320i Cabriolet Restoration / Facelift Conversion - M50B28 Turbo

[martauto]

I know this will cost an arm and two legs but for the price what can you buy which wont even get near the quality this build is about.

Mart.

[AlexD911]

I know this will cost an arm and two legs but for the price what can you buy which wont even get near the quality this build is about.

Mart.

Yeah at the moment I'm working under the assumption it will hopefully hold its money haha. I'm keeping it for the long run though, eventually I will probably EV swap it when ICE engines truly Die.

Got someone coming to look at my M5 next week so hopefully he buys it and I can start pumping some money into getting the engine built etc

Thanks

Alex

[AlexD911]

Just needs to do the Seat rear panels now.











































Colour match against the vinyl used on the door cards.



Thanks

Alex

[martauto]

Beautiful to say the least !!!!

Mart.

[twenty]

Mate this is epic. I'm glad to see the gamble of sending the seats all the way to Lithuania is paying off handsomely.

[AlexD911]

Beautiful to say the least !!!!

Mart.

Thanks

Mate this is epic. I'm glad to see the gamble of sending the seats all the way to Lithuania is paying off handsomely.

Yeah, all this work for £2.3k + £250 Delivery back, you cant even get a decent interior for less than ~1.5k

I highly recommend these guys based on their communication, performance and willingness to accommodate: https://www.restaauto.lt/

[lellis]

Great work on the underside (as well as the rest!), really like the idea of using riv-nuts instead of keeping the water trapping studs.
Strange with how rust free the underside is compared to the body panels! I wish mine looked like this before I started..
Can't wait to see what you have planned for the suspension componentry, keep it coming!

[Tzantushka]

Echo the comments here.
That interior is going to be spectacular (and tasteful).

[martauto]

That interior is going to be spectacular (and tasteful).

I think you have stole it mate

Mart.

[AlexD911]

Thanks guys, im really happy with the results. The interior is finished now, its been paid for and is awaiting collection, just a FEW more of the finished fronts, i need to get some new Seat Belt Plugs to finish it all off.









He even made me some matching cushions



All ready for transport to me:



Again i can't recommend Resta auto enough, really good communication, price, quality etc.

I started trying to design my custom rear speaker covers / grilles using the scan i had done, im a fan of the Harmon Kardon style speaker grilles and wanted to try emulate this front and rear. Not sure if there is too much grille and if i should try and do some hybrid of classic cover with grille or totally grille?

Here is a render of what i was aiming for:



Maybe:



Professional Photoshop job:



For some reason i just have a big dislike for the OEM Covers.

Thanks

Alex

[AlexD911]

A bit of progress this weekend, my life feels like a shit show at the moment, barely have any time to work on the car and when i do i keep forgetting to take any pictures.

This weekend i welded on all of my Trailing Arm & Subframe Reinforcement Plates, i only got a couple of pictures but will get the rest up soon.

Rear Trailing Arms:



Unfortunatley, my front subframe had already bent where the engine mounts bolt to, and stupid me i only noticed this AFTER welding the plates to the other side. With a bit of heat, clamps & hammer I managed to get it back to within 2mm of the other side (The "ok" side, im guessing it was "ok", was ~28mm from the table to the plate. The other side was almost 40mm from the table to the plate).





I then took all the parts back to work to give them a second round through the shot blaster, i had missed a few bits on most of the parts and also there was some flash rusting occurring where i had to leave them a week since last blasting them. I managed to get a coat of paint on the front & rear arms, hoping to get the rest done this weekend.

Think i finalized my rear speaker pod design, i think this fits well with the rest of the car but gives me the extra depth i need, looks better etc.

3D Render:



Test Print:


Thanks

Alex

[lellis]

A bit of progress this weekend, my life feels like a shit show at the moment, barely have any time to work on the car and when i do i keep forgetting to take any pictures.

This weekend i welded on all of my Trailing Arm & Subframe Reinforcement Plates, i only got a couple of pictures but will get the rest up soon.

Rear Trailing Arms:

Just a quick one on this as I'm about to do the same, are you aware of the contact issues with the fuel filler pipe using this style arm reinforcement?

I will look to notch the pipe and whatever else needed

[AlexD911]

A bit of progress this weekend, my life feels like a shit show at the moment, barely have any time to work on the car and when i do i keep forgetting to take any pictures.

This weekend i welded on all of my Trailing Arm & Subframe Reinforcement Plates, i only got a couple of pictures but will get the rest up soon.

Rear Trailing Arms:

Just a quick one on this as I'm about to do the same, are you aware of the contact issues with the fuel filler pipe using this style arm reinforcement?

I will look to notch the pipe and whatever else needed

I was not aware of that! Doh haha

Is it anything major? Are there any examples i can look at? If its just notching the pipe i guess thats not a big deal at all, thanks for the heads up man.

Thanks

Alex

[lellis]

This is the post where I found out about it, pictures in the comments.

Either notch the pipe or the brace!

[AlexD911]

Ok so a small update.

Finally got round to painting the bits i had shotblasted beore. I actually had to re-shotblast them since welding on the reinforcement plates as they had flash rusted a little. In the end i used the 2 Part Epoxy Mastic from rust.co.uk. It seems to be really solid stuff and was easy to spray on. Its also already survived a few knocks and bangs from when pressing the new bearings in the hubs etc.



















Got to try out the new paint 'booth' at work (its not really a booth more of just an extraction wall).

















I also ordered a full E30 & M50 Bolt Kit. Really happy i did this, they are all labelled and packaged individually, and will save a massive amount of time sorting, cleaning and sending my existing ones for plating.



New Dust Shield and Bearings fitted to rear arms.



Same for the Fronts.



I ordered polybushes a while back but some were out of stock, but they should finally be here tomorrow.

I am now expecting my completion date on my house move to be this month (June) so with that i will officially be broke for a while. I can still carry on doing some bodywork and other restoration of metal covers etc until i am back on my feet a bit.

Im hoping to get it back on the floor in the next month or two, then order the ABS Mtech2 kit etc.

Thanks

Alex

[spannerrash]

Great progress, the silver was a nice choice and seems to have come out great.

The 5-lug hubs seem to poke out more than I'd expect on your rear arms, is it using the E36 ti rear arms that give a wider track? Hopefully the wheels won't poke out beyond the arches!

I'm using E30 disc rear arms with 5-lug hubs pressed on from an E90/Z4, maybe it'll be the same, I've not put it together yet.

[AlexD911]

Great progress, the silver was a nice choice and seems to have come out great.

The 5-lug hubs seem to poke out more than I'd expect on your rear arms, is it using the E36 ti rear arms that give a wider track? Hopefully the wheels won't poke out beyond the arches!

I'm using E30 disc rear arms with 5-lug hubs pressed on from an E90/Z4, maybe it'll be the same, I've not put it together yet.

Yes im not sure to be honest, i was just following the Wiki which stated to use the Ti Arms - I had not seen or heard of the option to use the E90 / Z4 Hubs, that might be a better option discovered after the wiki was written. I will measure the E30 Arms and compare to the Ti arms to see if there is any difference in them. I'd be interested to know what your final offset using your method.

[Gert_8]

Subscribed!

[flybynite]

Great progress, the silver was a nice choice and seems to have come out great.
The 5-lug hubs seem to poke out more than I'd expect on your rear arms, is it using the E36 ti rear arms that give a wider track? Hopefully the wheels won't poke out beyond the arches!
I'm using E30 disc rear arms with 5-lug hubs pressed on from an E90/Z4, maybe it'll be the same, I've not put it together yet.

Yes im not sure to be honest, i was just following the Wiki which stated to use the Ti Arms - I had not seen or heard of the option to use the E90 / Z4 Hubs, that might be a better option discovered after the wiki was written. I will measure the E30 Arms and compare to the Ti arms to see if there is any difference in them. I'd be interested to know what your final offset using your method.

The way I see it is the ti arms should be the same as late E30 and 4-cyl Z3. It was just ti were popular in the US where the original swaps were done. The 6cyl Z3 are too wide but have the hubs used in the original 5-stud swap. They gave you the offset for E36 wheels (ET41 ish)

Later (after the wiki was written) it was found that Z4/E90 hubs had the same bearing diameter (of the FL) and would fit giving a narrower track than the 6-cyl Z3 hubs. (a few people started making adapters to suit, SRS being the best IMHO) and the medium E46 brakes are the biggest brakes that have the old E30 handbrake.

The Z4 hubs have 2 advantages, one you can use E30 offset wheels but you can also place E36 wheels precisely in the arch using the correct spacer. (it is easier to ADD spacer than take it away so having the extra width to play with is useful.

The fronts are a bit of a buggers muddle and to date there is no ideal answer. Biggest problem is correcting the caster caused by the base of the E30 strut being offset from the hub centreline.

[spannerrash]

Thanks, thats excellent information, makes a lot of sense.

I've just done the rear 5 lug swap on mine using E90 hubs pressed into E30 disc rear arms, and the track width seems similar to standard E30 (vid over on my project thread if you're interested).

I didn't measure the difference myself as I wasn't thinking at the time, but due to the E90 hubs being a bit wider I believe its around 6mm total additional track width over a standard E30. Paired with 16" E38 7 series style 5 wheels, the fitment on the rear looks like its going to be spot on without a spacer which I'm really chuffed about.

The fronts I'm planning to do with E36 front knuckles and brakes, E36 coilovers with E30 top mounts so the 3 studs are spaced correctly for the tower, and SRS' front control arm bushing to correct the castor, hopefully getting the wheel to sit central in the arch.

No idea on wheel fitment yet but I have faith it'll work, especially with how nicely the rears went together.

[AlexD911]

Subscribed!

Thanks, not much progress recently unfortunately. My house move was heavily delayed and im trying my hardest not to spend any more money on the car until we are in the new place and nothing unforseen has come up. I have been doing a few small bits, stripped the rear diff to shot blast & paint it. Going to be rebuilding with the upgraded clutch pack.

Great progress, the silver was a nice choice and seems to have come out great.
The 5-lug hubs seem to poke out more than I'd expect on your rear arms, is it using the E36 ti rear arms that give a wider track? Hopefully the wheels won't poke out beyond the arches!
I'm using E30 disc rear arms with 5-lug hubs pressed on from an E90/Z4, maybe it'll be the same, I've not put it together yet.

Yes im not sure to be honest, i was just following the Wiki which stated to use the Ti Arms - I had not seen or heard of the option to use the E90 / Z4 Hubs, that might be a better option discovered after the wiki was written. I will measure the E30 Arms and compare to the Ti arms to see if there is any difference in them. I'd be interested to know what your final offset using your method.

The way I see it is the ti arms should be the same as late E30 and 4-cyl Z3. It was just ti were popular in the US where the original swaps were done. The 6cyl Z3 are too wide but have the hubs used in the original 5-stud swap. They gave you the offset for E36 wheels (ET41 ish)

Later (after the wiki was written) it was found that Z4/E90 hubs had the same bearing diameter (of the FL) and would fit giving a narrower track than the 6-cyl Z3 hubs. (a few people started making adapters to suit, SRS being the best IMHO) and the medium E46 brakes are the biggest brakes that have the old E30 handbrake.

The Z4 hubs have 2 advantages, one you can use E30 offset wheels but you can also place E36 wheels precisely in the arch using the correct spacer. (it is easier to ADD spacer than take it away so having the extra width to play with is useful.

The fronts are a bit of a buggers muddle and to date there is no ideal answer. Biggest problem is correcting the caster caused by the base of the E30 strut being offset from the hub centreline.

Great information thanks for explaining it in a bit more detail.

Thanks, thats excellent information, makes a lot of sense.

I've just done the rear 5 lug swap on mine using E90 hubs pressed into E30 disc rear arms, and the track width seems similar to standard E30 (vid over on my project thread if you're interested).

I didn't measure the difference myself as I wasn't thinking at the time, but due to the E90 hubs being a bit wider I believe its around 6mm total additional track width over a standard E30. Paired with 16" E38 7 series style 5 wheels, the fitment on the rear looks like its going to be spot on without a spacer which I'm really chuffed about.

The fronts I'm planning to do with E36 front knuckles and brakes, E36 coilovers with E30 top mounts so the 3 studs are spaced correctly for the tower, and SRS' front control arm bushing to correct the castor, hopefully getting the wheel to sit central in the arch.

No idea on wheel fitment yet but I have faith it'll work, especially with how nicely the rears went together.

I watched your recent vid, sucks about the fuel filler flexi pipe. A friend of mine who is building an M3 Shooting Brake said that his didnt look like it was going to interfere by the time it was on the floor.

Also BC Coilovers quoted me for custom set of coilovers, E36 M3 Bottom mountings with E30 Top Mounts. Was still the same price as a normal set.

Thanks

[spannerrash]

Yeah it's a real shame about that, but in hindsight I think the way I revised it is much better, so after I got over the setback, I'm pleased with the result. Hopefully yours aren't an issue.

Nice, its good that BC don't hike the price for a custom combo. So it would be the equivalent price to these at £949? (https://www.bc-racing.co.uk/application ... 82-94.html)

I went for HSD Monopro coilovers instead, which come in at £864.97 at time of writing. They list the kit on their site here: https://www.driftworks.com/hsd-monopro- ... g-7kg.html

I'd reckon on the two brands being equivalent quality in real terms, the mixed reviews you read about BC Racing coilovers are probably just a result of them doing much higher volume than HSD.

But when I saw Phil Morrison from Driftworks fitting them to his S65 swapped E30 M3 track car, I was sold. The guy does not compromise lightly.
(I know HSD is probably his brand anyway, but he clearly won't put up with crap on his cars)

[AlexD911]

Ok so a small update, i stripped the diff, blasted the casing and flanges and painted them. I Glass Bead blasted the Rear Case which cleaned up nicely, not the same finish as Wet Vapour Blasting but still much better than before.





















Just need to get the uprated Clutch Pack and re-assemble it (sounds simple...).

Due to be buying Fuel & Brake Lines soon as well as the Coilovers, so hopefully get the car back on the floor soon'ish.

Thanks

[martauto]

Looking cool Alex, nice work and please keep the pics coming !!!

Mart.

[AlexD911]

So my bits came in from Racing Diffs for the diff rebuild, i also got the oil, O Rings etc so im prepping to re-assemble it this weekend. Took a little while to finish stripping the diff completely of its bearings etc. I also had any of the bits i didn't paint Zinc Plated, as well as some other random bits i wanted to test it out on. I prefer the silver finish as opposed to the yellowed variant.

The new clutch pack from Racing Diffs has an extra plate to help with performance a bit so it has 3 clutch plates now as opposed to 2.































I also pulled the engine off the racking at work and took it down to the barn, i partially stripped it and gave it a quick once over, its not frozen and appears to turn over quite freely - which is good news as it was purchased as condition unknown.



Im still debating on what sort of build to do with it. My original plan was to do the typical 2.8 Vanos Stroker build which consists of:

- Modifying the Head for VANOS.
- Moving the Inlet Cams to the Exhaust Side (requires some modification).
- M54b30 Exhaust Cams on the Inlet (requires some Modification).
- M52b28 Forged Crank.
- Forged Rods & Pistons.
- 84.5mm Overbore -
This gives the engine a Square Setup - 84.5mm Stroke & 84.5mm Bore which is supposed to be healthy in terms of harmonics etc.

However its fairly costly and is maybe way way overkill for my power goals of ~500hp. There is also a debate of is running a 8.5:1 Compression ratio enjoyable on a street car in terms of engine response etc before coming into boost.

It looks like i could probably get away with running the engine as is (if its actually healthy) and meeting my power goals. I could Stroker & Forge it at a later date over winter.

I need to speak to some experts and see what the deal is tbh.

My house move is now confirmed for 22 August so hopefully all is well there and i can carry on spending some money on the car and get it moving forward again.

Thanks

Alex

[martauto]

I know when I see quality and I have just seen it !!!
Coated in oil as well
I dont know what this will do for your car but it can only be " Nice "

Mart.

PS, Tidy up your bench man

[bexwoods]

Loving this! You’re doing right by the car and that’s so good to see!

[AlexD911]

I know when I see quality and I have just seen it !!!
Coated in oil as well
I dont know what this will do for your car but it can only be " Nice "

Mart.

PS, Tidy up your bench man

Haha that's all my brother's shit, I had to part the ocean there just to get the diff on the bench

Loving this! You’re doing right by the car and that’s so good to see!

Thanks hopefully I can pick up the pace again soon.

Alex

[AlexD911]

Well yesterday i re-assembled the diff, i didnt get pictures of all of it unfortunately:

Pressing in the bearing casing to the output flanges:



Pressing the seals into the output flanges:





Just far enough to not cover the oil feed:



Stripped and cleaned the LSD Unit:



Pressing new bearings onto the LSD Unit:





Some scoring to the pinion gear shaft, apparently a bearing has spun there previously, hopefully wont cause me any issues:



Pressing the new bearing onto the shaft:



Stacking up the spacers and crush sleeve ready for the casing to go on:



Pressing and pre-crushing the sleeve:



New Oil Seal at the Input Shaft



And unfortunately the rest is history!





There is however some problems with it, i have a tight spot on the diff. When i stripped it i was not aware you had to note which side the shims came from on the output Flanges, one was 1.7mm and the other was 1.75mm. Racing Diffs said this shouldn't be a problem but due to it having a tight spot i am going to take it apart again and flip them over and also check the meshing and backlash. Hopefully i have not overdone the crush sleeve (i had ~2.4kg free resistance in one direction and ~2.6kg in the other). I have a spare crush sleeve if it turns out i have over tightened it however it was a total bitch to do so im not too keen on re-doing it.

I also finally pressed in the ball joints to the LCA's i've had sat around for a while:



Thanks

Alex

[martauto]

Superb work !!!!!!
I just love it when people keep the Engineering side of things as clean as the bog.
The understanding that a very tiny piece of "stuff" can be the downfall of all of what has gone on before .


Mart.

[AlexD911]

Stripped the diff again last night and swapped the shims over on the output flanges and now the diff is buttery smooth and no tight spot. Really happy i didn't have to re-do that Crush Sleeve

[spannerrash]

Great progress, the diff looks great, I've got some diff work to look forward to myself. Glad it worked out with the shims. From what I understand the shims move the crown wheel left or right in the casing, which affects how it meshes with the pinion gear, so I'd say definitely wise to have swapped it back to the factory way around.

On other diffs theres some way to wind it left or right, but BMW went the shim route to be awkward I think.

[AlexD911]

Great progress, the diff looks great, I've got some diff work to look forward to myself. Glad it worked out with the shims. From what I understand the shims move the crown wheel left or right in the casing, which affects how it meshes with the pinion gear, so I'd say definitely wise to have swapped it back to the factory way around.

On other diffs theres some way to wind it left or right, but BMW went the shim route to be awkward I think.

Yeah must be a right pain if you're swapping the ring gear out to get the diff set correctly. My mistake was not noting down which side they came from and then thinking 0.05mm wouldn't make much difference. 5 minute job to swap them over though.

Thanks

[AlexD911]

Ok guys, bit of a touch base update, i've not actually had a chance to really touch the car since my last post - i pretty much had to gut my entire house and start again with it so every spare second of time has gone into that, i've also had another little one in the last few weeks which is also taking up some time. Though i have still been getting stuff ordered, organized & planned where i can.

Exterior:

I've pieced together an Mtech 2 kit for the car, which consists of the following:

- Streetech ABS Front & Rear Bumper, with Door Pods.
- Brand New OEM Side Skirts from BMW.

I still need to pickup all the brackets & clips etc for them, as well as a facelift front crash bar, but i think these are relatively easy to get compared to the Bodykit itself.











Chassis:

After i did all the control arms and subframes previously, i found a post online that explained using Z4 Rear Hubs would allow me to keep a much closer offset to the standard one instead of using the 318ti Rear Hubs, I've ordered these and will fit them when they arrive.

I had my M3 calipers rebuilt by Sam Calver, they are finished in Red Cerakote and look great, highly recommend anyone looking for any restoration work done to get him a ping.





I've decided against using braided fuel & brake lines under the car and am now going to run Aluminium AN8 Lines for fuel supply and Stainless brake lines, this has all been ordered and will be the first thing i do when i start back on the car, this means i can get it off the rotisserie and back on the floor.

To go with the new lines i also bought a brand new 63L Fuel Tank, this is also sat waiting to be fitted.

H&R Uprated Anti Roll Bars have also been purchased.

Purple Tag Rack has been purchased, i ordered a rebuild kit and this will need to be done so i can get it back on the floor.

Engine & Drivetrain:

I realised i ordered the wrong forged rods for my engine, i should have bought 135mm rods for the 2.8 stroker but accidentally bought 140mm (to suit a standard M50b25), luckily i could still return these and will order the new ones soon.

I've got the M54b30 Cams so i can do the "Hot cam swap", the cam gear needs reducing ~5mm on the lathe which should be fine.





Also ordered a nice Aluminium Intake Manifold, this is chinesium and needs a bit of tidying up internally on some of the welds but im happy with it overall, it came with a 90mm throttle body but im undecided on what to do with this yet, i had planned to convert to DBW in some flavour.





I also plan to run a S50 Oil Filter Housing, to match that i needed the ZF Power Steering pump to suit it, managed to find the pump but still not found a reasonably priced housing.





Along with this i bought a Getrag 6 speed swap, the box is from a very low mileage E36 M3, i have the shifter linkage, custom mount and correct propshaft setup to suit, this all just needs cleaning, tidying up and then fitting. Still need to get a clutch & flywheel setup.

I've also bought an ECU Master EMU Black, this should be really good for the engine, and im actually debating the PDM units they sell so that i can do a fusebox delete - this is expensive and im still undecided on it.

I bought a custom cluster from E30 Clusters, M3 Styling with additional Coolant Temp, Oil Pressure & Oil Temperature Sensors, lots of pictures from him on the build below.

























































Hopefully ill be back working on the car towards the middle or end of april.

[AlexD911]

Whats up dudes, finally after almost a year (shocking) i have had some time to spend on the car. It took me a decent while to sort everything out (I had been dumping parts down there as they came in but never sorting them out), the place also got burgled not long ago and a bit of a mess was made so i had to go back through and make sure everything was still there. Luckily the knuckle draggers only took some old power tools and didnt touch any of the car bits that were in there.

The next thing to do was get the car outside and blow it all off:



My main short term goal is to get the underside of the car as finished as i can whilst the car is on the jig, i want to get it back down on the floor ASAP. So next i decided to run the main fuel and brake lines:







Doing these lines is not easy! I bought straightening tools which helped, and also filled the 1/2" fuel lines with glass bead before heating and bending, its no where near perfect but im fairly happy with it. Im just waiting for some extra bits to finish it off, like the M10 brake line fittings, braided lines, fuel line AN fittings etc. I also decided to use these billet AN8 & 3/16 Line holders i found online, they worked well with the Rivet Nuts i had already placed in the body where the threaded OEM studs had rotted away:



Next on the list was to sort out what i needed to do in order to get the Rear Subframe mounted again, i went about fitting the powerflex bushes but quickly realised i did not have the spacers that sit between the bushes and the body, these must have gone with the old subframe to the new owner, i picked up these and various other bits from cotswold. I also needed to sort out the "Push Rods", one side had lost both of the brazed on nuts. To get around this i first used an M8 Rivet Nut to replace what was once there:





I then tried my hand at tig welding for the first time and ground the surface that meets the sill on the car flush:





These are now off at the zinc platers with a bunch of other shit that i need in order to get it on the floor. There is still quite a lot to do, i'd like to get most of the fuel lines sorted before dropping it back on the floor and that is really not a simple fix, i want to run a bigger in tank pump, which has its own set of problems which i think i have now found the answer for.

I also want to refurbish my steering rack and get the bits i need from Dan to get that on the car.

I've ordered lots of bolts and fixings that did not come in the kit from TimsClassicCarParts, still waiting on those.

I've probably missed a bunch of shit but hopefully more updates this weekend.









Cheers

Alex