BMW E30 M52 Swap Cooling System Guide [E36 AC Radiator + SPAL 16" Pusher Fan & Wiring] 055
In this video I rig up a cooling system for the E30 M50 swap with a larger rad, a front mounted pusher fan, and a custom wiring harness to make it all work.
Here's what I used in this video:
BM Conversions E30 Aux Fan Wiring Harness with Override Switch (shoot Dan a message, tell him we sent you): [ Ссылка ]
SPAL 16" Pusher Fan that fits perfect: [ Ссылка ]
E36 Aircon Radiator: [ Ссылка ]
Extra BMW Relay: [ Ссылка ]
25mm L-Shaped Aluminium Trim: [ Ссылка ]
Stanley Rivet Gun (good strong one): [ Ссылка ]
Rivets: [ Ссылка ]
Blue Coolant for Aluminium Engines: [ Ссылка ]
25L Deionised Water: [ Ссылка ]
Knowing BMW's M50 and M52 engines can run very hot, I decided to carefully consider my options for a cooling system on this E30 build. I'd already installed an aluminium thermostat housing along with an 80 degree thermostat when refreshing the engine out of the car. A great start, but there's more to do.
I opted for a larger E36 radiator, one from an air conditioning equipped car which is both wider and taller than the standard M40 radiator I removed, but mounts in the same way an E30 rad does. The added benefit to using this type of radiator is getting to retain the side-mounted coolant reservoir tank which I think really tidies the build up.
I had to modify one of the radiator mounts to be smaller, but other than that, it's a direct fit.
Unfortunately running a viscous fan, AKA a clutch fan, which are normally found mounted to the front of BMW engines, threaded onto the water pump pulley, is a no go on this build. There simply isn't enough space between the front of the engine and the radiator to allow for it safely, and if a viscous fan were to contact the rad, you'd have a very bad time.
Instead, we're opting to mount a 16" SPAL pusher fan on the front of the radiator. This particular fan is a perfect fit within the E30's front core support. You could mount it with radiator zip ties and it would probably be fine, but to do a proper job you need a more solid mount than that.
To solve this, we used 25mm L-shaped aluminium trim, cut down and riveted to the top and bottom of the radiator, with the electric aux fan fixed to it. This gave us a really solid base.
3 hoses connect to the radiator, the bottom smaller one which connects between the bottom of the coolant tank and the spider pipe on the M52 engine is a straight fit. The larger radiator hoses which go between the rad and the thermostat housing are a bit more fiddly.
Using original M52 engine radiator hoses was a great start, although the engine is closer to the radiator than normal so I trimmed both ends of the top hose by around 1cm, and the bottom hose rad side by around 1-2cm to get a really good fit.
To power and control this electric fan setup, I got in touch with Dan at BMConversions UK to pick up one of his custom M5X swap fan wiring looms. The loom consists of a thermostat which mounts directly into the E36 rad, main power wires to connect to the SPAL fan, and an override switch which can be mounted in the cab (I intend to use the knee roll). To top this off, it connects within the E30's fuse box utilising slots for fuses and relays to create a real OEM quality result.
With this, the electric fan kicks on around 80 degrees Celsius which we tested in the vid, and the M52 engine would quite happily sit around the halfway point on the gauge as the fan kicked on and off. Perfect.
Following a lot of flushing of the cooling system, for the final fill I opted for blue coolant safe for aluminium engines, combined with deionized water. With the coolant diluted to 33% it's good for temperatures as low as minus 20 degrees C, which it never gets near around here.
Aside from an unfortunate thermostat housing leak, which was resealed with Hondabond, the E30 M52 swap cooling system installation went very well indeed. I can recommend using this exact setup.
For more helpful how-to guides and restorations: [ Ссылка ]
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