So, there I was standing in the backyard of an older gentleman, looking at the shell of a Bronzitbeige E30. It was sad really. Neglected like that. Just sitting in the grass, awaiting the plumes of inevitable rust. Until now. This was it. The one.
The engine, trans and diff had been removed already, along with some of the more valuable items. You know the ones, ellipsoids, glovebox, center console. It didn’t matter. It had a slight bit of rust on the rear panel around the license plate lights, and the passenger front floor had a 3” hole in it. The engine bay had random bits of rust scattered about it’s entirety. Other than that, a totally clean roller. It even came with full black leather interior, which I swapped into my Lachsilber E30 without haste.
$250 later it was mine and sitting in my garage. Since at that time I didn’t have electricity or heat in the garage, it sat through winter chilled to the core. Come February, that all changed. I moved into my new place. 6 stalls of heated and insulated glory. TO WORK!
I quickly dismantled the entire car. Front to back, top to bottom. I erected a sandblasting booth around it and went to town. Rust? Yeah right.
I patched up the floor and cut off the rear body panel. Seeing as how I worked for BMW at the time, parts were cheap and readily available. So, a brand new rear body panel I welded on. Next, I removed all unattractive bracketry from the engine bay itself. Then laid down some primer and painted the crap out of it. White was going to be it’s new shade.
Next was the rear suspension. I had problems with my old E30 and having terrible rear end issues. So, to make sure I never had to deal with that again, out came the rear subframe. Of course being from MN the inner bushing sleeves broke off in the chassis. That was a fun few hours getting that out. Every bushing in the rear was replaced with shore 75D polyurethane from AKG. Even the diff bushing on the new 3.73LSD I found for $100.
Stainless lines, new e-brake cables, and Bilsteins also found there way into the mix.
The front subframe was next. It was removed, cleaned and painted. It also got new inner and outer tie-rods, new control arms, and Treehouse Green CABs.
Now, what you weren’t aware of yet, is that I have a full 95 M3 drivetrain in my garage. Radiator to diff cover. I received this jewel for performing a Euro S50B32 swap in my friend’s M3. Complete with 6-speed and Euro polished gear race diff. That car was insane for more reasons than just that. But, I digress.
So, I purchased mounts, booster, oil pan, electric fan, and a few other misc bits and pieces. Driveshaft! Sh1t. Well, I had a perfectly good E36 M3 driveshaft and diff. I know! My friend with a 98 328is would love him some limited-slip goodness. So, I did the install, and scavenged his old parts and bought a new CSB.
The engine went in pretty painlessly. But, that’s all I did for quite some time. I was lucky enough to become one of the unemployed. So there that car sat with an S50 completely assembled and ready to go….mechanically. Wiring was left. I did research upon research to make sure I would only have to do this once.
The engine, trans and diff had been removed already, along with some of the more valuable items. You know the ones, ellipsoids, glovebox, center console. It didn’t matter. It had a slight bit of rust on the rear panel around the license plate lights, and the passenger front floor had a 3” hole in it. The engine bay had random bits of rust scattered about it’s entirety. Other than that, a totally clean roller. It even came with full black leather interior, which I swapped into my Lachsilber E30 without haste.
$250 later it was mine and sitting in my garage. Since at that time I didn’t have electricity or heat in the garage, it sat through winter chilled to the core. Come February, that all changed. I moved into my new place. 6 stalls of heated and insulated glory. TO WORK!
I quickly dismantled the entire car. Front to back, top to bottom. I erected a sandblasting booth around it and went to town. Rust? Yeah right.
I patched up the floor and cut off the rear body panel. Seeing as how I worked for BMW at the time, parts were cheap and readily available. So, a brand new rear body panel I welded on. Next, I removed all unattractive bracketry from the engine bay itself. Then laid down some primer and painted the crap out of it. White was going to be it’s new shade.
Next was the rear suspension. I had problems with my old E30 and having terrible rear end issues. So, to make sure I never had to deal with that again, out came the rear subframe. Of course being from MN the inner bushing sleeves broke off in the chassis. That was a fun few hours getting that out. Every bushing in the rear was replaced with shore 75D polyurethane from AKG. Even the diff bushing on the new 3.73LSD I found for $100.
Stainless lines, new e-brake cables, and Bilsteins also found there way into the mix.
The front subframe was next. It was removed, cleaned and painted. It also got new inner and outer tie-rods, new control arms, and Treehouse Green CABs.
Now, what you weren’t aware of yet, is that I have a full 95 M3 drivetrain in my garage. Radiator to diff cover. I received this jewel for performing a Euro S50B32 swap in my friend’s M3. Complete with 6-speed and Euro polished gear race diff. That car was insane for more reasons than just that. But, I digress.
So, I purchased mounts, booster, oil pan, electric fan, and a few other misc bits and pieces. Driveshaft! Sh1t. Well, I had a perfectly good E36 M3 driveshaft and diff. I know! My friend with a 98 328is would love him some limited-slip goodness. So, I did the install, and scavenged his old parts and bought a new CSB.
The engine went in pretty painlessly. But, that’s all I did for quite some time. I was lucky enough to become one of the unemployed. So there that car sat with an S50 completely assembled and ready to go….mechanically. Wiring was left. I did research upon research to make sure I would only have to do this once.
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