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The M30B34 intake manifold is supported by two struts that bolt to the valve cover and a small bracket between the block and the bottom of the manifold.

The M30B35 does not have those ugly struts above and is instead supported by a beefy aluminum bracket connected to the engine mount.

The shape of the E28 engine mount prevents the aluminum M30B35 bracket from fitting.

Here's what a B35 looks like:


This pic shows the M30B34 bracket, along with the correct motor mount. The B34 bracket will not be as strong; on the B34 there are additional supports holding the manifold in place at the top of the manifold.


This is the problem: The motor mount is in the way of the M30B35 bracket:


This bracket needs to be about 23mm ‘shorter’ so that the nut for the engine mount can secure it above the mount (top right hole).


Other's have butchered both the engine mount bracket and the intake bracket to make this work. I'm not into butchering such things.

I also know the intake manifold is not likely to break on it's own. However, I am not ok with not having it supported. I figure some idiot some day may attempt to leverage the engine with the mainfold...which is probably why BMW designed it so heftily (sp?).

Planned design (may change as I refine the design):

I'm no help other than to offer to buy a second if someone is putting in the time and effort!

mill the head 23mm, it will give higher compression, duh.

Bimmerguy2002 wrote:mill the head 23mm, it will give higher compression, duh.

Scotch just came out my nose.

Ok, this is cool.

Thanks to @M635CSi I have discovered http://www.emachineshop.com

Within about an hour in their CAD software I have it basically done:



I have to verify one measurement. Single piece made of steel will be $137 with shipping.

Out of 5052 aluminum $132.

I know nothing about materials, so I'm going to do some more digging.

But with a quantity of 10 they are about $20 each...

cek wrote: But with a quantity of 10 they are about $20 each...

Make that happen and I'd be in for one.

Count me in for 1.

Using 1/8" steel and powder coated the price per goes up to $30.

While using the CAD app I discovered that my geometry wasn't quite right. I need to mock it in cardboard and test fit it before pulling the trigger, but I'm 99% sure I'm going this route to get it done.

Maybe I'll be able to quit my real job.

Cardboard mock-up. Just a few tweaks needed!

List?

1. athayer187
2. az533
3. BrianD
4. TheGraye28
5. Sleeper21

That looks like corrugated cardboard so it should be plenty sufficient if the corrugations were going up/down.

cek wrote:

Bimmerguy2002 wrote:mill the head 23mm, it will give higher compression, duh.

Scotch just came out my nose.

its like you dont even want 178:1 compression man....

TheGraye28 wrote:List?

1. athayer187
2. az533
3. BrianD
4. TheGraye28

I'll take one, let me know payment info- thanks Scott

Updated

I'm in for one...

1. athayer187
2. az533
3. BrianD
4. TheGraye28
5. Sleeper21
6. Ron535i

I have changed this thread from a "Wanted" ad to a "I'm actually going to do this and jump on board if you want" thread.

To be clear: I do not know the final price per bracket yet. Until I finalize the design (I have some tweaking to do to be 100% sure it will fit...it would really suck for it not to) I won't know the upper bound. It's probably close to $30 (+ shipping). If we get significantly more than 10 people interested the price will head South. The economics of this are such that it probably only makes sense to do this once.

Thanks for all the encouragement so far. This should be fun.

I will jump in as well. One for tsobrado.

CEK, I remember your FJ40 from another forum. That was a nice FJ but your current project awesome. I have learned a lot from you.

In for one.

tsobrado wrote:I will jump in as well. One for tsobrado.

CEK, I remember your FJ40 from another forum. That was a nice FJ but your current project awesome.

Thanks!

I have learned a lot from you.

That's a scary thought.

I'm in for one bracket.

PDX5 wrote:I'm in for one bracket.

And the price just started going down. Cool.

Question: Would people prefer these powder coated or plain metal?

The # of colors available from emachineshop is limited and the Aluminum that I used on all my other parts is not one of them. It is hard to tell what their gloss gray or gloss black actually looks like, so there's some risk. The per-piece cost goes down sans-powder coat, but buyers would be responsible for final finishing.

I *could* get them zinc/cadium plated after the fact; the place I used (arrowplating.com) is very reasonable. Something to consider.

Let me know your opinion.

I'm in for any version.

No to powdercoat, Zinc/cad or bare is my preference.

1/8" steel is pretty beefy. This bracket will be super strong, I believe.

FWIW, the current steel I have selected is "1008/1018/Commercial Quality, Cold rolled".

Here's a design that is actually slightly less expensive (apparently because the removed material makes the bend easier).



Thoughts?