So, as it's been a good couple of months since we moved the E30 out of my garage to try and get on with things it's been noted that I should really pull my finger out. We realised that there was no way it'd be ready for the trackday coming up this week but had to make space for Tris' M3 to be tinkered with in the run up to the aforementioned trackday. Game on.
I'm going to say it with pictures because I'm knackered.
Pressed Z3 hub and bearings into my trailing arms and assembled the rear end:
Realised that I'd forgotten the backing plates, threw a few choice words out there and then undid all of that work ready to do it all again later. Secured the replacement boot on my decidedly secondhand M3 Evo arms before I forgot (then trimmed the lockwire a bit after taking the photo, of course):
Tris built my LSD up in the meantime. Judging by the amount of swearing and loud exhalation I gather that he doesn't particularly enjoy it, but he's good at it and has all of the kit to measure the backlash and whatnot so unfortunately he managed to get lumbered with it. It didn't help that it was about 80 degrees centigrade in the sun and the press was outside, in the sun:
This would be a demoralising scene but thankfully two of the visitors to the shed didn't own the cars they rocked up in. My haggard looking (but very solid) E30 didn't really compare:
This actually
was a demoralising scene.
MYTH: using Z3 2.8 hubs will allow you to bolt any non-M rear discs and calipers onto your rear-end set up. That'll be a pair of Z3 discs and calipers I'll be needing to source then as no amount of trying to hybridise the E30 carrier with the E36 caliper to get the fixing points to align and/or machining a spacer was going to work if I wanted a fully functioning handbrake. Which I do. Here's the proof:
Diff built, rear-end pieced back together for about the sixth time and in place ready to lift up using the 328i discs just for now to get her rolled out of the shed:
Another one of those
what the actual f*** moments where you can't realise why it's decked on one side but fine on the other:
Cue letting air out of the tyre to avoid shredding it or annihilating the arch before planning on cracking out the arch roller. Bent the tyre valve in the process trying to speed things up. Oops. Then the sudden realisation that the other rear spring was still on the floor outside, that'll be why then...
Called it a night. Got drunk.
A new day, new problems. Checked the speedo sensor compatibility from small to medium case, RealOEM confirmed they're the same so I swapped them over. Result. Had another issue that made me have a minor meltdown but more on that later. Back on the deck and ready to roll outside before realising that I hadn't put the steering linkage back on properly. I guess it's just one of those weekends. Put it all on properly, calmed down a bit.
Ignoring the odd ride height I'd say the wheels don't look as offensive as I'd thought they might do as I'm not a fan of anything bigger than a 16 on an E30. Unless something else turns up soon I'll most likely refurb these in the new year and get some slightly lower profile rubber once I kill these ones. Offset seems pretty decent too which is probably more luck than anything else, especially as the Z3 hubs seem to have added between 20mm and 30mm to the rear track.
As the body work is in desperate need of some new paint I turned my attention to what's left of the donor car to make myself feel better. Must get the last few morsels off of that soon and get it cubed:
PROPSHAFT NIGHTMARES
The front section of my 328i prop is too bulbous and fouls the bottom of the gear linkage (fitted with a Z3 short shift). The linkage has been bent to get the shifter aligned absolutely spot on up top and from previous experience of this set up on my E36 I don't want to change it as it provides a really bloody good shift feel. Has anybody else experienced this issue using the same combination of parts or am I just unlucky?
About 3mm would probably do it so we considered spacing the gearbox mounts and centre bearing but it's a little on the pikey side. I had a 323i prop squirrelled away and it looked good width wise despite being ever so slightly longer so we cracked out the verniers and it's 5mm skinnier. Bonus! The only thing is that the bolt pattern onto the prop donut is different (Getrag box versus ZF box I guess?) but what nobody thought of at the time was whether the 323i donut could be swapped with the 328i one still attached to the gearbox. I'm hoping this is the case, but does anybody know off-hand by any chance if that'd be viable? Any help much appreciated as I'm taking a week off of cars to chill my boots and concentrate on the house.
Jobs left:
Order parts for and fabricate remote reservoir
Make and run braided brake lines for the front
Source Z3 calipers, carriers (second hand) and discs (new, all hail ECP)
Tidy up wiring under dash
Cut speaker panel on driver's side to accommodate new power cables
Secure battery that's now in the boot
Fit exhaust system and modify manifolds / downpipes to suit
Wrap exhaust manifolds in cheap heat wrap that will probably disintegrate within minutes
Make adapter and fabricate mount for the air filter
Order and fit coilovers, cry at my ever increasing mountain of debt
Dremel the injector rail cover down to fit nicely at the back and re-fit
Oil breather return re-routed
PAS pipes made and connected
Top-up / fill all fluids
Spanner check EVERYTHING
Test drive, see what falls off
Put whatever falls off back on
Test wind-down windscreen
Fix niggly things for the rest of eternity whilst being scared to let the bodywork come into contact with any water at any time
