My M30 conversion

[walinsky]

The subject:
Literally a barnfind; had been stored for almost 20 years after the original (German) owner (born 1909) had passed away.

A 316 carburettor automatic. Absolutely rust-free; but had some dents and a broken windshield.

Although I felt like she needed to spend some time in quarantine; I decided to immediatly introduce her to her younger sibling.

A diamond black 2-door 325i M-tech 1, that couldn't resist pointing out her striking resemblance to the milkman.

Anyway

The story (part 1 - undercarriage):
Powerflex black bushings all around
21 and 14.5 mm stabilizer bars with new drop links
New control arms
Z3 rebuilt steering rack (2.7 turns lock-to-lock)
51mm front legs
ventilated front disk brake conversion(rebuilt calipers)
rear disk brake conversion (rebuilt calipers)
braided brake lines
60/60mm lowering with adjustable (shortened) koni shocks
rebuilt 2.93 lsd (40/40)

A few pics:






And just after she passed MOT - a good friend tried to find out what his 8J King rims would look like on her rear axle.

He's doing an engine transplant on a white pre-facelift e30 as well; and decided on the same shocks/springs.
(link-->)that's about it concerning similarities(<--link)

[gareth]

Very nice

[leeparkes]

Very nice

+1

What gearbox are you using with this? that 2.93 will be a long diff if your using the standard M30 overdrive box.

[walinsky]

The story (part 2 - engine):
Found a M30B35 and a 5 speed dogleg sports transmission.
The engine originates from a '91 E34 which had only run 79.000 km before it was lost in an accident. Engine has been stored since then. The E24 tranny has just been rebuilt.

Wired fuel pump over fusebox (carb has no fuel pump in the back)
Fitted new 255lph TRE fuel pump
All new fuel lines back and forth
Fitted round C101 to chassis loom (inc. rpm and econometer)
Fitted 3 pedal box
Battery in trunk retrofit (Odyssey PC680 dry cell battery)
M3 tranny crossmember
300mm.de engine mounts pos.3 / 75mm x 50mm poly bushes
Shortened driveshaft to 1395 mm
New water pump/thermostat/hoses
E28 Radiator
New clutch master and slave cylinder
M30 loom

I think this pic is obligatory


as well as this flic.
As always - in the middle of the night; dark; bad quality...


Todo to get her on the road again:
plumbing (heater core and expansion bottle)
fitting (and shortening) shifting arm and selector rod
battery bracket
exhaust

[gareth]

The gear linkages from a 325i work with the later M30 gearbox, i'm not sure if this is the case with the dogleg unit? Worth a look though

[walinsky]

The gear linkages from a 325i work with the later M30 gearbox, i'm not sure if this is the case with the dogleg unit? Worth a look though

I'm not really looking forward to fitting a gear linkage. There's absolutely no room up there. As the cylinder head sits so tight to the firewall, dropping the tranny cross member is almost to no use either.

Adding insult to injury, I happen to have one of these trannies where the gear linkage is fitted with two 160x8mm bolts - where I'm supposed to stretch over things to get a nut fixed to the other end of the bolt.
I test fitted an old plate style linkage, which I consider my last resort. I have no clue what car it's from - but the selector rod is near perfect length; this should give you a basic idea.

I really like the later style aluminum shifting arms. These were also fitted to M3's using a bow (nr 2 in the picture) for connecting things - which in it's turn happens to fit to my tranny.

So if I'm really lucky bmw produced a shifting arm that's this short; or I'll need to shorten one.
If anyone knows of an aluminum shifting arm this short; please get out your measuring tape and shout back!

[Rav335uk]

Never seen that before, is there no way to fit No7

[walinsky]

#7 will fit there with the plate

[walinsky]

Ok here goes.



The plate style shifting arm puts my gear stick 15cm (6") back from the back end of the tranny; which centers it near perfect in the hole in the tunnel. The shifting rod is also 15cm long, which is a tad short; it makes my gear stick hang backwards a bit.

Using a aluminium gear linkage would require me to use the M3 bow:

This adds just over 1.5cm to the length of the arm; so measured from the center of the shifting arm mounting point to the center of the 'tennis racket' where the gear stick sits should be something close to 16.5 cm.

Still with me?
That's about half the size of a M40 shifting arm:

[leeparkes]

By the looks of it your set up similar to this.



From here.

http://www.e30.de/335i/11.htm

[kewliost]

The shift rod being 15cm long looks like it could be from an e21 318i, i have one sitting here that is the exact length, also the m20/260 shift rod is like 3cm longer or so so probably around 18cm (didn't measure but i just sat them side by side)

[walinsky]

Ah found it... that should be a 5-speed box then on the E21 (either overdrive or sports box).
They share the same part with some E28s with 5-speed boxes:
http://bmwfans.info/parts/catalog/25111220538/
All with plate-style shifting arms though.
Funny thing is that length (L=151MM ) is specified on all these older models; but never on e30's.

I'm currently trying to have a (aluminum) shift linkage shortened to my specs; see how that works out...

[walinsky]

Worked out like this...



Pretty short ehh?

[walinsky]

Replaced all bearings and the rod joint with new ones; feels like new!

[jimbom30cab]

nice job

[walinsky]

It seemed appropriate to fit a sports interior that was typically used on early 6-cylinders.
I bought one from e30topless ages ago; I finally had it shipped a few weeks ago.
It needs some proper cleaning - but I'm already happy! Thanks e30topless!

[walinsky]

She drives!
And she drives pretty good as well!

Need to tidy things up a bit...

... but other than that; I'm a happy camper!

[Rav335uk]

Very nice.

What diff did you put on the rear?

[walinsky]

I had a 2.93 LSD rebuilt to 40/40 spec.


Seems like a perfect combo with the CR dogleg gearbox.
1st gear is pretty long; all others are indeed close ratio.
Old lady pulls like a train...

[Rav335uk]

Yea, diff is a tad long for the engine, ideally you want a 3.46 which will help you travel a bit quicker.

[walinsky]

On an overdrive box that would have been my first choice as well.
2.93 is perfect in combination with the close ratio sports box

[walinsky]

Fitted a 16" Spal fan

The fuse box has 2 spaces reserved for relays (aircon cars); so I ran 5 wires from there to the front of the car (1x power to the thermo switches, 2x return from thermo switches to the relays and the 2 wires (high- and low speed) from the relays feeding the fan. Ground can be found in the front of the car).



The (low speed) resistor sits nicely on one of the fan braces.

[gareth]

That's pretty much how mine is set up not, very OEM looking

[walinsky]

Currently hunting down an idle problem.

For some reason the car idles at little over 1000RPM - and doesn't respond to throttle (from idle) as I would expect.
I can't remember if it has always been this way - but I started noticing this behavior after I replaced spark plugs, wires and rotor and -cap.
It's not hunting (for good measure I did clean the ICV though) - so I would think it's a vacuum leak somewhere after the AFM.
I have already replaced the rubber boot from the AFM to the TB, the valve cover hose - and the vacuum line running from the intake manifold to there, the vacuum line from the intake mani to the FPR and capped the carbon canister pipe on the intake mani. Also checked if capping the pipe for brake servo would solve things.
I haven't checked on the hose to the ICV - but it looks ok.


Running out of clues now...

Btw. what's this; it's some threaded hole underside the intake manifold.

[Rav335uk]

Have you tried putting a black on that, maybe it's sucking or blowing out of it.?

[pianist]

Just add to this, once I fitted Sparplug wires (not original but guy in the shop asured me that they are good make lol) and after that my engine would run very poor and I could even smel petrol. After putting my old wires back on everything was as it should so I got them back and never getting any "good make" stuff anymore (lesson learnd)

[e30topless]

great to see you have finally fitted the interior, it only took us 2 years to get that sorted now where's the pics with those lovely wheels fitted ?

as for the idle issue... hows the TPS doing ?

[walinsky]

@pianist - I used OEM/Bosch parts

@e30topless
TPS clicks when closing throttle. Will measure resistance later.
Haven't got a pic with these wheels yet. Need to prepare rear wheel arches first to accept the wheels

Idle is steady as hell - only too high - so I'd think the ICV is doing it's job; and I should be hunting a vacuum problem, right?

[leeparkes]

Have you got a better pic of this/ dont recognise it.
where abouts under the manifold is it and where does the other end go?

[walinsky]

Pictures were taken with phone from under the intake manifold.
In this one you can see the vacuum hoses (just right of top center and bottom center) running.



BTW
jimboe39540i has a fs thread - the third picture there shows it a lot clearer
http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... 51#2521351

[walinsky]

Found out that the (threaded) hole is used for a supporting strut on earlier M30's.
I might even try copying that; as my aluminum strut will no longer fit with these engine mounts.

Had the car checked by authorities for having changed the engine/gearbox - and altering registration accordingly. Got nothing but compliments.

If anyone's in doubt swapping a M30 in a e30; do it!
(click)

Torque is just always available!

[walinsky]

Car was running on 5 cylinders before above movie was taken. The injector on cyl 6 didn't happen to be working. Prolly caused by the oil pressure sender (that sits just over it) that had been leaking oil on it for some time.
Replaced all injectors with refurbished 19 LB BMW fuel injectors as sold on ebay(.com). Exhaust gas measurement shows that the engine is running a tad rich; I hope the motronic will learn over time; especially after I have fitted the SS BTB exhaust which x-pipe will allow me to fit a lambda probe.



My first welding experience turned out better than I would have expected. I managed to create some supports for the e28 rad...


Still getting accustomed on the shift pattern on the dogleg box - time will tell if miss walinsky will ever get used to it.
At least the gear lever will show some hints...

[jimbom30cab]

Interesting to hear about the 19lb injectors. Good work

[walinsky]

measured 3.5% CO (where 4.something is allowed on these old cars here) running idle - which is still @1050 rpm btw.
My hypothesis is the high idle is caused by the absence of the lambda probe. (can anyone confirm disconnecting the lambda leads to a high idle?)
I hope both my idle will settle down to some 700 rpm and the motronic will learn to lean out the mixture after having fitted a lambda probe.
Will post back on that.

[walinsky]

Car passed MOT tests easily.

I fitted the BTB exhaust - and I'm loving it!



Finally allowed myself to fit a strut brace.


We had a rainy day here - which lead to fishtailing action through all gears.
The Z3 rack (2.7 turns lock to lock) makes a perfect combo with the smaller (370mm) M-tech1 steering wheel.

Loving it!