VIN #336 Craigslist Find. S38 Swapped Euro E30

[Alpina]

That burnt valve..............

[Eric]

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.

How many turbo manifolds have you gone through on the euro ix? Probably would have been cheaper to buy the quality one first. I'm not saying drop $1500 on a new piece, but hunt down a good used one for $500 ish. E34 M5's are at the bottom of their depreciation so they are being parted out more than saved. In 3 years it will probably my be the other way around.

Btw, I bought my $2,000 Sterbo for the e28 brand new for $800. The guy bought it and never installed it. There are deals out there, you and your brothers are pro's at finding them!


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[SickFinga]

Good to know. The customs paperwork calls it that so I think they may have filled that out to get it over to the US without federalization being 25 years old back in 2009. That is purely speculation though.

Was it imported in 2009? Well, that explains the 1984 year and the lack of side markers. BTW, compare your VIN in the US registration documents to the VIN on the plate. Autocheck doesn't show history for your vehicles. Sometimes VIN is changed to a US complaint version when a grey market car is imported.

[Midweste30]

I know you said you can't justify spending $1500 on a muffled but the Eisenmann race exhaust sounds incredible!!! To die for. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wQq8H-ybBKc Listen to that and you may change your mind

[downforce22]

Which paperwork calls it an 84? US or German? It is impossible for it to be an 84 since 325i began mass production in September 1985

Good to know. The customs paperwork calls it that so I think they may have filled that out to get it over to the US without federalization being 25 years old back in 2009. That is purely speculation though.

[SickFinga]

When I ran the VIN it calls it a 1986 but the paperwork calls it a 1984

Which paperwork calls it an 84? US or German? It is impossible for it to be an 84 since 325i began mass production in September 1985

[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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[kensol20]

Wish I could afford an m3

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[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

[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

[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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[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.

[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

[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.

[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.