New name and and new engine for Mina: an e30 for the GF

[animal]

e30 m30's are where its at!

[Ether-D]

I go away for a few days…

WOW! looking great bro!

[Andy.B]

I fired up the m30 for a few seconds! It was quite loud with only manifolds and no exhaust, but man, what a glorious sound.

I still have to button up quite a few things, but at least I know the m30 will run, and the m20 harness works properly.

Aside from tying up the engine bay, I have to swap out the rear end and figure out a stiffer suspension.

So much to do still, but at least I'm getting closer!

[Swanny]

🙌

[lukeADE335i]

I fired up the m30 for a few seconds! It was quite loud with only manifolds and no exhaust, but man, what a glorious sound.

Nice work! Yes - it is a gratifying sound when a swap roars to live with no exhaust on it :)

Great stuff on the M20 loom, that was how I did mine too, just unwrapped, then re-wrapped. I only lengthened 3 wires from memory, so get the loom to fit into an e34 plastic box. Neatens up the bay.

[Ether-D]

Hell yes!!!

[ThatOneEuroE30]

The m30 with just manifolds is so awesome. Shakes the house when I fire mine up.

[Andy.B]

SOO CLOSE!!!!!!






I still need to cram a driveshaft in there, shorten the shift carrier, and weld together downpipes for the exhaust to connect to the e30 catalytic converter, but all the plumbing and lines are done. The zip ties holding the coolant reservoir are temporary until I fab up some better mounts. I would have made it farther this weekend, but my shielding gas tank on the welder ran dry, so I need to get it refilled.

I am going to have limited time with the holidays right around the corner, but i will hopefully have it driving soon.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

How come you decided to not run a late model reservoir?

[Andy.B]

How come you decided to not run a late model reservoir?

Because it's an 87, so it already has an early model reservoir, and the engine is an 86, so the m30b34 hoses don't line up with a late model reservoir.

But mostly, because I am cheap.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Lol I see. Good answer

[Andy.B]

Warning: The following is a bad idea I'm doing...

The ST M3 springs are not going to cut it with the added weight of the m30 up front. The tires were already rubbing the fenders with the m20. When I lowered it down with the m30 bolted in, the tires disappeared up into the fenders. That works if you have 500# coil springs, but not with ~200# springs. I don't want to put a ton of money into the car (because I don't have it) and frankly, didn't think any off the shelf springs (H&R, ST, etc) would work properly.

Instead, I looked to the magic of made in china ebay garbage to get the ball rolling. I cannot recommend the following process for anybody. Don't use this thread as a diy write up. On the other side of the coin, don't tell me it was a bad idea, I'm going to die, and my suspension is going to cause cancer in kittens. I know. I dont need your e-knowledge.

First off, the mecca of all ebay coilover based knowledge can be found here. Contrary to what many people think, coilover sleeve kits of any brand are just a spring and a cheap threaded adjuster. As long as you have a decent spring rate and the adjuster doesn't strip, it will do the job the same as any other coilover kit, regardless of brand or price. And lets face it, for most street driven cars, the coilovers get the height dialed in once, and never get touched again. With this in mind, I decided to shrug my shoulders, and figure wtf?, then press the Buy It Now button on a set of ebay 2.5" coilovers.

The kit is pretty standard. 2.5" springs of unknown rates, aluminum adjusters and top hats, and some rubber o-rings to space out the sleeve (if needed). I figured if I was lucky, I could use the adjusters and two of the springs, and have to buy more springs for the other end of the car.

The kit arrived today, and I started playing around with the box's contents. I don't a fancy method of measuring spring rates, but a rough calculation of spring rate is easy enough by measuring the coil diameter, outside diameter, and number of active coils, and free length, and throwing it at some math magic. It turns out the springs in the kit are approximately 540# and 250#. Obviously the 300# springs are going to be useless, but the 540# springs should work nicely in the front paired with some stiffer springs out back.

Unfortunately, the adjusters posed two problems. First off, they ID of the adjuster is the same as the OD of the strut housing, and they are all too tall.
Fortunately for me, I am stubborn and foolish...

[Andy.B]

To solve the first problem, I took a two pronged approach:
Step one: wire wheel all the dirt and rust off the strut housings up front to minimize the interference.
Step two: get creative with some sand paper and to open up the ID of the adjuster a tiny bit:



I taped a strip of sandpaper to a socket that just barely fit inside the adjuster, wrapped the sandpaper around the socket, stuck it inside the adjuster, stuck it on an impact wrench, and pulled the trigger. After a few minutes, and a cloud of aluminum dust (wear a respirator if you attempt this) I had a slightly larger opening on the sleeves.

I then put a little grease on the strut housing, and drove the sleeve down onto the strut housing. It took a little elbow grease (probably should have spent more time sanding), but I got the sleeves seated snugly on the strut housing.

The next issue was to fix the length issue. This was easy enough with a cut of wheel... I just cut it down even with the top of the strut housing:



The final issue up front was that the hole in the spring hat is small for the e30 strut inserts. This was easily fixed with a 37/64ths drill bit:



A quick check of the fit of everything:



Everything looks good, so it's time to toss the spring on and bolt it back together:



The front is buttoned up, but I still have to tackle the back end. Fortunately, the rear is a much simpler job. I just need to get some 4 to 5 inch springs and cut the adjuster down to fit. In keeping with my theme of bad judgement driven by a lack of money, I am going to buy an 9 or 10 inch 400#ish spring, and cut it in half to end up with two 800#ish springs.

All in, I'll have spent about $105 and 4 hours of my time to end up with a coilover kit for the e30 (not counting shocks). While it's not an easy bolt on job like GE or GC coils, it will work just the same.

[Ether-D]

Hell to the yes.

[Andy.B]

Update: ordered a 10" 375# spring from summit on sale for $32.50.

$47.88 for the 2.5" coilover kit
$32.50 for the rear spring(s)
= $80.38 for a coilover adjuster kit with 550# front and 750 rear springs.