Death of an E34, birth of another M50NV E30

[merlinfe]

Once upon a time I owned a super good condition '92 E34 Touring...

I parked it one day to go on a trip for the Navy. A F-150 decided I didn't need it anymore. The driver backed into the drivers side rear door, rear quarter panel, and destroyed the rear bumper. The total damage without paint and using used parts was $2100. I thought about telling them to fix the damage as the car was in great condition otherwise and was getting a 5-speed swap in the near future but neither the repair shop or myself could find a Touring rear door in good condition.

It sat in my garage for months after the insurance company totaled it out. I got $1583.00 for it and kept the carcass. After month 6 of staring at it I decided it was time to make room in the garage for something else. It still ran great and recently had a new head gasket and cooling system installed so I made a decision to save as much as I could and sell the rest.

I saw many threads on R3v and other sites about swaps when I had my '87 325is a few years ago and they looked like a lot of work, but fun at the same time. I thought it might be worth the time to try it.

I located an '86 325es with everything except the engine from a member here on R3v for $600. After a bit of time I got it delivered and started work on it. It's in pretty rough shape so I don't need to worry about being gentle with it.

My goal is not to have a show car but something I can autocross and have fun with until its time to move on to something else.


Trunks messed up because someone decided to try to break in with screwdrivers. The only thing...it was unlocked



My poor Touring on its last trip to Pensacola. Never missed a beat...I will truly miss that car.

After the gutting...

[merlinfe]

Continued

A few more of the donor "shell"





This thing's going to need a lot of love!!!

Started working on the interior and mechanical bits included with the car. Got the interior stripped out. Took the flywheel to get de-rusted and shaved. Ordered a used small quibo driveshaft from Prussian on ebay as the car came with two front halves which wasn't really going to help very much. Found a full bilstein shock/eibach pro kit suspension for $350 shipped with shock housings and hubs. I'll keep the stockers for later when I eventually put coil-overs on it...of course.


Shave the nubs or the flywheel? Desicions, decisions....


Just a little off the top please and sides please...Resurface,shave, and ring gear turn around was $118.

[merlinfe]

For the Getrag 250

Took the interior out. I took the carpet out next. I never like working on cars that have been
1. At the beach
2. Smoked in
3. Were owned by the dirtiest people on the planet.
This thing was nasty. There was a lot of sand and debris under the carpet and of course there was moisture under the carpet. The window was cracked open a bit when I got it so it was most likley not bad door seals but we'll see. I have a full replacement interior going in that is in much better shape.

Tan houndstooth door cards. What are these worth? I don't see many of them floating around.


DO WORK SON!!!
Modifying the E32 Brake booster. I'll be using my 525's master cylinder. Direct fit. Minor modification to the firewall was need to move the stud holes closer together diagonally. The majority of the work on the booster I used was done to mount the clevis.
Cut it.

Grind it.

Thread it and install it. I used my E34 Clevis and the pedal height with the stock E30 one didn't seem right. Easy fix if it needs to be changed later (I hope).

[merlinfe]

Bay clean up.




You may be able to see the E36 Steering rack I installed. You may aslo see the power steering delete from Condor Racing. Why power steering delete? The Touring had self-leveling suspension. I would have had to source a new power steering pump and bracket for it and that was no bueno. This was much easier and I really don't mind no power steering.



I still have a mountain of Stuff to do, in addition to selling bits from the Touring to fund my swap.

[bmwextremeguy]

The car is starting to look good Steve, cannt wait to see the beautiful grey interior in the car, that you got from me, alot of hard work going in but you will have a amazing car in the end, and glad you stripped the touring like I said as that is just more money in your pocket.
SHAWN

[P.Kelly]

In for the ride. Looks like you're a little ahead of my swap... ;)

[merlinfe]

Had most of the day off friday so I got some work done:





Gratuitous parts picture


Replaced the transmission rear output seal and shift selector seal:


Cleaned up the bay a bit more, nasty grease everywhere.



And put the finishing touches on the E32 booster E34 master combo. Minor bending is all this took. I'll relocate the reservoir later.

[drummerchubbs]

Looking good!!!

[merlinfe]

Set back and solutions.

So I went to replace the rear main seal. I noticed the area where the pilot bearing was SUPPOSED to be looked really strange:


This engine came from an E34 auto so it had a bushing pressed into the end of the crankshaft. I searched for about a day and a half to figure out how to get it out and finally just sat and stared at it for 20mins. I ended up renting a pilot bearing removal tool and a slide hammer from Autozone but the teeth were about 1/ 4" too wide. I freaked out at first then figured that if the tool didn't fit (and I couldn't modify it) I would modify the part.

I filed out the inside diameter of the bushing in two places so I could insert the tool and rotate it 90*.

Worked like a charm.


Next up will be the rear main seal and pilot bearing install along with the clutch and flywheel.