figure it out using an online calculator. • Could the car make a drive XXXX miles long? I’m not sure. I don’t see why not. Why I am selling it: I had a lot of fun with the project, but my life is now filled with other priorities, soccer games, shuttling kids to/from school, etc. I don’t have much time to enjoy this car anymore, and so it sits in the carport. So I’ve decided it’s time to sell it. As you can see from the video I posted above, my 4 year old son is pretty much my shadow and is right by my side all the time. So my priorities and time restraints don’t leave much time for car projects anymore. So I’m ready for someone else to enjoy this beast! Please contact me with any questions and good luck bidding! PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU WILL NOT FOLLOW THROUGH, thank you. On Dec-07-10 at 16:24:38 PST, seller added the following information:Here's an email I wrote to someone that was interested in the car: "Hey Jon, Someone emailed me about the jalopnik article this morning - that will be some good exposure for the swap in general. This car gets my heart pounding every time I drive it (unfortunately it's not very often). It is everything I had hoped for when I set out to do this swap a couple years ago. The biggest reason I don't drive it is that I have a company truck for my job. I take it out now and then to stretch it's legs and it drives like a champ. Other than the occasional drive, it just sits there. I think you'd really enjoy it. It turns heads everywhere it goes - people get really confused when they hear it running. When I tell them what is under the hood, they don't believe me until I open the hood. Alot of them take a picture because they can't believe it. It really is a great swap, since the E36 has great handling and the 5.0 is a great engine. And don't get me wrong, the thing is a beast - when you step on the pedal, it goes, even at low RPM's the torque kicks in. Step on it hard, and the wheels spin. The most confusing thing about the car is that it defies description. It handles like a M3, but it's raw torquey power like a Mustang. If you were crazy, you could stick a set of aluminum heads on it and bolt on 100 horsepower and lighten the engine at the same time. If I were to keep it and I wasn't so burnt out on it, I'd redo the exhaust to be a true dual exhaust and put a set of GT40 or aluminum heads on it. Then, it would be so fast, you couldnt stand it. I like to be real honest about selling stuff so there is no surprises. The car starts, idles, drives, and everything with no real problems. Power steering works great, the suspension and brakes work fantastic (I swapped the springs/struts at the same time) The tach bounces around, it just needs a converter box from Dakota Digital. Or for the cost of the coverter box, you could just put an aftermarket tach in. The windshield has a small chip in it, no big deal. The body and interior are very straight and clean. I had a few issues to work out after I got it running. My brother drove it every day for about 3-4 months, so he sort of flushed out any reliability concerns. - We had to replace the header gaskets after one side started leaking. - The front exhaust section (elbow) popped off a few times on the drivers side. The problem was that there wasn't enough overlap under the clamp. I ended up redoing that whole section and eliminating one clamp with a welded connection. No more problems since I did all that. - As the new clutch wore in, I had to adjust the nut on the slave cylinder to compensate. - I don't have A/C connected, but the compressor is installed and I have the 5.0 lines if you want them. Or you could eliminate the A/C compressor for less weight. The motor was in really good shape when I got it. It came with a factory engine oil cooler. I replaced the oilpan and valve cover gaskets, cleaned the injectors and installed new injector o-rings. The inside of the motor was in good shape, looked like the oil had been changed regularly. The T5 shifts great. I drained the refilled the fluid during the swap. Of course the driveshaft is new, exhaust is new, brake pads are new, struts and springs are new, hydraulic slave cylinder is new, K&N filter, etc." I hope that additional information helps!