M30 swap for my Olive Drab Vert!

[BamaE30]

I meet you at the Vintage hope your goal is to finish before the 2013 Vintage so we can all see it. Drill Sergeant - Olive Green makes sense now.....

[e30m3s54turbo]

We need up dates.

[RagtopE30]

Sorry about the lack of updates. I am finally off of my orders and back home! I have already spoken to the machine shop and the process will be back on track after Christmas. That is a good thing because Christmas has a way of zapping funding!

Recent work: Resealed and cleaned diff, R&R Subframe bushings, R&R TA bushings, R&R diff mount, Replaced rear springs, oh and installed hardtop!!

[jim325]

The next updte I wanna see is your done and ready to race!

[RagtopE30]

Ok so update time!

I went shopping!



The main prizes in the bunch included a 260/6 transmission and these:




The block has been bored out to 3573cc. So can I now say I have M30b35 3.6?
The pistons are Forged Wiseco and should produce a 9.0:1 compression ratio but the final CR will be posted once we assemble the rotating assembly. I was able to pick up the block, pistons, Transmission, and a bunch of other goodies from a good guy named Mark out in the Piedmont of NC for a really good deal! Thanks Mark.

Oh and assembly would be started but this happened!

I bought a cheap truck and it blew the engine on the way home this weekend! Oh well it was pretty cheap!

So next up, I am ordering the Cometic MLS head gasket and ARP head and crank studs ASAP. Then assembly will be in full swing. I also need to find out what PP and clutch I can run with the M10 flywheel that will be able to reliably handle the kind of power this thing should make.

[Bearmw]

What's the bore size now?

[RagtopE30]

What's the bore size now?

The bore is 94.0054 cm or 3.7010 inches

[Bearmw]

I'm not sure how tight you are going to tighten the crank pulley nut but if I recall Paul Burke suggested to me to go to 270-275 ft. lbs. He said some people had problems as a result over tightening it.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Those pistons look sweet. To bad about your truck.

[RagtopE30]

Bearmw, Thanks for the tip.

e30m3s54turbo, Yeah but such is life.

[jim325]

Hy, that's I26 east bound. I prolly saw ur truck on the side of the road.

[RagtopE30]

LOL I did pick it up Monday morning but maybe you did. Man I need to drive down the mountain soon and see your setup and get a ride to see what kind of pain/fun I am in for!

[jim325]

Definetly you do. I just got done redoing my headgasket. Got the wastegate recircd back into the exhaust although I should probably redo it. Sits way to close to the strut tower and hits it during low idle and startup.

I keep telling the girlfriend im gonna turn up the boost and she says im crazy, dumb, silly... everything but smart. Shes silly tho.

If you havent figured out the clutch setup yet you should ask Otis, goodntight, pretty sure he ran clutch setup from his m10 on his m30 swap. He made all kinds of sexy power.

[RagtopE30]

I asked him last year at the vintage and iirc he said it was a super expensive twin clutch set up. Maybe I will have to go that route unless it is more cost effective to just go with the M5 flywheel and clutch.

[RagtopE30]

quick update on the truck..... I know I know, No E30 NO CARE! But I thought you guys would get a kick out of this.

From what we can gather, the engine had hydrolocked at some point in recent history when the headgasket went bad causing a weakened connecting rod on piston #8. The PO replaced the heads and headgaskets but he reassembled everything without inspecting the rotating assembly. What does this mean for me? Well driving down the interstate the connecting rod gave out and mayhem ensued.

I present for your viewing pleasure or horror the carnage.


Disregard the oil on the floor, it was cleaned up promptly and was there as a result of complete frustration!