Project Overly Ambitious

[jpod999]

installed my front subframe today. I used the included Garagistic subframe spacer hardware but they were too long:



I ended up using two stock bolts for the front mounting holes and the extended Garagistic bolts with stacked washers for the rear two mounting holes. You can see the gap in the above picture.

[jpod999]

Wow im amazed at how many s50/m60 swapped e30 there are in the bay area, im in the middle of swapping a s50 into my friends 89 e30 325i, located in brentwood here would love to see what you have brewing up, keep it up looks like you are almost there , as far as obd compliant i already have talked with the guys at Las positas college where they have a referee station there, they seem to be really cool and relaxed, i have 3 cars to get Bar'd soon

Conrad

Yup! The Bay Area has a super strong E30 scene and has for years. Welcome to r3v!

[sr71sss]

Wow im amazed at how many s50/m60 swapped e30 there are in the bay area, im in the middle of swapping a s50 into my friends 89 e30 325i, located in brentwood here would love to see what you have brewing up, keep it up looks like you are almost there , as far as obd compliant i already have talked with the guys at Las positas college where they have a referee station there, they seem to be really cool and relaxed, i have 3 cars to get Bar'd soon

Conrad

[jpod999]

Subframe project completed:

-Welded motor mount tab cracks
-Welded in both motor mount tab reinforcement plates from Garagistic
-Welded in swaybar reinforcement plates from Garagistic
-Modified steering rack mounts for E46 purple tag rack to increase oil pan clearance

The wife and I are celebrating our one year anniversary this weekend down on the Central Coast so this subframe won't be going back into the car until at least Thursday of next week.

Then I have to rebuild the suspension that all bolts to it. After that the car will be able to sit down for the first time in months, I'm excited for this!

[jpod999]

6 months? Sounds about the average life span of something from HF. HA!

How bad were your subframe cracks? I should check mine.

I know right, I should have known better than to get their angle grinder.

Here are the cracks:

Passenger side:


Driver side:

Keep in mind that I have 262k on an M42.

[shiboujin]

6 months? Sounds about the average life span of something from HF. HA!

How bad were your subframe cracks? I should check mine.

[jpod999]

I've been working on the front subframe for the last few weeks. I welded the cracks on the motor mount tabs, then I welded in both motor mount tab reinforcement plates, followed by welding on the swaybar reinforcements. I was almost finished modifying the steering rack mounts for clearance but then my Harbor Freight angle grinder caught fire. Like, I actually saw flames. So now I have to see if they will replace it 6 months after I bought it.

[marshallnoise]

Can't believe I missed this.

[jpod999]

It sounded like a good idea at the time, just adds sooooo much more work! Basically, all of the things I've wanted to do to my car over the course of 12 years of ownership is happening right now. I have definitely been very overwhelmed a couple of times in the last few months haha.

[Zacm829]

Great idea to refresh everything in stages before the swap get into full swing. I'm having to go back and slowly finish refreshing suspension now that the car is active. Keep up the good work!

[jpod999]

Update: Got everything installed! It wasn't too tough, but being my first time doing this there were definitely some hiccups. Feels good to have that project back up into the car, nice to have that garage space back.

Next up the front subframe will come out. I have to repair the cracks in the motor mount areas which will subsequently be strengthened with Garagistic reinforcement plates. Then I will modify the steering rack mounts to lower them down for the E46 rack I have from Rack Doctor. This will gain me clearance to the oil pan, maybe eventually I'll modify the oil pan so I can ditch the subframe spacers. After the subframe goes back in the front suspension can follow it in.

In this phase I will also weld on the transmission mount extenders from Garagistic. Once everything is back in I can do my first motor test fit!

[jpod999]

I finally have my rear suspension back together, I can't believe it took this long to be honest.





-Diff mounting point reinforcements from Garagistic
-Rear swaybar reinforcements from Garagistic
-80a subframe bushings from Garagistic
-80a rear trailing arm bushings from Garagistic
-80a diff bushing from Garagistic
-S2.93 with new output shaft and cover seals
-MasterPro axles
-New FAG wheel bearings on both sides
-New rotors
-rebuilt calipers (probably should have painted these but meh)
-new Textar brake pads and sensor
-braided stainless brake lines from Ireland Engineering

The one thing I haven't installed yet is my Garagistic secondary diff mount as I have seemingly misplaced ALL the hardware it came with. When I realized this I was pissed! I am going to install this as it sits right now as it should be easy enough to install the secondary mount later on (when the hardware hopefully surfaces).

I'm hoping to get this all on the car this weekend, hopefully it doesn't fight me too much!

[jpod999]

nice work man! this is making me want to get to work on my car again!

Thanks, I have some more progress to post but I'm waiting until this particular part of the project is finished. Stay tuned!

[ncrmtrsprtsE30]

nice work man! this is making me want to get to work on my car again!

[jpod999]

PSA- MasterPro halfshafts from O'Reilly's are a pain in the ass. The inner boots are a little too thick right at the flange which makes the bolts super tough to get in as they pinch/drag rubber as you push them in and then tighten them down. A few bolts even managed to catch up on the band itself. It really just looks like it's a bad design, this is my fourth time doing a diff on an E30 and I have never had this issue as I've always reused the halfshafts.

You see the two little bits of rubber that are sticking up around the clamp? That's what I'm talking about.


keywords:masterpro e30 axles halfshafts installation