Back in the day...

[Luke_M]

Good stuff....i like the M tech 2 style bumpers with flares on the racecar. Who makes that kit?

I got the bumpers from some company in Canada several years ago. Can't remember the name, but they weren't the best quality. Flares were totally custom fiberglass.

[Luke_M]

That son of a bitch looks amazing! Those esm look perfect with the drop. Any rubbing up front?

Yeah, a decent amount at first but a simple baseball bat roll took care of it. Same with the rear. Keep in mind, up front I have ie3's with half a top coil cut, no pads and 15mm drop hats. Doesn't rub at all now. Rides rough with the 17" wheels though.

[GreasyE30]

Man, she's a Beaut! Those ESM's are pretty damn awesome as well!

That racecar must be FUN

[illest318i]

Holy crap turned out fuck'n awesome

[matthugie]

Wow, nice work man! I see some inspiration here for my own zinno car.

[CrusherCurtis]

Yeah, a decent amount at first but a simple baseball bat roll took care of it. Same with the rear. Keep in mind, up front I have ie3's with half a top coil cut, no pads and 15mm drop hats. Doesn't rub at all now. Rides rough with the 17" wheels though.

Nice I need to do this, or just get coils.

[ThisIStim516]

Steering wheel?

So next came the interior revival and general resto job that was required if I was gonna get her back on the road. I completely torn the interior apart (again no pics, lost on an old phone). But I scrubbed, sanitized, deep cleaned, repainted, replaced and did whatever I could on every single piece of the interior with the only exception being the body wiring harness. It took forever but many long days and nights paid off in an absolutely minty fresh interior.

The next step was getting her road worthy. I already had IE3 springs, bilstein sports and an IE short shifter from my BM days. But I had to basically replace everything. Tie rods, CAB's, driveshaft, CSB, guibo, RSM's, subframe bushings, RTAB's, etc. I got her on the road as my permanent DD in about October of 2011 and have slowly restored/replaced what I could during that time. Just a whole host of things like wiper blades, spark plugs, coil, fuel pump, fuel filter. Many late nights with my aforementioned brother or whoever was willing to help. Along the way I picked up some drop hats, an Evo3 steering wheel (awesome updgrade), 17" esm 002r's, IS front lip spoiler, painted rocker panels and a bunch of other things I am leaving out.

I got my new phone around the same time as the wheels (which I love) so please excuse the photo dump.

Before wheels and some rocker panel/valence love



After













Future plans include the euro 3.2 I mentioned earlier. That engine has a special place in my heart. The original plan was to have the white '87 as a restored car, euro 3.2 and all. The swap got complicated and dad got the racing bug so he got "my" s50 and has raced it for some time. I've lusted after a euro 3.2 e30 (that one in particular) for damn near 10 years and soon I will have it. I also may get some revalved bilstein's, bigger sways, corner weighting, real BBS RS wheels, some paint/dent work and then get my sport seats and e30 m3 rear seats I have in storage recovered and put in. The comfort seats are ok, but they don't quite cut it.

What kind of steering wheel is that? It looks sick

[Luke_M]

It's an EVO3 or M-Tech 2 wheel. Smaller then stock which is nice but not so small that it's annoying. Because it'a bmw piece it bolts right up too. No hub or adapter needed. They made them in leather or alcantara(suede). I love it. It's a mod that you continually notice every time you drive the car.

I got my used from a r3v'r. It's alcantara which is kind of a pain to keep clean compared to leather but it looks and feels dope. Used was so much cheaper then new and after a few hours cleaning with hot water, a towel and a toothbrush it looked great.

[Luke_M]

Nice I need to do this, or just get coils.

I thought about coils but I had the springs already and the hats were cheap so I gave it a try. It works but it's a little bouncy up front. I assume that's the bilsteins being compressed so much. They got that way after the drop hats and pad removal but before the half coil being cut. They are surely in a bad spot as far as rebound and compression.

That's why I plan on sending them off to bilstein for a rebuild. Hopefully they can fix that by shortening it up and revalving them.

[Luke_M]

Had to share

[noahb]

Im going to use your car as inspiration for my 4 door, it's gorgeous!

[agent]

How did I miss this? Car looks awesome Luke, congrats!

Fuelin' up mit der Führer! :mrgreen: (HT RobertK)

What kind of steering wheel is that? It looks sick

[Luke_M]

It's time! S50B32 getting pulled this coming week.

[Luke_M]

Ok, so I'm not much for build threads and I didn't take a lot of pictures but I got the swap done. I couldn't have done it without help from my brother. He's so good at this stuff. I don't know how but he gets things done correct 99% of the time on the first try. Major props to him. Now I just have to get him a swapped e30.

All in all it took 4 weekends to remove the old engine/tranny, rear subframe and TAB's, replace all the rear bushings and misc things and then get it all back in. That included a steering rack swap and diff swap. Not bad but it seemed longer then that lol

I added what pictures I have for effect but more importantly I have my thoughts about things I learned down below. Hopefully it can help somebody one day. I know I sure had my share of help from posts here and elsewhere on the web. I'm no expert but I found some of this info in scattered places on the web so if I can consolidate some of that here maybe that will help somebody.

Old engine out, ready for a new home one day.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4nh7alba2ub5rh5/20130929_161654.jpg

New guy ready for it's new home in Molly.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pdscrzdax3ymoh3/20130924_214918.jpg

Molly up in the air awaiting her new heart.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ooce4mtm9m16exl/20130930_194357.jpg

Old subframe bushings going out like a martyr.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/28ybrj95d5408dg/20130930_204627.jpg

Money (literally)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/e705scrtnp3xpa9/20131005_191450.jpg

Literally the only thing that kept us from dropping the car down was the dowel pin for the selector rod joint. It's ok as it was late Sunday and work was awaiting us the next day.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtzyt6kuki6kc5k/20131020_212919_HDR.jpg

Dropped in. Just needed some fine tuning at this point. I could smell the rubber burning.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gshat0128a279v5/20131026_214911.jpg

All put back together.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qrag6g3o2eybpvi/20131031_220416.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y62ppd1fo7dq67r/20131031_220518.jpg

And after some more pushing and shoving on the wiring harness we got her in good. Almost looks oem, which was the goal with the swap.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qlx8n06evcg5ru1/20131108_210503_HDR.jpg

Incomplete mod list:

- S50B32 engine from a 99 Z3
- zf320 5 speed
- JB racing lw flywheel (revs so nice but doesn't rattle much on idle with the clutch out) I have some but I suspect the TO bearing should have changed this when I had the chance lol
- sachs HD clutch
- Appropriate driveshaft, e36 guibo and e30 CSB
- Z3 torsen 3.15 diff with e30 output shafts
- Revshift 12mm subframe bushings. Removed a decent amount of negative camber and should help with toe-in. Cool solution if you ask me.
- New Lemfor RTAB's
- Replaced all brake lines with bimmerworld SS lines
- Rebuilt from calipers, rears were fine
- Hawk HP+ pads. Dusty as hell and somewhat noisey but they bite and can take extra heat. Poor mans big brake kit
- Replaced the rubber gas tank hose that goes from the filler neck to the tank itself. Almost impossible with the subframe on.
- Walbro 255 fuel pump (I don't recommend this as it's to short and goes to fuel starvation extra quick. Seems to not prime so quick either.) Probably going back to a new stocker plus a bosch 044 pump.
- E28 engine mounts
- E21 tranny mounts
- NEW Z3 1.9L steering rack, rockauto sells thse for around $255. They are new, not rebuilt. You can't go wrong with a reman from a forum sponsor either though. I avoided any core charge this way however. Not sure how different vendors handle this.
- New E36 PS lines which included a PS cooler. Not really useful probably but who cares :)
- New PS reservoir
- Rack swap kit
- BW solid front control arm bushings
- Z3 S54 radiator (perfect fit for a late model e30) 30% thicker so it's a tad closer to the engine but it's cheap, fits perfect and gets the job done
- 16" ebay fan. Puts out like a high school prom date
- OEM oil cooler. Can't beat it unless you're racing the crap out of the engine around the equator and need maximum oil cooling
- AN lines and fittings. Already had -10AN lines coming out of the oil filter housing so that made it easier. Ended up using a 90 on the passenger side and a 45 on the drivers. Probably would be better to use a 180 on the passenger side but the local race shop was out and we made it work.
- NEW AC compressor, upgraded parallel flow condenser http://www.amazon.com/APDI-A-C-Conde...denser+7013464, expansion valve and rec/dryer. Haven't modded the two lines going to the compressor yet but I will before it gets hot. Pretty simple to get AC in a swapped e30. Just not super cheap.

This thread outlines oil and r134a requirements: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=246743

And how to modify your lines. MarkertMotorWorks does this as well if you want a no hassle solution. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=139470

- Modified the brake pedal to get it closer to a 6.2:1 ratio as the brake booster had to go. Kind of a pain because you have to get under the dash but it's a breeze to drive everyday. Pedal is nice and stiff but you don't have to hulk up on it to stop. The Hawk HP+ pads help with their extra bite but I'm considering going to something more dustless in the future. It's really nice.
- Andrew Harvey wiring harness. Awesome plug and play harness. Labelled and everything. Made the scariest part of the swap a breeze.
- ECU Tune from MarkertMotorWorks in GA. Deleting EWS, raised the rev limiter and delete the rear 02 sensor codes.
- Red46 skid plate. I measured the oil pan as being 1" lower then stock. Scary, esp when you're as low as I am.


That's the basics. I left out a ton of new stuff that we got along the way but it's all been done before.

If you're considering doing a swap, DO IT! The throttle response and newness of the engines can't be beat. I know 6 ITB's help but I'd imagine a US S52 and even an M52 would be just as much fun for the most part. And the steering rack swap is crazy. You notice it all the time. My steering is little light right now yet very heavy if I'm not moving. I suspect the pump is weird but it could be the rack. Hard to tell until I replace the PS pump.

Future plans:

- GC coils, ast's seem to have disappeared. Will raise it a little bit for DD duty
- E30 M3 Ins Cluster. Andrew was cool enough to wire in a wire that sends an signal to the cluster when I am able to find one. Used a stock e30 m3 oil temp sensor in the e36 oil filter housing so it should read correct. E28 M5 coding plug is reported to correct the rpm gauge.
- Maybe paint one day and euro trim on the bumpers, new headlights, etc. Just little stuff to make it look new again.
- Recovered sport seats (or recaros) with an e30 m3 rear seat. I've test fitted the rear seat and because it's a four door it sticks out some. I think some trimming of the foam and bending of the stock frame will fix that.
- Carbon Fiber Airbox. It's calling my name so bad I can't stand it. It's so dumb and such a waste of cash but I know I'm weak in the knees for that sound.
- Perhaps a 6 speed with a 3.46 diff. Almost did that this time but I had the complete 5 speed setup in hand so I took the easy/cheaper way out.


Later!

[golde30]

love the go big or go home mentality on this car. s50b32/s54 is the new s50/52US swap, s50/52US is the new m20, m20 is the new m10.