E30Rossi's Full Build - Overhaul - 5 Lug - Bay Shave - M54 Swap (Pic Heavy)

[E30Rossi]

Plan is to delete ABS system completely, Remove all useless brackets and shave the engine bay



First look at tranny tunnel, a few spots to fix up but overall not horrible



Worst spot I can see so far, probably from exhaust heat for 30+ years



Wiring mess I've been excited to rip out for 5 years now



Rad Support has seen better days for sure

[E30Rossi]

Starting to see the vision already


Back to the well known jackstands after 3 years of being on the ground :P


Back to work, let's remove all this junk!


The more I remove, more I realize how filthy this engine bay is



Crazy to see it so bare after all these years

[E30Rossi]

Decided it was a good idea to pressure wash the engine bay while it was -3 outside, since it winter was coming fast and it was the last opportunity to move the car to where I could access
the pressure washer without there being snow everywhere

Cleaned most of the gunk out, but everything instantly froze, oh well, back inside to thaw out



Following weekend, continued removing everything left in the engine bay
First look at front subframe, some problem areas


Going to get the full Reinforcement and powdercoat treatment like the rear once the rust is gone


Middle section was so covered in oil that it was mint


Gotta fix the passenger side balljoint seat

[E30Rossi]

Driver side not as bad, just needs a good sandblast



Brake stuff out of the way, ABS isn't going back in, gotta decide on a booster setup
Leaning towards X3 so far, but can't seem to decide.. so much info online about different experiences



everything gone, much better to have a better look at what i'm dealing with!

Overall not in horrible condition, to be expected with the age and it being a canadian car


Same on driver side, Only rust around brackets where water gets trapped


Made me so happy to see it stripped down like this, waiting to be given the love it deserves to match the other 70% of the car

[E30Rossi]

Once it was cleaned up good, started to feel better about redoing the engine bay
No crazy surprises


Cabrio in the background is my buddies girlfriends car, getting an MK4 TDI swap
Always fun to have company on builds like this , through a long winter!


Labelled every connector on the harness side, I wish the fusebox and wiring was easier to remove
Definitely leaving it in the car, don't want to start messing with removing all the under dash connections


Got a little trigger happy with the grinder, Cut off every bracket in the engine bay
Won't be needing intake box, ABS, Washer reservoir, coilpack


Starting to inspect the motor closer, ain't pretty but I always see the potential!

[E30Rossi]

Crank pulley has seen better days, still haven't decided what to do with this either
I know the torque spec is 300 ft lb, and I don't have a flywheel to lock the motor in place
But deep down I NEED to remove it and powdercoat it
Any advice for this would be appreciated!


Scored a great deal on a ZF320 from a friend
Detent and pins were done as well as seals and selector joint!
One more big piece to the puzzle


Don't even need to clean it up, great condition


Also got Revshift 24v motor mounts, garagistic trans mounts and Adapter Guibo to use E30 driveshaft with the ZF320 from the same friend



Starting to clean up the motor, so much filth

Oil pan is from an AWD, just leaving it in place while I clean everyting up

[E30Rossi]

Scrubbing and scrubbing and scrubbing


Cleans up nice!


Thankfully, most of the engine bay rust was just surface!
A few problem areas to address but frame rails were good to go!


All brackets removed, and rust grinded down

[E30Rossi]

Less orange, more bare metal, Love it


Common problem areas need to be redone


Now was the time I had to decide between minor shave or full shave and wire tuck


Progress!



Removing all traces of seam sealer

[E30Rossi]

Brushing off undercoating to reveal areas that need to be rewelded or patched up


When I originally fixed all the rust on the car, I disregarded this front section because I planned on doing the engine bay eventually
Now that time has come 3 years later


Looking much better, Strut towers in great shape


Decided on cutting out the battery tray for more room for my swap


Next decision was making the rad support bolt-on with rivnuts
thought a lot about it, and it makes it so much easier to do all the bodywork, get the engine in and out, service the front of the engine
Why not while I'm here right ?
What's 16 extra steps

[E30Rossi]

The bracket that holds the ABS sensor wire and brake pad sensor was pretty rusty and I could pull it off by hand
As I had already deleted the pad sensor wire, and was planning on ABS delete, cut it all out and made a template to weld a patch in


The fun begins, which holes to leave, which to plug
Don't need ABS sensor hole anymore, This starts getting addictive once you start


The more youtube videos I watched of engine bay shaves, the more things got patched up or filled


The 2022-2023 setup, can't complain at all with having access to this heated indoor space with access to so many tools
Gotta really thank my buddy for letting me use the space at the family business to do all this! Couldn't have done it without him!


Subframe wire brushed, waiting on reinforcements to get welded on! I will get there eventually
For now all my time has been going on the engine bay so I can move forward with getting the motor in

[E30Rossi]

Parts orders starting to show up! I got a little click happy on the add to cart button on several sites

Garagistic order:

Strut Bar - bare so I can powdercoat it
Swaybar mount reinforcements - already have the other subframe ones from 3 years ago
24V 10 Degree Twist DSSR - to match with the Chassis mount shifter
Shift Boot + billet logo
ABS Sensor Delete plugs - because they look nice



Next up, ChaseBays

Vanos Oil Line
Clutch Line
Ground Wire Kit


Next up , removed all the tape from the front body harness, and revealed why I've had so many electrical issues on the car
Sooooo happy to tear this down and repair all the wiring with a minor wire tuck, so I don't have to worry anymore


Sketchy things


While I was bored, Cleaned up my Z3 rack and got rid of all the oil leaking onto it for the past 3 years
Cleans up nice, ready to go back on!

[E30Rossi]

Factory fresh, ignore that it got a little beat up, the underside is worse, from before I had my skidplate installed, but let's just forget about that


Labelled every wire coming out of the fuse box, cut off the ABS wires and brake pad sensors but debating if I remove them from the fusebox completely
Any advice on this would be appreciated too!


Dreaming of the end goal!


Removed valve cover to get a first look inside the motor
Nothing crazy scary yet!


For the mileage this thing has, very surprised so far

[E30Rossi]

Started taking a better look at the wiring that came with the motor
Was told an X5 or E39 harness worked better to reach the glovebox for the ECU, so I found one local


Need to go over every connector and wire to see what needs to be replaced



Removing more components from the motor as I go along
The plan is not to dismantle the internals this year
Budget is going real fast
One of the reasons I'm making the front removable,
I plan on pulling the motor in a few years if it makes it there
and redoing everything completely... maybe preparing for... Boost ?
We shall see!


Well at this point, youtube inspired me to go full shave, so let's go!
keep in mind i've never done bodywork in my life, never used bondo
gotta live and learn!! only way



Made both plates, and put the rad support back to get an idea what it will look like
super excited!

[E30Rossi]

This will be so worth it at the end!


Cut out all the rust and start reshaping the edges to prepare for the plates to be welded in


Same thing on passenger side


Weld-through primer and first plate tacked in
Will cut the edge off with after it's welded in

[E30Rossi]

Planning on what to do with the edge, don't want to leave it open to road debris


Fully welded in