Project Overly Ambitious

[jpod999]

This post is heavily non-v8 E30 swap but, as this is more of a build thread than just specifically a V8 swap thread, I think it's OK.

Got back yesterday from the East Coast, I couldn't believe how hot it was over the Memorial Day weekend- the humidity kills me! On this trip I got another chance to expand my E30 tourism and meet someone I've known through the forums for a long time.

I posted on IG saying I was going to be in New York and Galen (bataangpinoy here on r3v/e30tech) got in touch to tell me about a big "cars and coffee" like event that happens every Wednesday night during the summer at Bear Mountain State Park about 45 minutes north of NYC. Luckily my Wife, Mother-in-law, and I were heading into the city Wednesday night to visit with more family and kill time before we caught our flight out of JFK early Thursday morning, so convincing them to swing by the show wasn't too difficult.

The show turned out to be an awesome event with all sorts of cars and not a whole lot of show boating that tends to happen at events like this (eg Mustangs wrecking on their way out of the show). There was a wide range of cars, everything from old and new European, American, and Japanese cars, to trucks and even a few semis. Here are some of the pictures I took from the event:

I'll start with Galen's touring; super clean and with a really well put together S50 swap, it looks like it came from the factory this way!



Old Police Dodge in mint


Beautifully rebuilt Willys


Alfa in perfect condition


SO MUCH TRACTION






Out of all the BMWs there was only one car that had Apex wheels! I was surprised because I see them all the time here on the West Coast.




I'm not entirely sure why but this CRV made me smile






I was really impressed with how clean this LS1 swap was; from looking at the seats it appears he was going for a modern GTO kinda thing


Cleeaaaan E24


I've always liked modified semis, it's awesome that they were representing themselves at this event


The venue for this show was spectacular with the Hudson on one side and forested mountains on the other. There was delicious looking BBQ going that you could smell from the parking lot, as well as classic car show music like Sweet Home Alabama playing through the PA system. They even had a raffle going at one point! If I lived in the area, I would definitely be there every week.

Thanks for the invite Galen, it was great to finally meet you after 10ish years of knowing each other through the forums! Hit me up if you are ever out in the Bay Area!

Now that I am back home I'm going to try and start reassembling the rear end this weekend. First I need to tear down the diff and reseal it, and then do the same with all four calipers. I'm also trying to decide what to do about new half shafts. I know O'Reilly's has cheap Cardone (I think that's who makes them) rebuilt units but I have heard really mixed reviews about these. I emailed Raxles to see whether or not they have E30 axles as I have only ever heard great things about them. Back to work after a week off!

[jpod999]

All this weekend and most of next week I will be on the East Coast meeting my newest nephew. Beforehand, I wanted to make sure that I got the rear subframe cleaned, strengthened, and painted.





The welds don't look super pretty but I got plenty of penetration, so they should hold up nicely. Chose blue because why the hell not?

I got the strengthening plates from Garagistic: http://store.garagistic.com/e30-rear...l-reinforcment

When we return I have to reseal the new rear diff and then reassemble the rear end to go back in the car.

[jpod999]

well, you do live in cali.

Yeah I wasn't kidding about getting the ticket. That's why I put the fire out and grabbed my drill. The Bay Area is a strange place!

[flyboyx]

To get both subframe bushings out manually it took probably 1.5 hours. I started to burn them out but my dad got nervous that the cops would come and give us a pollution ticket.

well, you do live in cali.

[Sharon97]

This is Haye’s second fight of his Haye vs Gjergjaj Live fight comeback in his Haye vs Gjergjaj live battle against the 31-year-old Gjergjaj. Earlier this year, Haye steamrolled over fringe contender Mark de Mori in stopping him in the first Haye vs Gjergjaj Live Streaming spherical last January. It wasn’t a fight at all because de Mori gave the look of somebody who had no suggest the way to fight. It was all Haye in getting a Haye vs Gjergjaj fight Live fast stoppage win. That fight was an embarrassment to observe as a result of it absolutely was such a terrible Haye vs Gjergjaj Live Stream mate. It wasn’t that Haye looked great. It was more of a case of de Mori merely being terribly, very unhealthy that created Haye look thus smart in comparison.

[jpod999]

To get both subframe bushings out manually it took probably 1.5 hours. I started to burn them out but my dad got nervous that the cops would come and give us a pollution ticket.

[DaWildBeast]

Got the subframe bushings out of the subframe with the help of my dad this weekend. It took a lot longer than I thought it was going to. We ended up using a drill to remove as much of the rubber as I could, then hammered out the center sleeve. Then we used a hacksaw to cut a slit in the outer sleeve which then made it easy to hammer out of the subframe. Not that exciting of a picture, but text only updates are boring!

This week I'll be doing the rear wheel bearings with the help of our shop owning family friends. I also ordered new rotors for all four corners, now I have to figure out how to rebuild the calipers.

How long did it take you to do this?

[jpod999]

Rear wheel bearing replacement done!

[jpod999]

Got the subframe bushings out of the subframe with the help of my dad while my wife cleaned the shit out of my old diff this weekend. It took a lot longer than I thought it was going to. We ended up using a drill to remove as much of the rubber as I could, then hammered out the center sleeve. Then we used a hacksaw to cut a slit in the outer sleeve which then made it easy to hammer out of the subframe. Not that exciting of a picture, but text only updates are boring!



This week I'll be doing the rear wheel bearings with the help of our shop owning family friends. I also ordered new rotors for all four corners, now I have to figure out how to rebuild the calipers.

[DaWildBeast]

Thats mad work man keep at it looking for that final project!

[jpod999]

I've been spending my lunch breaks breaking apart the rear end. I had a terrible time getting one of my half-shafts out of the hub! In the end it took a shit load of PB Blaster/Liquid Wrench, heat, and lots of hammering but it came out. I had to hammer it so much that the end with the threads is totally mushroomed now, it's a good thing I was already planning on replacing them! One has both boots torn and the other is starting to crack.





I ordered new wheel rear bearings from Blunt that are supposed to come in today. I will bring them with me to work tomorrow and will drop them off with the trailing arms at the shop of a longtime family friend. I don't want to deal with changing the bearings so I'm just going to have them do it.

This weekend I am hoping to have the time to burn out the subframe bushings so that I can thoroughly clean it and then weld in the Garagistic reinforcement plates.

[jpod999]

This is awesome. Definitely subscribing. V8 swap is the best swap.

Thanks! It's been fun so far but I'm starting to get overwhelmed with how much left there is still to do. The worst part is that I keep thinking of things I can do

[theTBLACK]

This is awesome. Definitely subscribing. V8 swap is the best swap.

[jpod999]

This weekend I got started on the suspension rebuild. Saturday I pulled the struts and control arms, this job took me much longer than expected. When I was in high school I used to be able to go from car on the ground to both struts off in 30 minutes, it took me about an hour and a half to get everything off this time!

Sunday I dropped the whole rear subframe, this took me about two and a half hours. Throughout this week I am going to disassemble the rear subframe. I am going to take the trailing arms and the front struts to a shop owned by some longtime family friends, they are going to replace all four wheel bearings for me. My small case S4.10 will be sold and a resealed S2.93 will go back in its place. Also for the rear subframe I have Garagistic strengthening plates as well as all new bushings from them.

Here are some pics to keep things interesting:

[diegom6]

After a week of vacationing in Peru I'm ready to get back to work. It was nice to meet you Diego!

Same here JP! Glad you made safe back to home ;)