VIN #336 Craigslist Find. S38 Swapped Euro E30

[Alpina]

1) I agree on the 535 or ZA radiator,,,,,,,

2) the cooling pipes are a total shit,, and i really mean it,, they should look like this





here is a picture of the EURO E28 M5 engine M88/3 cooling pipes.. yours looks similar but i think they have cheated in some way



it is a well known trick in EU to use the M88/3 cooling pipes,,becaus of narrow space but today they are hard to find and the price is over 1000 $,,,,,,, unreal
i put the radiator in the frame,, but you can also put in front of the frame.. there is enogh space there

3) about the brake system,, i need to go OFFTOPIC to show pictures as i have this system in my V12 swapped cabrio





I used the M70 E32 25mm mastercylinder and a bomb with inbuilt regulator from an E28 M30 car,, if the Brakepedal feeling is like ,,, EXTREMELY hard,, and then suddenly brakefeel
the rubberflake inside the boomb is worn and thats why you have this ,, i just changed the bomb on my E34 V12 and the car feels like new,, this behavior on the brakes is IMO very dangerous,, so change the bomb NOW,,,,,,,,,,,, ther are 2 types of bomb.. 1 and 2 pipes,, the 1 pipe is hard to find,, and is a male ,, vs 2 pipe bomb is female,, just blind the other hole and thats it,, i did that

[Alpina]

Any news or updates ?

[downforce22]

Only news is I dropped the car off at a friends shop to perform compression and leak down test.

[downforce22]

No compression in cylinder #4. On the leakdown test, the air was flowing out the exhaust so it leads me to believe the exhaust valve(s) on cylinder 4 are the problem. Will look at valve shims and see what it looks like under the valve cover next.

[Eric]

Unless there is no gap (there should be) between the shim and the camshaft when the lobes are pointed up (compression stroke) and thus causing the valve to not close all the way, then you have another problem... probably a bent valve.

A bent valve is far far far more likely the cause of the bad leak down.

[tschultz]

I have a package of extra shims and the valve adjust tool if you need, fyi.

[3toedshewie]

wow, very happy for you man! Reading your story I could feel your excitement when you were checking out the car . love it. craigslist is magical.

[downforce22]

So I heard back about the cylinder head. I will be rebuilding the head including a full refresh if necessary. This is what I heard from back from the mechanic.

The valve lash is all over the place across the valves, ranging between +.51mm to -0mm. The second exhaust valve on cylinder 4 was the tightest, with the shim removed though it still has 98% leakage. The exhaust valve is burnt. Spec is .28-.33 mm.

Will be updating this thread with progress, but I expected this with the way the car ran.

[downforce22]

I just came back from the shop and looking at the car. Man was it great to see it again, it quickly got my heart racing and my adrenaline going.

The car was on the lift which was great to finally get a look underneath and the engine tear down process had begun. Please excuse the photos, I will get better once the car is back together.



The intake plenum had to come off and hopefully that will help with the brake accumulator that needs to be replaced.



The valvetrain looked good but cylinder number 4 exhaust is the culprit.



We raised it up to get a good look underneath and found a lot of interesting things. The car is far from perfect.



The most notable which you can kind of see here is the oil pan. There was a tig weld running along the front subframe. Apparently the pan did not fit over the subframe and rather than lowering the subframe like most s38 swaps call for, this one trimmed the section out of the oil pan and rewelded it so it would fit. The weld goes to the back of the subframe.



Other findings:

- The exhaust goes from dual 2.5" SS midsection to dual 2" or 2.25" inlets for a stock e30. Maybe they were trying to get past inspection in germany? What kind of muffler would you guys suggest for this? I want it loud and raspy but not droney on the highway.

- The front subframe is not lowered, but the motor mounts are raised.

- The driver side control arm has an offset bushing while the passenger looks dry rotted and is not offset

- The springs all around are rusty and old looking. It seemed to drive fine but I can't tell what brand they are and may need some lowering springs. What do you guys think would be a good option?

- I noticed the exhaust manifold has some sort of ports for cylinder 1-3 under the coolant reservoir, not sure what those are for.

- The passenger motor mount arm is crazy as it essential bends around the exhaust manifold with about a half inch or less of clearance.

- It has a 3.64 Diff on it right now, that should be perfect for the engine and tire combination though I would like more tire in the rear.

- Most bushings look tired but not completely shot. They ought to be replaced eventually.

- I need a skid plate, the pan is so low to the ground.


Other comments:

It seems the swap was done a long time ago. Most of the underbody components of the car is rusty like the mount arms, the tranny mount, the rear diff, strut housings, and the hoses are cracking on some of the rubber. I am assuming the swap was done about 10 years ago, the M5 would have been 15 years old and not worth as much as they are today, The owner probably loved the car but knew something was wrong with cylinder 4, or that it needed some work before selling to the PO who drove while stationed in Germany. I bet the car never quite ran perfect and that it just got worse coming to the US. Hopefully this will dial in the engine and brake system and I can address the other issues like the exhaust and the suspension next.

I ordered new hose clamps, valve cover plastic to house the wires, and an e30 m3 coolant reservoir. That and a new coat of paint on the intake manifold should really clean up the engine bay. Stay tuned, but I will not be posting another update for a while since drive4corners is next week and the head will be getting worked on.



Edit: I also found M5W's thread on e30tech for his s38 swap. He had the same issue with the turbulators in the radiator on his s38 e30.

So when I was taking my radiator setup apart to swap in the Z3M rad in I found something interesting in my rad hoses.



I had a bunch of these plastic stringy things in the upper rad hose, they were clumped up all the way to my thermostat. Pretty sure this could have been why my cars temps cubed in the hottest days of last summer. Outside of those days the cars temps were good. Thinking I should throw the e28 rad back in and see, leave the S54 rad on the shelf until I know I need it. I'm pretty sure the plastic stripes were in the rad and I either forgot to take them out or they were stuck in the radiators cores.

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95704&page=32

[GDA]

Keep after it. Always lusted at the thought of a S38 powered E30.

As a current S38B38 owner, the ports on the exhaust manifold are for setting the CO mixture as a part of the throttle balancing process. There should be a small pinky finger sized pipe on each exhaust for inserting a CO probe. Not sure why you don't have any on cyl 4 thorugh 6.

[Eric]

VIN #336 Craigslist Find. S38 Swapped Euro E30

I'd try and fit an Eisenmann race e34 M5 muffler, they sound fantastic on the s38.

For the rusty springs, ground control coil overs is a great starting point.


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[downforce22]

I'd try and fit an Eisenmann race e34 M5 muffler, they sound fantastic on the s38.

For the rusty springs, ground control coil overs is a great starting point.


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I'm not sure I can justify a $1500 muffler, but am interested in the other options I have. It would be nice to keep it flanged all the way back.

I'm planning to go with Vogtland lowering springs, the rear adjustable spax struts will stay and possibly bilstein's in the front if I need to replace the front struts. I'm picking up a new accumulator this weekend for the brakes and am curious to see if the brakes will be up to the task with the extra power. The rear brakes are slotted rotors, but I'm not sure if the fronts are stock diameter or not. I'm not too familiar with the rwd e30s.

What other upgrades are common on the s38b36? I read about some of the tensioner components being upgraded from s50 engines but since it is the internet I do take it with a grain of salt. Since I don't have history on the engine I want to make sure the top end is atleast taken care of.

http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e34-m5-discussion/128111-s50b32-chain-tensioner-upgrade-s38b36-s38b38.html#post1460820

[downforce22]

I pulled the trigger on the S50 tensioner upgrade so that is on the way. The cylinder head is off and this is the only picture I have at the moment. It turns out the valve would not have lasted very long in its condition and may have grenaded the motor if I kept driving it.

Take a look at this carnage on cylinder number 4.



In the meantime, i found this cool video on the m3. I like the comparison to Davey Crockett :rofl:

It makes me so excited about this engine.

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

[kensol20]

Wish I could afford an m3

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[pbsun]

I don't have an M3 but damn that vid makes me wanna get my e30 back on the road asap

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