Hello r3vers! I have already introduced myself some long ago in the forum,I'm Antton,from the basque country,in the very north of spain,so north that is france lol so I apologize for my next english mistakes during the thread 
I'll try to post in miles and dollars you can understand a little better
I'm 21 now and started studying Electronic Engineering last september,after being studying 2 years in Barcelona(450 miles away from here) and have been pretty busy studying and working to pay them.
First of all,let you know that I was a JDM fan before,(well,still being,but in a different way) and my first car was a Honda Civic Eg4 I bought when I was still 17(here you need to be 18 to get your license)
It was a blast to drive in winding roads but with only 90hp there was not much to do,so I broke the engine after 5 months of hard use.
I got the engine replaced and spent quiiiiite a lot of money at the mechanic as I had completely no idea of what I was doing at that moment.
Past summer '11 I decided to go to barcelona for some serious studying so I knew that car stories would be stopped for at least 2 years...how wrong I was...
After some months with it and a lot of problems,i sold it for 2000$ on january '12
As a petrolhead I spent a whole month looking which car to buy,and I didn't like bimmers so much,so I decided to buy one trying not to spend all my money on it because due to this reason,not to spend all my money on it with aftermarket parts.
Later I found a mint condition,no rust 318is that was driven by a friends girlfriend.
160k miles,needs a respray as it is almost pink because of the sun,completely stock except a sparco steering wheel,don silencioso catback and some 15x7" borbet A et35.
I left it in a friends quarry for some months while he looked for it and started working on it.
After some miles on it while I came on holidays back home and so I clearly needed some more power and an lsd as well as drifting meets on the mountain roads were absolute crap while the inner wheel was trying to get some traction.
On April '12 I bought a rebuilt small case 25% (2 clutch) LSD and installed a btoks drifting chip
(just check how this guy drifts the little m42 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vly2JaNZPLo)
Installing the LSD
That was May'12 and I had to come back to Barcelona for some exams and keep working.
When I came back home for '12 summer on July the car looked like this
with some friends
I spent the summer with friends and girlfriend,not much car thinking,at least until August,when this guy,Btoks,told me if I would like to join his drift team for his drift car maintenance during the events,and after two events in August that made me a total freak into drifting.
Just a month later,a week before going back to Barcelona I decided to join a drift trackday among other friends,where after 15 laps my little m42 broke down :(
sorry for the poor video quality,was recorded with a shitty cellphone
I was so upset with the car as I only made 1000 miles on it during almost 9 months, so back in Barcelona and with the help of Btoks in the research for pieces and so on I decided to go for a M50 swap,an euro s50 is way too expensive and such a difficult swap for my mechanical experience on '12
In october '12 the swap started, while I was in barcelona I was trying to save as many money I could for the parts needed and getting some info about how to swap (when I discovered r3v :D )
For the next 3-4 months I traveled quite a lot from Barcelona-home and back almost every weekend or at least once a month to get the swap going.
Remember that I had no mechanical knowledge at all,so I was discovering how my car worked every time I removed something :p
With some friends help and dedication we got the swap nearly finished by January '13
As I had time and didn't need the car in Barcelona,I decided to get things well done and changed my old small case LSD for a medium case 60% LSD(4 clutches) with 4,10 ratio
I also changed the is interior for sports leather black seats that Btoks gave me as reward for my hard work :nice:
The swap list is:
-M50 Vanos
-G240 gearbox
-M20 clutch and flywheel
-E28 mounts (slightly raised with some washers for no booster clearance issues)
-Supersprint headers
-Custom built exhaust with m50 cats (due to legal restrictions) and m3 e30 rear silencer --> Planning on building a 3" single exhaust soon
-ECU reflash for 98 octane
-324td radiator and fan clutch
When March arrived I was involved in some legal paperwork to make the car road legal for spanish road law,due to engine swap
After paying and many phone calls I got my car road legal so I could get a ride on it for the first time since september the 22nd of March '13 :D
My girlfriend enjoyed too the return of the e30 ;)
The swap looked like was pretty reliable so I decided to take the car and bringing it to Barcelona after Easter holidays,not before changing my wheels and getting a set of ETA BETA 15x7" et 13 wheels wrapped on 195/50 falkens.
I was riding stock suspension yet so I borrowed Btoks some Koni adjustable shocks that I mounted on stock springs
So I went to Barcelona on a such frightening road trip(all my bushings were worn out,and completely no money to replace them) so I spent next months just cruising around and checking that the swap was completely reliable.
When 2nd finished the 21st of July, I had to leave the studies at Barcelona due to my parents divorce and economical issues at home... :???:
So I worked during summer and decided to start electronic engineering as I said before here in San Sebastian (15 miles from home) that meant I could ride my e30 every day ;)
When I came back from Barcelona in July my tires were already worn out so i decided to make a move and changed to 16",and the car sat like this on firsts of August
They're 16x7.5" +24 front and 16x9" +13 at the back on 195/45 and 205/50.
Days later I started changing my worn out bushings,these ones were the first,I noticed a huge handling improval after getting these mounted.
Just the day before starting university doing some street drifts with a mate I got out of the road as it was pretty wet and slidy, and I broke one of the rims and bended the control arm
luckily a friend came by and helped me solving the problem in something less than an hour so I rode the 15's while I got the damaged rim repaired :mrgreen:
That was all for that summer,until my birthday on september 16th,that my friends payed me a trackday as birthday present so I could test my new car power at the track ;)
The car felt so strong in comparison with the old m42, it drifts 3rd gear easily on wet,even gear changes during drifts are possible if doing them well (just remember that I am a complete noob at drifting,at least I was during this trackday ;) )
Besides the great handling of the car,it felt so bumpy on the rear,so I knew I had to improve on suspension as well I want to go lower than stock,obviously.
On october '13 no many changes were made to the car,except I managed to install a VW golf Gti lip,adapted and home sprayed
On november 10th I went for some track action again
From here I started just Daily Driving the car,just going to university and back,as I spent all the money I got from the summer work and studying for december exams.
After december exams,on January '14 I tracked again and there are some videos this time ;)
This time my Guibo broke down after 2h at the track so I had to leave the car there in a friend's garage to pick it up next day
Completely used and abused lol
So I kept some days changing the guibo and checking that everything was still on its place
Meanwhile no time was wasted and a package arrived home :)
I also ordered a brand new leather deep dish OMP steering wheel
Later on I traded my old small case LSD for a home made BBK with renault scenic 300mm rotors and mercedes 4pot calipers,but after 3 months I am finally selling these in order to buy 2 silencers and steel pipe for getting a new exhaust done
This is the BBK:
I installed the D2 coilovers 2 months ago or so,I'm sorry I didn't take any picture of the welded spindles :(
It still sits quite high due to the mountain road conditions in the nearbies and because the cats are sooo low so I need a new exhaust system and a skid plate to get it lower.
Some random pictures of last month:
After those pictures,2 or 3 days later,my clutch died so I had to get it replaced,and as my budget is so little I had to do it myself,and doing it alone and without elevator it is not funny at all.
Engine bay selfie!
I took advantage of the situation and also installed a short shifter,so the car right now looks like this:
Hope you have enjoyed the progression of my car as much as I have during these 2 years!
For future plans I'm thinking in building a high compression 2.8 m50 stroker with W.A.R. chip and installing some bucket seats
Let me know your opinions! I will keep updating as soon as I keep evolving the car and myself in this world!
thanks to all of you for the incredible support! such amazing community!
Cheers!!
I'll try to post in miles and dollars you can understand a little better
I'm 21 now and started studying Electronic Engineering last september,after being studying 2 years in Barcelona(450 miles away from here) and have been pretty busy studying and working to pay them.
First of all,let you know that I was a JDM fan before,(well,still being,but in a different way) and my first car was a Honda Civic Eg4 I bought when I was still 17(here you need to be 18 to get your license)
It was a blast to drive in winding roads but with only 90hp there was not much to do,so I broke the engine after 5 months of hard use.
I got the engine replaced and spent quiiiiite a lot of money at the mechanic as I had completely no idea of what I was doing at that moment.
Past summer '11 I decided to go to barcelona for some serious studying so I knew that car stories would be stopped for at least 2 years...how wrong I was...
After some months with it and a lot of problems,i sold it for 2000$ on january '12
As a petrolhead I spent a whole month looking which car to buy,and I didn't like bimmers so much,so I decided to buy one trying not to spend all my money on it because due to this reason,not to spend all my money on it with aftermarket parts.
Later I found a mint condition,no rust 318is that was driven by a friends girlfriend.
160k miles,needs a respray as it is almost pink because of the sun,completely stock except a sparco steering wheel,don silencioso catback and some 15x7" borbet A et35.
I left it in a friends quarry for some months while he looked for it and started working on it.
After some miles on it while I came on holidays back home and so I clearly needed some more power and an lsd as well as drifting meets on the mountain roads were absolute crap while the inner wheel was trying to get some traction.
On April '12 I bought a rebuilt small case 25% (2 clutch) LSD and installed a btoks drifting chip
(just check how this guy drifts the little m42 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vly2JaNZPLo)
Installing the LSD
That was May'12 and I had to come back to Barcelona for some exams and keep working.
When I came back home for '12 summer on July the car looked like this
with some friends
I spent the summer with friends and girlfriend,not much car thinking,at least until August,when this guy,Btoks,told me if I would like to join his drift team for his drift car maintenance during the events,and after two events in August that made me a total freak into drifting.
Just a month later,a week before going back to Barcelona I decided to join a drift trackday among other friends,where after 15 laps my little m42 broke down :(
sorry for the poor video quality,was recorded with a shitty cellphone
I was so upset with the car as I only made 1000 miles on it during almost 9 months, so back in Barcelona and with the help of Btoks in the research for pieces and so on I decided to go for a M50 swap,an euro s50 is way too expensive and such a difficult swap for my mechanical experience on '12
In october '12 the swap started, while I was in barcelona I was trying to save as many money I could for the parts needed and getting some info about how to swap (when I discovered r3v :D )
For the next 3-4 months I traveled quite a lot from Barcelona-home and back almost every weekend or at least once a month to get the swap going.
Remember that I had no mechanical knowledge at all,so I was discovering how my car worked every time I removed something :p
With some friends help and dedication we got the swap nearly finished by January '13
As I had time and didn't need the car in Barcelona,I decided to get things well done and changed my old small case LSD for a medium case 60% LSD(4 clutches) with 4,10 ratio
I also changed the is interior for sports leather black seats that Btoks gave me as reward for my hard work :nice:
The swap list is:
-M50 Vanos
-G240 gearbox
-M20 clutch and flywheel
-E28 mounts (slightly raised with some washers for no booster clearance issues)
-Supersprint headers
-Custom built exhaust with m50 cats (due to legal restrictions) and m3 e30 rear silencer --> Planning on building a 3" single exhaust soon
-ECU reflash for 98 octane
-324td radiator and fan clutch
When March arrived I was involved in some legal paperwork to make the car road legal for spanish road law,due to engine swap
After paying and many phone calls I got my car road legal so I could get a ride on it for the first time since september the 22nd of March '13 :D
My girlfriend enjoyed too the return of the e30 ;)
The swap looked like was pretty reliable so I decided to take the car and bringing it to Barcelona after Easter holidays,not before changing my wheels and getting a set of ETA BETA 15x7" et 13 wheels wrapped on 195/50 falkens.
I was riding stock suspension yet so I borrowed Btoks some Koni adjustable shocks that I mounted on stock springs
So I went to Barcelona on a such frightening road trip(all my bushings were worn out,and completely no money to replace them) so I spent next months just cruising around and checking that the swap was completely reliable.
When 2nd finished the 21st of July, I had to leave the studies at Barcelona due to my parents divorce and economical issues at home... :???:
So I worked during summer and decided to start electronic engineering as I said before here in San Sebastian (15 miles from home) that meant I could ride my e30 every day ;)
When I came back from Barcelona in July my tires were already worn out so i decided to make a move and changed to 16",and the car sat like this on firsts of August
They're 16x7.5" +24 front and 16x9" +13 at the back on 195/45 and 205/50.
Days later I started changing my worn out bushings,these ones were the first,I noticed a huge handling improval after getting these mounted.
Just the day before starting university doing some street drifts with a mate I got out of the road as it was pretty wet and slidy, and I broke one of the rims and bended the control arm
luckily a friend came by and helped me solving the problem in something less than an hour so I rode the 15's while I got the damaged rim repaired :mrgreen:
That was all for that summer,until my birthday on september 16th,that my friends payed me a trackday as birthday present so I could test my new car power at the track ;)
The car felt so strong in comparison with the old m42, it drifts 3rd gear easily on wet,even gear changes during drifts are possible if doing them well
(just remember that I am a complete noob at drifting,at least I was during this trackday ;) )Besides the great handling of the car,it felt so bumpy on the rear,so I knew I had to improve on suspension as well I want to go lower than stock,obviously.
On october '13 no many changes were made to the car,except I managed to install a VW golf Gti lip,adapted and home sprayed
On november 10th I went for some track action again
From here I started just Daily Driving the car,just going to university and back,as I spent all the money I got from the summer work and studying for december exams.
After december exams,on January '14 I tracked again and there are some videos this time ;)
This time my Guibo broke down after 2h at the track so I had to leave the car there in a friend's garage to pick it up next day
Completely used and abused lol
So I kept some days changing the guibo and checking that everything was still on its place
Meanwhile no time was wasted and a package arrived home :)
I also ordered a brand new leather deep dish OMP steering wheel
Later on I traded my old small case LSD for a home made BBK with renault scenic 300mm rotors and mercedes 4pot calipers,but after 3 months I am finally selling these in order to buy 2 silencers and steel pipe for getting a new exhaust done
This is the BBK:
I installed the D2 coilovers 2 months ago or so,I'm sorry I didn't take any picture of the welded spindles :(
It still sits quite high due to the mountain road conditions in the nearbies and because the cats are sooo low so I need a new exhaust system and a skid plate to get it lower.
Some random pictures of last month:
After those pictures,2 or 3 days later,my clutch died so I had to get it replaced,and as my budget is so little I had to do it myself,and doing it alone and without elevator it is not funny at all.
Engine bay selfie!
I took advantage of the situation and also installed a short shifter,so the car right now looks like this:
Hope you have enjoyed the progression of my car as much as I have during these 2 years!
For future plans I'm thinking in building a high compression 2.8 m50 stroker with W.A.R. chip and installing some bucket seats
Let me know your opinions! I will keep updating as soon as I keep evolving the car and myself in this world!
thanks to all of you for the incredible support! such amazing community!
Cheers!!
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