E30 Zone

I don't think I posted this here. Enjoy!

Here is a pictural of my m30 swap - Can't tell you how much fun(and pain) I had with the project...I did it about 2 years ago, and the car is a blast to drive - the 3.5L really moves a e30. So here it is. Enjoy! (sorry if my spelling is off - it's 3am!)

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A few months before the swap, I was parked on the ”abad side of town”a and some a-hole backed into me hard. He pushed my radiator support in about 2 inches ”“ well that had to be fixed. A ”˜come-along’ and one tree later it was.



Hey who is that guy? (M3 Ryan - he's the man!!!)



It's a good thing we were doing this now, as we need every inch or room under the hood for the M30...



Finding the right motor was hard ”“ finally I came across a MINT e24 being parted out (rear end accident). 90k on the clock, and an AUTO!!! So I knew this motor had been treated nicely! Sweet!

Here is the "donor" car.







I paid $800 shipped from Oregon. The bummer was that I needed to pick it up at LAX, about 100 miles away. Hey how much can an uhaul cost for a short trip to LA? The truck says $19.95 a day. Little did I know”¦That would bite me on the ASS...



I asked him to let me drive the fork lift - no go...


$19.95 MY ASS!!!!


Oh - and a full lift and a engine hoist come in handy for work like this...


After I paid the enormous uhaul bill (over $300 for the truck rental ”“ fucking apes) I finally had my motor ”“ opened up the crate ”“ to see”¦well a used m30. I’ll need to work on that”¦









With only 90k miles on my ”anew”a M30 ”“ there was no way I was going to rebuild it. Those of you who know m30’s, you know they are just getting broken in at 90k. It’s a 400k motor EASY”¦so time to strip it to a long-block to make sure everything else is ship shape, and some cosmetic touches”¦


Yes the block says 3.5 on it - (later on)careful use of a die grinder got that pesky bugger right off...



No a smurf did not jizz all over my block ”“ that’s ”anavel rust jelly”a Awesome for removing surface rust. Well not "awesome" ”“ it took about 4 coats and 3 or 4 hours of waiting. And a wire brush, and....but in the end the surface was rust free.




Here is the dolly I made to cart the engine around in the cramped garage. I would soon be know for ”awalking the dog”a every time I drug it by it strap to work on it outside”¦


Wow - lots of varnish - I know the motor sat for a while - but everything seems good.


I stripped the block down to a long block - and inspected, repaired or replace anythign worn. Everything got a inspection and a fresh coat of protective paint.



Did I mention Paint? Oh yea, I may have gone overboard - but I really wanted a shiny motor - and I got it! This all really was a lot of work - and we had'nt even started the swap yet!




U.L.G.Y - this need some fixin'!!!!




Ahh - the dreaded wiring harness - it turns out we had a bad crank position sensor that came with the motor - and caused up hours of pain. We ended up using the harness that was on my m20 - all we had to do was extend some injector wires and thermastat wires...Plug that into the m30 ecu - and it fired right up.


Getting better....



(grinding off the 3.5L embossed intake mani)
M30? 3.5L? Hun? this is a m20!!! (and yes, I do take it to get it smogged - and no one ever knows)



"BLING BLING"

Time to pull the old m20...





This is where the lift comes in handy...




Hey who wants a free m20? The head ended ended up going to a super eta project - that then found it's way into a 2002! I love it when car parts find a good home.


Castrol Super clean is your friend - oh and a old tooth brush. Just be warned that super clean pulls all the oils out of your paint - wax soon, and wax offten afterwards...here is the result...




DRUM ROLL PLEASE - I PRESENT THE M30! (applause) - also note the 3400 CFPM electric fan(we ended up switching it on with the AC switch - and is only needed in stop and go traffic or long stop lights)


radiator compairson - e28 foreground, e30 background. The e28 tank is easier to use cause of the place ment of the bottem hose.


Time to test fit - we put the motor in and out of the car maybe 7 or 8 times - mostly because we were building the mounts from scratch - and that took some finess.(and no that guy in the barney-purple shirt is not me)






At the time - no one knew you could mix and match drive shaft parts from different bmw's to get the right length for the m30. I did it the hard expensive way, I bought a e30m3 DS then had it shorten, rebuilt and rebalanced for $400...OUCH! Oh in the pic is not the DS - a peice of PVC pipe to make sure we were lined up right.



Yep - that my car - and that's a hammer. Actually that was fun. Beeting the hell out of the fire wall to make some more room for the motor. Not for the weak - but once the motor is in you can't even see it - it's hidden behind the head. Oh, and a spray of 3m under coating helps seal any bare metal.


I forget the measurement we took - but this is one LOOOONNNNGGGG motor/tranny package. Notice that I used a getrag 265 with a removable bell housing? It really make the swap easier. This tranny came out of a e30m3. Also the tranny mount is a e30 m3 mount - it bolts right up to the e30.


using abs plastic to mock up the custom mounts


We used lots of jacks and stand under the motor to get it just in the right place before building the mounts - this step is critical, and time consumming tring to position a huge motor EXACTLY where is need to be.


Hey! It fits!





It took two tries on building the mounts till we were happy. Notice the bad angle of this first version?





Oh that's tight!!! this is not the final position. We ended getting it back another inch or 2.





Because we ended up using the stock m20 harness - wiring was a snap! It all just pluged in - no need to rebuild the c101 conector!!! THIS IS THE WAY TO DO IT!


Notching the old radiator supports - they get in the way of the e28 radiator


We ended up using the e30 shift linkage - but need the end of a 265 to work on the tranny - you can see it's a different part



Note oil pan clearence - that a e34 m30 oil pan. Again - can you see how long that puppy is?



Almost all wrapped up...







Hope you enjoyed - if you have any questions - let me know!

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what a well persented thread fella, most of us brits would give up a lot to have a garage like you have there dude

also nice work got anything else going on in the pipe line with your e30.

Top post, George! I really enjoyed reading through that. Nice work!

Nice thread and i would kill for your garage

Superb thread

you did a very nice work me friend

Excellent thread fella

Pictures speak a thousand words.

looks great am interested in progress

very nice mate but how may e30 m3s have you got

Quality build and write up. Wish I had showed the same attention to detail when I did my m30!