The 5 Year Restoration - E30 M3 Reborn

[Broken88]

Stock headers with Jet Hot ceramic coating (inside and out). Probably will do the same to the exhaust.

Wow that looks incredible.

[CurrusDei]

Wow that looks incredible.

Thanks. It’s super durable and you can choose colors. Mine is Satin.

https://www.jet-hot.com/colors/

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[parkerbink]

I have used Jet Hot on all my builds. They are great.

[Andy the Aussie]

this is my first post,

wow......

just read this the whole way through......

:bow::bow::bow::bow:

awaiting the next chapter .......

ps.

My Zinner M3 is at home in my garage and at the beginning of a bare frame rebuild - your pics and info will be priceless ! Thank you so much for taking the time....

[ZekeTheSneak]

Epic. Hey how do you like the garage flooring? I always wondered how things would roll on top of it. Also what do you do if you have a major spill?

[coldweatherblue]

Love this thread and your inspiring dedication to the restoration of your M3.

[CurrusDei]

Thanks guys.

On the flooring, its great. Easily my favorite "tool" in the garage. Things roll ok on it, not perfectly smooth, but I have no complaints. If you have a big spill, i guess it depends on what it is. I actually wash my car in my garage on occasion, and because the slab slants forward the water just drains out. I have had an oil spill where i had to use a screw driver to pop a few tiles loose, then replace them. Not a big deal.

I'll try to add some updates soon.

[King Mufasa]

If you could I bet you would have zinc"d the chassis too

[CurrusDei]

Hey Guys,

I’m way overdue for an update. Thinking things will pick up more after the new year, back end of 2018 has been very busy on other fronts.
Anyways, here are a few updates:

Steering Rack in Place



New vs Old End Links




Subframe bolts torques and marked



Front brake lines



Front strut assembly in place







Bolts on – I was very, very careful with these. Wanted to keep them perfect





Other side





End links connected (not torqued yet)



Control arms on (not connecting the back yet. You have to set the car down within 30 minutes of hooking up the back so it can settle).



Rotors





Yellow tool is there as a reminder because I have to bend the backing plate to keep it from rubbing



Slave cylinder hooked up



Time to sort this mess





The brake fluid reservoir sensor cable insulation was rigid and brittle, so I removed it and wrapped with Tesa tape. Nice and flexible now.



Grounds, ECU, etc into the passenger footwell



Harness junction and grounds



Relays in place



Lotsa hoses



Fuel lines hooked up



Coolant line (feeds into heater core). I elected to not do the diverter valve retrofit because 1) it makes the back of the engine bay hose routing a mess, 2) I’ll hardly ever be using the heater



Hoses in place



You can see the one that runs down to the engine block and goes into the top part of the heater core. The one with the blue stripe runs out of the bottom and goes to the coolant rail which leads to the thermostat.



Brace that separates the fuel lines from the coolant hose



Looking cleaner






Fan shroud on



New fan



Fan clutch cleaned up and reinstalled





Fan on – not torqued yet



Some zinc





Underside



More hoses. Love this stuff coming together



Return hose



Overflow hose







Brake vacuum hose. Time to make a new one



Took a few tries to get the right fabric wrapped hose, but I found an identical one



Also sourced a new check valve. The one on the bottom is the new version – this is a part used across several models- Volvo and Audi use it as well








Hooked up to brake booster







Vent hose that connects from charcoal canister back into throttle body



Connected



Seal on trunk lid



Front valence/bumper carrier back on



Old version of the wire loom clips for the bumper carrier on the left, new version on the right. The old ones were nackered. The new ones are much smaller but sturdy and large enough to hold the loom that goes through.




Wires through



Driver side



ABS unit back in. I didn’t polish the little dome thing on the top because, well, I didn’t. Didn’t want to mess it up. Might do later.







Oil cooler.

New mounting bushings, re-zinced hardware


Test fit with bumper/vent





on





Old ones weren’t in great shape.



I thought about refurbishing these, but decided to get some new o-rings



Aaaand new hoses. Totally worth it.











And power steering lines.

Old ones were ok, but “ok” is not what this build is about



New hoses, o-rings, and reservoir





Getting these things on was not easy












Ignition coil







Thermostat in







Grounds








And guess what’s in the mail from Germany…








Next up: some wiring repairs, shifter/selector arm

[0-60Motorsports]

Amazing update. My fave E30 M3 Build....EVER! Beautiful work bud.

[ClassicE30]

Please tell me where ever you ordered those lights from they have more! I’ve been looking for new euro lights!

[CurrusDei]

Please tell me where ever you ordered those lights from they have more! I’ve been looking for new euro lights!

ebay. the seller says he has two sets left. not cheap, but for this kind of Euro NOS what else are you gonna do?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-E30-M3-HELLA-ELLIPSOID-EURO-HEADLIGHTS-BRAND-NEW-SMILEY-S/223248350228?hash=item33faa37c14:g:qbwAAOSwbYdaotZH:rk:50:pf:0

[AC_Schnitzel]

Everything about this is superb. Can you share how many “man hours” you’ve estimated has gone into the build up to this point?


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[CurrusDei]

Everything about this is superb. Can you share how many “man hours” you’ve estimated has gone into the build up to this point?


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oh man. i think about that sometimes. It would be a real shot in the dark. I'd say on average 3 hours/wk (sometimes I'll work on it all weekend, sometimes it goes untouched for weeks).

Over nearly 5 years, so 3x52x5=780. Said another way, this would be almost half a year of straight, full time 9-5 work. This seems in the ballpark if i started over and condensed all the time i've spent. Of course, if i started over i could do it much, much quicker. Plus thats just my time, not counting the paint/body guys, engine guys, and upholstery guys.

I'll round it off at 1,000 hours so far of just me.

[MyE30]

interested in how you obtained the headlamps.

amazing rebuild.