E30 Zone

Hello, I don't know how I just NOW (thanks GG!) found this forum! Seeing lots of nice cars on there though!

Anyway, my car is an 84 318i with a rebuilt 91 m30b35 out of an e32. I used a g260/6 5speed from an e34 535i, and the usual e28 radiator, custom engine mounts, early 325e driveshaft, custom exhaust. After trying out 3 different ratios, I have stuck with the s3.46 for now. The chassis did also get 325i front/rear brakes a while back to get rid of the rear drums.

Interior and exterior has changed a few times (had the plastic bumper conversion for a little bit, few different wheels, different interior etc, about 3 or 4 different suspension setups).

Total weight of the car as it is right now is 2500lb with half a tank of gas, no driver in the car.

LF 703 RF 741
LR 530 RR 526

This is with full interior, no spare, no jack and no a/c compressor (not installed yet). No sound or weight reduction. On 15x6 bbs ra with 205/50 bfg g-force tires, corbeau seats, drum to disk convertion etc.

On to the pictures:

It looked like this when I first got her, cracked dash, worn interior, drum brakes, shitty m10 and all, the list was looong.



After doing full suspension/interior overhaul it now looked like this for a while (interior is no longer blue though).

Replaced the seats, e-brake console/e30m3 boot, dash, front/rear glass, front upper headliner piece and installed e30m3 rear shelf since my car does not have a 3rd brake light to name a few major items...the list is too long.







Euro bumpers/valance/euro fogs.



Then finally came the engine swap after the chassis received 325i front/rear brakes, s3.73 diff etc.

Out with the old



In with the new (fully rebuilt 91 b35) - 211?hp/225ft.lb of torque baby







Bottom end is almost done, re-honed, new rings, new main and rod bearings installed.





main bearings / crank in.






pistons/rods installed



Painted the mounts and picked up a 91 g260/6

I did get the car through a local certification to make sure it's 100% legal so I won't have problems getting it through SMOG/registration every few years.



Recently changed the wheels to run wider tires, too bad offset isn't perfect so I couldn't go with 225 wide tires, they are 205/50 15s for now. Also installed HID kit as stock headlights are good at best.





Here is the custom exhaust. 2" tubing before the cat, and then 2 into 1 2.5" after. I am using a cheap magnaflow 11216 muffler.

Charlie(pinepig) doing all the welding, I am doing all the grinding and cutting.







Front section tac-welded





rear section tac welded before clean up








Some goodies that will soon be installed (front valance came from UK )







SPAL fan will take place of the a/c fan.







Got the AKG shift arm bushing and e36 to e30 non airbag rack swap hardware for an e36 3.2 lock to lock rack swap



My autocross only set of wheels/tires, soon suspension will be re-done as well.



I got the 225/50 Kumho V710 mounted on TireRack 15x8 e30 specific wheels.

Fitment is dead on, no rubbing but I am not slammed or anything.



205/50 rt615 vs 225/50 v710



rear fitment



front fitment






lock to lock


no rubbing, just enough room

Finally a few of the interior, since it is my daily drive for now.

Ran the wiring for the map light mirror down the passenger a-pillar, tapped into the glove box light wiring.

Got the interior delay kit / relay from George Graves, installation was super easy, hightly recommend this kit!

Added the wiring for the 6-button obc/clock, I got tired of the analog clock and wanted to try something else (now I just need to get/install the temp sensor).

Fixed my trunk light (wire was cut by the trunk hinge mechanism lol), and added a second light while I was there. Pretty easy and popular mod, nothing new.

Another thing I did was upgraded the rear tweeters to silk dome type, these are stock bmw tweeters used in some (late model) 5 and 7 series cars. Now my rear speakers sound better than the front, DOH!

And finally, replaced my glove box and aligned it a little better so I don't have to slam it to close it. What a pita!

On to the pictures:

Replaced the fuel gauge face last week, as I was pulling the cluster to check/try something...















Replaced the keyed glovebox latch with keyless one. I like the look more, and it just looks cleaner imho.

How does it habdle with those tyres on? its looks great. looking forward to seeing it with the bodykit sprayed up. nice

Thanks! My street tires a 205 bfg g-force sport, they seem to be fine in dry and wet, they replaced stickier falken azenis rt615s that I used in autocross (but not soo good in rain when they are worn out). If you are asking about the 225/50 v710 autocross tires I haven't ran on them just yet as the new autocross season has not started just yet

WOw nice thread there buddy. Good amount of pics of the build. Top draw stuff my friend, oh and welcome to the zone.

another great E30 bro

Awesome, I've noticed that when you Yanks( ) modify something in various forum threads I've read that the quality of the workmanship is usually top quality-nice one!

very very nice, liking that alot, are those tyres legal

over here a chromie with that sort of mileage would have no floopan, bulkhead or arches

Thanks guys!

The tires believe it or not are DOT legal, but with very low treadwear (30 or 40 I don't remember) you don't want to drive on them too much, other than on the course.

Welcome Jean, take it you got the wiring sorted?

I read about the pin 3/8 thing, and I am using pin 8 so maybe my mpg meter is dead. Pin 3 from what I've seen isn't even used on the 20 pin, and it can't be for the later 25pin c101s are they have different pin/functions vs. the early 20pin c101s.

It's not really a big deal, I'll swap another cluster tomorrow and see if mpg gauge will work then

Looks like the Americans are invading the zone. LOL.

Hi Jean

A very nice one there mate and you must be a happy fella after the mode.
Congrats.

I'm thinking of going the same rout and was wondering on the long shaft issue, did you used back your old one or fabricate it accordingly as the m30 gear box length not the same as the original m20 or m10 for that matter.

Thanks
mie

GG - we are taking over e30zone LOL

miepower - the driveshaft I used is from an early 86-87 325e car, and it required no modifications at all. It has a little to do with your choice of your 5speed and engine mounts.

Jean

These look fun to install



Anyway. Put over 6k miles on it since the swap.... about to do 2nd oil change. Picked up a case of 20w50 castrol syntec...f-----$50 for oil ARGH.

Car still rips, no issues yet. I wish speed limits were higher though, I just love going through 2-3 gear and hearing this engine scream hahaha.

Exhaust did get a little louder at WOT, but still is deep and managable below 3k rpm. Also replaced the other failing rear shock mount, was half way torn.

Dropped off a spare b35 head today to get checked out /tanked, then it's off to get a head/valve job + 284 cam.



Was pretty straight forward taking the head apart, didn't need any special tools. Left the springs/valves in there for machine shop to deal with though.

Cam that came out of the 2nd head, it does have bmw casting numbers on it, but the lobes look funny....

looks like a nice project!

I see your Corbeau seat sticker... do you have Corbeau seats? They're made about 2 miles from my house

o thats a long cam stroke get every thing out a

gareth - thanks I bought a set of Corbeau trs seats a while back for autocross use only, but have been using them for dd duty until I find some clean stockers.

chris_335 - the 284? I figure its not so wild and can still be daily driven

What we call a 318/6. Just noticed how much your steering wheel/dash/etc setup is just like mine, to a tee!

Two quick clips, mounted the camera to the steering wheel..

First one is from a full stop, but light throttle in first gear as otherwise it goes nowhere with wheel spin.




Second is from a "roll".

What diff ratio you running?

I started with 3.73, then 3.25 and settled on 3.46.

Jean wrote:I started with 3.73, then 3.25 and settled on 3.46.

I'm runnung a 3.46 too, good for cruising.

Dame fine work there fella

Rav can you do mine like this

Baz, anything is possible given time

Looks like I'll be missing the first autocross this weekend, as I just ran out of time to get everything ready for it.

Hopefully I'll have it ready before next round, April 10th/11th.

On the to do list (parts on hand, just need to get it installed):

- e36 3.2ltl steering rack swap
- 21mm front swaybar
- fresh booster + 25mm master
- rebuilt front calipers, new pads and fluid

New gc rates have been picked and built ready to be installed.

Items still left to purchase:
- bigger re-valved shocks for my 2nd set of strut housings.
- camber plates

I "THINK" this is it, in terms of mechanical stuff.

Nothing went as I planned today....m-tech front valance still has layers of paint to sand. At least rear is ready for paint..

Today I started on suspension overhaul (again) and ran into a few problems.

First things first. I got a set of modified strut housings and new gc kit (550f/675r) and need to get re-valved inserts. To do this I borrowed a set of stock front struts to put on the car.

Everything went well until I found out my strut housings are shorter than stock and will now require more work for it all to function etc.

Old thin strut housings be gone-





off the shelf inserts can only do so much with stiff rates...




old vs new




The "uh oh" moment...



gotta love it when the front hubs don't come out in one piece.... my non abs front hubs are good so I wanted to save them. I will still use these and replace with new when they start giving me any problems..




Bilstein Sports ready for repair/ work





So, I ended up using a borrowed set of strut housings with gc kit for now. Tomorrow I am going to pull a set of rear shocks to put on the car and send the bilsteins for repair and re-valve job.

I am not sure now what I'll do with the modified strut housings, hopefully it will all work out.

All I have left to get now is a set of camber plates and aftermarket rear shocks mounts and it should be good to go.

Ok, so made as much progress as I could today. Sanding , sanding and more sanding still left to do.

This is what I had to start with, used front and sides...rear was new so didn't require much sanding.



Anyway, the front valance had what looks like 4-5 layers of paint in areas. I used about 3 cans of SEM bumper stripper before using 320 grit paper.

Bubbling old paint after spraying it with SEM can... this is coat #1.



Here you can see previous coats of paint showing.... FUN


After some sanding


and more sanding still




Will probably spend another couple of hours sanding it tomorrow and it will be ready for paint! Can't fucking wait.



Rear is on the car, almost ready for paint as well.


And I haven't even started on the skirts yet....

looks sweet man well done!!

Front is fitted for the first time to see how it all fits. I need to get more hardware, somehow I came up short and need more square / flat bolts.

Trim will come off tomorrow before painting, I'll do the same with rear.

Started the day by taking the valances/bumpers off to remove the trim.





car is dirty slut



then mounted the bumpers/valances back on the car





and started by taping the car off












I went with OMNI (http://www.914club.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=17931) paint from a local paint shop, it's not very expensive and was recommended.
Pinepig will agree it layed easy...

First coat ...














Surface sanding marks etc show through the first light coat






Then you wait for it to dry..... and look at the skirts I have to finish sanding tomorrow FTL....



Now goes on 2nd coat... now this is better





It also hides the 320grit sanding marks...











Does not hide 320grit stuff completely...clear will take care of that...




Then you stare at the stuff as you wait before you can spray the clear...



and you watch some Red Planet on AMC while you wait some more....

Clear....





now we are getting somewhere....










While it's not perfect, it is more than good enough since this isn't a show car by any means





Tomorrow I have to take these off the car, mount the trim and replace the a/c fan with the spal fan...

looks good
surely it would have been easier to paint them before fitting to the car though?

Hehe... this way you can get them eye level etc easy

Good work there.