'88 Cirrus M30B35 sedan

[lukeADE335i]

Was out and about in the rain today (winter is coming down here, today was the coldest day of the year so far), and I realised that my car has just ticked over 5 years since I did my swap.

Back in 2012 when I did the swap, many said there was no way the Getrag 240 would last, the stage 1 HD M10 clutch wouldn't hold the torque, the engine would be too heavy and destroy the handling of the car, and many other M30 swap myths you've probably read.

Over 5 years the car has been basically 100% reliable and is really enjoyable as a daily drive having covered almost 80,000km.

The G240 is showing no signs of trouble, and the car is driving as well as it ever has, with only standard maintenance. Who says swapped cars can't be reliable :D

[CorvallisBMW]

Awesome. Yes the G260 is a nightmare unless you have a lift and/or are willing to drop the whole drivetrain and lift the body off it. Great work!

[lukeADE335i]

Thanks Corvallis - really happy with the seats now I've driven the car a couple of days with them.

I am running power steering. I actually run an M10 power steering pump as it runs lower pressure than the M20 &M30 pumps, making the steering a bit meatier than usual for an e30 - I feel the stock steering is a little over assisted. The M30B35 bracket bolts straight up to the M10 pump. I can't imagine what the 333i was like when optioned with AC and no power steering! Parking would be a chore.

I do run the stock RHD brake linkage, and the M30 clears the brake booster without issues, so no need to run a Porsche or Clio booster.

I had to be very careful when bashing the firewall to make sure I didn't end up fowling the linkage. As such, my firewall mods are very minimal, I just pried the firewall back about 1/8th inch where the back of the head is with a bar, and had to clearance where the starter motor is slightly. I think some people get a bit carried away with how much they bash the firewall in their M30 swaps - especially since M30B35 doesn't have the water fitting at the back of the head. The engine is in P3 on e30.de mounts.

I think the G240 gearbox helps to minimise the firewall mods too, as the bell housing is more compact than the G260. For example - I can get at the top bolts from underneath the car to remove the transmission with the engine still in the car. Many with the G260 transmission seemingly can't.

[CorvallisBMW]

Looks great! Did I miss if you were running power steering/brakes or not? Did you keep the standard RHD brake linkage running over to the booster?

[lukeADE335i]

Haven't updated the thread for a while as the car has been very reliable, so time for some cosmetic stuff :D

Bought some early Recaro LXs - the seller claimed they were e30 Recaros, but they look more like e21 ones to me, and had what looked like e21 brackets on them except they don't have a tilt mechanism to get into the back of a 2 door, so they can't be from an e21.

Most likely candidate would be an e12 as a trusty google image search shows they did come with optional Recaro LXs. They look to be Pacific Blue, so definitely from a BMW of some sort - maybe an early e30 4 door, and then adapted to fit something else.

Anyway - I bought some e30 Recaro adaptors from Massive Brakes so that I could use the factory e30 seat rails. The adaptors are an excellent fit, and make any Recaros a bolt in proposition :D

Massive rails partly bolted on:



Tolerances are good:



e30 seat rails fitted:



Seat ready to fit (yes the seat got a big vacuum and clean after this photo!) the seatbelt, and receptacle bolt on just like stock.



Installed in the car:





Gave the interior a big clean while I had things apart:



Overall very happy with them - they sit lower than I'd really like in a daily drive (I tend to have my seats adjusted up fairly high) - but I'm sure I'll get used to them. Certainly if I want to track the car, a helmet will fit no problem.

[lukeADE335i]

Since my servicing efforts a couple of weekends ago, been doing a few other small jobs on the car. I found some steely wheel caps in my parts stash and tried them with my Alpina reps. Quite like it! So I'm thinking about painting the centres of the wheels black and converting the wheels over to open stud like the old school Alpinas (which I've always liked since I first had my e21s).

When some do this they machine off the raised lug for the wheel cap, but I think I'll leave it there so that I can go back to the flat caps if I want.

(Apologies for the dirty wheels, I was driving on dirt roads just before my experiment).

[lukeADE335i]

Hi Mila325

should be fixed now (hopefully) - was testing google photos for hosting, but something must have gone wrong.

My car gets spotted in the CBD a fair bit as I work at Adelaide Uni. Are you in the BMW Driver's Club SA at all? I used to go to some cruises / dyno days etc. with them in the past - went to Eurofest a couple of times at Birdwood Mill back in 2012 & 2013 but I think it's dead now.

I blend in pretty well though - asides from the wheels, the car is a bit of a sleeper.

[mila325]

Photo's aren't working man... Also, I've never seen you in Adelaide haha.

[lukeADE335i]

Following yesterday's action, gave the car a bath today and then took it out for a run in the spring sunshine. Nice to be able to lean on it again without fear of breaking an axle, or a wheel coming off!

[lukeADE335i]

One of my CVs decided to give up the ghost this week - the clunk has been getting worse for a while, but lately the rear end has been clunking non-stop when I drive the car (pretty embarrassing / sounded like it might let go completely!)

I worked out it was the right one, so since the wheel bearing was also toast, I decided to throw in the whole swing arm & axle from a spare rear end I had in the shed. Note - if you decide to try changing the right swing arm without dropping the whole rear end, the fuel filler is in the way turning the job into a bit of a PITA, you ultimately have to lower the subframe for clearance to get the bolt out, but I did manage it without dropping the sub-frame right out.

When I re-bled the brakes the fluid was looking pretty murky so I decided to flush the brakes with new fluid, and then since I was at the auto parts store anyway, thought I might as well do a major service while I was there. Car is feeling much tighter again now :D

[lukeADE335i]

Hi all

on the 8th of April 4 years ago this happened :D The engine started first kick after sitting under a tarp for 3 years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tf04PstEr8

The car has been my daily drive ever since and mechanically has been bulletproof. Engine has now clocked up more than 360,000km on the bottom end and doesn't miss a beat, the Getrag 240 is still showing no ill effects from the M30 torque twisting on it every day.

Happy 4th birthday poor man's 335i :D

[lukeADE335i]

Thanks Marshall. I drove it today in 39C heat (102F) and had to duck in to a few different places. Was nice to have it start first time every time - car seems totally factory now, not like a swap at all :D

Looking forward to seeing your e39 take shape. I've been tossing up about getting an e39 touring as my next project - my kids are getting bigger, so the room would be nice. If I get one, I'll probably look at an LS1 manual swap in the future when I'm tired of the M52 / automatic gutlessness. We only got 528i auto tourings over here (same with the e46, we only got one model - 320i / auto).

[marshallnoise]

Good on you for posting this fix for others! Makes me wish I could have kept on my project.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

[lukeADE335i]

Since I did my swap, I've had one niggling issue the last 4 years, which I decided to finally sort this weekend.

When the engine is hot, and the car sits in the sun on a hot day for a short period of time it often won't start; eg. drive to the shop, grab something quickly, come back to the car - no start. It seems like a heat soaked starter - as seems common on M50 engines. The car won't turn over at all.

Over the years I've tried various fixes - replaced the starter with a new one, checked / replaced and added additional earths, replaced the negative lead on the battery, replaced the unloader relays, all to no avail. On the interwebs there was a theory that in hot weather the starter gear and ring gear both expand slightly and this is the problem, including someone who claimed they'd filed the teeth of the ring gear and it sorted it. I thought this sounded a bit improbable, so got out the trusty e30 electrical trouble shooting manual and decided I'd keep pouring over it and testing things with a multi-meter until I found the cultprit once and for all.

The main symptom that pointed to a problem was that the auxiliaries like the heater fan and thermo fan weren't cutting out when the car turned over like they should pointing to the unloader relays. Since the unloader relays were replaced and that didn't solve the problem, the only thing that made sense was that there was a problem in the wiring loom between the ignition switch and the unloader relays.

To cut a long story short - I bit the bullet and decided to replace the whole black / yellow wire from the C200 connector in the steering column to the starter motor. Mine was a bit dodgy as I'd converted from auto to manual, in the process having to bypass the starter relay, so there were a lot of connections in that wire that a manual car doesn't have.

Voila - problem solved.

Seems if the black / yellow wire is a bit dodgy, it can't pass enough current for the unloader circuit to work properly. Now the auxiliaries cut out when the car turns over as they should and it starts every time :)

Anyway - obligatory pics.

I couldn't be bothered dicking around under the dash, so ran the wire out with the battery lead and then inside the plastic cover I've got on the firewall.

My interior could do with a big clean at the moment - been a bit too busy!

Steering column apart:



Running new wire (the auto parts store had no black / yellow wire, so yellow had to do!):



All buttoned back up:



So glad to have it fixed. Has been the only niggling issue with the car, which has been bullet proof other wise.

[CorvallisBMW]

Love it! put that tractor motor to use :)