325i Touring restoration "the wrong way around"

[old_skool]

So are you going with S54? as your first post says different?

I don't know what I'm bloody doing! Trouble is am am learning more and more all the time so my options keep changing. I like the E46 power but when I had my last M3 I went for the SMG because I found the clutch in the manual too much effort

I have spent a lot of time on the zone just reading and gauging opinions as I go through it all. I'm certainly not deterred by the level of work involved.

Is what I really need is another one of these:




Is it possible to supercharge the S54?

I need to keep my options open, maybe I could go turbine power

[maxfield]

Yes please

http://www.activeautowerke.com/supercha ... 3/main.php

[old_skool]

http://www.activeautowerke.com/supercha ... 3/main.php

Oh so very yes

[maxfield]

Or turbo S54

[noney82]

wow how much time you put into this project so far

[gcorky]

how much was the diff cover etc???been lookin at this.

[old_skool]

what grit aliminium oxide grit did you use mate. ive just got a compresor to sandblast. 8 hours for the diff seems a little long though, couldnt you of used a corser grit?

60 Grit Be prepared, it's a long job - use a big compressor

[old_skool]

Time spent so far is 90 hours, not too bad

Rear diff cover is Ԛ£148 inc VAT.

[old_skool]

Calipers take around an hour a piece but take my tip 0 spray WD on first and let it soak in. Before you blast them clean it off. It will make the process easier.

That compressor is 14 CFM, whilst it's got a 150 litre receiver it will run out of puff in around 4 minutes. Mine is a 14 cfm and I reckon two of them would be ok.

In order to get the best from the blasting you will need to run unregulated at 10bar

Even with the 14 cfm you can get good results, it just takes a bit longer though

[old_skool]

Yep, let her rip!

[maxfield]

Gaz ill be your labourer for the day if you pay well

[Gravy]

How is the refurb going on this, I think this is a well interesting thread!

[old_skool]

Not been able to spend as much time on it as I wanted and getting held up for bits and pieces is slowing me down. Not that there is any rush - it's just a little frustrating. I sat down in the workshop earlier just staring at it all in pieces thinking about how much there is to do.

The way things are looking I'm going to be stripping it down to the bare shell and starting pretty much from scratch so the last thing I want to do is to refit what I have rebuilt on the rear end.

So today I started rebuilding the rear subframe and adding the trailing arms and powerflex bushes. When all this is back together with the diff etc. I can shelve it and move on to removing the fuel tank, fuel pipes, all brake lines etc. moving on to dropping the front running gear and engine and gearbox.

Then the shell will be moved on to a dolly, stripped, cleaned and sandblasted back to bare metal and resprayed.

For simplicity I'm thinking of going down the S50 route. It seems to be a well followed method here on the zone, so plenty of expert help is on hand. I have owned the S50 3.2 in my '98 cab and also had an E46 S54, Whilst I'd like to do the S54, the S50 is by far the most cost effective. This also means that I can get an E36 M3 and drive it for a while whilst the touring shell is being refurbed. I think it will make sense to have the whole M3 so I dont have to mess with finding things like EWS, steering racks, fuel pump etc etc etc.

Next Sunday I plan to spend the whole day on the touring so I'll post some pics up then. Thanks for the support!

Happy days

[Andy335Touring]

Cool, the one bonus of crimbo is you should get some more free time to work on the car

[WillG]

agree on the s50 its a good choice, if you need a hand with anything PM me, i cant recieve emails sent from the zone, start working back up at ashchurch tommorow, 1/2 mile from where im building mine

[old_skool]

HO HO HO, nearly Christmas. By the way this is going I will be saying this again for 2007 and 2008 before this job is finished! This project is turning into the sponge for all my spare time. I spent all day today reassembling stuff that I have refurbed.

Results as follows : ( I know you love pictures )












Well, one more step closer

[Andy335Touring]

Cool !

MMmm, seeing that new exhaust hanger reminds me i had to drill the sheared bolt out of the subframe not long ago, thank god for my tap and dye set !

[maxfield]

What about F/I S50

Looking a great project dude keep it up

[old_skool]

As luck should have it I managed to spend the whole day and the car and pushed on with my dasterdley plan

Locked the petrol disc cutter away just in case and had a go at delicately getting the engine and gearbox out:



Whoo hoo! Wasn't as bad a job as I initially thought. Labelled all the wiring, removed the bumper and inner wing plastics, radiator blah blah... Whole job took me 10 hours from start to finish. I wimped out and took the gearbox out instead of raising the whole lot but still, not too bad.

Got plans for the 2,5, thinking about dropping it into a 2002 when I've finished this one in about 2012...

Next weekend:

Big clean up, follwed by palletise and store engine and box, remove fuel tank, all fuel lines, brake pipes, ABS, most of front loom, remove front panel, then remove interior. Not looking forward to removing the interior. Srikes me as a boring job so if there's any volunteers???

Then, drop front subframe and suspension, arb etc. and strip it all for refinishing same as the rear subframe and trailing arms.

Hopefully by CHristmas I can have the bare shell mounted to a dolly and get it ready to ship out for sandblasting.

Then the fun begins

Still no joy finding a suitable S50 yet but to be honest I haven't been looking that hard. Maybe when the shell goes off to be pampered I can take a deep breath and try to find one. Hopefully in the new year there might be a bargain to be had.

[john325tewerin]

Look at that!
A worktop jig hanging on the wall! Could have done with one those last week

[Andy335Touring]

Nice one dude, keep the posts/pictures comming

[WillG]

can help you have interior out one day if you like, done a touring one quite recently and it might help me when it comes to getting mine back in after christmas

[old_skool]

can help you have interior out one day if you like, done a touring one quite recently and it might help me when it comes to getting mine back in after christmas

Cheers WillG, I'll drop you a PM later. Any help would be appreciated, perhaps we can exchange ideas too?

What about F/I S50

Could be an option, I know nothing about it......yet, need to start making general enquiries to iron out as many issues as I can before I go too far into the rebuild to hopefully avoid as many pitfalls as I can. Going to be harrassing the S50 guys, Buster, Ian332isport (sorry if I have left anyone out!) etc soon to start collecting information as soon as!

I really need a shopping list

[WillG]

your looking at about 4k to turbo a S50, manifold, custom pistons, turbo, good ECU etc, would definatly get it in there driving N/A first myself

[old_skool]

would definatly get it in there driving N/A first myself

OK, having understood that, is there anything that would need to allowed for (that you can think of) that would need to be incorporated at the design stage. I.e. before the engine is fitted and the chassis painted.

For instance would it be beneficial to modify the engine bay for FI purpose, or carry out engine mods, other than listed above??

Big question

[gareth]

Cool !

MMmm, seeing that new exhaust hanger reminds me i had to drill the sheared bolt out of the subframe not long ago, thank god for my tap and dye set !

i had that too when fitting the M3 exhaust, couldn't get it out so i welded a handy tapped steel block to the subframe!

[Dan318-is]

i think this is the right way round to do a project. once found, no-one really wants a decent engine sat around for weeks or even months unused - so best to fit it last. it leads to a few nervous moments when dropping it in a clean and painted engine bay - i know from experience.

paul

Culdnt agree more. We want more pics!

[WillG]

well intercooler will need sorting before paint really if its got to be really tidy but it depends on what size intercoler you will use but metal valance will need to be chopped and changed so its like the M3 little strip if its a big one and you might need to weld on brackets or atleast drill holes for brackets before its painted, if your goning to go for crazy power in the end you might need to think about fitting a M5 diff but this could be done after as its not going to effect the paint that you can see, appart from that all you might want to do is beat back the drivers side inner wing and plate it in ally because the turbo is tight fit on s50 in e30 angine bay, and also beat back where the downpiep will need to run and also any spots where bulk head needs beating for the S50 swap if there is any

[old_skool]

well intercooler will need sorting before paint really if its got to be really tidy but it depends on what size intercoler you will use but metal valance will need to be chopped and changed so its like the M3 little strip if its a big one and you might need to weld on brackets or atleast drill holes for brackets before its painted if your gona go for crazy power in the end you might need to think about fitting a M5 diff but this could be done after as its not going to effect the paint that you can see, appart from that all you might want to do is beat back the drivers side inner wing and plate it in ally because the turbo is tight fit on s50 in e30 angine bay, and also beat back where the downpiep will need to run and also any spots where bulk head needs beating for the S50 swap if there is any

Will, we must talk more.......

[WillG]

http://www.limmet.se/ have a look through the galleries here

[WillG]

topic seems to be bugged edit: that fixed it, it had 5th page when there was only 4 pages and it said that no posts exist or someting