Hartge H36 Project (E30 M3 with S38 M5 engine)

[Theo]

Thanks chaps, my eyes hurt from looking at it for too long in the sunshine.

Gareth, I may take you up on that offer of help. I have a nice engine balance bar now, but my engine crane needs some TLC as it keeps pissing oil out of the plunger.

[madaboutthe30]

I cant wait to see this finished!

I think its going to be a wise decision not taking it to the ring, its not a case of stone chips, what if someone loses control and heads straight for you, or you get the back end out a bit too wide!

[E30BeemerLad]

Theo, mine does the same (hydraulic ram leaks at the top seal)

I'll be reet

[bmwe30mtech]

Looks great mate. Stewart did a good job by the look of it. Bet you can't wait to start bolting it all back together now. Let me know if you want a hand

[E30BeemerLad]

Theo, do you want to save that nice paint job and council it up a bit?

I'll post you my car bra if you want to borrow that to help preserve the paint for the ring trip? The offer is there dude if you want to borrow it?

[bss325i]

That was quick!

No excuses now Theo!

[Theo]

That's a really kind offer Lee, I wont tempt fate by borrowing it just yet - but if it's looking like it might be a go-er for the Ring I'll give you a shout. My engine crane is fairly incredible, it's been leaking for ages and can't have much oil left, yet it still keeps going! What would be typical is if it decided to cease working when it has 300kgs of S38 strapped to the end of it hovering over the shell.

Madaboutthee30 - you have a point. Alas I'm stupid and won't be able to resist. It would also give me a chance to visit a relative and drain a savings account which I can't access from the UK. Might even take a jaunt down to the Hartge factory and see if they remember the car. Perhaps I should take the old bulkhead to jog their memory?

Paul, Stuart has done a great job. I was worried about the bulkhead being overly pushed back to the point where the heater box wouldn't fit it, but I popped that in earlier and it's absolutely spot on for fit. Loom in tomorrow, plus ANOTHER order to BMW for various parts. Your help on the refit would be much appreciated.

[Jhonno]

Nice one Theo!!

Whereabouts in Kent are you..? I will be in Ashford on Sat, if you are having a tinker..

[Theo]

Ashford is about 20 miles west(ish) from me, or there abouts. You're welcome to pop over of course.

[bmwe30mtech]

I wondered if the A/C heater box would fit when I saw the pics you posted up, but didn't say anything as it was done and I didn't see the point in you worrying! Must be very tight though?

Happy to lend a hand mate, i will be back in Kent about the 18th. I've done a few perfect headlinings now if that helps

[Theo]

Headlining is in already Give me a shout when you're back down, sure there will be plenty to do.


I had a play round with the instrument cluster today, took a load of readings from the satnav with my normal 325i cluster, and then fitted the hartge cluster and repeated the process. It's woefully inaccurate for some reason, much more than could be compensated with larger tyres like Hartge fitted to the car back in the day.

So this has confused me somewhat. I was thinking maybe it's just down to Hartge only fitting a different speedo with a larger scale and not taking any steps to make is accurate, but my old price list has the '280 km/h speedo' @ over 500DM so there must be more to it. I'm thinking now that it might be down to the Diff being from an E28 which uses a speedo trigger wheel with fewer teeth. You've probably all shot yourself by now, so I wont write any more on the subject.

[bss325i]

Theo, i have at leat one week if not the two weeks before the ring. I have to finish the pina and prep ricks 320iS in this time but im sure there will be time to come help out.

Kos and his mate are coming in that red H35 24V.

Two Hartge 24V M3's would be awesome!!

[bmwe30mtech]

Will do Theo , your lucky the headlining is in, i recon its one of the worst jobs!

Barry, what happened to that white M3 Kos was re-fabricating when he got banned?!
Off topic, have you been to your garage and by any chance had a look at the damage your breaker did to the A/C valance?

[bss325i]

Will do Theo , your lucky the headlining is in, i recon its one of the worst jobs!

Barry, what happened to that white M3 Kos was re-fabricating when he got banned?!
Off topic, have you been to your garage and by any chance had a look at the damage your breaker did to the A/C valance?

As far as i know, its painted.

I will check sat/sun.

[Simon]

Excellent work, that was quick!

[Bob_S]

good going theo

[Theo]

Theo, i have at leat one week if not the two weeks before the ring. I have to finish the pina and prep ricks 320iS in this time but im sure there will be time to come help out.

Kos and his mate are coming in that red H35 24V.

Two Hartge 24V M3's would be awesome!!

Nice one, if you're not sick of fettling turds then you should definitely pop down.

Would be awesome having the two cars together out at the Ring!

[DRIFTBOY]

Great stuff Theo!

Couldn't the speedo thing be affected by the S38's gearbox ratios and the diff ratio that it would have had?

I've got a lot on on saturday but I'll probably be available this sunday, just give me a shout if you want to borrow my set of ham fists and butter fingers!

[Theo]

Speedo isn't effected by the gearbox or diff ratios, it's all done by a hall sensor in the diff.

I'll give you a shout about sunday, need to figure out exactly what the plan of attack is first.

[DRIFTBOY]

Aah, I see. (Actually I don't, I'm an electronophobe so I have no idea what that is! ).

No probs mate, just let me know.

[Simon13]

Nice paint job when was the last time of 2 of these where together, an exciting thought!

Am i the only person with a car ready to roll for the ring?! i need some front pads uprated and 2 tyres plus an oil change and shes ready! And a good wash of course

[e30topless]

Would be awesome having the two cars together out at the Ring!

absolutely , definatly not something that happens everyday

looking great Theo, some awesome work going on here

[Theo]

Cheers Steve.

Simon, a mate of mine might have a set of fairly hardcore e30 mintex pads available on the cheap if you're interested? I'll ask him tomorrow when I see him.

You and Karan are ready, that's about it! Who will be the first to pull over in the hard shoulder I wonder? At least that will give Andrew a chance to clean his car I suppose...

[Simon13]

Cheers Bert but the pina is running those big merc calipers, i can get some mintex M1155's for around £100 posted from MSW

Theo are the 15bbs R888's still available for a few laps?!

As always i'm hoping for no major dramas with me motor! or tyres blowing out this time round

[Theo]

Of course, forgot you had done the brake upgrade.

Might be a bit of a ballache lending the r888s to be honest. If I was there in my car then I would gladly have swapped wheels for a couple of laps, but not really worth taking a set of wheels out. You'll muller them if you use them for a whole weekend.

Next time!

[Bob_S]

I'm kind of ready.. just some little bits to sort like a pair of tyres and bits and pieces

[Jhonno]

I am no where near ready.. The next few weekends are going to be fun

I have the day before we go off also.. So can put in a long stint if needs be..

[gareth]

this sounds like the level of readiness that all of us lot who just did the zone roam had! can't beat 2am fettling before a 8am ferry

[H35-24]

Did a bit of tinkering on the car loom today - ABS, fuel pump, fan switch and washer fluid motor & level sensor wiring all needed altering (I'm using the M3 car loom rather than the damaged H36 car loom)

I'm retrofitting a low fluid level sensor in the 325ix washer bottle as it didn't previously have this. I'm also going to fit a standard overhead check panel with oil level light - it had an M3 check panel before which doesn't have this.

In a bit of a muddle as to what tyre sizes to get for the split rims. If I wanted the standard BMW rolling radius I would need 215/40/17 front and 245/35/17 rear. However, I've noticed that all the old literature specifies a larger tyre size for the car.. I would usually ignore this but I'm wondering whether the 280km/h speedo isn't actually re-programmed to take into account the larger speed scale but instead just relies on a larger tyre size to make it accurate.

I suppose I'll just have to put the Hartge cluster in another e30 and test the speedo against the satnav and then do the same with a standard cluster and see how they compare.

Sad or what?

Hi Theo. Some time back when I visited a Hartge dealer in Germany I asked about the tire sizes as I also thought it had to do with the speedo. That's not the case. It is because back in 1980'ties tire sizes like 215/40R17 and 245/35R17 didn't exist so when fitting the M5 drivetrain, the tires had to follow. The dealer recommend I'd fit the sizes you came up with. Just a same it has to be from an Asian tire company. German cars should have German tires.

[winx]

looking very good! As everyone told me would happen, my car isnt going to be ready for the ring so will be in the M5 three up

[fourmotion]

Awesome thread Theo. Paintwork looks like a top job and no doubt the install will be too. Strong work.

[Jhonno]

looking very good! As everyone told me would happen, my car isnt going to be ready for the ring so will be in the M5 three up

You've still got 2 weeks! Crack on

[winx]

[quote="Jhonno"

You've still got 2 weeks! Crack on [/quote]

I wish, car is 200 miles away

[Theo]

That's a shame Henry

I really wanted to hear that lovely M30 noise again.

[winx]

so did I! Managed about 60 miles on the new engine before it snapped another rocker Was just tickling it up a slight hill, not even spanking it

Anyway back on topic - get back to work I want a ride in this car at the ring