VIN #336 Craigslist Find. S38 Swapped Euro E30

[clarkson]

Love this thread. You have 2 extra cylinders than me, other than that same story!

[Alpina]

I have the same solution in my V12 swap...

works really well

[Eric]

Good stuff. Im sure tom has experience with the brake bomb since he owns a fleet of cars equipped with them, but those symptoms are a classic sign of a bad diaphragm in the brake bomb. The photo of both looks like the bomb is used? I'd heavily consider replacing with new since it would be a horrible PITA to do it when the engine is all back together!


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[Kevinl]

Cool build I love M88/S38's wish more e30's had them but I guess an S54 is a more economical choice

[pandaboo911]

The car is sweet an all but everything about it screamed the person who did the swap was a hack. Glad to see its being done properly.

[downforce22]

A few minor updates on the car.

The intake plenum actually has an emblem with an adhesive on it covering the shaft for the butterfly valve that is in the intake plenum as seen in this picture. I thought the motorsport stripe was painted on but it is actually a bmw part number 72601312802.



I was able to source a new emblem so here is the old part that I am keeping for the 'Wall of Shame' parts collection that I have going. I figured if I was going to paint the plenum I might as well add a new M stripe on the plenum.



So I was able to get the plenum and valve cover media blasted down to bare metal and begin the repainting process. There seems to have been a repaint on the plenum before as the paint was just falling off in certain areas and adhered much better in others. I went for the black OEM look with the wrinkle finish. I plan to have the lettering ground down back to the silver polished aluminum look like it came from the factory. Here is after paint on the valve cover and half of the plenum.



Now here is a picture the next day after the wrinkle took affect. Unfortunately it started to drip in a few places but the wrinkle style hides most of that. One thing to notice is this rectangular cutout on the plenum. This is the area closest to the drivers side firewall and was obviously done by somebody after the fact. I believe it was cut and rewelded for clearance between the plenum and either the master cylinder or the heater core lines. I will have to verify when it is back in the car.



I painted the other components Friday and will be doing reassembly this week. With any luck the intake should be back together, the cam tray back on the car, and it will be one step closer to completion. I had ordered new hose clamps for the throttlebodies so those are on and hopefully it will help clean up the engine bay. One issue I can't remember if I told you guys was the brakes. Upon hard braking there would be no response in the brakes immediately. So you would naturally press harder. After some time the brakes would respond and almost immediately lock up from your braking force. Now this car does not use the traditional brake booster and uses the e23/e28 hydroboost system with a brake bomb or accumulator. It it bolted to the funky looking rusty 'mount' off the driver side strut tower. Seen here in this picture. There is another shot showing how tight it is before everything was taken apart.





So I got around to replacing that and it was very tough to remove, even with the entire intake out. I hope to take this apart again and atleast clean up this rusty looking bracket and maybe paint it silver. And I know it doesn't look like it in this photo, but old accumulator on the left and new one on the right. We should now have brakes. :woowoo:



I was able to get my hands on the head that came off the car and thought you all would like to see these pictures. As it turns out there were cracks in 4 or 5 of the combustion chambers. I tried to get some better photos and some of these are tough to see. Obviously cylinder 4 was the worst one as it has 3 cracks!! I guess that explains the lack of compression. Somebody hadn't been doing their maintenance on time.





Cylinder 1 - Two cracks


Cylinder 2 - Appears good


Cylinder 3 - Two cracks


Cylinder 4 - Three cracks


Cylinder 5 - Two cracks


Cylinder 6 - One crack


Here is another close up of cylinder 4.


And for those of you interested, here is the intake port on the s38 head.




As well as the exhaust port.




I did trade this bad head and a small amount of cash for the b36 head i posted about earlier in this thread which only had one small crack. Though I doubt i will ever use it, it can't be a bad thing to have a spare head around. This one looks to only need a little work to be back to good shape. I also replaced those cracked brake fluid lines so I can cross one more thing off the list.



Things left to do as of now:
- Bolt intake plenum back together
- Install cam tray and cams
- Install upgraded timing chain tensioner
- Install New Water Pump
- Bolt exhaust onto head
- Reinstall throttlebodies and intake plenum
- Reinstall ignition system and new timing/spark plug covers
- Reinstall radiator and cooling system
- Weld on hood hinge bracket and install new hood shock
- Install skid plate
- Find a radio for the dash that looks period correct

After that we should be back in business. After looking at the cracks in the head, I am still surprised the car even ran!!

[downforce22]

I decided while intake plenum was off, it would make sense to clean it and paint it. Same goes for the valve cover.

Since I haven't posted many pictures in a while, here are some more picture including the disassembly of the two piece intake plenum. I'm gonna paint it black OEM looking and RealOEM sells the colored M sticker for the plenum so I will replace that for a clean look. The throttle bodies, alternator, thermostat, radiator, and oil filter housing need some work so i may try to polish those up to get eh bay looking nice.



The butterfly that increases midrange torque.


a better photo




and disasssembled














Stay tuned, this should be getting back together in another month (hopefully less!) ;D

[Eric]

thanks for info. Back to s38 epicness

I forgot to add... The whole rig, including all the little stuff you don't account for is less than an equivalent blue or red box.

Not saying the blue/red guys aren't better, just that it wasn't economical for me as a hobbyist.


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[destroyer]

This thread gives me hope that I will find an amazing deal on an e30. Patience is a virtue! Awesome read!

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Don't want to hijack Ted's sweet thread, but this is roughly what I've spent

-Alpha-tig: $749 shipped
-HF welding cart: $150ish
-Argon bottle: $280 w/ fill
-superlfex line & #19 torch: $80
-Tig finger + pyrex cup: $70
-Consumables & rod: $120
-Miller auto-dark helmet: $280
-Gloves (should be a consumable): $60 & counting (4th pair)
-Other PPE: $115 (jacket/pants/safety glasses/earplugs etc)

Probably more I'm forgetting.

thanks for info. Back to s38 epicness

[Eric]

How much did that setup cost you? Ive been wanting to get a tig for some time now.

Don't want to hijack Ted's sweet thread, but this is roughly what I've spent

-Alpha-tig: $749 shipped
-HF welding cart: $150ish
-Argon bottle: $280 w/ fill
-superlfex line & #19 torch: $80
-Tig finger + pyrex cup: $70
-Consumables & rod: $120
-Miller auto-dark helmet: $280
-Gloves (should be a consumable): $60 & counting (4th pair)
-Other PPE: $115 (jacket/pants/safety glasses/earplugs etc)

Probably more I'm forgetting.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Ja!

How much did that setup cost you? Ive been wanting to get a tig for some time now.

[Pantless Spency]

fucking hell!!!!! I am sooooooo jelly, this is what dreams are made of.....

[Eric]

Ja!

[downforce22]

Good news!

Buy the pipes and I'll weld up your exhaust.


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Do you have a TIG?