Just another e30 resto and eventual 5.0 swap.

[MrBurgundy]

What's the point of being a dick?


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I can't tell if that was a good pun or you're being serious.


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[eastcoastcory]

I see, great way to learn!

Anyways, good luck with the plans and welcome to r3v!


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Yeah thanks man! I try to get "decent project cars" so I can do majority of the work myself so I can learn. However due to time and deadlines I'll be getting my motor built by a friend and possibly installed by him as well depending on the situation.


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[MrBurgundy]

Yeah thanks man! I try to get "decent project cars" so I can do majority of the work myself so I can learn. However due to time and deadlines I'll be getting my motor built by a friend and possibly installed by him as well depending on the situation.


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What's wrong with the motor?


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[eastcoastcory]

What's wrong with the motor?


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The 5.0 is just getting a refresh and he's talking me into a couple upgrades since I'd like to achieve around 300whp. I just don't have the time or the environment to do it myself. Damn apartment complexes already bust my balls about having 3 cars. [emoji849]


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[Shock(/\)ave]

Okay so I have been looking for e30s for the past 3-4 years and everytime I seem to have found the perfect one, something always happens in my life where I either cant afford it, don't have enough time for the car, nowhere to put it, etc.. I've had to miss out on 4 different e30s and when I finally found this one, it was almost destiny that it would fall into my lap at the perfect moment in time.

It's a great feeling when things just work out after looking for something for so long. :)

SO! I went to look at this car in the dark the night after I messaged the guy from craigslist, the car looked decent enough and the price point was perfect so I knew I had to have it. Come to find out, its a one owner car, and has just been sitting for the past 10 years only because the guy was tired of replacing driver side windows for whatever reason. The owner and his buddy that was selling the car for him were both very great guys and fellow bmw enthusiasts as well so it had to be fate for me to have this car.

Never buy a car at night if you can help it unless it's REALLY cheap. ;)

It has to be said that any proper enthusiast would most certainly have not left their car outside, especially missing a window and for a decade, without at least making an attempt to keep it covered somehow.

I was assured that the car just needs fresh fluids, gas and a battery of course since she'd been sitting for the past 10 years with no love.

Any car that's been sitting in a field for a decade with the cabin open to the elements is going to need a LOT more work then that... but I'm happy to be proven wrong. ;)

I finally got the car I have always wanted and now its time to make somethings happen

Awesome, and congratulations. :D Once you have the car, you can start working at it as time and money allow until you get it where you want it. I bought my E30 as a long term project 6 years ago, and haven't even been able to start working on it until this year.

Wow. I now know three things about you: you're an optimist, you're on a budget, and you either have tungsten balls or incredible talent.

I just read that you were waiting for 3 years to find the perfect e30 and you got this!?

I honestly thought the same thing. This was a car in our local junkyard that got crushed by a fallen tree branch and had been infested with rodents:





The interior in it smelled bad when you stood outside the car with the doors closed and no breeze, but it looks more manageable than yours. The body on it actually looks better than yours, too, but it was much worse than it looks and was full of terminal structural rust in the floors. Definitely could have been saved and restored had it not been parked under a tree, but it's crushed now.

Yeah thanks man! I try to get "decent project cars" so I can do majority of the work myself so I can learn. However due to time and deadlines I'll be getting my motor built by a friend and possibly installed by him as well depending on the situation.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this car turned around, especially if you're working on a tight deadline. You're a madman to tackle this car with the clock ticking. ;D

[Shock(/\)ave]

Some thoughts for you on what to tackle next:

I'm sure you've thought of this, but you need excellent ventilation and / or a proper respirator when working in that interior or you could get very sick from breathing in mould spores.

Pull out that carpet and get a look at the floor to determine the extent of the rust it has.

As I said in another thread about a similar project, as rain water has been freely pouring onto and around the dash, the dash and everything behind it needs to come out, and the entire wiring harness either replaced with a known good one or carefully gone through to check for problems created by moisture. I'd also give all of the ducting a very thorough cleaning so you don't end up sick from the mould spores which have likely infested them. A hydrogen peroxide soak will kill just about anything harmful in your ducts.

Check your fuel hoses and fuel rail for damage to avoid an engine fire when you start the car.

Pull every fuse from your fuse box, check their condition, and plug them back in to avoid electrical gremlins from that area. Check your engine ground as well.

Don't try to start that motor without changing the oil. You should also check the air filter, as rodents love to make nests in air boxes. With fresh oil in the motor, pull the fuse for the fuel pump and crank the engine over to build up oil pressure before you actually attempt to start it. Replace the fuse and start the car.

Here's hoping that helps get you started! :)

[ahrensNW]

What's the point of being a dick?


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Lol don't be a waffleswaffleswaffleswaffles

[eastcoastcory]

Alright so it's been a stagnant few weeks so I figure I'll update this on my day off and hopefully you guys will be able to lend me a hand. Current situation is that my apartment complex desperately tried to kick my e30 out and I didn't want to waste time and money getting my m20 running. So, I had my buddy pick it up and were deciding to just go right into the engine swap. I've been just pricing everything out based on estimates and things I've found online. My current battle is which suspension and brake set up I would like to use which will also influence my wheel set up as well.

My options are split between keeping the 4 lug, getting a moderate brake kit, being happy running 16" wheels and if not then just get the 4 to 5 lug adapter plate

OR

convert to a e36/46 suspension entirely, get 5 lug wheel possibilities and more sizes, bigger brakes.

Ultimately it seems like it would be the cheaper option to just swap over to the newer model suspension, and better in the long run because eventually more power means bigger brakes so I might need to switch to a newer model suspension set up anyways.

HOWEVER, there is a 3rd option I've found which I could run a two caliper set up on my 4 lug wheel set up which could prove more than efficient. And if I ended up doing drifting or something of that nature I could just run a hydraulic hand brake to one of the dual calipers in the rear. I think this would be a happy medium cost option but would ultimately suffer if I was just driving the car around the street.

I've also decided to just get a stock clutch set up for now which I'll just upgrade later. No reason to pay $800+ for a 500+ hp set up that I don't even have yet. As opposed to $150-200 for a 300hp oem set up kit. Also looking into making my own hydraulic conversion clutch kit because cable sucks. Pricing for that is in the picture minus the cost of a bracket i need. Really don't wanna pay $600 plus to convert [emoji848]

I think that's about it for now. Here's a picture of my current grocery list and costs for what I need to get this girl going. Still don't know what I'm doing for suspension yet which is another thing dependent on the lug/brake set up. I'd love to have a beige interior but I may or not not just run some good front seats with a stripped and painted interior.

Idk how much m20 swaps are worth. This e30 has like 200k on it though so I'm assuming not much especially since it's an i version. It'll be for sale soon if anybody wants it.

Thanks in advance guys. !

(Enjoy the picture of my 10 years of sitting suspension rust [emoji28][emoji23])




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[Elysian]

Go 5 lug IMO. You and I are doing basically the same build, I want to have options for bigger wheels, so I'm definitely going 5 lugs. Doesn't help that the 4 lug wheels on mine look like garbage.

My e30v8 kit arrives today :D

[eastcoastcory]

Go 5 lug IMO. You and I are doing basically the same build, I want to have options for bigger wheels, so I'm definitely going 5 lugs. Doesn't help that the 4 lug wheels on mine look like garbage.

My e30v8 kit arrives today :D

Let me know how the fitment is on the mounts because I heard both good and bad things about them. I don't really care much for bigger wheels as I'm not going to be stancing the car. I more or less care about the brakes. Are you using all e36 m3 parts or a mixture of both. Also I'm gonna try to find your build thread if you have one so I can follow along with yours as well. [emoji51]


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[Elysian]

Let me know how the fitment is on the mounts because I heard both good and bad things about them. I don't really care much for bigger wheels as I'm not going to be stancing the car. I more or less care about the brakes. Are you using all e36 m3 parts or a mixture of both. Also I'm gonna try to find your build thread if you have one so I can follow along with yours as well. [emoji51]


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My build thread is 5 years old and in the 24v section, and basically never really started, I only recently decided to go V8

I'm not sure what I'm doing on the rear, my thought is go Z3 rear arms. On the front I'd like to go all E36 M3. I have 2 M3 left knuckles already, but still need the other side. I'm still not certain on which wheels I'll run. I have a set of gold BBS 15" basketweaves, or a set of 17" style 5's to choose from. I also have some 5 spoke X5 wheels.

[eastcoastcory]

My build thread is 5 years old and in the 24v section, and basically never really started, I only recently decided to go V8

I'm not sure what I'm doing on the rear, my thought is go Z3 rear arms. On the front I'd like to go all E36 M3. I have 2 M3 left knuckles already, but still need the other side. I'm still not certain on which wheels I'll run. I have a set of gold BBS 15" basketweaves, or a set of 17" style 5's to choose from. I also have some 5 spoke X5 wheels.

We'll definitely let me know. :) I might do the whole rear frongaragistic because why not. I'm really a fan of these wheels



I really don't want a crazy wheel set up. Just want something that looks clean and has good fitment.


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[Elysian]

Got my mounts yesterday. Quality seems decent, welds look alright, no idea on fitment. I'm going to wind up getting them powdercoated, they ship them raw. I also got their instructions/info discs, wish they had a USB option, but thankfully I still have a PC with a optical disc drive. They shipped the mounts the same day I ordered, and even responded to an email immediately. Wound up putting the E30V8 Motorsports sticker on my pickup :D

[eastcoastcory]

Got my mounts yesterday. Quality seems decent, welds look alright, no idea on fitment. I'm going to wind up getting them powdercoated, they ship them raw. I also got their instructions/info discs, wish they had a USB option, but thankfully I still have a PC with a optical disc drive. They shipped the mounts the same day I ordered, and even responded to an email immediately. Wound up putting the E30V8 Motorsports sticker on my pickup :D

Nice. Yeah man. Let me know how fitment it. :) did you order their oil pan as well or are you going to do it yourself.?


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[Reyhan335]

make sure to check all the rust spots man. Just because you don't want to get so deep into it and decide hey I should have gotten a better car with less rust. other than that it looks like you got your head on straight with getting the swab done. I'm definitely following it.


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