e30mclow's e30 #14 - Now 1.5jz + 6 Speed

[2mAn]

Amazing update!

Simple_Smith this is why I'm constantly bugging people to update their threads

[s14brent]

solid update!

[peteb3]

996 C4s and E30s oh my, they do go well together, and an e34 M5 or two....keep up the great work and updates, its coming together, again

[e30mclow]

Lots going on, but not a lot to show for it.

I spent a lot of time cleaning up the engine bay and redoing the removable core support. I previously did it in such a way that the front fenders needed to be removed in order to remove the core support.
There was also some ancient damage that I finally got around to fixing. All brackets removed and things are looking smooth.

Before:


After (in primer):


The engine bay was pretty grim after having the engine in and out dozens of times. It took forever, but I stripped it all down and redid the chassis rails/tunnel with truck bed liner.












I then lost a bunch of time as the paint I had ordered ended up nothing like what I actually wanted. It was a mile off (in my opinion).







I shot a side by side of the actual color ordered, versus what it ended up being. Suffice to say I'm not redoing the bat and have a gallon of wasted money sitting on the shelf.
Desired shade on the left, received on the right.



Things came out way too "military" looking, so I've driven an hour away to a more reputable supplier to try and ensure a correct match. Being a total respray it wouldn't be too much of a deal if it were slightly off, but to me it is a different color completely.

At the rear, I've roughed in a number or repairs ahead of my final bodywork phase.
Someone else's sins..










I've also got the rear battery tray 90% complete and in primer ahead of final fettling and shultz-ing
Before:


After:


The last remaining larger operation is building a seriously strong trunk floor around where my previously modified diff mount lives.
(Old photo as a reminder)


The floor was starting to flex slightly again, so I'm going to be plating and reinstalling the floor with some strengthening to the rear shock towers. Just started that yesterday but I hope to have it finished by next weekend.

The holes are reliefs for some spot welding to the existing. I'll also be plating the underside.

[JasonWilson48]

Just went back through your whole build thread as I am relatively new around here. Every post you make gives me more confidence I can tackle larger jobs. Like I'm putting off dropping the diff to reseal it properly, and you're out here fabricating EVERYTHING, and repeatedly dropping all of the running gear. I just am afraid once I start pulling everything apart, the car will sit, and I won't have a running car for months on end as life gets in the way.

Oh well, stuff has to get done. This winter has some projects in store for myself.

Awesome, build. This also makes me want to do a turbo build in the future in some car in a future project. Not exclusively in an E30. Your videos are great.

[peteb3]

she's coming along nicely

[e30mclow]

Good God, I'm long overdue an update. This is a mash of several posts from a local forum, just to catch things up here.


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I didn't get to the car for a couple of months as it was a busy time of year. I'm recently back at it and decided that "while I'm at it", I'll try to get the engine and box back another 1-1.5".

My limiting factors are two things
1. The engine mounts that I bought years ago aren't great. The passenger side mount was at maximum extension on the mounting slot, meaning it dictated how far back the engine sat. Oddly, the driver side still had another inch of adjustment, you just couldn't do it due to the passenger side.

2. The electronic brake booster is tiiiiight. I had to shave both it and the intake manifold where the engine already sat, let alone before sitting it back further. The proximity also meant the intake manifold needed to come off to get the engine in/out. Dose.

A hair is all that was in it..


So to do anything about issue #1, the booster had to move. I decided on 1/2" over and 1" down. This is because science.
Feeling very fancy, I made and printed a 3d template to ensure everything would line up between the booster, the firewall, and the pedal box once all is said and done.

The three studs locate the new holes/template via the existing mounting holes, which are to be welded closed later.




After first modifying the pedal box by filling the pushrod hole and extending the mounting plate to take the new bolt locations, I welded the firewall closed.






Then I printed a plug that snapped into the template to give me an accurate hub-centric guide for where the booster protrudes into the firewall. Ignore the messy print as the plug and template are sacrificial and get drilled through.






With that she bolted up perfectly in its relocated home, awaiting modification of the pedal (easy).
I don't know how I'll bend the lines tight enough but that is a problem for later.



..and with the engine back in, perfect!


Next was the mounts. Here is how far off of the firewall I was previously limited


Not bad, but it'd be nice to free up space at the front of the engine for what will hopefully be air conditioning.
I previously used hockey pucks as engine mounts and they served me very well @ $2 each, but the engine needs to come up 1/4" to get the sump over the steering rack. I've decided to use upgraded standard e30 mounts, which I of course didn't have yet, so....like a broken record I 3d printed some for mockup (they aren't load bearing as the engine is supported in place from above.

What follows is a hybrid mix of technology and cardboard aided design.

Mount and a baseplate for the soon to be 1/4" steel bracket.


Plate for the block.


In the absence of brains, cardboard trimmed to fit the gap between the two..


Then copied into 3D


That all then gets scribed with confidence onto the steel which arrives in a few days. I'll add a buttress of course, but those are the crucial dimensions hopefully sorted. Once welded up I'll cut any unnecessary fat off of the brackets with the plasma cutter.

Hopefully once everything settles on the mounts, and I've modified the gearbox mount, it'll rest here compared to the starting point.


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I made up the engine mounts after the above 3D templates seemed to work out. They came out absolutely dead nuts level, which is a miracle honestly. I'm going to slot the holes for the stud on the e30 rubber mounts to give me some wiggle when lining things up. I'll also cut some meat out of them as they are a little overkill.





With the engine in (for now) I also wanted to see where I can put the ABS pump. Unfortunately there is nowhere out of the way, so it will sit here on the bottom right of the photo.



Now for the trunk. I've been putting this off for what feels like months as the thought of crawling in/out and welding, grinding, and painting in there was fairly daunting.

This was the gaping hole in the floor from the underside looking up.


I had butchered it so many times with temporary fixes as it kept ripping/moving. More power, more problems.


I made up thick reinforcement plates for up top, along the turrets, and underside. I then proceeded to get very sunburnt as I couldn't weld inside the boot with a mask on (no space).



I also fashioned a panel to close up the hole and allow access to the ARB brackets. The holes punched around the perimeter were to allow me to spot weld it in with the MIG.




I then did what I shouldn't have done and was pressed for time and bought a brush on seam sealer I hadn't used. Well, a hot breezy day meant that this stuff was going tacky in a matter of moments. I should have held off for my usual stuff to arrive, as the finish isn't what I hoped for. Technically it doesn't matter as there'll be carpet etc, but you know how it is.



Then I went with truck bed liner for the floor and up onto the towers.


Followed by another epoxy coat to kill the black seam sealer from showing through, then two base coats, and finally clear.
A word to anyone that may be unaware, but you genuinely can't see a thing with all the overspray flying back out at you. Everyone says that painting an engine bay is bad, but inside a trunk has to be the worst.

If you recall, I had a batch of paint that wasn't the right color, so I'm using that up in the areas where the sun doesn't shine (boot, inside, inner arches and underside).





Next up will be removing the engine again and fixing up/painting the underside, followed by the interior. I'm excited to get beyond that and onto the actual body of the car.

In other news, I'll be doing something like this to the subframe in order to drop the diff a little to compensate for the raised subframe, while allowing the 3" prop to have a little more clearance (not my photo/car)



While in a moment of weakness I went and spent as much as the initial cost of the car on headlights. Bi-LED items that are something else. Proper 2025 tech with shuttering LED high to low beams. Silly, but it'll make the thing far more enjoyable.







In prep for what will be weeks of block sanding I had a brainwave to make improved blocks vs previous attempts in this thread. More 3d printing, this time with blocks made to the measurements of my own hands. They work beautifully!




-----------------------------------------

Almost forgot this brainwave that should hopefully work out. In going to newer ABS, I'll now have two independent lines going to each rear wheel from the front, as opposed to a single with a tee in the old setup. As I love having a hydro, this created the issue where I'd need to have two pass through master cylinders in order to actuate the two calipers simultaneously. This was going to be bulky and expensive, with the alternative being adding secondary calipers, which won't look nice in my opinion.

In digging online I found these dual piston, independent dual circuit master cylinders which are seemingly used to lock rear wheels in an offroad/rock crawler, while also hydraulically unlocking the diff. So one circuit for each.


It looks like I'll be able to run the left and right rear lines in a pass through format, meaning no reservoirs etc in the car. It it pretty sleek so I may be able to hide it under a modified center console. To avoid the ABS having a fit when using the hydro, I'll wire the ABS unit signal wiring through the handbrake light switch. Should work.


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I'm sure we all know the feeling of pondering a car issue for ages and then suddenly a solution comes out of nowhere. For months I had been on/off mapping out the additional wiring needs and trying to figure out how I neatly manage to add in fuses, relays, power supplies etc.

There is quite a lot to add on top of the e30's own harness. Tesla iBooster, new ABS unit, additional fuel pumps, various gauges, engine sensors, ethanol sensor and so on. Things from 40amps down to 2-3amps.

I struck gold while bored one night and found an electrical unit from a police car on Marketplace. Having took the $50 gamble (they seem to go for $100s on eBay), it looks like all my problems are solved. It is very compact and I'll be able to mount it in the boot no problem.







What a saving grace! 3 integrated relays controlling 3 ignition triggered circuits with various amperages, and 2 constant power circuits which I can use to feed to another smaller panel of relays if needed. Every wire is color coded and has the pin out printed on it, so super easy to adapt into anything. The harness connectors being there also makes it a huge win.


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I've become distracted by the idea of throwing the conventional sequence on its head and maybe doing the paint while I have the weather. My fear it taking so long to do the last of the welding, that I miss the seasonal window for decent weather.

Just in case I end up having to do that, I wanted to get some practice in so as to not compromise on the quality too much if/when rushed.

I have a fairly rough spare trunk that was a good candidate to learn on, so over the last while I've been getting used to the products that I intend to use.

I started off by washing the panel and applying guide coat to highlight any highs and lows, of which there were plenty.




Previously I'd have slapped some fillers on each dent and proceeded to prime and paint, but as a test to see how much time doing it "right" would take on the entire car, I went to town.

I ended up not taking photos but I stripped it to semi bare metal and applied white epoxy primer.
To that I then applied a skim of lightweight fillers (UPol Dolphin Glaze) to the entire panel, which I then blocked back with 80-120.





What surprised me is that using the long blocks to flatten the entire panel started to highlight the slightest of ripples. It seemed that everywhere where a web of the underside reinforcing structure was, there was a slight high spot up top.

For all intents and purposes that is now flat, but can we get flatter? It looks like a lot of filler but it is so thin it is translucent.

With what is considered the bodywork done, it was onto the smoothening of it all. I gave it 2 coats of black epoxy which then sealed up the porosity of the fillers and protected any bare metal.





After that cured for 24hrs I gave it a key (not strictly necessary) and started playing with the much praised Evercoat Featherfill G2 high build. I'm now in love and I see why it is used.





As the panel was now fairly flat, I only went with two coats seems as 90% of it will be sanded and onto the floor anyway.



Once that cured for 24hrs, I commenced the blocking process from 80 to 400 grit. A process of guide coat, sand, repeat.


The reason I went for black epoxy was to help contrast against the beige high build primer. Once I got to 400 and was happy that the entire panel was as smooth as I could get it for first go, it was into a sealer coat of epoxy and onto base coat.
Again, it looks like there is a inch of fillers, but it is probably less than .1 of a mm.








That is actually the first look at what the final color is, and I'm happy with it. It is exactly the colour I had in mind.

In terms of clarity/flatness/depth of vision, I'm at about a harsh 7.5-8/10 happy.




Things I've learned and am changing:

1. I'm scared of machine polishing, but I think I need to suck it up and practice that as an offset to any clearcoat imperfections that will inevitably arise.

2. I'm switching to a California compliant low VOC clear. Filters and fans only do so much to prevent the town turning on me. I've been talking to a small company called Southern Polyurethanes Inc. who are seemingly highly praised in top end finish circles. I ordered some clear from them this morning that they say will put my mind at rest regarding odor in the neighborhood.

3. I'm going to go with an even more involved clear process. 3 coats, cure, block the entire car again to flatten the clear, then 3 more coats. Sounds like lunacy, but that's the show car finish I want to aim for.

4. I got some orange peel, which is fine, but what'll solve that is me adjusting to gun to how I naturally move relative to the panel, rather than forcing myself to someone else's setting that I saw on Youtube. If I'm comfortable moving at a certain speed, why not make that my constant and adjust the variables of the gun to that.

5. I estimate that I have 3-4 full work weeks to do all the prep and paint. As I have a life, work, a child, and a dog, this works out to months given I'm squeezing it in when I can.

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Scope creeeeeeep.

I only ever intended to sand the existing paint back to something half decent before working things back up nicely as shown a few posts ago.
After some messing around with trying to get a wing that was on its 3rd colour in life, I ended up taking everything back to bare metal. It was a lot of work.

I started with the front panel which was rather bent, so a solid two evenings were spent heating, hammering and bending to make it straight while also welding in the smallest patches I've ever done. In the end the fog lights fit perfectly and it was worth it. I took it to bare metal and it then got two coats of epoxy to keep the rust away.





Like new.


The wings were also pretty crap and needed a lot of work.




I also properly rolled the arches with a hammer and a block of plastic, so there'll be no more catching a lip on full lock.


Chemical stripping proved hit or miss, so I went all out with mechanical stripping. This animal was purchased.


It is heavy and you'll have sore arms, but it gets through things quickly once you have the hang of it.


I ran out of white epoxy so the doors are temporarily black




The quarters and sills were up the week after all of that.




All of the old rock chip protection is gone, so that I'll be able to match the front, back and sides with fresh stuff.




I made this contraption to clamp and pull down the bent pinch welds and jacking points. A cheap vice grips, a nissan selector rod, and a thick washer. It also ended up graduating to a handy grounding spot while welding. Clamp it on and smash the washer with a hammer.







Hours spent on what always gives away a rushed job - the door jambs


The inside was pretty aggressively sanded, but not all the way down. I then redid any seam sealer that I needed to remove for repairs.


I now only have the bonnet left to strip and epoxy, then it is on to blocking the lot to find and fill all of the dents around the place, or which there are many.
I've started roughly setting the panel gaps so that everything is for sure straight before I get too far along. I made these handy little spacers for setting the doors/wings/bonnet/boot. With the four bolts loose for the doors, it only took a couple of minutes to get them perfect.







I can't wait to get started with the next phase after all of this absolute torture. In theory, things should speed up now that all of the dirty work is done.
I thought this was going to be a 3-4 month paint job, but we're now at...15 months already!!

[peteb3]

amazing work! keep it up

[econti]

Paint work sucks to do so I am always impressed, knowing the amount of work that goes into it. Top stuff

[Panici]

Photos not working. Is it just an issue on my end?