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    Originally posted by econti View Post
    Be easy to make that fitting in a lathe, brass is so wonderful to work with
    i'm gonna have to ask around....my local buddy who usually makes stuff for me is out of the country for like 3 more weeks BUT I have kind of a bad taste in my mouth from the lack of support i'm getting from that company already, i'd rather not run any of their products and just maybe do a tank swap and call it a day.....I just gotta make sure I start each event with a full tank and i'm fine. I'd still like to relocate the fuel filter and make some of those lines -AN in the rear if I can.


    I had this baffled REMUS 3.5" exhaust tip from a beat to shit exhaust. I already talked to a friend about some welding so I had him try to salvage this piece for exhaust 3.0 on the car.

    I got lucky and got a chopped up early production syncro-design mid pipe. I didn't know the early production units were just mild steel, however it made it a lot easier (cheaper) to get back to a usable state.



    all welded up


    ------

    I've been ordering different consumables and even ordered another angle grinder (air) just because prep has been so excruciating in the las vegas 100­°F+ weather. I'm weird and didnt want to run the garagistic RTA reinforcements again so I ordered the SRS kit and Stim-tech rear shock reinforcement. Turns out the SRS kit won't work with how my trailing arms were shortened to run the MRT DTM kit so i'll be running the garagistic boomerang afterall.







    I actually ran out of 75/25 gas for my mig, so I had to drive 40min away to go swap a bottle out. There are closer places but the one 40 min away charges like 55% less (kind of insane and totally worth it). I also bought myself new tig torch (furick) gas lens kit to start practicing again. Clearly I have a lot of welding projects in my future, and I would love for everything to have wayyy nicer welds this time around.

    So the problem with running 318ti rear TA/hubs is that the hubs are +20mm more than stock e30 hubs and +17.5mm more than z4 hubs on e30 TA's. That means if I wanted to keep all 4x e46 325i rear calipers (and functioning parking brake) i'd have to upgrade to a rear rotor that has the same 294mm rotor but with the hat to match the increased hub offset. Luckily this was easy to find by just searching for "318ti rear brake upgrade" and all the info was on SRS-concepts site. So I ordered up some zimmerman rotors from FCP. I could not find if my caliper adapters will be the same, but I can always add a couple washers and longer bolts if I need to order new adapters after I mock it up.




    ------

    e39 touring update:

    turns out 525/530i tie rod assy is the same thread/pitch as e30/36/46 which means i can add a little cheap angle to it since I have some old tie-rod spacers for the e30.



    I also sourced a 530i 3.46 188k open differential out in socal that already has the MT input shaft flange swapped out on it. (e39's are annoying like that, AT/MT have different length input shaft flanges on the diff and 2 different sized drive shafts of course) So it's kind of a pain trying to find this combo in a face-lift e39 right out of the box basically. The plan is, he'll actually be bringing it out to vegas in 2 weeks, and I'll just pick it from whatever hotel he's staying at on the strip. I already bought the weld-in plates for the diff, and another pair of SLG axle spacers. I'm sorry I can't help myself, I have to slide it.



    What's brilliant about all this is I'll be able to swap it back if I hate it or am planning a longer road trip with it but I do want to try and have some fun with this thing while the e30 is down, so this is kind of a high priority suddenly and then I'll start actually working on the e30 slowly again.
    89 325i 4dr s52
    02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
    21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

    Comment


      well i finally started to do some welding on the e30's new rear subframe+trailing arms. it's been quite the journey just to get here I'd say LOL. Last post I had just purchased a new tank of 75/25 which was much needed. I didn't mention how I tried to start practice tig welding when I found out my chinesium torch had bit the dust. It actually split in two places. Lucky me.




      Well, a new US made CK 17 torch/hose/dinse plug combo set me back right under $300, and i'm still waiting for it, so that's fun. I decided I should fit up and tack all the reinforcement plates sooner than later.



      Most of the inner plates (nearest to the diff) had to be bent or trimmed to for a nicer fit.

      the gusset by the abs sensor was a pretty poor design, so I had to cut the 90 degree corner out and give it a little bend so it could fit up nicely.



      The rear sway bar mount went on nicely (i've tried to fix this photo link, not sure why it won't show the update)



      Garagistic boomerangs are always a pain in the ass to bend to fit....(its even worse because i'm actually mounting them a bit higher than normal due to DTM adjusters...) I will have to work on that slowly whenever I have more time.



      Stim-tech rear shock reinforcement looks lovely. I'll have to finish this one up as well but it does definitely weld better once its heated up.





      rear diff mount







      and that's when this happened:


      just ordered another $70 worth in consumables to continue next weekend. Overall happy I finally started doing this, but its very HOT here and I'm going to have to split this between day and nights. Even though there are some areas that aren't the cleanest, i'm pretty proud as I'm definitely not a a welder, but i'm happy with these results.

      I think Thursday (next week) i'll be picking up the spare e39 diff. So on Saturday I might plan to clean that out and prep for welding as well as finishing up the rest of this job.
      Last edited by s14brent; 06-08-2025, 05:45 PM.
      89 325i 4dr s52
      02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
      21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

      Comment


        I am not a welder but like you I weld stuff. I cannot weld in Vegas 110*, Phoenix 110 + or Inland Empire 105* summer heat. My concentration falls off. I wear all the protective gear mostly because of skin cancer concerns so I am impressed with your welds in those conditions. In talks with certified welders, I asked how they deal with a mistake or ugly weld. Answer, grind out and reweld.

        Comment


          Originally posted by OSAH racing View Post
          I am not a welder but like you I weld stuff. I cannot weld in Vegas 110*, Phoenix 110 + or Inland Empire 105* summer heat. My concentration falls off. I wear all the protective gear mostly because of skin cancer concerns so I am impressed with your welds in those conditions. In talks with certified welders, I asked how they deal with a mistake or ugly weld. Answer, grind out and reweld.
          thanks man! it's honestly pretty brutal. I drank maybe 6 bottles of water doing those parts.....i'm pretty ecstatic with results shown, i know theres still room for improvement, but the last few times I tried to use my mig they came out TERRIBLY probably due to being windy days and being under the car on jackstands, but theres maybe 2-3 welds that i want to grind down and rehit (mostly the first set of welds done). And yeah, its really crazy how fast you can feel dizzy behind the welding mask respirator & sleeves. (not fully geared up) Most of this was done at night at about 95°, I can't imagine 110°, kind of why i'm trying to get this step done now. I still don't know how i'm going to line up the secondary caliper mounts without the wheel bearing/rotor/calipers mocked up like last time....I might have to mock something up to bolt down all 4 bolts in place while I weld it. I'm also a little bit worried about how it's gonna go with er309L doing the mild to stainless bits on the exhaust (o2 bungs/can lambda) as I really need to practice when my new tig torch arrives - i haven't touched the tig in like 3 years unfortunately. Also is it crazy I kind of want a 2nd mig machine just to use this bottle of helium tri-mix I have sitting. I definitely know that I won't be getting a refill of the stuff since i have the tig but it could definitely help out doing the under the car exhaust stuff. I don't want to just zap it with er70s like a muffler shop would. All this garage equipment takes up so much space and money, but I really enjoy doing everything myself.
          89 325i 4dr s52
          02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
          21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

          Comment


            not a real car update but figured i'd just do a garage update dump. I spent maybe 3hrs in the garage this past week due to work schedule. Not a lot of progress, hoping to finish up the subframe(s) and trailing arms this week though. I got my 12lb spool of L-56 .30 wire.
            While at work I ended up talking welders with a friend and we both came to the conclusion that the primeweld mig180 and tig225x are a helluva bang for the buck esp since that tig already comes with a badass CK torch. I end up scouring marketplace/offerup for them but apparently there was a fathers day sale going so he already placed his order for new machines, and meanwhile I found myself a really good deal I couldn't pass up on SMH!! I'm really just trying considering down-sizing maybe end of this year so I will see if this can replace my lincoln, if it doesn't work out, I can make my money back for sure! - I really like how the primeweld machine has post-flow so the weld just doesn't suck in contaminates. This will also give me a chance to un-f*ck my e39 exhaust with er309l and helium trimix.


            this led to the whole "why am i still running drier plug receptacales, and made me swap out a few plugs to make life easier (without extension plug adapters 10-30p to 6-50p) and most importantly I'll be able to take advantage of the 50a breaker its on!

            My CK torch finally showed up mid week.

            Fast forward to Harbor freights parking lot sale this weekend. I wanted a designated table to tig on.....I need to kind of figure out garage layout still, but this works for now, the table does have legs, but I set it up in desktop config.

            I picked up my e39 spare diff between work gigs on Thursday. Didn't crack it open until Saturday though.

            I also found out that none of my c-clip pliers would work for the e39 (or e46) diffs that use that chonky 90mm c-clip. I actually found this one off amazon and the reviews were pretty bad, but they showed up and worked perfectly.

            After talking with a buddy of mine, he gave me the class on welding diffs at his place. I'm pretty stoked, i used rise fab shops locking differential plates and I think it came out great!!


            Hopefully more car updates soon, but I do feel every once in a while i get into these tool/garage mod posts.
            89 325i 4dr s52
            02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
            21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

            Comment


              Nice bench. Bought myself a manual swapped E39 the other week too, E30 to 5 series pipeline is real
              sigpic

              (clicky on piccy to get to thread)

              Comment


                Originally posted by econti View Post
                Nice bench. Bought myself a manual swapped E39 the other week too, E30 to 5 series pipeline is real
                hahaha congrats!! what motor's in there?

                -----

                It took me a few days to wait for some tools to be delivered. I felt like the pinion preload was incorrect since the PO swapped to a MT input flange. I ordered a sub $100 dial torque wrench and 6pt 30mm socket to measure.




                I'm really glad I did because it was reading 0.3 and after the slightest budge tighter its now reading .08 (spec is 0.6-0.8).These next pics are just to show the c-clip measurements (3.76 R and 3.72 L)



                I cleaned up the crown gear bolts and threads and used some LOCTITE 271. I think 270* is the correct one to use but 271 is what i've used with my e30 diffs and I've never had an issue.




                New Corteco axle input shaft seals




                reinstalled - here's where normally i would do some backlash reading but without different thickness c-clips, the step is only asking for information that would bother me in the future. E39's don't have a diff cover gasket from the factory, and literally link you to a bottle of bmw RTV. I replaced the fill/drain aluminum o-rings and threw the gasket maker on to set.



                -----
                I fired up the lincoln mig and got to finishing welding up the gaps and all the back sides i missed last time (when i ran out of wire). Only thing i need to weld onto the trailing arms now are the secondary caliper mounts. I'll have to move the e30 and take some measurements and create a jig of sorts for that. I think I may move onto the front subframe next though!




                - -06/19 update- -

                did some more welding last night. almost forgot about these damn boomerangs on the the trailing arms



                and I finally moved on to the front subframe. The condor front subframe ball joint reinforcements are meant to fit e30/e36/e46 apparently. I ended up cutting them up and fitting. they were thinner than every other reinforcement plate iirc 14ga.





                now i can safely say the only thing left to weld is the secondary caliper mounts then I can finally move on to prep for paint. I will be using eastwoods rust encapsulator (bought 4 cans on sale during fathers day) and will probably pick up VHT all weather epoxy paint as a finish.


                Last edited by s14brent; 06-19-2025, 10:12 AM.
                89 325i 4dr s52
                02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
                21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

                Comment


                  burnt myself out on friday....decided to throw in the welded 3.46 into the touring. Every bolt was absolutely caked up in crud, super messy job in the vegas heat.



                  so if you noticed....input flanges are different size/length.....buyer swears its the M/T flange from a late model 530i, but how would an A/T driveline fit onto a ZF320.....its a bit annoying since I did not source these parts myself. (bought the e39 half way through the MT swap!)

                  smaller flange that was on the original diff:




                  newer welded diff:




                  whatever.....swapped the input flange over and threw it back together. I did not remove the cores and check pinion resistance this time around....at least i know I have a good spare on the side if ever needed. Thankfully the BMW/GKN axles still look great. I added some SLG axle spacers and extended bolts since I've had luck with that same setup on the e30, these were actually the same size as the ones on the e30. I also took this time to finish up some welds on the exhaust since the night I did the vibrant muffler was windy and I think that's when I killed the 75/25 gas.



                  while i had the car up on jackstands I decided to drain the trans and refill with Redline MTL. The 18mm external hex fill plug was stripped.....that's not how i remember selling it, so I tried to find somewhere local with one and ended up ordering one online. I did hit the plug on the bench grinder.....i got a 17mm socket to fit pretty good, so removal will be easy at least

                  Unexpectedly I found a listing on good ol' craigslist. 17x8+18 ASA AR1's 5x120 74.1mm hub for a ridiculously cheap price for the whole set...



                  I've been wanting straighter spares for the e30, but I can also use these on the e39 when I decide to take it to a local event. Win-win....I had a full set of accellera 651 sports taking up space in my storage so I hit up the mobile tire homie to help swap them over and dispose of the old rotted tires it came with. I decided to get it done right away because I was already thinking about dropping them off to get refinished and powdercoated, plate is a bit full right now and i'd rather test these out first before dumping money into them like I did with the style 32's. for some reason, 17" 5x120 wheels have been sparse and people want $1500 for a set of style 32's now days, so these will work out perfect as spares hopefully!

                  89 325i 4dr s52
                  02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
                  21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

                  Comment


                    So cool to see these long term projects still liven their best life… one of these cars of mine will finally hang around….someday lol
                    Simon
                    Current Cars:
                    -1966 Lotus Elan
                    -1986 Mercedes Benz 2.3-16
                    -2006 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

                    Make R3V Great Again -2020

                    Comment


                      Originally posted by 2mAn View Post
                      So cool to see these long term projects still liven their best life… one of these cars of mine will finally hang around….someday lol
                      Hopefully I'll still be here to find out what car that is! You've had some really cool cars though! I've just dove too deep to want to start over on something else!! (especially for a seat-time car, and occasional cruiser) I mean its only do-able if i purchased a semi-built (already swapped/caged) car that can take its place for track duties, but what's the fun in that - its kind of bad for my mental health because I will most likely tear it down regardless and go over everything again anyways, because unfortunately a lot (not all) of those cars are kind of slapped together haphazardly! btw i still have that back seat i got from you!!

                      -------

                      I managed to get some wrench time on the e39 wagon this week. Decided to finally throw the tie-rods in.




                      That second picture is the I/O tie rod bottomed out of adjustment....its about 1/8 toe out, so I think I'll be cutting some threads off the inner tie rod just to have that extra adjustment down to 1/16. The e39 feels night and day difference in steering response, so I actually might want to just leave it to be honest....also the increased steering angle feels great, for such a long car i can bust u-turns in front of my house now. I went ahead and ordered a m14x1.5 die in case I do decide to cut a couple threads off the inners though.



                      I went ahead and ordered 8" 10k swift springs for the rear. I really didnt like the idea of the springs dislodging every time i jack up the rear end. In all actuality...i really just probably need some height adjustable rear shocks (like BC's) however i fucked myself by having 60mm swifts on all corners, when BC's use 65mm springs. I'm really hoping someone on the e39 touring groups might have some for sale second hand since some of those guys prefer the SLS air setup in the rear and buy the touring kit just for the fronts.

                      -------

                      E30 content:

                      A videographer I met at our local drift events has been hitting me up to do a video shoot for MONTHS now. Our schedules just never lined up, and well I decided I should really do it before the car goes up on jackstands for maybe months.....



                      it needed a wash pretty badly......




                      my good friend ended up showing up to my house as I was prepping to leave to show me his new brixton wheels on his 992 turbo S - even more happy the video will have him in it tbh! really shitty how much traffic there was that night though.....I hope he got some good content LOL




                      89 325i 4dr s52
                      02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
                      21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

                      Comment




                        lil video he posted on ig!!
                        89 325i 4dr s52
                        02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
                        21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

                        Comment


                          No e30 content on this update. local buddy wanted to take his m62-6spd e39 touring to the night drift event. Figured I'd join him just to kind of gauge the whole....."will it drift" question i've had.


                          this is usually the MAX of what i can fit into the e30, granted i have stacked in an ez-up, chair, and a few other things into the e30 that are not shown here. the wagon has so much room for activities!!

                          made it passed tech inspection...roll in was 5pm, first tech drivers meeting was set at 6pm and second was at 8pm.....it was 104°F and I remember getting heat stroke or something last year, so I showed up around 7:30p and everything was just so much smoother.


                          took it out and first impressions were incredible, smiling ear to ear and laughing at the hilarity of it all. Its so long and heavy in comparison to my e30.....I was definitely scared of getting too friendly with the k-rails, but man...the car can be a great practice tool with a few more upgrades.
                          The m54b30 e46's look so much faster in comparison, but I just feel like everything is in slow-motion. The LUK clutch/sachs flywheel combo is great for daily driving right, but with clutch kicks it doesn't really grab the way its supposed to. Its very subtle jump in rpm's and not very upsetting bite. I probably want to upgrade it to a FX kevlar/sprung full face disc and chromoly flywheel (later). That combo shouldn't be as aggressive as the 6puck in the s52. Second, I may cut up the powersteering hardline/coil that passes through the radiator (stupid design imho). I have my old barbed ps cooler from the e30. I may eventually pull the bumper off and figure out where i can mount it once i dig it up from storage. Reason for that is simple, reservoir was puking up fluid by the 3rd hotlap every session. Thankfully its on the intake manifold side and not near the exhaust side. Speaking of that, i do want to figure out a fire extinguisher mount of sorts for this car as well. Might have to add that project to the welding white-board. Third is kind of already in-progress so I'll make this a two-fer. The bilstein b6's are just not damped properly at all for these activities. I already posted a wtb and paid for 2 rear BC racing dampening/height adjustable touring specific rear-shocks. I need to not have the rear so bouncy, it makes for a weird "boat going over a wave" feel which can be counter-productive if you try to transition right as the car unloads... The other part is I ran the event with the AC on.....cooling did not go past the middle the whole evening. Pretty unreal, i planned to turn AC off before each run, but I forgot a few times.

                          This car has been notorious for flinging off AC belts, and well it did by end of the night.....I'll be ordering a new INA ac belt tensioner and maybe* ecs kevlar reinforced accy and ac belts.....I looked it up and 525i/530i ac compressor/tensioner/belts are all the same part #'s. If it still flings belts after the upgrades, its either the ac compressor pulley or the crank pulley either being out of alignment or something....but let me tell you having AC out there was friggin phenomenal.
                          I probably only did 5 sessions consisting of 3-4 laps ea. Enough time to kind get a feel for it so i'm happy. Swapped rears 3x, still have a good amount of life left for next time!!

                          i was also doing ride longs with my e39 touring buddy and giving him some pointers throughout the night so it felt like non-stop. I have a small gopro clip for track layout, i was trying to avoid straightening out and just linking the whole course as smoothly as possible like normal. The 3.46 e39 welded diff did great!! I kind of overbuilt the e30 for what it is and its very apparent with how little this car actually needs. but wow this would be the car to do the LS swap on I feel - i just have to do some more research on suspension options out there.



                          tldr: car did surprisingly well, way better than I expected. I definitely feel a lot better knowing this now and the e30 can be not-rushed on upgrades.
                          --------
                          edit: 07/18 got some more photos!!



                          Last edited by s14brent; 07-18-2025, 06:30 PM.
                          89 325i 4dr s52
                          02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
                          21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

                          Comment


                            e39 wagon update:

                            got a few things sorted this weekend that i wanted to do post-drift event.



                            I found a pair of height adjustable BC rear shocks since the bilstein b6's didn't feel right with aggressive driving.



                            I got rid of the 30mm spring perch spacers that I put in, and am back to the ride height I was at with the SLS+lowering links. I also changed out the diff fluid since I figure that was a proper break-in with the welded diff.



                            I got a e39 specific fire extinguisher mount from garagistic. (its only a generic ABC rated - would definitely prefer purple K and will probably upgrade this one and the one in the e30 as well)



                            I wanted to finally remove the A/T cooler that I left in during the swap. I also wanted to throw in my stacked 12row PS cooler that used to be on my e30.



                            Since the radiator/fanshroud/fan was all out I replaced the AC tensioner and belt again. This is a strange one, the m54b30 (pulled from an e46) has 4 ribs for the AC belt, my AC compressor however has 5. This is why it was flinging off belts.....Anyways, I ordered a kevlar reinforced 4 rib belt from ECS and installed that - hopefully it doesnt fling off & shred anymore.




                            I cut off the ends of the low side hoses and made a bracket and spacer for the cooler mounting.




                            This is where I ended up mounting the cooler. I ended up using some different fittings on the cooler so I had to clean/prep all that. I don't have the intake duct stuff up front like a factory e39 would so theres plenty of room there and plenty air flow.




                            bumper back on, i had to run around town and find a replacement radiator drain plug. The o-ring and the plastic was pretty mangled. I really wish it was just a screw vs the twist and pull. I actually bought a whole radiator since it was only in stock at a store 30 min away, but i returned it to the one 5min away after I confirmed it was just the plug. Filled/bled the PS and coolant. accidentally made a mess with the coolant, but everything is fine and working great. This is exciting because its the last things on the to-do list that I had planned for the e39, which means I can finally start working on the e30 here soon.

                            also: here's a photo from the last event that I was just sent a few days ago

                            89 325i 4dr s52
                            02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
                            21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

                            Comment


                              Clean unit now, its really come a long way in a short time
                              sigpic

                              (clicky on piccy to get to thread)

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                                Originally posted by econti View Post
                                Clean unit now, its really come a long way in a short time
                                thank you! i'm trying to keep it this way for a bit and enjoy it. I really need to get start cranking out the work on the e30!!

                                --------

                                I usually keep the bmw(s) on a trickle charger but randomly the touring lost charge mid week.



                                dang these are HUGE and pricey. I really hope I don't have any issues with the wagon for a while! I think the last battery had a 2019 sticker on it......hoping this one lasts a little longer!




                                started stripping off the rubber coating and sanding out any slag/imperfections. Huge waste of time that could have been skipped imho, but my ocd got carried away!

                                Meanwhile, I decided to order up 318ti to e46 caliper adapters.I have the strangest feeling the e30 to e46 caliper adapters are thinner based on pictures alone. I didn't want to find out and have to wait how ever long from poland to get them.





                                Sprayed 2 cans of the eastwood rust encapsulator so the parts wouldn't be sitting around bare metal for too long. The next steps will be repetitive, but basically I need to install the wheel bearing & hub, then mock up the secondary calipers/mounts with the z4 rotors on and weld those on. JUST to remove most of the parts down bare again to do more rust encapsulator on the caliper mount area....and finally epoxy paint coating (vht or rustoleum). I'm excited, finally some progress!! I need to fire up the tig and start practicing for the exhaust work needed. I want to enjoy the e30 when the weather gets cooler if i can,but there is just so much to tackle at once!




                                89 325i 4dr s52
                                02 BMW 525iT m54b30/manual swapped (daily) *sold in 2020 repurchased in 2025*
                                21' Toyota Tacoma TRD OR 4x4 6 speed Manual

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