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

[Ether-D]

Tough call brah. 4 doors for more car seats!

[Andy.B]

So, some things have changed.
GF became fiance. Now my wife.
We are planning on expanding our family soon, and she wanted a safer, more reliable, more practical car, which I absolutely agree with. The e30 was safe for it's time, but by today's standards, not so much. A few weeks ago we bought a clean 2012 Ford Focus SE 5spd. Great little car.

No need for both Mina, the m30 powered car, and mine, the 2.7i car. It was a hard choice, and I flip flopped a bit on it, but held off on making a final decision until I fixed the overdue maintenance issues on both. Replaced the steering rack and leaking radiator on the luxorbeige car. Replaced the from control arms and rear shocks on Mina.

In the end, it came down to practicality. Mina has 4 doors, a roof rack, and a tow hitch (plus that m30 powa). The luxorbeige car is better looking, but also less practical.

In the end, more power won. I'm keeping Mina as my new daily driver, and am cleaning up the luxorbeige car in preparation to list it for sale. I'll be making some small changes to Mina in order to increase the cars reliability since it will be making a much longer daily commute going forward.

Stay tuned...

[Andy.B]

Sitting in waiting room while the car gets its nys inspection. I feel like a nervous parent.
Update: After instructing the kid on how to check steering rack play properly (that is to say, in accordance with NYS inspection regulations, with the car idling so the system is pressurized) the car passed.

My favorite comment:
Tech "There are a lot of leaks."
Me "oh?"
Tech "Yeah, like, the engine, transmission, differential. They are all leaking."
Me "It IS 30 years old with almost 200k. They do that. It's not actually LOW on any fluids."
Tech "But, it's leaking."
Me "Free undercoating?"... eyeroll.

[MattAvino]

Bump

[Andy.B]

Jag mounts and oem giubo seems to have solved the driveshaft issues. 4 months later with no vibrations. Down to just a few little issues, like under dampened rear shocks, and a noisy window motor, to get sorted out.

[Ether-D]

Well, before I shame you, where do the other two cars stand? Is the supercharged car running? How about the 944?

Supercharged car is dd. Runs great. I still replace things here and there like any old car.

944 is meh. I'm just not interested in it right now.

And I think you should take a look and see if the drive shaft comes straight outta the trans. Like exactly-laser-straight, clear back to the center support bearing. I think that's to blame for a lot of giubo failures.

[Andy.B]

I'm on my fourth driveshaft guibo.
First two were installed wrong.
The third one failed quickly after the drive side engine mount bolts pulled out/sheared off, letting the engine drop.
For the fourth one, I switched to rubber jaguar engine mounts which bring the engine down a little over 10mm (probably more after they settle), and a lemforder (instead of the previous aftermarket) guibo. Hopefully it holds together this time. If not, Mina might be going back to an m20 drivetrain

[Andy.B]

I wish I had those problems with mine, but alas I haven't even started it. Are you ready to start shaming me into finally finishing it? I think I'm gonna need some "encouragement"...

Well, before I shame you, where do the other two cars stand? Is the supercharged car running? How about the 944?

[Ether-D]

I wish I had those problems with mine, but alas I haven't even started it. Are you ready to start shaming me into finally finishing it? I think I'm gonna need some "encouragement"...

[Andy.B]

Got the engine mount bolted back up with hardened 10.9 grade hardware. M10 on the top two bolts and m12 on the bottom two. I'll check be checking on it frequently for the next few thousand miles, but I suspect it will be rock solid now.

I also finally got around to pulling off the rear bumper, replacing the broken bumper molding clips, and installing a cleaner bumper I've had kicking around for a while. The bumper molding strip is finally secured all the way across!

It's the little improvements that make me the happiest.

[Andy.B]

Another problem popped up with the m30. The passenger side of the block bolts in using two of the holes in the block that were used with the e28 mounts, and two previously unused holes. I had chased the threads on the unused holes before bolting the mount on and torqued bolts in, but apparently they were just too damaged by rust. The bottom two bolts pulled the threads out, which in turn put too much force on the top two bolts, leading to the bolt heads snapping off. The engine only dropped a half an inch before coming to rest on the steering rack, and as far as I can tell nothing else was damaged. We had actually been driving the car for at least a couple weeks since this occurred, as I diagnosed a rough running issue. It turns out it just felt rough with the oil pan bouncing off the steering rack.

Thankfully, I was able to get the broken off bolts out without too much trouble. I was then able to slowly chase the threads on the bottom bolt holes, first with an m10x1.5, then m11x1.5, and finally m12x1.5. Stepping up two millimeters should give me plenty of thread to bite with the new bolts. Tomorrow morning I'll measure the depth of the holes, then head to the hardware store, and buy new bolts, as well as an assortment of washers, to make sure I can get the absolute most amount of threads engaged with new bolts before bottoming out in the holes.

On the plus side, the engine ran awesome with the new injectors, and I have a lead on a rip free cardinal front seat to replace the worn out driver seat.

This car has been challenge after challenge, but I'm starting to feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Considering that in spite of all of the challenges so far, the car and the swap have yet to leave either of us stranded, the benefits of the swap have been worth it.

[Andy.B]

Here are the injectors I purchased:

Bosche Design III injectors, 19# @ 3 bar, $69 from mepeh.com

A common drop in upgrade for the m30b35. I did have to oval out the screw holes in the fuel rail to clamp the injectors in place on the manifold. The injectors are the same overall length, but the seals are spaced differently. The whole job only took about 30 minutes, including the modifications to the rail.

[Ether-D]

What did the injectors cost you? And how many lb/hr are they?

[Andy.B]

Another quick update:

The car had been running rough lately, particularly at idle. I know the spark plugs are new ish, the valve adjustment is good, and the compression is ok. The injectors, however... They were the injectors that came with the engine. The engine in the run down car that had sat for years. The injectors that were probably pretty gummed up to begin with.

I should have known better from the get go, but I finally got around to buying a new set of ford type 3 injectors to swap in from MEPEH. They arrived in the mail today, so I threw them in, and it made a huge difference. The engine runs much smoother.

Unfortunately, I also came across a few more issues tonight. I noticed the right rear shock mount is on its last legs and clunking. Fortunately, I have a set of nearly new ones kicking around I can swap in tomorrow. Hopefully, the car will make it through the next few months without any major attention. (fingers crossed).

[Ether-D]

Houses are important. No worries brah.