A Tale of 2 Sedans M42/S52

[eternal24k]

well, I figured I would throw some stuff together to help collect my thoughts on this whole thing.

For starters, a few months ago I saw an E30 on the market from a member that was pretty much the direction I wanted to go in, and landed a second black sedan with peeling clear coat from CA :drink:


And got straight to work, starting with suspension:

• Installed new Bilstein sport front and rear shocks
• H&R sport (already questioning these over race, but they were so cheap)
• JT Designs rear shock mount and Garagistic reinforcements
• Motorsport studs
• ST front and rear sway bar
• Garagistic 'Treehouse' control arm mounts for extra 24v exhaust clearance
• installed the 3.15 diff
• swapped in a crack free dash

And then prepped for the whole reason i got into this mess, a 24v E30...


Moved the S52 to my garage as I was working on it in my father's while I did a roof and slab in my garage all summer


And said good by to the lil M42






First thing i got to with the motor out was the brake booster. I decided on the X3 after seeing some with success using the E90 and this having the line direction a little more favorable.






overall the process went smoothly, kind of wish i had threaded down further as I am bottomed out in current position, but feels spot on with where the original was. I had to get some nicopp lines for the line that goes over the ABS and to the firewall side. It didn't help that i wasted some length with failed bubble flare attempts on the thick factory steel lines. I ended up getting the Eastwood turret flaring unit and it was a game changer, more than i wanted to pay but well worth it.

[eternal24k]

work continues...

[eternal24k]

and my friend in Germany just picked up these wheels for me ;D



HOPING they will work with RX7 BBK....

[fight4life28]

Great price for the LSD and 4 clutch would make it perfect.

[eternal24k]

while acquiring the remaining parts, i came across an R marked 3.15 LSD from a 1999 2.8L Z3 on Ebay down in Florida. The photos had a label i could barely make out "1428258/E3204J;3.15" and the only reference to that I could find was an anecdote with someone mentioning their diff with that label was a 4 clutch motorsport, so for $300 shipped and no rust I took a gamble.


and it arrived only a few days later! Label in worse condition, but otherwise looked good:


to my surprise, the fluid had not been drained, but it looked nice and clear


It's definitely not Torsen, am i correct in thinking this could be a 4 clutch motorsport diff?

[eternal24k]

Been a little slow, had a wheel bearing and alternator job on my E91, that and the snowboarding has been too good...

S52 progress:
SAP Delete, drilled rivets and removed the E34 baffle, safety wired oil pump nut, put a new crankshaft seal in, and replaced valve cover gasket.






Anybody know if there should be any play on the crankshaft hub? When i put on the hub/dampener it came with, it has a little play. I have one from an S50, that looks like it would need to be coerced on, but likely tighter. Not sure if I am overthinking it or not

[eternal24k]

And while getting ready to install the new accessory belt (which I learned that OEM length will not work with the underdrive pulley set ) I happened to reach over and grab the crankshaft bolt, which turned by hand :shock: While i am really glad i noticed it before dropping into the car, I am now worried as to WHY this bolt is loose as the seller told me they pulled the motor from their friends car and drove it into the garage to do so....

so after panicking as to what this could mean and why it was loose, I pulled the harmonic dampener to look at things. Woodruff key is in tact, but there were small shavings on the back of the pulley and a channel in the aluminum.... Figured out the previous owner reinstalled everything without the AC pulley when they did the delete and the bolts dug into the case. I will be shortening the bolts and putting it back together without the AC pulley and replacing the seal while I am there.

And what would be best for reinstalling the bolt (already ordered new one since it is TTY), is the fly wheel pin or the crank hub tool preferred/best?

[eternal24k]

Ultimately i decided it would be easier to part out the S50 and picked up a S52 with trans on Craigslist. It had a UUC underdrive pulley set and reportedly recent head rebuild.

As soon as I got the motor I started going through things with some service while it is easy and checking things over.
Spark plugs look like the valve cover is leaking, so valve cover gasket is coming


After plugs I turned to cooling. I had hoped the PO upgraded the water pump since they spent the money on pulleys and was happy to find a Stewart pump


Then i noticed the trans already had E21 mounts and cups



Then oil filter housing gasket since i hated that job so much on my E91



prepped for SAP delete (OEM plates did not fit, waiting on Turner)



Next is drilling out the rivets and installing the E34 oil pan:

[eternal24k]

Well i have been slowly been trying to make progress lining things up for swap in the spring. I swapped the Mtech1 wheel for a Mtech2, picked up some Euro grills and Bosch smileys as well as a Clarion head (which i loved in my old E36 M3).






Now that I have cockpit sorted (minus radio install) I can prioritize motor swap. Body and paint will be last order of march

[eternal24k]

Well, got the little wedge bulbs in so I can adjust temp at night...

Tried to get Radio going, it has power, but the fuse in the head was blown, i only had a 3.5 Amp fuse that fit, which blew as soon as the radio turned on and tried to use the tape adapter the PO put in it. I am hoping it will not blow with a 5 amp and let me get the tape out....

Any known issues with the defrost button? Looking at PO's service, he paid $40 for a new button, this one illuminated momentarily when I pulled it out, but havent gotten it to work again.

[eternal24k]

Looks good! Great progress
Random question: why do people blot out their license plates in online pics? Everyone can see your plate as you drive your car around town. I guess some crazy person could stalk you or run your plate number to find out where you live??
Anyway, it seems like a lot of trouble
carry on . . .

Very little trouble to blot out, but I do a lot of other forum stuff (guns and such) which i do not openly solicit on a day to day basis, so will remove a step to link them, depending on my mood

[MR E30 325is]

Excellent start!

[jdt10768]

Looks good! Great progress
Random question: why do people blot out their license plates in online pics? Everyone can see your plate as you drive your car around town. I guess some crazy person could stalk you or run your plate number to find out where you live??
Anyway, it seems like a lot of trouble
carry on . . .

[eternal24k]

had a little setback with the sport seats, passenger side is done and looking good, refreshed with new shocks.
Drivers side (the one that matters) has a broken frame I need to fix :(




Hoping I can weld without completely tearing it apart

[eternal24k]

Well, I have been pretty busy but did get some work done.
zcenterb was able to do the Z3 rack swap (as well as ps pump, ODO gears, and some other bits) while i was gone for a few weeks.

After that, I pulled what I was willing to do on the M42 with the goal of getting it running better (but realizing that the end goal is a S50/2 swap which may take some time).
So I pretty much did everything shy of head gasket to get it running better and leaking less (lower timing case still leaks)
In the process, i found several stripped threads packed with silicone, which I had to helicoil, and some other stuff such as no thermostat in the housing....

Just got it back on the road after:

• new spark plugs
• fuel filter
• thermostat and gasket
• water pump with metal impeller
• oil filter housing gasket and O ring
• air filter
• thorough degreasing of MAF, throttle body, etc
• valve cover gasket
• lower oil pan gasket
• complete ECS upgrade shifter rebuild with Turner bracket (didn't drop drive shaft since Guibo looked new)
• Z3 shifter
• ZHP knob
• Timing chain tensioner
• upper timing case gsakets

should i have any fuses in the small auxiliary box?


Next is finish shock swap on sport seats and tackle the dead radio (not a fuse, but hoping it's the internal fuse in the radio....)