New E30 340i project now to be M52 B28 turbo!

[MarkT]

Hi there been on the Zone for quite a while now and have just bought my second e30.

Couple of pics...





Very tidy shell with very little rust, patch on the rear valence and on the N/S sill where the the front wing has collected a load of crap.

Going to be a slow project due to financial constraints, but should be good when it's finished

[Jon_Bmw]

Where is the new engine!

[MarkT]

Coming out the front of a non BM lol

Sorry purists

Any guesses welcome ;)

[325sideways]

Coming out the front of a non BM lol

Sorry purists

Any guesses welcome ;)

Rover v8 ?

[fuzzy]

a 4.0 im guessing from a jap car?

[gcs325i]

Rover or Lexus v8?

[Jon_Bmw]

lexi?

[AdamG]

Audi?

[The_Diddler]

Trabant?

[e301988325i]

TVR 4.0L straight six hmm? god not one out of a jeep!!

[325sideways]

porsche 928 ?

[GrindCulture]

Give us a clue! How many cylinders?

[punk_sy]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LEXUS-LS400-ENGIN ... 7C294%3A50

[Alex]

some sort of french v8

[e21Jason]

Jag supcharged V8 tremec t6 box

Jason

[MarkT]

1UZ FE

On stock internals, will rev to 8k. All that is required is a set of TB's and different cams which like reving past the stock 6.5k rpm.

[Jon_Bmw]

To get that to the spec of that rally engine must put you the wrong side of 5 grand won't it! Respect. Throttle bodies are going to be, what, £2grand?

[MarkT]

I'm going to see what I can rustle up with bike bodies. I've got a set of GSXR750 ones in the garage. It'll be a faf but got to be miles cheaper than going for bespoke ones.

Not too sure on the cams, they'll probably cost the earth!

Nice thing about the 1UZ on that set up, it should be getting on for high 300'sbhp and simmilar torque. And the engine itself is lighter than the M20. Should make a potent track car.

The main things that I'm going to have to deal with are obviously sorting out the rust issues, converting to 325/touring running gear and then deciding how to get the power from the flywheel to the diff. I'm currently thinking about using a 325 box that I have picked up and making an adaptor plate and having a custom flywheel made.

The wish list includes:

325/touring running gear
Medium cased LSD
Reinforced diff hanger
Fully polybushed
Having thoughts about convirting the front lower arms to allow some castor adjustment
Welded in cage
Turreted rear end
Coil-overs all round
And of course the lexarse engine.

Not going to be a particularly fast moving project but should be interesting.

I have just spent the first day, striping off bonnet, wings and have started going to work on the rear subframe.

Have to say that the BM is one of the more stress free cars to work on, everything just seems to be so well thought out and engineered

[GrindCulture]

Sweet, the sound of a 1UZ on ITBs is one the greatest sounds on Earth.

[Jon_Bmw]

Sounds like you have thought of most things. It will be a really cool project, and if you can make it sound, and the throttle response, half as good as that video it will be awesome!

I am a total n00b when it comes to tuning toyota/lexi's but you might be able to get away with just inlet cams depending on how well specced the exhaust ones were from factory. Probably a £500 saving if you could.

I guess there might already be adapters to mount the throttle boddies as its quite a popular mod. Then you'll have to do some fannying about popping your GSXR ones on to that. I'm impressed that you have collected eight! I guess the hardest bit will be balancing them all up.

The wish list will only take you about 10 years. I'll definatly be watching this thread for updates.

Very cool project squire, well done

[suchy]

Gotta be worth it for V8 Quad 32 on your rocker cover!!!!!

[MarkT]

Just purchased a 325i to break for the running gear etc.

However it is too good to frag. I'll get some pics up when i've collected it and the deal's definately done... New daily driver me thinks.

Updates are going to be fairly slow, but should be a quality product.

[toby]

Glad you found a shell you're happy with. Did you have to go far for it?

[MarkT]

He delivered it for petrol money, and it came from Newbury, just up the road

[E30BeemerLad]

If you want info about the Lexus 1UZ-FE just give me a shout as my daily has one

With a decent panel filter, removal of the cats and a non restrictive exhaust system these see near enough 300bhp.

These engines are massively over-engineered, like 6 bolt mains, and rarely seem to give trouble. They are very expensive for uprated cams though. Exhaust headers usually cost about £400 for a set of Rush headers from Neil at Rush Imports in AUS.

check out www.lextreme.com for all V 8 goodness

A member on here has already done this conversion, Drifty325, he is in NZ

The only snag is they all come mated to an Auto gearbox, you then need either the R154 box from a MK3 turbo supra or the W58 which can be found in the MK4 N/A supra, plus all the other shizzle to do an auto to manual conversion.

[MarkT]

Yeah, I know it's going to be a bit of a bugger sorting out the Auto box, but thinking about using a bellhousing adapter plate and a custom clutch/flywheel assembly. That way I wont have to worry about changing box mounts and buggering around with custom propshafts etc.

[E30BeemerLad]

you mean retaining the E30 manual box?

[MarkT]

Thinking about it. Can you see any potential problems?

[MarkT]

Little update.

As you've probably seen I've aquired a donor car (lol). Which will probably go back on the road for a small profit which should help fund a few bits and peices like an actual donor, suspension and a cage.

I have also aquired a full set of powerflex bushes, unfortunately including concentric front arm bushes, so it's looking like adjustable ones are going to be sooner rather than later.

I have spent a little time looking at the rust and ascertaining how far it goes (scraping back with a screwdriver. Next job on that front will be to buy some wire wheels to go on an axle grinder and go to work cleaning and cutting back.

The other job has been removing the rear subframe set-up, which has been problematic, having to drill out hex bolts that have rusted and rounded and the rear bushes siezing to their locating stubs. Simply rectified by spending a day away from the job, coming back to it and realising I had been leavering the wrong bit lol!

Last but not least, I've burnt the troublesome bushes out of the subframe today which felt quite enjoyable!

[E30BeemerLad]

Here's another handly link for you if you are still going for ITB's

http://v8soarer.com/engine/index.shtml

Although they sounds the tits, I don't think I could be hassled with the sheer amount of work involved.

Chuck the V8 in there and go for a rear mount turbo

[E30BeemerLad]

sorry, just had to post this

[MarkT]

Or a pair of M42's

[MarkT]

Quick update, not really any point in taking any pics. I've continued the stripping process, and have removed the front legs, lower arms, engine, box and all of the other ancillaries from within the bay. All ready for me to get busy with the degreaser and touch up paint in one or two places.

[drifty325i]

Nice one mate its good to see you have come to the dark side you WONT regret it once its done.

For your information you have a late high compression 1uzfe (same as me, almost) these make quite a bit more HP and TQ than the early pre 95 1uzfe.

They are rated at 250hp(pre95) and 260hp(post95) but in actual fact the early ones make around 230hp, ours do make the quoted 260hp.

Mine with a linkg3,zorst,stepped extractors,intake,CAB,good service, manual an awesome tune made 279hp at the wheels!! This is higher than any other standard 1uzfe with bolt ons has made anywhere as far as I no so it can be done dude.

Are you going to run an aftermarket computer? Its tricky trying to use the factory computer and run a manual.

Id recommend a w55 (me)/w57/w58 gear box if your on a budget, if you have more get a R154. You can get all of the bell housings off the shelf here in NZ for the conversion and with the exchange rate you would get them cheap even with shipping id imagine. Run a na 2jz clutch or an mr2 turbo clutch.

Yours in a front sump right? If so thats what you want. Extractors are a mission to get around the steering coloum but it can be done.

I used a MK2 Golf booster and moved it along the firewall a few inches and it fitted really well, extend the clutch rod to. 1uzfes are allot slimmer than the BMW v8s so theres no issues fitting them. You can use the remote mounted 5 series setup but its ugly in my opinion.

Engine mounts are fairly straight forward.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions just ask on here and ill keep an eye out


Check out my old vids, ive really got to make some more current ones the cars so much cooler now and finished

Riley

[MarkT]

Cheers fella

Gearboxes, where do the w55 (me)/w57/w58 range of boxes come from and who manufacturers the belhousing adaptors? Also, what flywheel to run a na 2jz or an mr2 turbo clutch? And what engine is the na 2jz? Supra?

Sorry about all the questions, bit of a learning curve. Also (lol) have you any engine bay pics etc. just as a reference.

Probably not going to run the existing brake system but upgrade to a bespoke pedal box

Many thanks

Mark