Got myself another e30! - 1984 BMW 318i

In reply to David S. Wallens: Thank you sir! I have a feeling you may be correct!

CLNSC3 wrote: What is the most common solution guys are using for a brake booster? I have some really good fab guys at my disposal, so if neccessary I can have something fabbed up but I'd rather not go through all of that!

Been doing more research on the booster set up, as the one thing I would like to keep power are the brakes.

So a common solution is the remote booster from an e34 540. This is the route I think I will be taking. I heard thereis an e34 at the U-Pull It, so I am about to roll out there and see if this is true and if its the correct model!

Got a little done today...

ICV Delete:

The valve was bad and the car suffered enough to be slightly annoying. That pretty much tells the whole story about why I removed it. Now I will show you how. Removed ICV and associated tubing from the vehicle, and tucked the harness back away in an unnoticeable area.

Got caps from the auto parts store, and used the OEM BMW hose clamps. Did this both up top on the engine, and on the intake elbow. As long as I had the elbow off I inspected it for cracks and gave it a quick cleaning. Adjusted the idle to 800 rpm with the car warm and I am good to go! Looks better too!

Went to autoparts store again to get the rest of what I needed to replace all vacuum lines, 2 fuses and paint some of my trim.

This little bastard keeps trying to eat the lines, gotta keep my eye on this one!

-Josh

yep, that ICV delete is exactly the same way I did it on mine :)

Yeah taking that thing off was childs play! Did a lot to clean up the hectic looking engine bay too...

Made some good progress with the car, definitely spent far more time out in the garage working on it than anywhere near the computer! Been meaning to update the thread for a while, but now I am finally getting around to it!

So the IACV delete did not completely solve my running issues, so as I began replacing vacuum lines. I ordered some fuel injector seals from the local auto parts store since I thought that may be causing some issues. The kid at the counter sold me four kits, claiming each kit was for one injector. How you could possibly fit 8 seals on one injector was beyond me, but he said I could take them back if he was wrong. Well he was.

I got the injectors pulled and set about cleaning and inspecting them. Turns out that two injectors had severely cracked tips.

So these must have been just DUMPING fuel into the cylinder, and this fits the symptoms the car has been displaying perfectly.

Bought some plugs for the car and pulled the old ones. The two plugs from the cylinders with broken injectors were absolutely soaked in fuel, the other two were fine.

Now I just need to source two CHEAP injectors and have them cleaned and rebuilt. May head to the U Pull It if I cannot find a killer deal online. After that the M10 should be a solid runner until I get that 5.0 in!

Also got a new valve cover gasket. After I pulled the VC I figured I may as well paint it. Then I figured, I may as well make it look cool. So I did a relatively quick paint job on the VC after I masked the lines. Then I sanded down the remaining raised surfaces real quick and voila!

There are a ton of other things I have completed that I haven't taken pictures of yet, about to run out to the garage for a few hours and work on the car. So I'll update the thread this afternoon!

Thanks!

Clearly I have a very understanding woman in my life...

Every part thats going back on the car is being cleaned, even if it is something you can't see when it is mounted on the car. Have something else planned for my diving boards, but here the front sits soaking in dawn/hot h20.

Valve cover off..

Valve cover back on...

How she sits right now...

Some random pics of my ghetto little garage, small but definitely does the job.

My other project for the day was making the crappy paint on this Valiant look good enough to sell...its a good 8 footer now. haha

Haven't been able to update the thread for a while, been super busy and would rather spend my spare time working on the car as opposed to writing about working on it!

Currently shopping for my 5.0/T5 right now. So out with the M10/Auto and the fun begins! Still trying to decide if I am going to buy a mustang 5.0/T5, buy a whole mustang or go with an explorer engine. It all boils to down to which one is the best for the lowest amount of money, so in the end I guess I will buy what I find a good deal on.

I will update asap with pics of the engine coming out and the various engine bay projects. Also been repainting every single piece of trim and giving everything thats going back on the car a thorough cleaning and or refinishing. I have a BAD case of "while I'm in here." But I want to project to be well built and thought out, not just slapped together.

Going to wrap the car in this military green matte color as soon as little things are sorted on the body:

But thats a ways off, want it to move under its own power first.

-Josh

in case you haven't seen it, Stuart over on R3V has a build thread for his 5.0-powered e30. His username is "funfgan" and its in the build thread section there. I know he's not the first to do it, but stuff in there may give you ideas. He just got it on the road last week.

irish44j wrote: in case you haven't seen it, Stuart over on R3V has a build thread for his 5.0-powered e30. His username is "funfgan" and its in the build thread section there. I know he's not the first to do it, but stuff in there may give you ideas. He just got it on the road last week.

Thanks for letting me know about that thread! There is definitely some good info on there, once you sift you all the BS that seems to be common place on r3vlimited, haha!

On a side note, where did you buy your flocking kit? I am having a hell of a time finding one locally so I am either going to have to order one online or just wrap the dash in alcantara...thanks!

Its been quite a while since I have updated the thread, in the mean-time work on the car has continued the slow progression toward being completed. I have a couple grand here to blow on motor/tranny/mounting hardware etc, purchasing these items is no bigger a milestone than many other things I have been up to...but it FEELS like a huge step. So I am now keeping my eyes peeled for amazing deals on a drive train. Considering I now accept this is going to cost me 3x what I originally budgeted (funny how that works) I am waiting for a really good deal!

Got the M10/Auto pulled out of the car and was able to sell it quickly on craigslist. Let me say that pulling an engine and tranny, by yourself, in a one car garage with a floor that’s not really level and with horrible lighting is not really an ideal situation to say the least. But eventually I wrestled them out and got them out of my way. Also took the steering rack out to make room for an e36 unit. Next step in here is to cut off the unnecessary brackets and make everything nice and smooth, repair the rust that was hidden under the battery tray and get a fresh coat of paint in the engine bay.

Did some work on exterior pieces as well. Tucked the bumpers and painted them black, and painted the bumper trim. The front remains uninstalled until after I have an engine in there. Night and day difference between the stock diving boards and the current look!.

(bumper trim not all the way tightened up, hence the gaps)

When it came to painting my kidney grills I had a problem, some of the chrome was cracked and it would be hard to make it look “right” without removing all the chrome. I remembered that this plating does not come off easy, so I went to the laundry room for my solution

Let the grills soak in a bucket of bleach and it magically removed all the chrome

After this was done I was able to paint the grills, they came out rather nice.

Some pics of other pieces I have refinished thus far...

The headlight trim pieces were not in very good shape, looking better now.

More pieces awaiting their turn...

Some of the nuts/bolts/fittings on the car had light surface rust and all were filthy. In an attempt to spend minimal time actually cleaning them I searched for a solution. This time me search led me to the kitchen. Coca-cola. So bag by bag I am letting them sit in coke for a few days, rinsed and then placed in CLR followed by a final hot water bath. Works surprisingly well!

I removed the doors and fenders to see what it looked like under there, everything looked good albeit dirty. There was some small spots of surface rust all of which will be removed and then given a fresh coat of paint. As long as I have the front end completely taken apart I will take the opportunity to give it the same treatment.

Began to remove the interior as well. It’s pretty bare in there at this point and little of it will be getting reinstalled. I have a plan for the interior, but I will wait until I finish that project to say anymore. Before that gets completed I need to remove the sunroof and plug the hole though and finish removing the sound deadening.

Amazing filthy under the carpet, but at least theres no rust...

My dash had plenty of cracks, so I pulled it out and starting the repair work. Inspired by Irishj44 I will be flocking the dash after I finish repairing the cracks.

(vin plate was removed to repair the crack that runs beneath it after these photos were taken)

Since the car will be street driven only on perfect days and I was not going to be running AC anyways I figured that I would removed the rest of the HVAC system as well. I set it aside in case I later decide I was crazy for doing so. All together this system weighs a lot, it really surprised me. I started making a template for the area of that dash that originally contained HVAC controls. The new plate will contain 3 gauges and a head unit.

Once again my little homie Deebo found his way into a picture...

My To-Do list for the car keeps growing and my ADD is making it hard to focus on one thing at a time, or two, or three for that matter. But I will try to get some more pics and update the thread again ASAP.

Thanks for reading!

Josh

Cool project! I've often wondered what it would be like to drive a V8 E30.

FYI, I've got a 5.0/T5 for sale in the classifieds for $500, but the distance is likely an issue.

In reply to Winston:

Thanks for the comment, I am looking forward to experiencing a V8 E30 myself! I'd love to see it end up being as close as possible to 2,000lbs with 300whp but we will see... :)

Shoot me an e-mail, JPHedberg@live.com, I may still have a few connections in the shipping world and I have lots of friends down in TX. I just moved back up north from Austin!

Don't recall if I replied above previously, but the flocking kid you get from Don-Jer (I think that's the spelling) online. I would get an extra bag of material, as with one bag you have to worry about thin spots if you're not super-careful, or you'll run out. I just used the manual flocking kit (with the litte hand-operated cylinder), but if you have compressed air I hear the air-gun version works well also.

2000lbs may be pretty ambitious. Based on my calculations (stuff I've removed/added taken from what it weighed when I bought mine), I'm sitting at just under 2200 (with a 70lb rollbar). I have no back seats, no sound deadening, no power anything, no A/C, only 2 radio speakers (small ones), and still an M10 up front. I'd say I could get to 2100 or so with some lighter race seats (I have Porsche recaros that are lighter than my e30 seats by a tad), and a few lbs by taking off my door panels, but there's not much else I could remove short of cutting out the sunroof frame (est 30lbs, I'd guess).

Don't recall if I replied above previously, but the flocking kid you get from Don-Jer (I think that's the spelling) online. I would get an extra bag of material, as with one bag you have to worry about thin spots if you're not super-careful, or you'll run out. I just used the manual flocking kit (with the litte hand-operated cylinder), but if you have compressed air I hear the air-gun version works well also.

2000lbs may be pretty ambitious. Based on my calculations (stuff I've removed/added taken from what it weighed when I bought mine), I'm sitting at just under 2200 (with a 70lb rollbar). I have no back seats, no sound deadening, no power anything, no A/C, only 2 radio speakers (small ones), and still an M10 up front. I'd say I could get to 2100 or so with some lighter race seats (I have Porsche recaros that are lighter than my e30 seats by a tad), and a few lbs by taking off my door panels, but there's not much else I could remove short of cutting out the sunroof frame (est 30lbs, I'd guess).

In reply to irish44j:

Thanks for the lead on the flocking, looks like they have everything I need there! This should be an interesting experience...

Growing up my mother had a little phrase painted on the wall, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars." Cheesy? Yes. But basically I'd be happy with a weight of around 2100 lbs and 250-275whp, but if I am able to meet my goal even better!

Have you though about cutting out the spare tire well and replacing it with a thin sheet of metal? I have been kicking that idea around but definitely gonna give that one some thought. I am going to go take a peek at the sunroof frame right now, I literally just got inside from pulling the panel, tracks, etc. Back to the garage!

CLNSC3 wrote: In reply to irish44j: Thanks for the lead on the flocking, looks like they have everything I need there! This should be an interesting experience... Growing up my mother had a little phrase painted on the wall, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars." Cheesy? Yes. But basically I'd be happy with a weight of around 2100 lbs and 250-275whp, but if I am able to meet my goal even better! Have you though about cutting out the spare tire well and replacing it with a thin sheet of metal? I have been kicking that idea around but definitely gonna give that one some thought. I am going to go take a peek at the sunroof frame right now, I literally just got inside from pulling the panel, tracks, etc. Back to the garage!

oh, don't get me wrong - I'm shooting for 2000lbs as well. But there are certain things I won't give up to get there, since I like to drive this car on nice days and also drive it to the track. So the sunroof stays for me, because I love having it open.

I thought about cutting out the spare, but when I go to rallycross I take my 4 rally tires and a full-size spare all-season, so I pretty much need the spare tire well with no room anyplace else to put it. I don't want to tow a trailer. For rallycross though, I don't want to take weight out of the rear end anyhow, really. Need it for traction.

I've heard/seen that cutting out the sunroof frame is quite a hassle - though Condor Speed Shop (one of my sponsors for rallycross) just did it on their track e30 built (check out their facebook page, photos...). Some guys just cut the roof off of "slicktops" and replace the whole roof, and say it's easier and more cleanly done that way.

irish44j wrote:

CLNSC3 wrote: In reply to irish44j: Thanks for the lead on the flocking, looks like they have everything I need there! This should be an interesting experience... Growing up my mother had a little phrase painted on the wall, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars." Cheesy? Yes. But basically I'd be happy with a weight of around 2100 lbs and 250-275whp, but if I am able to meet my goal even better! Have you though about cutting out the spare tire well and replacing it with a thin sheet of metal? I have been kicking that idea around but definitely gonna give that one some thought. I am going to go take a peek at the sunroof frame right now, I literally just got inside from pulling the panel, tracks, etc. Back to the garage!

oh, don't get me wrong - I'm shooting for 2000lbs as well. But there are certain things I won't give up to get there, since I like to drive this car on nice days and also drive it to the track. So the sunroof stays for me, because I love having it open. I thought about cutting out the spare, but when I go to rallycross I take my 4 rally tires and a full-size spare all-season, so I pretty much need the spare tire well with no room anyplace else to put it. I don't want to tow a trailer. For rallycross though, I don't want to take weight out of the rear end anyhow, really. Need it for traction. I've heard/seen that cutting out the sunroof frame is quite a hassle - though Condor Speed Shop (one of my sponsors for rallycross) just did it on their track e30 built (check out their facebook page, photos...). Some guys just cut the roof off of "slicktops" and replace the whole roof, and say it's easier and more cleanly done that way.

That makes sense about the spare well, btw your thread makes me want to get ANOTHER e30 and build it for rallyX. I swear these things are like crack...I am actually searching a for a near perfect 325ix for a DD, that would definitely get used for rallyX a few times a year. My first ever e30 experience was when I was about 19 my buddy and I took his dads ix while he was out of town and went and hit up some gravel roads. We had more fun in the ix than we did we when "borrowed" his Esprit!

Anyhow, I am thinking that my spare well will get cut out. Anybody have a reccomendation on the thickness of metal I should replace it with?

Removing the sunroof frame sounds to involved, I don't think thats a project I will be getting into anytime soon. And a "roof swap" forget about it. I think I will just have to be happy with plugging the sunroof up!

Finally found a good deal on an LSD (seen them as high as $425 locally...ouch), its a 3.73 unit and needs a rebuild. However, I traded some small OEM parts I didn't need for it and I am not 100% sure thats the gear set I want anyways. I am going to have to do some more research on that subject though.

Anybody have recommendations on what gear ratio I should be thinking about? Also need to find a really good price on the parts I need to rebuild the LSD....

A quick pic of the LSD:

CLNSC3 wrote: Anybody have recommendations on what gear ratio I should be thinking about? Also need to find a really good price on the parts I need to rebuild the LSD....

I'm interested in this, too. My diff came out of a car with 400k miles on it and the seller told me that he "drifted the E36 M3 out of it". I have to imagine that the clutches are toast.

Went and picked something up tonight...details to come!

Tom_Spangler wrote:

CLNSC3 wrote: Anybody have recommendations on what gear ratio I should be thinking about? Also need to find a really good price on the parts I need to rebuild the LSD....

I'm interested in this, too. My diff came out of a car with 400k miles on it and the seller told me that he "drifted the E36 M3 out of it". I have to imagine that the clutches are toast.

I would say it depends. If the plan is to cut/flare the body enough to run a decent sized (tall) tire, then a common 3.73 or maybe even a 4.11 should be fine. If the body is kept stock where a 24" tire is tight, then you may find that gearing a tad short.

Ian F wrote:

Tom_Spangler wrote:

CLNSC3 wrote: Anybody have recommendations on what gear ratio I should be thinking about? Also need to find a really good price on the parts I need to rebuild the LSD....

I'm interested in this, too. My diff came out of a car with 400k miles on it and the seller told me that he "drifted the E36 M3 out of it". I have to imagine that the clutches are toast.

I would say it depends. If the plan is to cut/flare the body enough to run a decent sized (tall) tire, then a common 3.73 or maybe even a 4.11 should be fine. If the body is kept stock where a 24" tire is tight, then you may find that gearing a tad short.

Good info, thanks. But I was wondering more about the second sentence, about rebuild parts.

From what I've seen on the various E30 forums, buying another one would be cheaper/easier than rebuilding a totally fried one. A lot of those guys seem to always be cash-strapped and if you wave real cash in their face, they'll take it. It was a running joke for awhile: VWVortex = VW"poor"tex. The E30 guys can make the VW kids look rich sometimes... very strange...

I haven't really dug into it, but apparently adding additional plates to the clutch packs isn't terribly difficult and adds soem beef to an LSD.

In reply to Ian F:

The plan for this car is to run fat rivet on flares and cut the wheel wells enough to run some real wheel/tire under there. Thanks for the suggestion on ratio!

I guess buying a new one depends on how cheap you can find one...around here the LSDs I have seen range from $260-380. I got this one for virtually free so I really can't see it costing more than that to fix, but I guess once I get a chance to crack it open I will know more!

I haven't really been on the e30 forums, its funny just like i can't stand vwvortex I cannot stand most bmw forums. e30tech being the sole exception, haha

CLNSC3 wrote:

irish44j wrote:

CLNSC3 wrote: In reply to irish44j: Thanks for the lead on the flocking, looks like they have everything I need there! This should be an interesting experience... Growing up my mother had a little phrase painted on the wall, "Shoot for the moon, even if you miss you'll land among the stars." Cheesy? Yes. But basically I'd be happy with a weight of around 2100 lbs and 250-275whp, but if I am able to meet my goal even better! Have you though about cutting out the spare tire well and replacing it with a thin sheet of metal? I have been kicking that idea around but definitely gonna give that one some thought. I am going to go take a peek at the sunroof frame right now, I literally just got inside from pulling the panel, tracks, etc. Back to the garage!

oh, don't get me wrong - I'm shooting for 2000lbs as well. But there are certain things I won't give up to get there, since I like to drive this car on nice days and also drive it to the track. So the sunroof stays for me, because I love having it open. I thought about cutting out the spare, but when I go to rallycross I take my 4 rally tires and a full-size spare all-season, so I pretty much need the spare tire well with no room anyplace else to put it. I don't want to tow a trailer. For rallycross though, I don't want to take weight out of the rear end anyhow, really. Need it for traction. I've heard/seen that cutting out the sunroof frame is quite a hassle - though Condor Speed Shop (one of my sponsors for rallycross) just did it on their track e30 built (check out their facebook page, photos...). Some guys just cut the roof off of "slicktops" and replace the whole roof, and say it's easier and more cleanly done that way.

That makes sense about the spare well, btw your thread makes me want to get ANOTHER e30 and build it for rallyX. I swear these things are like crack...I am actually searching a for a near perfect 325ix for a DD, that would definitely get used for rallyX a few times a year. My first ever e30 experience was when I was about 19 my buddy and I took his dads ix while he was out of town and went and hit up some gravel roads. We had more fun in the ix than we did we when "borrowed" his Esprit! Anyhow, I am thinking that my spare well will get cut out. Anybody have a reccomendation on the thickness of metal I should replace it with? Removing the sunroof frame sounds to involved, I don't think thats a project I will be getting into anytime soon. And a "roof swap" forget about it. I think I will just have to be happy with plugging the sunroof up! Finally found a good deal on an LSD (seen them as high as $425 locally...ouch), its a 3.73 unit and needs a rebuild. However, I traded some small OEM parts I didn't need for it and I am not 100% sure thats the gear set I want anyways. I am going to have to do some more research on that subject though. Anybody have recommendations on what gear ratio I should be thinking about? Also need to find a really good price on the parts I need to rebuild the LSD.... A quick pic of the LSD:

yeah, I kind of want another e30 as well - as a track car (though that's not quite as unusual/original as a rallycrosser). I love the e30s, but I love the all-season reliability (and power) of my DD wrx more :)

Speaking of AWD - if at some point you do a rallycross e30, I strongly suggest you do a RWD one. For one, it's simply more fun. By a mile. My car with 100hp is far more fun on course than several GC and GD subies I've done runs in, even though they're much faster. For two, e30s are very competitive in the RWD classes (since most of the high-power RWD cars don't do rallycross, so you're really battling miatas, RX-7s, and other things in a similar weight/power range). And third, if you do an IX e30, you have to run against the subies and evos, and they will beat you badly.