My daily '84 318i m30 swap

[glnr13]

Wow! I just came across your build when I was searching for wiring info. I bought a 318i that had an engine fire and I'm replacing it with another m10 however your build put some ideas in my head Lol.

DO IT. although the m30 is a bit on the archaic side of swaps i like how easy it is to troubleshoot and maintain. M5X is pretty easy to deal with too to be honest. Easier to find an M5x or S5x over an M30 these days.

[808ETA]

Wow! I just came across your build when I was searching for wiring info. I bought a 318i that had an engine fire and I'm replacing it with another m10 however your build put some ideas in my head Lol.

[glnr13]

no worries Luke

[lukeADE335i]

Thanks Glnr - some great information there.

I'd been thinking of grabbing the body harness side of the C101 so that my existing engine harness from the sedan will plug straight in, so will do that (providing I stick with the M30).

[glnr13]

Hi Glnr

Just looking back through your thread - any tips for wiring up the M30 into the early chassis? I'm going to pick up an early 318i 2-door soon as a long term project, and will likely throw all the good bits from my sedan into it.

Cheers
Luke

I cut a pigtail off a car at the junks...

here's the info i gathered to splice into that pigtail:




close up of what i spliced... left side was from the car's harness, right side was the pigtail:

[lukeADE335i]

Hi Glnr

Just looking back through your thread - any tips for wiring up the M30 into the early chassis? I'm going to pick up an early 318i 2-door soon as a long term project, and will likely throw all the good bits from my sedan into it.

Cheers
Luke

[glnr13]

sounds like a very good upgrade i bet , do you have photos of how they look on place?

updated with photos. i must not have saved previous post properly

[QuiqueUy]

sounds like a very good upgrade i bet , do you have photos of how they look on place?

[glnr13]

pods installed:


5.25 to 6.5 comparison:

for the fronts I trimmed the ears off the 6.5

fronts 6.5 installed with a 5.25 grill I had from a previous project:


that shadow at the top right corner screw is an imprint in the carpet from the OE speaker grill which will not cover the 6.5" speaker. you will need to get a round 5.25 grill to cover, try to find a low profile one because if too tall it will interfere with the driver's side hood latch. you can also use the 6.5 grill but I like the smaller grills.

rear 6.5 installed in deck:


used the optional mounting holes to fit into the 5.25 e30 deck, used the supplied clip nuts on the 6.5 ears to mount the grills with short screws.


grills mounted, tweeter mounted:


tweeter mounted temporarily with a pair of short wood screws, still contemplating recessing them into the rear deck cover.

I have them powered by a 400w kenwood bluetooth speaker, no head unit.
8" sub with a 350w amp. bumps loud and and hard enough for me.

no cutting necessary for the whole install aside from the ears off the 6.5" speaker in the front locations.

[glnr13]

• 5.25" to 6.5" all around + tweeters

Gutted some tweeter pods:


no heat necessary. just needle nose pliers to crack the glue that holds the tweeter in and then repeat same steps for the core/housing.

black silicone'd the new tweeters in place:

it's not pretty but it's in there solid and will be fairly easy to remove and clean up if i ever need to replace them.

all glued in:

[glnr13]

Thanks!

i haven't made any progress with installing MS and want to get that dialed in before the ITBs. In either case (ITB or OE intake) there's going to be a battle with Idle but i just want to make sure the MS is setup properly before making the big dive in the manifold change.

[QuiqueUy]

love this car ! can't wait to see a video with the itb's !

[glnr13]

First spirited drive with the e46 purple tag rack. An amazing upgrade, no more shuffling the steering wheel, hands planted at 9 and 3 the whole ride.

[glnr13]

thanks luke! tucked radiator didn't get ordered yet, just took measurements. Still waiting for US stimulus checks haha

[lukeADE335i]

Your car is looking great with the new paint glnr! The ITBs should wake it up some more :)

Did you end up doing your tucked radiator, or is it still in the pipeline?