Here is a pictural of my m30 swap - Can't tell you how much fun(and pain) I had with the project...I did it about 2 years ago, and the car is a blast to drive - the 3.5L really moves a e30. So here it is. Enjoy! (sorry if my spelling is off - it's 3am!)
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A few months before the swap, I was parked on the “bad side of town” and some a-hole backed into me hard. He pushed my radiator support in about 2 inches – well that had to be fixed. A ‘come-along’ and one tree later it was.
Hey who is that guy? (M3 Ryan - he's the man!!!)
It's a good thing we were doing this now, as we need every inch or room under the hood for the M30...
Finding the right motor was hard – finally I came across a MINT e24 being parted out (rear end accident). 90k on the clock, and an AUTO!!! So I knew this motor had been treated nicely! Sweet!
Here is the "donor" car.
I paid $800 shipped from Oregon. The bummer was that I needed to pick it up at LAX, about 100 miles away. Hey how much can an uhaul cost for a short trip to LA? The truck says $19.95 a day. Little did I know…That would bite me on the ASS...
I asked him to let me drive the fork lift - no go...
$19.95 MY ASS!!!!
Oh - and a full lift and a engine hoist come in handy for work like this...
After I paid the enormous uhaul bill (over $300 for the truck rental – fucking apes) I finally had my motor – opened up the crate – to see…well a used m30. I’ll need to work on that…
With only 90k miles on my “new” M30 – there was no way I was going to rebuild it. Those of you who know m30’s, you know they are just getting broken in at 90k. It’s a 400k motor EASY…so time to strip it to a long-block to make sure everything else is ship shape, and some cosmetic touches…
Yes the block says 3.5 on it - (later on)careful use of a die grinder got that pesky bugger right off...
No a smurf did not jizz all over my block – that’s “navel rust jelly” Awesome for removing surface rust. Well not "awesome" – it took about 4 coats and 3 or 4 hours of waiting. And a wire brush, and....but in the end the surface was rust free.
Here is the dolly I made to cart the engine around in the cramped garage. I would soon be know for “walking the dog” every time I drug it by it strap to work on it outside…
Wow - lots of varnish - I know the motor sat for a while - but everything seems good.
I stripped the block down to a long block - and inspected, repaired or replace anythign worn. Everything got a inspection and a fresh coat of protective paint.
Did I mention Paint? Oh yea, I may have gone overboard - but I really wanted a shiny motor - and I got it! This all really was a lot of work - and we had'nt even started the swap yet!
U.L.G.Y - this need some fixin'!!!!
Ahh - the dreaded wiring harness - it turns out we had a bad crank position sensor that came with the motor - and caused up hours of pain. We ended up using the harness that was on my m20 - all we had to do was extend some injector wires and thermastat wires...Plug that into the m30 ecu - and it fired right up.
Getting better....
(grinding off the 3.5L embossed intake mani)
M30? 3.5L? Hun? this is a m20!!! (and yes, I do take it to get it smogged - and no one ever knows)
"BLING BLING"
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