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New to me car with M50 Swap

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    New to me car with M50 Swap

    Hi Guys,

    Bit of an introduction. I joined this site years ago after I purchased a super rusty 325 that was far beyond my skills to resurrect. That car ended up in the crusher. But here I am years later, and I've had my eye out for another E30 ever since. I'm not 20 years old anymore, I have an engineering degree, and I've built a few motorcycles. I also own a 2000 Audi S4 so vehicle maintenance is second nature now haha. I picked up this guy on Sunday, it was a 1300km round trip to get it but it was listed for $1000 and I knew it wouldn't last.

    So I've got this thing which is covered from dirt from the drive. It has a 1989 production date, and a never finished M50 swap. Dude never got it running because the harnesses were never connected properly. Other than that it seems decently well thought out, it has those green engine mounts I've seen mentioned in a couple write-ups, and the transmission doesn't look cocked to one side.

    Plan is to totally strip the car, fix a couple rust holes (drivers rocker, front fenders, inner fender), and then paint and rebuild so I know what I've got. Figured I'd do my introduction in here since most of my questions are going to be around identifying parts from the swap and whether they are correct. The body stuff is pretty straight forward.

    Crappy phone pics from when I got her home at 10:30 Sunday night.



    "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

    #2
    Wow I've had this so long I was still using photobucket. I let this sit in the corner for a few years while I finished a bike project.

    Finally got a day to start stripping the car. Got most of the interior removed, the glass, and the doors.

    Very lucky to find no extra rot, apart from what I already knew. I know, the carpet isn't out yet so don't hold my breath. Shell is in surprisingly good shape. Dash has one crack I hope to repair as soon as I get it out of the car. Then it will sit for however long it takes me to get the shell finished.




    One spot I was worried about was behind the breather cover, I've seen guys find a nightmare there. Mine is solid as far as I can tell. Cover is gone, it broke off.


    "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

    Comment


      #3
      Taking apart the dash tonight. That's fun.

      I found the flashlight!!! Tucked in under the fan control. So happy.


      "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

      Comment


        #4
        I saw that Sanborn compressor and thought it was a little weird to see that from someone in the US, but then I checked your profile and you're a Newfie? Always nice to see a local(ish) E30 pop up.

        also, Desert Sled?
        Originally posted by priapism
        My girl don't know shit, but she bakes a mean cupcake.
        Originally posted by shameson
        Usually it's best not to know how much money you have into your e30

        Comment


          #5
          Correct on all counts haha!
          "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

          Comment


            #6
            Nice!

            Also, in case you're not aware, Valcas Garage and E30 Garage Norway have a lot of small repro sheet metal for common rust spots, like fender bottoms and fuel breather cover (which afaik has jumped in price for the OE part)
            Originally posted by priapism
            My girl don't know shit, but she bakes a mean cupcake.
            Originally posted by shameson
            Usually it's best not to know how much money you have into your e30

            Comment


              #7
              Thanks! I'm already getting a breather cover from BMW, the parts manager down here gives me good prices. I already looked at Valcas, definitely going to get the jacking point panel they make and maybe others.
              "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

              Comment


                #8
                And after a long day's work, the engine is out. This crusty M50 will need some love to get it back to where it needs to be, but thats for much later. I just want to keep going with stripping the shell, gotta get everything out so I can build my rotisserie and address the rot.



                share images
                "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

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                  #9
                  Finally got another day at the car. Took me a while to wrestle the steering column and heater box out, then I pulled the carpet to really see whats what.

                  I found one hole I didn't already know about, and the bit of floor around the throttle pedal mount is a bit scabby. Pretty pleased with the condition overall.

                  The carpet is pretty bad. I'm strongly considering a new carpet. They aren't cheap I know, but after getting this one out, I never want to do it again on the finished car.







                  "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Is there anything really wrong with that carpet? all I see is the rust and that small tear by the ebrake. looks like it would clean up decently?
                    Originally posted by priapism
                    My girl don't know shit, but she bakes a mean cupcake.
                    Originally posted by shameson
                    Usually it's best not to know how much money you have into your e30

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by Northern View Post
                      Is there anything really wrong with that carpet? all I see is the rust and that small tear by the ebrake. looks like it would clean up decently?
                      I guess theres not much "wrong" with it. But if I'm not totally happy with it I wont be putting it back in. Some of the backing foam came off because it was stuck to the sound deadening. My only real fear as long as it cleans up is the smell. Old carpet plus old foam seems to me like it's never going to smell very good.

                      My intention for this car is basically an as-new condition after the rebuild. I'm going to get into all the time and expense to completely refurb the running gear and body shell, buy new seats, re-cover the back seats, etc. After all that this carpet will likely be the odd man out, and I don't have much interest in stripping the interior again a year after the project is finished to swap it for a new one.

                      I'll probably give cleaning a go over the winter, see how it turns out. For the sake of $1600 its worth a day trying to clean it up. Maybe once its cleaned it will be useful to someone else, if I dont use it.
                      "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

                      Comment


                        #12
                        You've got an awesome build going, I'm excited to watch you progress!
                        Also, sneak in some details on that Ducati! Was that the bike project?

                        I've recently started my 90 coupe build, and my last build was a 2006 VROD big bore with nitrous. I live in St Louis MO, and sold it in the Netherlands.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Eh, the carpet looks better than mine. I’m in the process of tearing down the interior in my 84 coupe in preparation for rust repair and an M50 swap. Looks like this is coming along nicely!

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Originally posted by HawkHammer View Post
                            You've got an awesome build going, I'm excited to watch you progress!
                            Also, sneak in some details on that Ducati! Was that the bike project?

                            I've recently started my 90 coupe build, and my last build was a 2006 VROD big bore with nitrous. I live in St Louis MO, and sold it in the Netherlands.
                            Thanks guys! It's really exciting for me, I absolutely love E30s and I'm finally able to get into this one. I've had it parked in my garage for 4 years.

                            That's a really cool vrod. I've always wanted to try one.

                            The bike project was a 1974 Kawasaki H1, complete restoration back to stock. It was a nice bike. I think it's in France now. My ducati is a bog standard 2018 desert sled. It was really nice here Christmas day and boxing day so the sled got out for its last runs until spring. It was nice because my last day out was Nov 1, we had a really cold November this year.

                            I have a 1977 Kawasaki KZ650 as well, it's bored out with a full head porting job, bigger intake valves and bigger cams. That's apart right now getting fuel injection installed. I have a 2008 ZX6R fuel pump in the tank now and 2003 Z1000 throttle bodies mounted using flanged I designed and had cut on a CNC. Plan for that is to use a Link standalone.



                            Last edited by 89_325i; 12-28-2020, 09:54 AM.
                            "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

                            Comment


                              #15
                              I was curious about my wiring loom. So I started tracing all the connectors to their corresponding ECU pin. Everything looks good, corresponds to the DME 3.1 diagrams, to match the 403 DME I have. I labeled everything, and I pulled out the auto trans cables. Will be easy to splice my E30 engine side connector onto this now. But that's a story for another day long in the future. For now if goes in the box and I can rest a bit easier knowing my loom is correct.
                              I also took a peek in the 403 DME I got for $40. There's a Turner chip inside already. So that was a good deal.

                              The bottom pic is my little setup for testing the E36 climate module. I wanted to see exactly what signals were coming out. Looks like pin 85 and 86 on the 403 DME both get 12V when AC is off, and 0V when AC is on. Then pin 48 grounds to activate the AC compressor. I will use the pin 48 output to flip mu compressor relay, this way the engine should run smoothly.




                              "Dolphins aren't so smart, they can't even engineer an E-diff"

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