My first e30, finally. Latest Update: The Restoration Begins

[iamsam]

man, i love these kinds of threads. Keep up the good work!!!!

[Click]

Thanks for the kind comments.

Replaced the intake boot today, asked for one for Christmas (already exchanged gifts with that part of the family) and I got around to putting it on today.

As you can see the old one was starting to crack. So I figured I'd ask for one and replace it before it causes problems.







Bottom was getting bad and i didn't even know it.



Pretty straight forward, loosen all hose clamps, remove boot.



Move clamps to new boot, and reattach.



Then I got all artsy and played around in photoshop and tried to make a vintage m20 pic...




I've been thinking about this m30. I'm thinking of running it with megasquirt and maybe getting a set of S38 itbs for it. Eventually its going to be turboed and I don't think itbs will offer that much of an advantage over a regular single throttlebody when its turboed. Just some random thoughts for now.

[CrusherCurtis]

Seeing this thread really goes to show me just how all my money goes into the wrong places of my e30 :-(

[Click]

Haha yeah its hard to not spend money on fun stuff, but I need this car to be reliable.







Boom







Got me some nice weathertech mats for christmas. They came with retention clips for the driver side and the instructions say to remove the factory ones and replace them with the ones included but I don't have any factory mat hooks. We'll see how it does with out them.

[Bryan///]

nice work..my e30 is on the shop right now with a list longer then Zeus's di*k getting work done. Its also faded and rusty with stained interior and had the most mechanically inoperable front seats known to man. They were recently replaced with some Old Recaros, not exactly sure what type, I think the ones that came with the M3. Anyway sooner or later it will be nice and mechanically sound. My next mission to ponder is body work..

[Click]

I've ordered the bolts and washers to mount the m30 to the engine stand (no one locally sells M8 1.25 x 100mm bolts short of a $30 box). Before I can mount it I gotta take the torque converter off. In order to take the torque converter off the engine needs to be able to turn. The po replaced the head gasket but never got around to putting the cam gear back on. When I first picked the motor up I forgot the the timing chain wasn't on and I turned the motor over a little bit, until I realized that I was putting it out of time. So I paid extra attention to the timing marks.

Engine as recieved.



Gear on. The Bentley says to put all the slack on the tensioner side, and most of it is on the tensioner side but there is a little slack on the other side, but there is no way to tighten up the non tensioner side without taking the engine out of time as far as I could tell. Also, one of the cam gear bolts was missing from the bucket of bolts I got from the po . :(




Anyway everything is back together and I can turn the crank now without hitting valves.



I went to work on the torque converter but soon realized there was no way I could get a socket or wrench on those bolts between the flex plate and the engine block. By then it was around 8 pm, I had a headache and I had just underwent a surgery last Monday, and am on the verge of getting a cold so I was totally exhausted. I went home, took a shower, and laid down on the couch and was out by 9. Didn't wake up till 8 today.

After some internet research, it seems those bolts are accessible from the starter hole. I probably would have realized that myself had I not been so tired or if the starter wasn't already in there.

[Zacm829]

Get that M30 in there!

You will love the instant torque compared to an M20, I may have missed it but what are you plans for transmission?

[Click]

I have a spare e30 g260 sitting around but from what I understand it won't fit and I need a g260 from an e28. I'm not sure how long it's going to take to get in there. I want do it up real nice, with everything replated or powder coated and mechanically refreshed. I'm really thinking about strapping a turbo to it, and if I'd do that it'll be a twin scroll with standalone.

[Zacm829]

Yep, you either need a g260/6 from a E28 or an manual E34 tranny (good luck). You can also use a g240 from an m10 but I'm not sure of the torque they can hold, ask Otis...

Best of luck, boosting the B34 would be more beneficial than the b35, but I'm sure it will take well to it.

p.s. The hardest part is the drive shaft. :)

[RIP_City]

Enjoying this thread. Keep it up

[CHIF8008]

looks like great work mate

[Click]

So I had thought that I could get at the torque converter bolts from the starter hole. Nope, chuck testa.



I did a little more looking around and there is an access hole. DOH





And off



I ordered a set of nice grade 10.9 bolts from fastenal.



And I must have been smoking some good shit when I measured and they weren't even close. (Pic is fully screwed in)



There's a good 3/4" of penetration into the block.



So the 100 mm ones were way too long, and since they were only partially threaded I couldn't cut them to length. I went to lowes and got a 70mm one. There was no grade on the baggie (like there was on other baggies) and I assumed they were junk bolts even though they were like $2.30 a pop. (which is why I only got 1)


Then I was taking pictures and realized that they too were grade 10.9.



So fml, it was dark out and I'm working in a poorly lit shed and I've been running all over hell today so I'll just get the other 3 later.

70mm fit is good.





Semi mocked up. Is the big rectangular piece supposed to be centered in any way? Is anything else backwards or anything? I've only ever used my engine stand with an aircooled VW motor and I had a special adapter for those engines, instead of using the adjustable type.





And yes I did run that engine on the stand. Don't worry about the exhaust bends either, a 16yo made them.

Also spotted this guy on the way. Real nice. I liked the sport seats and the biggedness of it. An e28 is def in my future. If it wasn't a slushbox I'd be very interested.



Also, a funny note. I was doing some searching around and I read of an urban legend of the #6 bore being deformed on m30s after sitting on engine stands for extended periods. I came across this a couple times. I never found any supporting evidence other than some guy who thought his cylinder bore was warped but turned out he bent his valves on #6.

Also I need to get out of school get a real job and get a cherry picker..

[BoostinEuros]

I'm really enjoying your build! Keep it up!

[TimKninja]

M30 swap will be in the future for my next e30.

My friend has totaled two e34 535i's 5 speeds. Just ran one into a brick wall at 60 mph on monday. If you have a problem finding a 5 speed, i might be able to help you.

[Click]

Sounds like a good lead but its not going to be until summer till I can pick up another trans.

In other news I went to drive my car back from school and it was idling like shit. It was bouncing from 450-1000 rpm and every now and then it would settle down to the normal 800. I popped the hood once I got to the grocery store and noticed that the top fitting for the top vacuum hose that goes into the throttle body was popped out a little bit (fully inserted in this pic however).



With little effort I got it to come out completely. Notice how the fluting is all but worn off.



Looks like the inside was once fluted as well.



These parts seem like they were pressed in at the factory and were never supposed to come out. Looking at realoem, there are no replacement metal elbows either. Most likely just assumed to be part of the TB.





I pushed it back in and it seemed to run just fine on the drive back home from the grocery store. I'm thinking a proper cleaning and some JB weld will be my best bet. Any other possible ideas?

Also I noticed it looks like my other side was already epoxied....