VIN #336 Craigslist Find. S38 Swapped Euro E30

[jpod999]

Normally I'm against raising ride height. In this case though, wow your car looks great at that height!

[e30m3s54turbo]

I had the same problem on over heating. I bought a new e28 m5 radiator for my s38 (m88). The 29 year radiator was clogged up with calcium build up. The e28 535i will keep he s38 cool..

[rzerob]

It looks a lot better, now you can get meatier tires.

[downforce22]

I had some time to work on the car a bit more the other weekend.

First off, the old ac fan did not help the overheating issue. I installed a spal thin mount fan and it has helped to keep temps down. I test drove the car in 90F and it still creeps up at idle or after a hard run. I thought about replacing the radiator with an s54 z3 radiator but the mounts used fit a late model e30 and mine has the early model radiator mounts.

So I ordered an e28 535i radiator and it is on its way. I'm thinking new unbent fins and better condition overall should help the engine cooling, we will see.

My brother came to visit as we were planning to do a track day but it was cancelled at the last minute. So after i showed him the car and I was talking about things i need to do, I mentioned the ride height.

The skid plate would scrape on my ramp driveway while entering/exiting slowly at an angle. It was literally less than 2 inches off the ground. As we talked I remember my spare set of springs and before we knew it we were pulling the front wheels off to test.

It turns out the front struts are also spax adjustable dampers like the rears so those stayed on and the old rusty springs were taken out.

This did the trick and raised the front atleast an inch and leveled out the ride height. I'll let a few pictures do the talking.

[Anthony B]

I love this thread, the s38 is bmw perfection I find myself pondering the sale of organs to buy one.

Glad to see your work paying off as all the pieces come together on this car

[thorhack]

Dude, amazing find! You're in the springs as well?!? I have to see it *.*

[Eric]

I have one here you can test fit


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[downforce22]

Good work!

If you're having temp control issues, I'd also swap out your radiator - it's looking pretty old and ratty in the pics. That + the spal should sort it.

Yes, i was planning on that. i heard the s54 z3 radiator might work but I need to confirm dimensions first to see if it will fit.can anyone confirm dimensions for me?

[lukeADE335i]

Good work!

If you're having temp control issues, I'd also swap out your radiator - it's looking pretty old and ratty in the pics. That + the spal should sort it.

[AWDBOB]

Great update, and glad to see she's back on the road!

[rzerob]

I have been wondering about this car. I am glad to hear it is coming along nicely. I look forward to seeing it finished.

[kronus]

you should verify that you're getting the full throttle travel out of your gas pedal.

I'm glad it's together and running.

[downforce22]

After a few months, it is time for an update.

The car runs!! :devil:

So the last few months have been a whirlwind. I went on a road trip to the east coast with my friend to pick up a lotus elise, which we drove through new york and boston.







And back in Colorado.




Then I took a trip to Texas with my dad and his e46 m3. We stopped by circuit of the america's before my flight home.









I found this gem tucked away in a lonely garage.



But it also had some good company.









Unfortunately, I was offered a job and had to take it so my travels came to an end...

oh yeah, but that means I would now have a paycheck and be able to buy car parts. Remember those center caps I said I needed? Well, I finally got them installed.



And the engine bay looks a little better than before.

If you recall:


And now:


So what about the car? The pungent WunderBaum smell fills my nostrils as i slide into the drivers seat.



It is like a museum, or maybe a time machine to sit in this cockpit.





A twist of the key burbles the engine to life. My alternator must be bad because it has some hesitation.

Almost as if the car is trying to say 'are you sure you want to do that? ' to you. The idle is not lopey but bumbles along like a panting dog, breathing hard but wanting you to throw the ball one more time. As you set off the engine is not rev happy. It feels lethargic in first gear, maybe i'm too used to the peppy m42 these days.




I forgot how mechanical this engine and transmission are. The shifter throw is long. Longer than what I am used to; further back than a normal e30. With the sport seat hunkered down low, your wrist is almost at your ribcage when you go into second. This must be from the longer engine bay in the e24/e28/e34s (they all use the g280 trans mated to the s38).

The clutch is heavy and hard to engage smoothly. You basically take your foot off the clutch pedal completely, feel the engine revs equalize, then go for the gas in a rifle lock and load bolt-action type way. By 3000 rpm I can tell the engine runs better now. Or maybe the butterfly in the intake manifold is actually working since the vacuum lines were replaced.

So what kind of heart does this baby have? A flex of the right ankle pushes you into your seat gently. As the revs climb, the speedometer is trying to keep up and the seat back pushes more and more against you. When you get to 5000 rpm the engine is alive and the zip of the valvetrain sounds like a hummingbird next to your head. The exhaust is not raspy like other s38's I have driven, but quiet. Maybe that 325i muffler is a bottleneck and overdoing its job.

A third gear pull gets you up to 180+ km pretty easily. Not to mention the torque. Wow! It just pushes you back in your seat again before you realize your foot isn't even all the way down to the floor so you push it down more and it has more to give! Now I know why Lucifer's Hammer doesn't get driven in high boost mode often as it has twice the horsepower as this! (4.0L S38 Stroker Turbo http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=26880 )



A stab of the brakes squeals the tires. That hydroboost system works great on here. Somehow the rears grab while going straight with only 205s on them. Maybe it has to do with the longer 3.64 gears.



Now there are a few issues I need to sort out. The s38 is a hot engine and after only a minute of idling at a stoplight temps creep up to 3/4. With the heat blasting and the puny ac fan going it barely keeps it under control. I've got a spal pusher coming which should fix that.

Bits on the car are looking a bit faded so i need to repaint them black, as well as get new uncracked fog lights installed. I am hesitant to install them. I got a good deal on my spare set and I don't want them to get cracked too. There is a fuel leak from the gas tank somewhere, I saw it spilling out when i filled it up and could smell it afterwards.

The car has died on me a couple of times when I go to restart it in the parking lot. Luckily I have had friends riding with who helped me push start it. I changed batteries and only had 13 v at the battery while idling so I got a new voltage reg coming.

I still need to title the thing. I went to a dealer to get the process started with a VIN verification tonight. I tried to get him to mark it as a 1986 model but I made the mistake of bringing and showing him the shipping paperwork that called it an 84 so he wouldn't do it. His database could not decode the VIN. I am going to see what the local BMW dealer can do for me, otherwise I might just bring a VIN decoder with the car to another dealer and say I didn't have any other paperwork showing otherwise. Any thoughts? If I title the car, I want it to reflect the actualy correct information about the car.

Anyway, only one more teaser photo at the moment of when I got gas. More to come after its up to snuff.

[411]

........how would you like to sell your car to a "nice old german" from Canada?

[kronus]

is it together yet

is it awesome yet