Got myself another e30! - 1984 BMW 318i

CLNSC3 wrote: 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

funny, i've been trying for over a year to get my account on e30tech ACTIVATED. Used 5 different emails, never seem to be able to get an account registered....so I just browse there.

That said, r3vlimited is about 10x as busy as e30tech (good when looking for parts, etc) and the technical sections are pretty good. The general and some other areas are pretty convoluted with bullE36 M3. I've been on a lot of car forums, and as they go, r3v is a pretty good one.

Vortex is one of my least favorites....but that may also be influenced by the fact that I hate VWs in general (at least those made after the mid-80s).

So. I'm not the first v8 e30 on here... :)

nobody is the first anything on here. The people on GRM have apparently done every wierd thing to a car that can be done to a car. Just browse around!

In reply to irish44j:

I can def see a rwd car being way more fun than an awd car for rallyx. I have rallyx'd my subaru legacy a really long time ago and a chevy(aveo?) rental car a few years ago. The awd subie was way more fun than the fwd econobox, thats for sure. But rwd would be the ticket, probably similar to taking my last e30 out after an ice storm late at night and sliding through neighborhoods! In my experience the courses up here are super wet and slippery. I am not going to worry about rwd vs.awd though cause I bought a volvo 240 a couple of days ago! I could see that tank being a blast out there and it did come with an IPD skid plate...

irish44j wrote:

CLNSC3 wrote: 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

funny, i've been trying for over a year to get my account on e30tech ACTIVATED. Used 5 different emails, never seem to be able to get an account registered....so I just browse there. That said, r3vlimited is about 10x as busy as e30tech (good when looking for parts, etc) and the technical sections are pretty good. The general and some other areas are pretty convoluted with bullE36 M3. I've been on a lot of car forums, and as they go, r3v is a pretty good one. Vortex is one of my least favorites....but that may also be influenced by the fact that I hate VWs in general (at least those made after the mid-80s).

No way! Mine has not been activate either, ever! And I too have used different e-mails, even my girl friends name, etc... I just browse, if I feel the need to post I am SOL.

Haha, I do browse r3vlimited, but most classifieds and local sections looking for deals!

Picked up some more parts, rx7 turbo 4 pot front calipers. Got them for $40 with new pads. Also ordered a rebuild kit for each caliper.

Side by side it is clear they have a little more stopping power than the stockers... Still need the Corrado rotors,ss lines, etc. Oh and a rear disc conversion!

Got a few more pics of the engine, it is a 5.0 out of an explorer with the GT40P heads. Came out of a car with 80k. Just a cam, valves and roller rockers away from some nice hp/tq numbers!

My motor/tranny mounts and oil pan will be here this week, first i have to clean up/paint the engine bay. Speaking of which,I gotta go!

Josh

Strange. I registered for e30tech right after I bought my car in 2010. Maybe a day or two. I guess I got in just before Chris (or Doug?) decided he didn't want to deal with people anymore. The weird part is Dungeon Motorsports (the shop the admin runs) isn't very far from me in NJ. I emailed him about doing some work on my car but didn't get a response.

Hmm... send me your usernames and I'll post them here: http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109860&page=10

Ian F wrote: Strange. I registered for e30tech right after I bought my car in 2010. Maybe a day or two. I guess I got in just before Chris (or Doug?) decided he didn't want to deal with people anymore. The weird part is Dungeon Motorsports (the shop the admin runs) isn't very far from me in NJ. I emailed him about doing some work on my car but didn't get a response. Hmm... send me your usernames and I'll post them here: http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109860&page=10

Strange, I wanted to buy some things off of there but I had no way to contact the seller. That was frustrating!

Thanks a lot for helping me out, I just sent you my user name!

-Josh

Got a craigslist score this weekend on some fox body parts....i only needed a few things, but now I have some back up pieces and more than enough to sell to make more than my money back!

$75 got me:

2 upper intake manifolds with TB etc Two complete lowers(with injectors, fuel rail, harness, etc etc etc) Main harness Clutch Flywheel oil pan ton of bagged and tagged bolts 3 distirbutors Spare Plug wires Pulleys, etc etc etc

Really didnt get to work on the e30 all that much, I had tons of cosmetic things to do to volvo and started getting my commander ready to sell...

Waiting on some parts right now, but I definitely have a ton of things I can do in the meantime!

I will post some pics shortly..

Josh

Ian F wrote: Strange. I registered for e30tech right after I bought my car in 2010. Maybe a day or two. I guess I got in just before Chris (or Doug?) decided he didn't want to deal with people anymore. The weird part is Dungeon Motorsports (the shop the admin runs) isn't very far from me in NJ. I emailed him about doing some work on my car but didn't get a response. Hmm... send me your usernames and I'll post them here: http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109860&page=10

my username there is irish44j, thanks.

of course, I can't access the thread you're linking to, lol..

Doh! Just noticed it's in the "Registered Users Only" area. I added your user name to my post. Who knows... It seems the Admin does them in spurts.

Had the chance to work on the car a little more....

I installed the LSD into a buddies e30 to see how it was working and try and diagnose it. After driving it I concluded it functioned perfectly, but was making a slight whining sound. Had me thinking bearings, which was further supported by the lack of any metal shavings in the oil after I drained it. There is also a tiny amount of play in the piece that bolts to the axles. I am thinking new bearings will solve any problems....

Getting ready to repaint all the metal up front, still need to remove some brackets I don't want under the hood anymore. Then I can sand the entire thing down and repaint. Thinking about doing a bolt on core support, but I am not exactly sure if thats something I want to get into, gotta do some more research.

Got a few things painted including ebrake handle and front end pieces...

Also received engine/tranny mounts and swap guide. Taken a little time to look through the guide and it looks like it will be very helpful. The mounts look good as well, now just waiting on my modified oil pan, which should be here monday!

It's been quite a while since my last update, things in my personal life have been quite crazy and all consuming. I have gotten things done here and there but I am just getting to the point where I can start dedicating more time to the project. I will have a lengthy update within a few days!

In reply to CLNSC3:

Looking good. Do yourself a favor and run a modified long tube or blockhuggers. The whole forward exhaust method sucks and gets real expensive. Ive got $600 into mine and it doesnt even make it past the axel. I went 2.5 into a single 3 with all mandrel and was able to sneak the 3" past the starter and mounts but my exhaust guy hated me and i had to remove the header and mount when i got home inorder to weld the last 1" around the pipe in a couple places. Its def alot easier to modify a runner or 2 and you dont have all that heat wrapping around your oil pan. If you do decide to wrap it around the front then check out www.mandrel-bends.com. Reasonable prices and located out of OR. My swap is a carb setup so no wiring to deal with. Anything else you need help with just let me know. I think i saw stuart floating around on here also so there are 2 of us with running swaps to yank knowledge from if you need it.

In reply to Eurotrash:

Thanks for the tips! You are in the NW too aren't you? I am down in Portland. That is the conclusion I came to on the exhaust as well. I may have something fabbed from scratch as I know some really gifted fabrication guys that would hook me up. Likely going to use a custom steering shaft and definitely the Treehouse Racing(or similar) Eyeball Brackets to make as much room as possible. I have already gone so far over budget on this build that I just threw it out the window altogether and am doing it the right way the first time. I would love to take a ride in your car sometime if I am ever up that way, maybe that will motivate me to work on mine more than I have been!

Josh

Tonight is the first time I have logged onto this website since my post on December 11th, I cannot believe that kind of time has passed! Progress on the car has been slow, my garage is not heated and the weather has not been warm enough to allow paint the cure properly and I am at a point where I need to paint the engine bay before moving on with the actual install, add to that the fact that the holidays always ensure my wallet is on empty afterwards.

However, I have gotten some things done since the last few posts. I actually resorted to getting things painted inside my apartment. I recently became single and kicked the ex out of my place, that very day I turned my spare bathroom into a ghetto spray booth. Ventilation is poor, but I wear a respirator and I am pretty desperate to get some of this painting done.

I did get a chance to spray underneath the fenders on both side with some undercoating, but I do not believe I took any pics before putting the fenders back on.

Now on to some pics and quick details...

My e36 rack all cleaned up with the condor PS delete plate and the swap "Kit".

The 5.0 starting to get striped down to be painted and put new gaskets on.

A few shots of the brake mock up, had my cousin who is a machinist bore out the hub opening on the corrado rotors for $free.99 now need to fab the adapter plate, rebuild the calipers, etc.

Interior is completely stripped, not even a single wire. Have to finish sanding and paint it when the weather permits.

Completely refinished the headlight assemblies, they look pretty damn fresh now!

Valve Covers and Oil Pan after being primed and painted.

Engine master gasket kit and brake caliper rebuild kit.

Scored some front and rear e36 M3 floor mats from my neighbor for $20 and sold the rears for $15. This car will not have carpet in it when its finished, but I'm not an animal...

Rear pop out windows (which is one of my favorite things about the early coupes) before and after the chrome trim painted shadowline style.

Side moldings, I actually used plastidip on these and I am really digging it! That stuff is pretty damn cool I've even been spraying all my lighters in it. lol

There has been some other progress as well, but its late and I need to get to bed. But before I do, I bought a new daily driver after flipping my volvo and ridding myself of the POS commander.,,,manual tranny e34 530i. Love it! Here are a couple of quick pics...

Picked up a set of rear trailing arms complete with axles, calipers, rotors, etc. Only missing the ebrake lines, which I need for the rear disc conversion. Pulling everything apart now for new bushings and painting. Got both sides for $25, nice score.

A few shots with stock front rotor and corrado rotor side by side before I throw the stockers out.

Looks like the weather will finally be warm enough to get some paint work done this weekend. Looking forward to getting this out of the way!

Sorry to read (or congrats?) about becoming single. Good progress and nice grab on the $5 floormats :)

DuctTape&Bondo wrote: Sorry to read (or congrats?) about becoming single. Good progress and nice grab on the $5 floormats :)

LOL, its definitely a congratulations sort of break up..only regret is not having done it sooner! Although my place is looking like a junk yard without a consistent female presence. The walk in closet, closet in my office and one bathroom are full of bmw and mustang parts.

The good part about not being in a hurry while building this car is that I am able to sit back and wait for really good deals to come along. I have probably spent half of what I could have potentially spent if I were in a hurry.

How are you going to re-balance the brake system after the upgrade to the rear brakes? I imagine that the Rx7/Corrado setup has more bite than anything BMW ever did with the E30 (except maybe the M3?).

Winston wrote: How are you going to re-balance the brake system after the upgrade to the rear brakes? I imagine that the Rx7/Corrado setup has more bite than anything BMW ever did with the E30 (except maybe the M3?).

Thats a damn fine question sir, haha. As e30s are heavily front biased already I am sure that this will only compound the problem. I am also going to be upgrading the rear, bought the trailing arms because of the caliper mounts. Going to sell the OEM calipers and (most likely) use e30m3 calipers and z1 rotors. After all this I am sure some tuning will need to be done to get a proper balance. To be honest I do not have a thorough understanding of braking systems and cannot definitely say how I will tackle this.

Currently leaning towards running a Wilwood Pedal with balance car and a remote bias adjuster. While not necessary, the remote adjuster is only like $50 so I figure why not.

Anybody have suggestions on the bias issues I am creating here?

Got some work done this weekend, nothing too exciting and I need to take pictures of much of it. But I cut out the battery tray under the hood, ground down part of the steering rack mount tabs on the subframe for oil pan clearance and painted the upper/lower intakes, throttle body and couple of other piece.

Here are the pics I do have of what I did over the weekend. Currently whats holding me back the most is money, rather than compromise on anything I am trying to do things right the first time which had left me damn near broke haha.

Speaking of which anybody have a good seat of m20 engine mounts they would like to donate so I can get this engine mounted in there?

In an unexpected set of events this project is taking a radical turn that involves selling the e30. Buyer has paid for the car and is coming tomorrow to pick it up.

Whats the replacement chassis for my swap/track car build? Well, its a rolling E36 M3 chassis. :) I have a 328i right now that I bought to flip and driving that car really made me appreciate the suspension design on the e36 chassis, so I decided to swap chassis and get an e36. Turns out that I found an m3 roller and will be picking it up this weekend.

I guess I need to start a new thread at some point now....cannot wait to bastardize this m3...

In reply to CLNSC3:

How did you do the dash repair?? Is there another thread somewhere showing how?