I have '87 E30 with M10 engine, and I am in a process of fitting a/c from a wrecked car. It's time to fit a/c compressor now (everything else is finished :-)
My first question is: does the compressor have to be at predefined angle, or can I rotate it 30 degrees around rotor axis?
I am asking this because the compressor has a mounting bracket for M20 engine (not sure about that), and I have M10. Existing mounting bracket attaches to the motor in a vertical plane, and for my engine that plane is at 30 degree angle.
Since I do not knew in detail how does compressor operate, I do not knew if rotating it for 30 deg. around the axis of rotor rotation would do any damage. And it would be the easiest to fabricate bracket like that.
Now my second question. If rotation can damage compressor I have to fabricate more complicated bracket, that will be heavy if I use steel. Would aluminum be good enough to hold (pretty heavy) compressor?