The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[CurrusDei]

Who from?

ECS. I was shocked, like a mini version of finding my car on ebay for what I paid shocked. Still not convinced its not a misprice. You wont find it browsing, but if you search for 51111967803 you'll find it. I just checked again and the price has gone up to $437. Still, compared to the dealer wanting $1200-1800 for the US version? I'll take it.

[M-technik-3]

Plus shipping, Found one local for roughly same cost. Might order one, thanks for heads up. I have a new US spec one as well.

[young_esquire]

Nice job! Just read the whole thread. You're doing a great job. I'll definitely be checking in to see how this turns out. Good luck!

[jhaurimn]

Nice buy on the bumper. Its funny how the new us versions are like $800 yet if you search that particular part # its only $400.

Keep the updates coming :) Im having e30 m3 withdraw with this winter !

[CurrusDei]

New M3 Owner... The Build Thread

Will do! They won't be as exciting as the big new parts above for a couple months since my son is being born in March and my 335 needs new turbos - bad waste gate rattle for past 6 months or so (going with RBs for those of you who are familiar with that side of the BMW world).

But, I'm thinking its time to start disassembling for paint. My wife wants to do something nice for my 30th birthday in the spring and it's looking like paint is it! I'll be pulling the motor and all that other fun stuff in preparation.

In a less flashy area of the project-the heater/AC box is mostly done. I don't have a great before pic of the whole unit, but these capture its dirty essence





So I pulled it out, leaving the wires attached as I mentioned above.



Cleaned out the nooks and crannies (there are lots), I'm sure I missed a couple.



Removed all the old blend door insulation, which after 25 years was more like a thin film of adhesive with some foam particles still clinging to it. Nice how you can see through the one on the right. The one on the left is one I traced out of the foam I got from Grainger (pictured earlier)



Made new foam fittings for all the blend doors, including a bit of an aggressive one for the recirc blend doors on the top, left some foam in the middle for reinforcement because it's a big curved contact surface.











I also replaced the bead gasket that goes between the upper and lower sections of the box. The old one was dried out and brittle. Also it was gray, cmon guys, black clearly matches this part (that you won't ever see because it's inside another part you won't ever see) better. Still, I know it's there. I just bought some good rubber cordage from Amazon-2mm diameter solid rubber.





I added some foam padding to make my evaporator fit nice and tight, then put it in before rejoining to two halves so the foam didn't get pushed out of place.





Now, before I rejoined the two halves, there was one more thing that had to go.



Gross dirty wire tape. Again, you'll never see it, but I know it's there. One short order of smaller width tesa tape from some dude in Bulgaria later and... (I obviously had the tape already here, think of it like a cooking show)







Nice and clean.

Then put the two halves back together (I don't show how I took some of the doors off here, but there's a great thread at s14.net I'll link to later).

Edit: here's the link. He shows a lot I don't and I show a lot of where he left off:

http://www.s14.net/forums/forum/s14/general-e30-m3-discussion/50494-airconditioning-condensor-and-evaporator/page6

Also if you look closely you'll see I left some of the old wire tape where the cables enter the area behind the blower motor. I had already put the top foam gasket on and didn't feel like ordering another one so I could separate the right and left sides of the top.









Reinstall the recirc door motors and get all that wire routing back in place



Just needs a heater core and she's ready to go! It'll be a while though with paint coming up. Not that I mind, after all that work it will be nice to look at this on the shelf for a while.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mitchlikesbikes]

wow, that heater box looks fantastic. nice work. what did you use to clean the black plastic?

[CurrusDei]

New M3 Owner... The Build Thread

wow, that heater box looks fantastic. nice work. what did you use to clean the black plastic?

I used some Goo Gone to loosen up the adhesive and just a general purpose foaming cleaner that i use for random bits - its called Tuff Stuff and its ok at loosing up dirt. Honestly i just remembered it from a job i had back in high school cleaning boats in the summer.



For plastic detailing though i really like Einszett Plastic Deep Cleaner and Cockpit Premium.

[jhaurimn]

Yay paint :) And good attention to detail.

Be ready to replace the cowl when they take out the windshield for paint. Based on the picture from the very first post here, it looks like you will uncover a good amount.

[CurrusDei]

Fortunately I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear there. I have taken the windshield gasket out and the drain holes are clear. The rust spot is also just on the surface-I can see the underside of the cowl since the AC box is out and it's clean and solid. Very fortunate there


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[f50nut]

Just read through your entire thread. Amazing work and attention to detail. Love that you're saving this one.

Wondering if you could tell me where you found the original shift boot / knob? I've been looking for that one. Ordered one from Tischer but the wrong part showed up.

[jhaurimn]

Just read through your entire thread. Amazing work and attention to detail. Love that you're saving this one.

Wondering if you could tell me where you found the original shift boot / knob? I've been looking for that one. Ordered one from Tischer but the wrong part showed up.

Larry,

What part number did you use when you ordered? The part# should be 25112225873.

http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E30-M3-S14_2.3L/Interior/Shifter/ES215914/

[hankolerd]

And the emblem #25111220954 - http://www.ecstuning.com/BMW-E30-M3-...ifter/ES46652/

[CurrusDei]

New M3 Owner... The Build Thread

It's been a while since my last update. I've been a bit distracted on the other side of the garage. 335 is hitting 100k miles and turbos were on their way out when the water pump let go. Time for RB Turbos!

Heading to the shop



Old OEM






And rear main seal replacement



NEW RB









Dyno time!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CPTFelch]

Just read through your entire thread. Amazing work and attention to detail. Love that you're saving this one.

Wondering if you could tell me where you found the original shift boot / knob? I've been looking for that one. Ordered one from Tischer but the wrong part showed up.

Orders mine from ecs as well. Aesthetically a great improvement. Over what was in mine

[M-technik-3]

The turbos failed at 100K man that is some poor reliability. Like the color of your 335i though.