Cute mailbox. Er - I mean - badass box setup, bro!
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'88 Cirrus M30B35 sedan
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lol... you like my mailbox :D We've been intending to replace it.
My transmission setup certainly isn't badass, but I guess that's my point really. I love reading project threads on here as much as anyone, but sometimes people build things that are a bit overkill (perhaps with the intention of maybe one day tracking their car, but then never actually doing it) and there's often no real indication of how the projects last.
There's a normally a number of reasons for this:
1) the owner gets to the end of the project and then sells the car because they want to move on to the next project, so you never see how long the swapped car lasted;
2) the swapped car grenades itself inside the first year and is never spoken of again; or
3) it's only ever used as a weekender, so doesn't really rack up many miles
Anyway - my car is quite humble really as far as projects go (especially vs many of the more radical projects on here!). The G240 was only ever installed as a stop gap measure until I sourced and fitted a G260 - but I paid a fair bit of attention to detail when I did the swap and as such it has lasted & been factory reliable. Really, after 5 years swapped (and almost 9 years total ownership now) the car owes me nothing & even though I've since sourced a G260, and all the bits to fit it, they're just gathering dust in my shed.
Since the the M30 G260 worth fairly big $$ down here, I may even sell it off since the G240 seems as though it may never break providing I keep oil in it (and I have a spare low mileage G240 in the shed too?!)
Originally posted by marshallnoise View PostDon't believe the naysayers. You proved them wrong.
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Karma is a funny thing... you talk up the reliability of the car, and it decides to give you trouble! Wasn't too bad really though.
After 29 years, my indicator switch decided to break on Friday on the way to work, which was super annoying as it caused the stalk to flop around all over the place - I had to drive home attempting to hold the indicator stalk in the middle to keep the indicators off, which was pretty unsuccessful.
Fortunately I had a spare steering column in the shed from a low mileage car, so today I stripped the switch from there & fitted it up in under an hour.
I priced up a new switch (thinking maybe I'd get another 29 years out of a new one), but that came to almost $500AUD! All fixed, and the low mileage one feels like new anyway - the old one was obviously not 100% for a while as the low mileage one feels completely different. Was a pretty pleasant day today for working out under the car port anyway :D
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What happened to the lip? I love these boring build threads... 5 years and relatively no issues with a swapped motor. I put 40k+ on my M52 in about 3 years andpletny of track and autox time. It was pretty damn reliable. This time around I plan to keep the M20 though. Someday I will get mine repainted to the original cirrusblau though. It looks greatSimon
Current Cars:
-1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle
Make R3V Great Again -2020
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Thanks guys! It has been a bit of a boring thread... just reliable daily driving. I could start posting a few action shots at the shops :D
I lost the lip when I hit something going through some road works at night. Not sure exactly what I hit, but the plastic tray in the front of the car and the wheel arch liners got damaged too, and there's a fairly nasty gouge on the side of the sump. Fortunately it doesn't seem to be cracked.
Might be a bit of action here over the summer though as I'm thinking of refitting my air conditioning. Looking for the unicorn - maintain my reliability record but have working AC that can cope with traffic in 100F+.Last edited by lukeADE335i; 10-16-2017, 05:35 AM.
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Originally posted by lukeADE335i View PostThanks guys! It has been a bit of a boring thread... just reliable daily driving. I could start posting a few action shots at the shops :D
I lost the lip when I hit something going through some road works at night. Not sure exactly what I hit, but the plastic tray in the front of the car and the wheel arch liners got damaged too, and there's a fairly nasty gouge on the side of the sump. Fortunately it doesn't seem to be cracked.
Might be a bit of action here over the summer though as I'm thinking of refitting my air conditioning. Looking for the unicorn - maintain my reliability record but have working AC that can cope with traffic in 100F+.
Good luck with the A/C, its quite a tight space if I remember right to add that in with everything elseSimon
Current Cars:
-1999 996.1 911 4/98 3.8L 6-Speed, 21st Century Beetle
Make R3V Great Again -2020
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When I fixed my indicator stalk earlier in the year, I noticed how tired (and cracked) my under dash panel was, so I decided to order a new one through Schmiedmann. Arrived today - worked out well and interesting to see how the new trim parts compare to the old ones.
As reported previously with new dashes etc. ordered from BMW, the new trim parts seem to use e46 era vinyl. Probably lasts better than the old stuff. The sound deadening is thinner, but higher density vs. original too.
The box Schmiedmann shipped my parts half way around the world in was enormous - probably why the shipping was pretty expensive! My kids had fun with the packing (it ended up everywhere!) :)
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Having been on annual leave from work, I decided it was time for some car R&R.
I've had the occasional clunk from the front end, and my steering rack had developed a leak, so I ordered some parts from clickable here in Australia to sort that, and my engine mounts have compressed a bit as has been reported in some other forum members posts here + I've disliked the NVH of my poly gearbox mounts since I fitted those, so I ordered some new engine mounts and e21 rubber mounts with enforcer cups in Garagistic's Black Friday sale.
A hoard of parts:
Since I was doing the rack and engine mounts (and most of the font end) I thought it was best to pull the front subframe rather than trying to do it on the car - this was a good opportunity to inspect the subframe for cracks seeing as I don't have a reinforced subframe with the M30.
As can be seen - the subframe is showing no ill effects after nearly 6 years of the M30 twisting on it. Maybe the cracking e30s are renowned for has more to do with HD sway bars and solid engine mounts rather than engine weight / power? I've always run a stock sway bar and rubber mounts.
The compressed mounts had caused the sump to touch the top of the steering rack causing some wear - no matter, the rack is being replaced anyway:
Anyway - all back together, ready to fit with another steering rack, and new power steering reservoir, tie rods, control arms, sway bar links and engine mounts. After a wheel alignment the car felt good as new. I last refreshed the front end 9 years ago when I bought the car.
Last edited by lukeADE335i; 01-24-2018, 04:57 AM.
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I also swapped in the e21 gearbox mounts - note the holes in the transmission crossmember and on the gearbox need to be enlarged from M8 to M10 for the e21 mounts to work.
Old Noltec poly bushes (showing no ill effects really, they're just a bit noisy for my liking):
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New rubber mounts with Garagistic enforcer cups:
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Happy with the NVH improvement!
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Hi Simmie
Not at this stage - the new rack was a reconditioned e30 rack. I was worried about the exhaust not fitting around the steering linkage with the e36 or e46 rack, so as I was a bit pressed for time I couldn't have the car off the road long enough to re-work the exhaust if the it didn't fit.
I may go for an e46 purple tag rack down the track.
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