VIN #336 Craigslist Find. S38 Swapped Euro E30

[jeffnhiscars]

Wow...just wow !!

[downforce22]

I will have to measure the calipers to see what brakes it has. I have an update on the title status.

After my last update my paperwork had been submitted to the DMV in Denver with a supposed two week turn around process. After two weeks and no update I called the State Patrol office in my county and she updated me saying this process took 6 weeks, not two. That would have put the update around Thanksgiving for the paperwork to be processed. I didn't hear anything. I decided to call in early December for an update and conveniently I got no answers and a 'We will call you back' type answer.

At this point, my certified VIN inspection expired (as it requires a one year timeframe) and I was starting to get concerned that my paperwork had been lost. Alas, last week on December 19th, I received a voicemail that my VIN number was in and it needed to be affixed to the car and that there was an opening the next day to get it done.

I knew I couldn't wait around and after talking to a friend that night had a plan to tow the car to the DMV and get it done since it was supposed to be 50 F the next day and drop to a high of 20 F the next day with snow. I proceeded to reserve a trailer, and go through the entire process of getting my friends truck, picking up the trailer, going to home to load up the car, and heading to the DMV.

Long story short I received a packet of the original paperwork that was submitted October 11th and got the VIN on the car on Dec. 20th. Just goes to show how a two week process in the government turns into a 2 month process for no apparent reason.

Loaded up and behind my friend's new Ram.



Pulled in to the DMV where the car was 13 months previously (when it was towed with the bronco). A couple of darts/chargers in the background.



Made it home, and I had to rush back to return the trailer and the truck before going back to work.



Here is the new VIN tag inside the driver door. i was cringing a bit when he started drilling but it is a necessary process to get this thing legally on the road.




At this point I have 45 days to get it title at my local DMV and the next step is a surety bond and appraisal so i plan to look into that this week and get the paperwork done so I can title it in January.

[vasilis m3]

S38 and Azev ftw!

So nice find!:o

[e30m3s54turbo]

The brake kit look like Alpina BBK.
The rotors should measure 296x25.
If you need brake pads let me know?

[Kershaw]

Alpina uses a vented front rotor though. Are there any markings on the caliper? The calipers look fairly similar, but not quite. But maybe that's just the angles. The Alpina brakes are beefy freakin units.

[M-technik-3]

Front brakes remind me of Tarox units they sold a slightly bigger rotor years back kind of like Alpina's front setup if I remember correctly. UK guys will remember better.

[kronus]

it's a transplanted E28 hydroboost, adds brake power assist via hydraulic pressure from the PS pump.

[glnr13]

amazing find. any closer pics or more info on the brake booster they used?

[tschultz]

I realize the Azev's have grown on me, but I really don't like the look of the stretched tires-- that is really what has bothered me about the setup as you bought it...

Slow progress, but looking back you have done a lot with the mechanical of this car.

What were the front brakes again? Or still unknown?

[downforce22]

New injectors are installed and it fired right up. I will keep the stock ones with the car since lots of people are oem purists.

I decided to take a look at the rear wheels next. The lug nuts were extremely tight. I was able to break the passenger rear lug nuts loose with a full size tire iron and all of my strength. Once I got that off, the hubcentric Azev wheel was rusted onto the hub and I couldn't break it loose.

These wheels have been on the car for the last 4 years at a minimum and definitely didn't want to leave their perch. I eventually used a penetrating lubricant for a few days to get the hub off and was able to wrangle the wheel off the hub. I followed the same process to get the other side off. To give you an idea of how tight these lug nuts were on, this is the last lug nut I removed so once it broke loose the force on the wrench damaged this lug. I didn't think I could do this by hand.



Once I wrangled the drivers rear wheel free I test fit the same 17x7.5 wheel to see how it fit with the spacers mentioned above. No clearance problems with my high offset wheels.



Then I took a closer look at what was under the car. This is what I saw.



The springs are so rusty I can't even tell what they are. It looks like there are some remains of a sticker but I can't see anything legible on it. The rear struts are similar to the front, Spax adjustable so I sprayed some lubricant on the adjuster and may mess with them at some point.





As if by fate, the next day a pair of rear only Vogtland lowering springs popped up on craigslist (supposedly 10k miles if that means anything). I had heard the Vogtland springs lowered the car significantly and was unsure what to expect with them but figured for the price they would be a better option that the alternative which is a pair of 325iX rear springs. These should be stiffer than the iX springs without raising the ride height. Here is the spring master list, not sure if it is accurate or not.

http://e30performance.info/viewtopic.php?t=1357

So the next day I bought the springs for $50 and installed them. As it turns out the Vogtland springs are taller than the springs I removed.



While I was under there I noticed the passenger side fuel cover was rusting away also.



The last time I found an e30 at the junkyard I found a mostly rust free cover so I sanded it down and painted it black. With the rear struts removed to access the springs I was able to install it. One thing to note, spray some lube on the plastic nuts before removing. Sometimes the plastic nut can hold onto the stud so tight with the dirt and debris that has gotten in there that when you go to loosen it, it breaks off. With penetrating lubricant you can remove and reinstall without worry.;D







Putting the car back on the ground was the moment of truth. I measured before and the bottom of the fender was 24.375" from the ground on these wheels. Immediately after it was 25.125" from the ground so it raised it about 3/4 of an inch.





However the springs did settle. I measured before I left for work today and the height was 24.75" so it raised the car less than a half inch. I also called the DMV to see where my Colorado Assigned VIN number was at in the process. The forms said I would receive a call in two weeks but after contacting my local Sheriff's office they said the process takes 6 weeks which puts the approval around mid December... Then I have to take the car to the Sheriff's office to get the tag affixed to the car. More waiting I guess. I need to take this thing outside and give it a wash and photoshoot one of these days.

[downforce22]

To answer Mr E30, I did not take this car to drive 4 corners for a couple of reasons. The main reason though is the fact that it does not have a title and registration and insurance so if anything happened I didn't want to risk it. I took my Z3 and it was great with a few 100 mph runs and over 30 mpg combined for the trip.



Here is the highlight video if you haven't seen it. Maybe in the next year or two this car will make the journey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed4BOmRpQsQ

It has been a while since I update this thread and truth be told I have been busy with other priorities so this car mostly sat with a couple startups and battery tender plugins. I recently got a few things done on it. Back in June I gathered all of the necessary paperwork to take to the DMV for VIN and titling. Since the car sat for so long and was not titled within the time period it was brought in to the country, I have to apply for a Colorado Assigned VIN. After finding all of the paperwork and filling it out and finally feeling good about it to take it to the DMV, I went back in June. The DMV stated I had all paperwork except one form was updated, the Colorado Assigned VIN form which had been changed and now they could not process that paperwork in my county and it was all being processed outside of Denver. The alternative was to send it in the mail and not know if the paperwork was processed or if it even arrived. That was my last option and I didn't want to chance it.

I looked up the location and it was only open on weekdays between 8 am and 5 pm and I work at those times. It was not open on weekends. Due to a new job my vacation time is limited and I did not want to travel to the DMV, take a day off and find out again I had the wrong paperwork. My dad recently retired so I gave him the paperwork to go there for me. Since he had to pay fees and I attached a copy of my Licence I didn't think it would be a problem. Apparently when he went up there, he needed a Power of Attorney to pay fees and submit the same paperwork that I would have submitted by mail...

I had the paperwork back in July unsure of what I should do. The other day upon conversation with my identical twin brother who recently changed jobs from north of denver to the middle of Denver, he said he might be able to drop of the paperwork for me and that if we traded ID's for the week it wouldn't be a problem. So the paperwork was submitted earlier this week. No receipt was given and no contact information either when asked about so the only information I have on the documents is that after the paperwork is submitted it could take 2 weeks for approval in which it is sent to my county Police Station who will call me to set up a time to bring the car back to have the Colorado Assigned VIN affixed to the vehicle. After that is complete I will need to go back to my local DMV with the correct paperwork to apply for title. In my case I will probably have to get a title by surety bond which would include an appraisal and bond before the title can be issued. So while that is being worked out, I decided I could do some small things to the car while it sits.

The first thing I did was dual trunk light. I have done that to 3 of my e30s now and it really makes a difference if you use the car to haul anything in the trunk. No pictures of that. Next when I was at the junkyard the other day there was one e30 in the yard and I noticed it was lachssilver. Upon inspection, the car had the hood strut hinge and the hinge in the s38 car had been replaced with another that I found at the junkyard which was calypso. I pulled the hinge and cleaned it before installing it on the car. It looks great and you wouldn't notice that it is not specific to the car now. I really like that I didn't have to try to match the paint code or something. I also found some wiring for a late model coolant reservoir and was able to cut it and length my coolant sensor wiring to connect to the m3 reservoir I am running. That took care of the last overhead check panel light that was still on so now the check light does not come on after engine start.

I bought some early model Euro Fog Lights (same as e30 M3, 535is) a while back for my Euro iX Turbo but was not able to install them due to the BBS valence I installed and my intercooler piping. Since I had them sitting I decided these would be way better on this car. The old ones were yellow and had cracks. Here is the replacement process.





The chrome housing on the old ones has some rust but they are definitely usable so I may save or resell to get some cash. You can see the m30 skid plate installed in the below photo.





You can see the dust on this thing since its been sitting.



I pulled off my Jimmy Hill front spoiler to load it on the trailer last time and never put it back on due to the lowness. I decided to start sanding it down and will be repainting it flat black which should really clean up the front of the car. I have sanded it but have more to do, so no pictures yet.



A while back I found a deal on some Motorsport Hardware Tracklight spacers in 4x100 20mm with the hubcentric ring so I picked them up specifically for this car. I decided to install them. Here is a picture of the front brakes. I have not measured them but they are significantly larger then e30 brakes. Picture shows the 318is front brake rotors as a comparison. The calipers have a single piston and run the hydroboost system. I will have to see if I can measure them and find what calipers and rotors it uses.



Spacer


Spacers on, would probably want lug studs with these as they spin when you put the wheel on.



I test fit my Kosei's 17x7 et 38 4x100 on Yokohama S drive after pulling off my white 325iX.







Then I test fit the wheels I had on my turbo iX which are heavy and steamrollers. 17x7.5 et42 4x100 hankook ventus hrII 235/40/17





One last thing I have been contemplating is a full standalone swap to megasquirt. I have a spare diypnp unit that would plug into the motronic 1.3, a spare wideband, a spare e36 vTPS sensor, and a laptop to tune. I found some parts and built a custom TPS adapter that would swap the stock TPS wiring for the correct variable TPS wiring. This one I built for a local guy. Let me know if you would like one built and I have enough parts to build about 8 more, as well as a hookup for a new vTPS sensor.



The last thing I worked on was a look at the fuel injectors. Since the car wasn't running right I considered taking the stock units out and having them cleaned. Cleaning runs about $20 each which would be $120 plus shipping to flow test the EV1 style injectors. Stock unit part number is 0 280 150 701 and is shared with the Euro S50. It came as an ivory color injector.



The updated unit is Lucas D3764FA and has the EV6 spray patten which is supposed to be better than the single pintle EV1 but all location I could find were sold out or expensive. It is also the same as the GB remanufactured 85212212. The cheapest I could find was actually from Rock auto at $35.79 each. BMW and other BMW supply parts websites listed significantly more for the BMW part number (over $100 each). So I started researching to find what injectors could maybe replace it. The 701 is supposed to flow 24#/hr at 3 bar fuel pressure. Supposedly flow testing puts them at 236 cc/min. Here is a local denver guy's flowtested set (93FIM5) taken from this thread http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e34...upgrade-7.html






That would actually be 22-23 #/hr. The closest EV6 injector to that was the 0-280-155-890 which is noted in that thread. I found a new set of those on ebay for $150.



After looking some more I came across the 0-280-155-931 which was used in the new pontiac GTOs and other LS motors. It is actually rated at 24/25 lb/hr or 262 cc/min. I decided to go with the larger size injectors which would support the full horsepower of the engine and allow for tuning if I used megasquirt rather than replacement if the 22 lb injectors were too small. All calculators I find say to support over 300 hp, injectors should be closer to 24+ lb/hr at 90% duty cycle.

I picked up the set of 8, used from a 66k mile camaro for $80. Maybe I can sell the extra two. These should be genuine, be careful about the cheap ebay style injectors that are not genuine bosch. Here is a video explaining the difference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2ne6AVnF2k
And another video showing difference between ev1 and ev6 injectors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfynoxL2RZI

The EV6 has the 4 hole design, so here is a picture of that.



And since you've been patient, here are a couple shots of the engine bay as it sat before I removed the injectors.

[jeenyus]

baws.

[parkerbink]

Wow, speechless.

[MR E30 325is]

You taking this to D4C this year?

[bradnic]

updates?