VIN #336 Craigslist Find. S38 Swapped Euro E30

[tschultz]

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

[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.

[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.

[downforce22]

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

[Alpina]

Any news or updates ?

[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

[Eric]

Ted,

You have the E32 750 / E28 M5 hydraboost brake booster setup, that is the thin pipe thing before the brake master cylinder that bolts to the firewall. The brake bomb is to the left of the hydraboost, between the hydraboost the fenderwell. I would suspect the brake bomb is toast if it needs a pump or a bit of time to boost brake pressure. That one time we went to HPR, my M5 was acting very similar to what you discribe.

Those lines that look bad from the brake reservoir to the brake master look like normal rubber tubing, not a specific part.

Your coolant system looks to be a South African E30 335i radiator that is common on M30 swapped cars. Your front end coolant stuff looks like M88/S38B35, as the B36 is too big for the E30.

I have a compression tester you are welcome to use.

[diegom6]

I bet this thing is a blast to drive!! I keep dreaming about my B38 swapped in a e30!! The sound and how it keep pulling is amazing!

Congrats in your new adquisition. And that's some nasty gap in your engine bay :P

[fight4life28]

Wonderful car you got there, That was a great catch and your lucky you got of hold of the car before anyone could snatch it up. Keep up the great work.

[tschultz]

At some point you will have to see the stock E28 brake bomb and master cylinder. I have the stock E24/28 brake master out of the car if you want photos. The orientation they sit in sort of look familiar to me though. Maybe worth checking out on my E28 M5 when you come up with weekend.

Your symptoms may indeed be a bad bomb, especially if the brake light flickers during. I'd first make sure that your brake lines are nicely bled and no air is compressing in the system...

[kronus]

That's a factory E28 535i radiator, or a similar one. The passenger-side downpipe is a one-off. The coolant tee to the head's water channel is weird, there's supposed to be a coolant temp sender there.

No idea on your brake system, but those lines are generic, and it's ok to replace them with other generic lines - they're cut to length and don't hold pressure.

That throttle cable and bracket are probably off an M30. The lower flat bracket looks custom.

[downforce22]

I keep looking back at this thread, I love this car, instantly one of my favorite e30's ever. If you were closer I would probably be begging you to sell it to me.

In regards to your video though, I think it's not running too well. It should rev/be a lot faster, unless that wasn't WOT. I may be wrong, but my e34 m5 revved a lot quicker than that, and weighed probably 800 lbs more. I would maybe do compression and leakdown tests, see whats going on.

Still, beautiful car. One of the best craigslist finds I've ever seen

Thanks, a compression test is my next course of action except maybe a better video of course. ;D I agree though, even though I am at 6000 ft it still should pull harder if everything were right.

More pictures from engine bay ??

The plastic you found has come out of the tubes in the radiator - it's there to make the water swirl in the tube & make the radiator more efficient. As it was designed to have them, just keep an eye on your temps for a while to make sure the radiator is up to the task without them... But it could have been like it for a while!

Thanks, this is good to know. We shall see how it affects things. How would those tubes come out of the radiator though? Age?

It appears that the cap is missing the center carbon post, it might have broke off when you removed the cap or you can tell if it was missing by the rotor if there is a shiny spot where it rides on it or if it is just all arced up. By the looks of the rotor it look like it might be black from arcing and will definitely cause a bad missfire

Very nice catch! I hadn't noticed that.


To follow up with some more photos, here are some specifics on the engine conversion. I definitely need to repaint a few things and clean some parts up but I figured I'll show you guys what I'm working with.







Here is the cooling system. Alpine, can you identify the components used for the swap? I do not know what radiator it is, but it is very thin and has some bent fins.















Then I looked at the brake/ clutch system. I cannot find a brake bomb, but here is the fill and reservoir. The lines need replacing but I am not sure what part number they could be.











It has ABS but I am not sure it works. The light came on the dash when I filled it with gas. The brakes have a strange power delay. When I press them, there is no initial bite and after about a second delay they build up pressure and grab hard and it starts to lock up the wheels (rears I think). Very dangerous in an emergency scenario. Is this a sign of a bad brake bomb, or air in the lines?





Some rust beneath the modified air filter/ bracket

The wiring was done well. I think it just connects up to the e30 C101.

I haven't looked at an s38b36 before so I am not sure if this bracket is factory or not for the throttle cable.



And a shot of the injectors. I am guessing these white tops are factory?



Also, it looks like the rears have the SPAX adjustable rear shock absorbers.

http://www.europerformance.co.uk/pages/products/category_results.mhtml?category=spaxadjustableshocksrear;car=bmw3e30;manufacturer=spax;sub_category=1

[whodwho]

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It appears that the cap is missing the center carbon post, it might have broke off when you removed the cap or you can tell if it was missing by the rotor if there is a shiny spot where it rides on it or if it is just all arced up. By the looks of the rotor it look like it might be black from arcing and will definitely cause a bad missfire

[lukeADE335i]

The plastic you found has come out of the tubes in the radiator - it's there to make the water swirl in the tube & make the radiator more efficient. As it was designed to have them, just keep an eye on your temps for a while to make sure the radiator is up to the task without them... But it could have been like it for a while!

[Alpina]

More pictures from engine bay ??