E30 Zone

Thought I'd start a thread about my adventures with the M50 swap and the fact that a swap of the lump has turned into a bit of a resto as I go along.

Been a bit slow out of the blocks with this one. Got the car in September, nice ebay bargain, cat C write off with minimal damage


Replaced the rear bumper and light cluster and bish bosh, damage sorted.

This just wasn't cutting the mustard

So this was acquired

As the car is a 316 manual the prop & diff were no use for the M50 conversion. A zoner came to the rescue with this complete rear end and full 325 prop which he had been tripping over for 2 years. £20 and theft of the wife's golf for a sunday morning =

Full 325 system from ebay £25. Garage slowly turning into a shithole

So with a spare rear end I decided I would do a full refurb on the spare and then just bolt the job lot back in.
Cleaned up the subframe a bit and then went a bit mad with the red hammerite


I'm currently sourcing all the bushes for the rear end, plus new top mounts, new brake pipes, drop links the whole shizzle.
Whilst I've been working under the car I've decided I'm gonna remove the fuel tank and spray it. It was replaced 5 years ago so I may be able to get it looking spotless and preserve it for longer. Will replace the fuel pipes and all brake pipes. Also plan to underseal the whole car so it all looks tip top.
Front end will get completely freshened up too.

Got an engine crane from daimlerman, so the lump will be on it's way out soon.

Just started loosening everything off and unplugging this lot ready for some action hopefully next weekend


That's all for now[youtube][/youtube]

This McBeastage came today from Machine Mart. Should make life a bit easier especially as I'm doing the engine swap on my own.


Hey, this is my 5000th post

E30BeemerLad wrote:This McBeastage came today from Machine Mart. Should make life a bit easier especially as I'm doing the engine swap on my own.


Hey, this is my 5000th post

wish i would of known you wanted a leveller i have a brand new 1 here same as yours you could of had

always the case my friend

they do make it easier i must admit. good luck with the conversion i did my swap on my own its hard work but satisfying when done

it is defo satisfying and I've not really done anything yet. As I've aid in this thread, an engine swap is slowly turning into a partial resto. But the car will be so much better for it, fresh bushes throughout and new brakes front & rear. It'll probably get a small drop on some decent gear too.

After having the luxury of using my old man's lift, crawling around on the driveway with minimal space either side is the main annoyance.

Why can't the old man live 200 miles closer?

Lee, I'm going to move this to the photo gallery.

Looks like it will be another interesting thread.

cool looks good.

Mill bmw thats what the nearest dealer to me used to be called about 10 years ago lol

A very small progress report.

Finally got the rear hub bolts undone and separated the drive shafts from the trailing arms. I'm not happy with my bodging of the rear subframe as the finish is gash. So the whole lot is going to get shot blasted and then I'll do a decent job with the Hammerite smooth (spray).

Stripped back a front valence I got from Beefy and that's curently in primer awaiting a further rub down.

So I can hopefully get the rear end refub finished in the next few weeks and get the car back on 4 wheels.

Hope to have the compressor and steel workbench in the garage soon, which will be nice

Rather than hammerite, have you considered using Rustoleum Enamel? Gives an excellent and very durable finish, with all of the rust preventing properties you'd want...

Another wee update

The welded scrap that represents a modified 328i exhaust manifold in the pic below is now being replaced by a nice custom made 6 branch being fabricated by a mate at work, hope to have it in the next couple of weeks.

Well a productive day so far.

At a bit of a standstill with the back end of the car at the mo as I need to order some wheel bearings, get the old ones pressed out and some new ones in, which I hope to do next weekend when i'm at the old fella's workshop as he has a press.

So, knowing the interior is utterly minging, I thought I would get the front seats out and the carpet, which I am replacing as it is utter scum and I will be needing to get up behind the glovebox area to get the servo and master cylinder off, so I got stuck in.

First of all, out come the fart blast driver seat


Now you can see the state of the carpet and the years of filth, found £2.72, so now the car cost me less than £130 and also found 4 brand new Bosch spark plugs in the glovebox
Notice the "wet" appearance of the carpet which never ever dried out, I suspected some other fluid leak.



Once I started pulling the carpet up, my suspicions were confirmed, clutch fluid This had been nicely soaked up by the foam backing and the paint on the floor was bubbling up in places, grrr. So I started attacking it with a scotchpad.

But the result is undoubtedly that the floor of the car is very very sound, no signs of rot, apart from some minor surface rust where the clutch fluid had started attacking the driver footwell

Makes a lot of sense getting a nice late touring like this, there won't be a welder seeing any action around these parts for many years


Gave this a good scrub with the scotch pad ready for some paint

Bungs out and a good clean up


Passenger side is minty mint

A couple of coats of red oxide primer after giving it a going over with some meths (still got a headache lol)



Had just about enough red smoothrite in a can left to give it a near match, but who cares, the carpet is going in over this shizzle


Very pleased she is a tidy old girl in those usual nasty places.

hi mate what are you doing with the old mani??

assuming it's still in once piece (being used as a template for the replacement) I'll happily flog it on dude

aaaahaaaa progress

albeit in the wrong area of the car
get that engine in you tart lol

yeah I know Malc, i'm disciplining myself to finish one task at a time, otherwise it'll end in chaos and get weighed in lol

E30BeemerLad wrote:yeah I know Malc, i'm disciplining myself to finish one task at a time, otherwise it'll end in chaos and get weighed in lol

ha ha so true
keep up the work fella it'll be good when it all comes together

let me ni mate a ill buy it off ya as i havent got 1 yet.

Ffs Lee, is this not done yet!

Jaffro - no probs mate, will let you know what's happened to it. It ain't pretty and the pigeon sh1t welding seems like it will impede the flow from what it looks like.

Dave - hell no, this mo-fo is becoming a resto/tidy up, which will be satisfying in the long run but is frustratng me at the mo.

Slowest progress EVER!!

Looking good dude

looking good good to see progress

E30BeemerLad wrote:Jaffro - no probs mate, will let you know what's happened to it. It ain't pretty and the pigeon sh1t welding seems like it will impede the flow from what it looks like.

Dave - hell no, this mo-fo is becoming a resto/tidy up, which will be satisfying in the long run but is frustratng me at the mo.

it will be used as a template for me when i get the dosh together to have 1 made. i will weld it up for now though

spoke to the dude who is making my manifold today, should be ready next week, it's in stainless too, can't wait to see it. Best bit is all he wants is £20 which is what he had to pay someone to water jet the flanges

The old manifold is still fully intact, so i'll give you a shout Jaffro once i've got it back, if you still need it?

update coming later this evening folks, i've actually done some work to it lol

OK, so had a bit of a frenzy this afternoon

Started off by removing the standard servo & master cylinder

Standard servo on the left, clio servo on the right

After that I removed the clutch master cylinder as that needs replacement after pishing clutch fluid into the driver footwell. Forgot to take any pics of that exciting adventure though
Then I though I may aswell start taking the front end off as i have a replacement valence to improve on the battered offering on the car.



Then a really strange thing started to happen, I don't know what came over me



Forgot along the way in all the excitement and spur of the moment activity that i had forgotten to disconnect the gear lever and the clutch slave cylinder Prop was still attached
E30 scrapyard

What's missing from here then?

A satisfying menthol after all my exertion

Oh and here's the bargain Zender kit, needs a bit of work but with the matt black thing going on it's gonna look rude



There's light at the end of the tunnel

Get on with it then

Looking good tho.. 1st big step accomplished!

Lee, great work mate.....don't listen to the wham bam thank you mam boys, who like everything in like are finished before they start

Fantastic effort. I'd love to be able to take mine apart and restore it from the chasis up, but mines a daily driver.
Loving the red hammerite everything attitude. Keep it and keep us posted.

Nice work Lee.
Feel good to get that weedy 4 pot out?
Wait till you get to drop the new engine in,youll be celebrating with more than a menthol

Nice progress, wish tourings were imported to N.A. they are a practicle car for everyday use.

nice swap!!! kep posting pics like this, so we can all see how you can fit that engine shoud come in the how2-topic

nice 1 lee

give me a shout when your ready to stick the new engine in i'll pop up lend a hand

big effort mate

I'll hold you to that Dazzle, just waiting on the E36 engine mounts to arrive and I guess there's nowt stopping me from getting it in. Want to spray under the bonnet area first in satin black and there's a couple of bits in the front which need the attention of mr angle grinder

Currently bidding on something a little bit special on the 'bay, more revealed in a few days

These arrived today from USA, very pleased with my purchase, lots of morsels to fit now.




Suspension next

Oooooh Very nice Lee, What did they cost?