My e30 m20b28 is finally finished - never again!

[nickphine]

Thought I'd put some pictures of my e30 which is finally finished after languishing in the garage for 18 months (1 outing to Oulton in Feb as a 318is).

Spec is:

good solid 318is sterling silver base
freshly built m20b28
freshly built medium case 4.45 with 75% gareth built lsd-of-joy
btb3 full single pipe stainless manifold and system
discreet rear cage, modified custom cages one
mims with toyos
ebc red/green stuff + grooved discs
goodridge hoses
all new lines run inside
poweflex all round
MED top mounts front and rear(theieving buggers but their stuff is good)

Basically me and my OCD have spent 18 months getting it to this stage (still more to do but I need to use it now). Just about every nut, bolt, bracket, bearing etc has either been replaced, upgraded, blasted, painted or in some way fettled and so running gear wise etc it's like a new car


First picture is what I bought it from, never saw it in real life until it arrived, I must have felt sorry for it or something. Pictures are in some kind of chronological order. All I know now is I'll never build another car again, what a massive pain in the ar!!

I do want to put 45 dcoes on it ideally but funds will have to improve to allow that.

Track days await...




















and finally

[Coops90]

Funk thats clean. Intense transformation. Good man.

[nickphine]

It's a lot easier looking back at the photos, it doesn't seem like so much work now. I 've lost count of the nights I spent lying under my car covered in shit and bleeding, thanks for the compliment, much appreciated.

[wayne_202]

Done well there chap, Enjoy it on track

[Duke137]

It's a lot easier looking back at the photos, it doesn't seem like so much work now. I 've lost count of the nights I spent lying under my car covered in shit and bleeding, thanks for the compliment, much appreciated.

Mate, that is epic. End of.

You really have made a lovely car out of essentially scrap metal.

I hear you about the lying under the car bleeding and covered in shit.

Well done mate, well done

[mani]

very nice !

[Gouki]

Thats some love right there! How you finding the engine in terms of drivability?

[Eddie25]

Stroked M20, what looks to be a full BTB system? Mims, seriously clean. This car is just rightness through and through.

Every credit mate.

[rix313]

Unreal. Excellent job.

[johnt0709]

Well done mate looks great - another E30 saved.

[mattrs]

Take my hat off to you! It looks great!

[nickphine]

Engine wise i still don't know how good it's going to be, i've just been up my lane and not got out of second yet. It will light it's wheels up in second though, i've kept the standard cam and ecu and it seems to rev cleanly and be very sprightly so i'm sure it will be fine. Not going to let my wife drive it in the wet though, come to think of it i might not let myself drive it in the wet, i'll be going round and round and round, ha!

[E30BeemerLad]

That's an impressive transformation, well done

[bss325i]

Nice build!

[Dan320is]

Very clean build.

Out of curiousity, where are the harness' bolted?
I hope it isn't to the rear seat belt mounts as in a crash they'll compress your spine. When the harness' leave the top of the backrest they need to stay at 90 degrees.

[nickphine]

Harness mounts are seperate to the rear seat belt mounts, it still has it rear seat and rear belts in place. I put 6 new harness mounts in. As for 90 degrees, they work best at 90 degrees true, but they have a degree window within which they work fine and they're within that window with my mounts or even with the rear seat belt mounts, however mine now run straight to the back of the seat unlike using the rear seat belt mounts. I've crashed plenty of rally and race cars with cheese wire 2 inch belts at worse angles than that, true i'm now only 4' 2", but i've got used to it

[mercdriver]

As Wallace once said to his partner Gromit:

'Surprising what a lick of paint'll do isn't it lad?!'

Nickphine's e30 recovery is top drawer

[magpie]

quality build Nick

[spook]

Nice work fella

[DHFiS]

The engine bay looks superb.

What suspension do you have? It looks a bit high to me.

[nickphine]

Suspension is bog standard 318is stuff, albeit brand new, bilstein B4's, powerflex etc, but the springs are the original 318is ones, just blasted and painted. I'm an ex rallyist and I can't seem get over having ground clearance, plus I live in the lakes and all our roads are bumpy and jumping is the order of the day

It still handles very well on track mind, well it did as a 318is

[magpie]

air time ftw

[nickphine]

Thanks magpie, you must be the only zoner who saw it as a bit of a wreck, you and chris from blackpool anyway. Hope the is parts did alright for you, I'm still debating whether to put some interior bits back in, not that they'd fit with all the lines inside etc.

[nickphine]

Also wanted to say thanks to all the kind words chaps, it helps maintain motivation for more mods!

[DanThe]

Nice job, Schroth diagram for harness mounting for anyone interested

[Andy325i]

Awesome Thats a credit to you Nick

[MrBenn]

Yeah, awesome work, you should be proud!

[DHFiS]

Suspension is bog standard 318is stuff, albeit brand new, bilstein B4's, powerflex etc, but the springs are the original 318is ones, just blasted and painted. I'm an ex rallyist and I can't seem get over having ground clearance, plus I live in the lakes and all our roads are bumpy and jumping is the order of the day

It still handles very well on track mind, well it did as a 318is

So you have iS springs and a 6 cylinder engine and the car still looks high.

[nickphine]

Yeah, that is a bit weird now you mention it. It sits at the same height give or take a few mm as it did with the is engine, but I reckon they're not as light as most people think, 16v head with twin cams, duplex timing chain, steel crank, iron block etc, certainly no lightweight engine. Perhaps the MED top mounts add a few mm to it as well, I did measure them at the time but I've forgotten the difference between them and the standard ones now.

[MrBenn]

FWIW, I've weighed a few engines but not a M42. The S14 and M20 both weigh 225kg's with gearbox, but obviously the s14 and m42 sit further back in the bay.