I have an E 30.

[Nader393]

Now that it's raining, work is going to slow down. Took refuge under the car, and changed the new-to-me transmission's oil as part of my effort to baseline it. Don't know what was gear oil was in it, but it probably wasn't any better than Swepco 201. German cars love this pretty blue/green stuff. Gonna put it in the diff, too.

[Nader393]

Locals will know that today is the last dry day of this remarkably dry spell of weather we've had in the Seattle area (excluding last night's brief rain). Since I'm doing all this outside, this is my last day to button up the project before the fall/winter/spring perma-rain arrives, so I need to hustle.

Here's where I am today. Just need to bolt up the remaining pulleys, fan, radiator, attach the spark plug leads and rotor, coolant/heater hoses, ancillaries like PS, AC, alternator, their attendant belts, and the replacement (intact) harness. Oh, and the exhaust. I swapped in the other bundle-o-snakes, because they fit better than the prior IE long tube headers in the engine bay. Switching headers means I'll need to attach the rest of the exhaust system that goes with it, which I'm glad I got with the extra engine.

[Nader393]

Hi Evan, thanks for checking in and enlightening me about the build. Sorry you got swindled. Despite my gripes, all things considered, if this were your first attempt at a car build, it still came out really good. And now, after some additional TLC and tying up of loose ends, it's great.

You put A LOT of really well-thought upgrades into the car, especially the chassis, to make it every bit as fun to drive as my P-car and F-car. The steering and suspension are razor sharp! The body is clean, and the interior is beautiful. The fact that I can drive it (hard) every day without much worry makes it that much better.

The car, despite the stock-ish faker engine (eff that guy!), still felt fast because of that short (4.10) differential. Which, BTW, is perfect for my short commute of surface streets. I'm really looking forward to seeing what a real 2.7 stroker with a hot cam does to the experience. When it's all buttoned up and I'm satisfied with the performance, I'll take it back to the same dyno (Carburetor Connection) to document the improvement, which there better be!

Now, back to the pictures. Here I go installing the fresh timing belt and tensioner. The belt is American, the tensioner is German. I now have a little collection of functioning tensioners.

[ebox86]

Hey Nader, nice build thread on this! I haven't followed this thread much since we last chatted after you acquired the car from Hank. Your attention to detail is really great on this build. I think i can clear up a couple questions here regarding the car.

First off, you can check out my original build thread here, which shows the car upon arrival from Robert to almost complete state, post paint: https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=307348

I didn't much update that thread after that, not sure why. But you can see what the car started out as. They picked it up as a mostly beat up, AW on beige automatic from a farm in Oregon. The trunk was pretty dirty and the drivers side door had overextended itself from a wind gust.

Honestly, wouldn't even be slightly surprised if Robert switched the engine out, in an attempt to fuck someone over.

This^^ i am almost certain is the case. I paid $3k for the engine and i have check stubs to robert and max to prove it. Total out the door cost of the car + their labor + parts + rental space was ~$7k. The original deal was for that to include paint, which it later did not lol, so that was an extra $2500. He billed that and marketed that engine as having the MM 2.7 kit installed, thats what he would always say and the line he fed me during the entire build process at his shop.

So i, being the naive person that i was 4 years ago, went along with it and didn't have a strong reason to doubt him. Although highsight is always 20/20 and today there would have been a million red flags that i would have been privy to. Oh well, we live and we learn. But i carried the idea that it had the MM kit installed with me during my ownership of the car, not really digging into it that much to verify otherwise. I never had it dyno'd and didn't take the head off. As time went on and Robert and i's relationship soured, especially after they had all that really sketch, shady shit go down at their shop on 99, I did express increasing skepticism about the engine, and i relayed that to Hank when i sold it. So thats the story about the engine.

I continued to dig into the engine I removed from the car. When I pulled the intake manifold off the head, these were the untouched gasket arrangements that greeted me. Check out the inlet restrictors on cylinders #1 and #5.

I remember expressing concern about this when we went to install the headers. The original guy who built the engine, Idanity, told me he polished and ported the ports here. In some spots that made it so the stock gasket covered over certain areas that had been widened. Robert said this was fine because, the way he explained it is the hot exhaust gases would widen the gasket over time to the correct diameter of the opening.. :drink: crazy i know and not sure why i believed him but we had some arbitrary time crunch to get the headers bolted on and block plunked back into the car. We were also working with their shop mechanic at the time.

Biggest surprise was when I stuck that 7mm allen wrench into the driver rear caliper, and found that both glide pins were nonexistent.

Oops..

Car came to me with map lights on the rearview mirror. They never worked, and it's one of those small things that pisses me off. So I finally dug into it, not sure what I'd find since it's a bit of a Frankencar with very few original parts.

Looks like there is some wiring with (incorrect) bullet connectors, but nothing to plug into.

This was another Robert job, he 'gifted' that to me at the very end of the build and installed it when i was working on some other part of the car. They never worked when i owned it.

Glad you Jabronis are enjoying this.

As I dig into this engine, it reminds me of the other hacks I found in the chassis. Like this little wire harness jem. Why am I not surprised? And I'm not even showing pictures of the dangling extra crank sensor or speed sensor (who knows?) that was zip-tied to a coolant hose. Fortunately, the extra engine, the bench warmer that is now my starting quarterback, came with an intact harness, so I'll use that instead.

[ATTACH]123878[/ATTACH]

The chassis harness i don't remember. Which part of the harness is this? I'm not remembering anything being cut like that, unless the harness that was on there like that when we got it and just covered up. Given the state of that electrical tape, i'm surprised it has given someone electrical issues yet.

As for the extra crank sensor, lol i DO remember that So we were trying to start it one day, after we had put the engine in and all put together and it wouldn't start. I believe it had already started previously but this was several days/weeks later after sitting and it wouldn't start, so we suspected CPS since thats one of the causes for m20's to have trouble starting if everything else has been checked. Also the current CPS was of dubious state anyway, so we didn't trust it and grabbed a CPS from one of the parts cars Robert had on his lot. Given the rather intricate wire routing of the CPS on the M20 block and head, in our haste to get the car started, i believe we just laid the cable on top of the head and tucked it in a bit. Turned out to be fuel delivery IIRC to be the culprit, so that 2nd CPS is actually good. I had totally forgot about that second CPS still being installed until reading the above post. Double Oops.

Oh, and this. I found a Taiwanese 1/4" drive 13mm socket lodged in the power steering pump's bracket. I am SO NOT SURPRISED to find an undersized cheap tool left behind in the assembly of this car.

Hah, that socket is def Roberts. I'm surprised you haven't found more TBH.

[Nader393]

Gasket in place, and head carefully lowered. I think this completes all the heavy lifting for this project. Now I just need to bolt things back together and reattach all the bits. Starting to look like an engine again.

[Nader393]

Schrick is in place, head is reassembled.



I don't recommend bringing dirty old major engine parts into your home, especially when you have small kids running around. But I will say, it's kind of nice, relaxing, even, to leisurely set valve clearances while sitting in an office chair, sipping on a nice latte...



Prepped the block and head mating surfaces with razor blades, solvent and a wire cup on a hand drill to finish, super clean! Satisfying. Never use abrasives around the engine's moving parts. People recommending Scotchbrite and Rolocs for these occasions make me cringe. Wire brush or cup only.

[DBShiznit]

I hate threads that show good work and attention to detail like this. Makes my OCD that much worse and I become more of a perfectionist towards my car. Yes.. I Sub'd...

[TheWipprSnappr]

Welcome to the Dark Side....we will call you Darth Nader

[Nader393]

Can't believe I went through this effort. Do ya get it? Do ya?



Can't believe I'm becoming one of you friggin e30 nerds.

[Nader393]

So I decided to install a known standard as a baseline. Schrick 284.

[Nader393]

Tiring of testing "mystery cams" from these two heads I've collected. I'm not sure what's what, nor what's good. Why am I bothering over this, and subjecting my family to this miserable folly? Two oily e30 heads in the den? What's wrong with me? Kids, don't be like me.

[Nader393]

Though sometimes (understandably) mistaken for a force of nature, I am still a one-man operation. Despite that, I was able to, with much grunting and beer, wrestle the shortblock+transmission into place. Someone before me lovingly painted the block grey.






Big boy F-350 Powerstroke looks on in approval. He's partly responsible for this fiasco. I wouldn't have bothered with this arduous engine swap if that crazy truck wouldn't have dragged the extra engine home.

[Nader393]

I've seen that hair and shirt before - you're Richard Rawlings!

Maybe, if I weren't so slow and quiet...

Plugging away: The prior transmission had a "Getrag rattle" (not the T.O. bearing), and I'm hoping this one doesn't. Flywheel was machined, and I put in a fresh clutch and pressure plate. Bolting it up to the backup 2.7 stroker, while using the fasteners from the prior engine, I discovered it was missing more fasteners (a recurring theme), including a pretty important 12mm engine to tranny bolt. Nice.

[Ludwig]

Job is incomplete until this happens: Obligatory man-in-engine-bay shot. Had to obscure my face because I am incredibly handsome for a middle aged guy, and I can't have the general public's girlfriends and wives stalking me... again.

For this picture, just imagine an incredibly handsome, swarthy middle aged guy, with a smirk of m20 extraction satisfaction.

I've seen that hair and shirt before - you're Richard Rawlings!



Nice thread, i love it. Had quite the laugh.

[e30davie]

I love a bit of well documented automotive archaeology.

Very enjoyable reading through your thread. As you were.