As some of you know, I decided to see if I could get a 2.8l BMW engine into my Viento.

I spent yesterday trial fitting the engine and we have came up against what seems to be a really big problem. Basically, the sump has a bulge on the near side (I think where the oil pick up sits). This does not clear the chassis and if I put the engine in so its above, the whole lot is too high. If I make it go in below then the sump will not have enough ground clearance. Attached is a picture that illustrates my problem and shows the engine in place with the sump bulge below the chassis. On a positive note, the rest of the engine fits really well.

Any suggestions for what I might do next (other than sell the engine on e-bay - which is looking most likely at the moment!) would be gratefully received. I guess that the options are only

i) Have a modified sump made and move the oil pick up - I don't even know how feasible this is (cast ali sump I think); or

ii) move the offending chassis member over by about 3" at the point where the wide bit of the sump is - This seems to be how the GKD's engine bay does it, which is purpose built for a BMW donor. Not sure what this would do to the structural stability of the car though as the current location obviously would transfer any crash stress down the transmission tunnel. The second picture shows a bit of wood where the mod would have to run.

iii) Go down the pub and drink enough to forget about the whole thing.

Any suggestions that might prevent me having a major re-think would be appreciated. I suppose that this will teach me to try to be different!!

Steve


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BMW 2.8 sump [/img]

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required chassis mod for BMW [/img]

i would chop and baffle the sump. did it on the cast ali sump on my saab engine wasnt a problem tbh. if you cant weld ali hack up the sump then get someone esle to weld it back up for you.

lost about 3-4inches off this bad boy then extended it and added extra baffle plates

yeh mod the sump,

Im using a 316 engine, bit smaller but still has the cast ali sump.

I chopped about and inch or 2 out the bottom and got someone to weld it back up.

Thanks for the advice. With regard to the 316 sump, was the oil pick up in the bit that you cut off, and if so, where did you move it to?

As you say the gkd chassis goes around the sump, however its not quite a standard locost chassis in design, the engine bay stuff is all larger size than normal box with cross bracing and diagonals going around the size to keep strength and stop flex.

I can ping you some decent pics if you want? Its a good engine so stick with it, you'll not find another 220bhp engine for the same cash as that'd fetch

Just a thought, but when I fitted the same engine into an E30 I had to use the sump off a 5 series to clear the crossmember. The E36 and E34 sumps are different even though the rest of the engine is the same (you will need the associated pickup and dipstick tube though) - this might be worth a bit of research before you have the headache of cutting sumps!

I'd be tempted to go with the 'bit more research first', to see if there is a 'more suitable sump'. Whilst drawing up plans for modifying the one you have, ie. unbolt the sump and start marking it up for where you would have to chop it and see whats entailed in removing/modifying (optional)/replacing the oil pick pipe.

Welding up ally is not a problem providing you find the right person to weld it up, I can think of at least two on this site (but I'm sure there at a lot of others), 'TrevD' and '907' come to mind easily and they are both likely to be at Stoneleigh this coming weekend should you feel inclined to pick 'brains' on the subject.


Plus we shall have some form of evening hospitality going. So look forward to seeing you there.