91 318is Brilliantrot - A lot to refresh - Restomod - M52 swap

[AllydNYC]

91 318is Brilliantrot - So much to refresh --> M52 swap

My goal for this build, other than wrenching experience, is to have a super reliable swapped E30 that I can drive on the weekends, enjoy the simplicity of it and eventually get into autox events. I want everything to keep either an OEM or OEM+ experience and feel.

I have always enjoyed build threads especially when there are a lot of pictures. Hopefully it's enjoyable. Maybe someone will catch a mistake happening and let me know. Everything I put on this car is either OEM or very well reviewed aftermarket stuff. This thread also acts as a picture journal for me, my friends and family. Almost everything here has been seen before and that's fine with me.

Back story:
About 7 years ago I started appreciating the style and idea of the E30 and the idea of owning one eventually popped into my mind. I just moved out of my parents’ house and was in college. I went to a local car meet and there was someone there that had an E30 there. I talked to him for a while and then when he went to move the car around the parking lot I asked if I could be a passenger. It was so silly, but I really just wanted sit in the car while it moved. There was something that was calling me. Side note - The E30 really helped develop a big appreciation for not just other older BMW designs but from other European manufactures as well.

I initially wanted the E30 to daily drive, I have an E90 that I baby and that has a lot of sentimental value that I never intended on daily driving. I eventually ended up commuting with a motorcycle and then being able to car pool which allowed me to take on an E30 that was a lot more of a project. I wanted it as more of a project since I’ve only done routine maintence on my motorcycle and I never turned a wrench on a car to do anything more than change out wheels or take off a bumper to change out headlights.
From 7 years ago to about 2 ½ years ago, June 2013, where I was finally able to purchase an E30, I moved across country, graduated college, found a good job and bought a house, left that job and then found a place I could have a career at. I finally got myself into a situation where I could buy one and work on it. I had a hard time finding one that didn’t have the E30 tax and was a plastic bumper year.

I finally found one. The owner was an E30 enthusiast and kept everything stock but the radio and speakers. He talked about what maintenance he did to the engine, which seemed decent. The car had 248k on it. The problem was everything WAS stock… Very little seemed to be replaced on the car in the last 100k or even in the car’s existence. I bought it for $2,400, at least $500 more than I should have but I was eager to own a plastic bumper E30, which are hard to find in AZ.

[AllydNYC]

I don't know why I have many pictures of this.

October 2013 - December 2013:

Like the majority of stuff on the car, the shocks were horrible, all the rubber suspension bits were beyond done. I got H&R Race springs and Bilstein shocks and used E90 drop hats on the front. Also replaced the tie rods, front strut mounts, rear shock mounts with upgraded ones, new spring pads, front sway bark links, control arms, control arm bushings, a new muffler and a muffler hanger to get that exhaust back on.







*Note the Iowa plate. I tried to get the car registered and it needed emissions. It failed them because of rust on the muffler which was just replaced. I've only put maybe 50 miles on the car at this point, The brakes are horrendous, the clutch slips bad and since I haven't driven it enough, I don't know what else is potentially wrong with it and I don't have confidence in it to drive it to emissions.

[AllydNYC]

So not much happens for 9 months. I go on a couple motorcycle trips so money in spent elsewhere.

A little over a year after purchasing it and about 150 miles on it my friend and I decide to take on the subframe and trailing arm bushings, along with refreshing the front and rear wheel bearings and a complete brake overhaul.

I knew it was going to be difficult and I was going to have to buy some expensive tools but I didn't expect it to be that huge of a job. I got into a great relationship and spent a lot of my weekends over her house so it too even longer than expected. The car spent 8 months on jack stands, there was problem after problem and I constantly had to buy tools. I had to buy an air compressor to used an air hammer since the aluminum sleeve broke off the original subframe bushings. The back half of the driveshaft also fell off when we were pulling the subframe off which means the exhaust and heat shields had to come down.


July 2014 (note the clean, stain free garage floor at the start of this project):





I can't find a picture of the rotors but here is a comparison of the new vs old brake pads, terrible:



Both old pads, uneven wear:





I purchased some Euro grills which unfortunately matched the fade and wear of all the other pieces:


I really disliked how it turned out, I never wanted to spray paint anything on any of my cars but this called for it. I got some SEM trim black spray paint that a lot of people recommend.





I was very happy with the way it came out. Decided to do the front trim as well. I deemed it too hard to remove the front trim and risk breaking stuff:



Done!!



Here's a before shot:



Got some parts in for bearings and brakes:



I did the front brakes. I got the UUC slotted rotors, rebuilt and clean calipers, stainless steel brake lines, bearings (which I was able to pull off by hand)



Painted the front dust shields:











Gave up on the subframe project for a little bit. Ended up refreshing a few little things.

After months of looking, I finally found a pair of Brilliantrot mirrors.

Here are the old ones:





New (to me) mirrors, don't have a picture of the drivers :




Switched out the front swaybar bushings:


Worked on removing the hand brake cables. Those were a bitch to get out





I like the details...

The car was missing the trim piece on the passenger side. I got a new one and got a clip as well. That clip was a bitch to get on:



Windshield wiper cover was broken:


Driver's side door lock thing was broken:


New one:


I replaced the hood shock which wasn't that bad with a new one. Of course using a good brand.


I also replaced the sunroof crank, the old one didn't have the black piece at the end of it. Made it annoying to turn it. It also would get really hot would burn my hand, because Arizona, since the black piece was missing.



The passenger headlight cover was missing its plastic fasteners:



Found the exact sticker I've been wanting for so long. Was very happy I could find it in color.



Replaced the broken plastic screw for the tool kit. Here it is broken:


I got new trim clips for the trim that was hanging off:



I finally after months of wrestling with it, the god damn subframe came off:
[IMG][/IMG]


The back half of the drive shaft decided to come off with it. Great, I have such limited exposure to working on cars:



One of the aluminum sleeves to the subframe bushings decided not to come off with the subframe:


Here's the driver's side hole that came out clean for comparison:


At some point I threw in a rear UUC sway bar but I don't have a picture of it installed so here's this:

[AllydNYC]

Reserved 3

So here's where things become rushed. It's January 2015, I decide to put my house up for sale. Among a few other reasons I want a lot more garage space and overall, a better garage. My realtor and I agree on a listing date but I let her know that I have a project car in the garage that cannot be moved. It has the subframe, exhaust and driveshaft off of it. It's going to take some time to put together especially with me experiencing all this car wrenching for the first time.

Anyway, the idiot decides to list the house early. People come to look at the house the same day and it's sold. I now have 1 month to do all this work and pack and everything else involved with selling a house. Plus I wasn't totally prepared for that challenge so the car can at minimum get towed, but I really don't have the money for that. Moving costs money and the bullshit inspector I had that found a handful these little bullshit problems with a 5 year old house cost me more.

Luckily, I had the subframe recently returned to be with all new bushings pressed in, rear bearings put in and new hard brake lines:
[B]

I don't know why the new half shafts I ordered had different caps on them. I had to swap the new half shaft caps with the old ones.


Decided to put a new guibo in. At this point I thought I could get some good use of the car before the engine had it.


Subframe going in!!!! I didn't think this moment was going to happen.


Holy shit was the handbrake shoes annoying. I only go one side on which as for 3/11/16, still don't work. I don't get it.

IMG]http://i.imgur.com/w1rOC6K.jpg[/IMG]

New rear UUC slotted rotors:


I spent 5 hours a night working on this car for at least a week trying to get this car back togethr with working full time and having to deal with selling a house, and moving. My good friend helped so much, he's been a huge help with the whole subframe project.

I'm finally on the last caliper, on the last thing I have to screw in besides wheel bolts and I totally fuck up the bleeder screw. I spent a good 30 minutes trying to remove it. Nothing worked, not even vice grips. There wasn't enough to grab on to.




1 1/2 weeks later I get a new caliper and get things bolted up. I had about a week to move out. I was finally able to drive it!







I had to spend $250 on a new cat as the other one was rusted through and get the exhaust welded to the headers since I didn't purchase the right hardware for it.

I finally got it to emissions, that's the furthest it's been away from home since purchasing it. It passed! Finally, after 2 years it got registered!!! I was nervous since it was an out of state title.








The car spend the next 7 month interim between places in a garage and nothing was done to it.

[ST1G]

Reserved 4

[AllydNYC]

Reserved 4

Thanks for looking out man, almost forgot that one. :rofl:

[iwantspeed]

nice work so far
how do you like those speed bleeders

[AllydNYC]

nice work so far
how do you like those speed bleeders

Thanks man! I got some more to write about to get to present time.

Good eye, the speed bleeders worked great. Well worth the investment.

[AllydNYC]

At the beginning of October 2015 I finished the detailing job that I started a year ago. I didn't have much time to do the detail and I just did a rush job on the trunk and rear bumper/fenders. It came out decent.

Here's the trunk before, this is what most of the paint looked like before I detailed it a year ago:



Taped things off. You can see the rear quarter panel needs work as well:


One more shot. The paint is a hazy, scratched up, pink, mess.



After Meguiar's Ultra-Cut Compound (105) and a good cutting pad:


After clay, polish and wax:


In different lighting you can see that some scratches remained:

[AllydNYC]

To finally get into this year:

About 2 months ago after lots of waiting and little E30 driving I found an M52 online with 74k miles on it. Which I then quickly purchased:









I got all accessories and the A/C lines with the engine. I'm going to wait until after the swap is complete to add A/C.

Oh, in April 2015 I purchased a 120k ZF320, which you're able to see in the picture above, off of this thing. Even though I plan on refreshing some stuff on it, I hope it's ok after coming out of a car like this:

[AllydNYC]

About a month ago I started disassembling the engine. Although my original plan was to remove the head, replace the head gasket, doing a timing chain refresh and cleaning the valves, this engine at 74k doesn't need that right now. I don't want to get myself into the engine too much and not be able to get it back together. I've only done an oil change on a car engine at this point. All the parts I'm using are going to be OEM or highly reviewed aftermarket stuff, like a Stewart Water Pump.

Engine refresh list:
Spark Plugs
Valve cover gaskets
Stewart Water Pump
80c BMW Thermostat
Thermostat O-Ring
Thermostat Housing (With new bolts to clean things up) - Plastic>aluminum based on what I've been reading. It will just need to be replaced which wouldn't be a big deal during a coolant flush

ECS Water Pump Pulley (With new bolts to clean things up)
Oil Filter Housing Gasket
Rear Main Seal
Pilot Bearing
VANOS Oil Hose
*I might be missing something from this

Here's part of the $950 order. Not show is the detent pins for the transmission nor the other refresh bits for it.



Assessing the engine:

It's dirty. There's mud and dirt all over it. Rubber bits are still good, though I do plan on replacing them. By the look of the belt and other components it could have 74k on it but still, that's really low mileage and it's hard for me to believe I picked up an engine with that low of mileage.

[AllydNYC]

Then I took some stuff off the engine:





Coolant poured out when the waterpump came out, so I mopped. I love a clean garage. Yup, I'm posting a picture of the mop.

[AllydNYC]

My original wheel choice was TRM C1, 15x8 but a lot of people had them. I've always liked the look of a square Azev Type A setup without the center caps but they are super hard to find in the correct bolt pattern and not in staggered.

However, I did what I told myself not do to, I searched the for sale section for Type A's and I found the exact size I've been looking for. I plan to refinish these and put on some really sticky tires once the swap is complete.

My goal was to get this car ready for Bimmerfest 2016 and it's been that way for almost a year. But I knew along with purchasing the rims I would lose any chance of going to Bimmerfest this year in this car, Bummerfest, hue.
Additionally the job would be rushed, so now I can get this in really good shape for next year. I'm extremely excited to enjoy this car in LA.

[iXguido]

love those wheels

[jeenyus]

nice. that's gonna be fun.