It is my first thread so it may be a bit rough around the edges..
Right, I've started my project of engine swapping my 316i laguna green touring. I've gotten well stuck in with it and I want to document it somehow for reference.
So, the story goes:
September 2014, age 18, I bought this:
Yes, it was bought because of the numberplate..
With a good poke I soon started to find rust, but hey ho, old cars and that:
So a couple years go by, I started buying new interior bits and body panels to replace my beaten up ones:
Then July 2016 I got the car resprayed:
Everything was going well and then one morning December 2016 I didn't see a speed bump..
I tried to fix it however the upper sump was cracked pretty badly too and I didn't really want to spend money on an engine that I really wanted to later upgrade.
So I took it off the road whilst I decided what the future held for her, then this happened:
I've always been a big fan of the m30's, I was hoping to get a donor car but they were getting so expensive.
With this I was able to start work on my car. First thing, get that little 4 pot out so I spend a couple nights removing what I can:
With the help of 3 other mates we was able to pull the engine out with no engine crane:
Then, due to storage issues, I had to get the engine up to my very handy friend Ant's (dirtee-herbert) place where he could hold it for me whilst I sort my place out.
So the strip down begun, unfortunately the engine was in worse condition than hoped, many blocked coolant ports, a few creamy head bolts and some internal rusting. My plan was to give the engine a quick once over and get her in, but for reliability sake and with the help of Ant I decided to go with a full strip down:
[/url]His project kind of got me started with the whole thing, the amount of attention to detail that has been added is insane:
Due to him living about 3 hours away, it is not so easy for me to get up there so for now I have started work on the car, I am wanting to get as clean of an engine bay as possible, this will mean relocating battery, washer bottle, fuse box and removing abs.
So the challenge of removing every single plug from the car began, got the engine bay clear and I'm currently on the interior:
After removing the front carpet, I found something I did not want to see, a couple years ago when I got my car mot'd, it failed on front jacking points, being a novice I let them do it for ï¿a100 just so I could carry on driving. Turns out, it wasn't the best job, they literally just welded a plate over the rust holes.
Due to me being an young apprentice and living on my own, the financial side of things are going to be the reason why this will take so long. So far, I'm happy to keep picking away at anything I can do that is free/cheap whilst I save up for engine parts etc.
I do have future plans, for the engine; preparing it to a standard where it can be turbo'd in the future, but making the engine much more how I want it to be i.e. make a custom plenum:
Let's see what the future holds.
If anyone wants some more e30 stuff: http://www.instagram.com/_le96
) at the moment and nice weather usually means i'm out on my bike. However I finally got a free weekend and weather was perfect for more stripping!
