The m54b30 E30 build

[2mAn]

This should be fun when its done

[Levy3Poop]

Awesome thread man! What did you use to clean out the engine bay? My strut towers have some sort of layer of crap on them that doesn't come off with detail spray or anything known to me.

[maxpostma]

Awesome thread man! What did you use to clean out the engine bay? My strut towers have some sort of layer of crap on them that doesn't come off with detail spray or anything known to me.

Thanks!. In the Netherlands we have "Dasty"which works perfectly for removing grease and grime. Just about removes everything except for paint.
Not sure if you can buy it elsewhere

https://products4engineers.nl/nl/producten/dasty-professionele-ontvetter

[maxpostma]

Update:

An interior update:

Didnt do as much as I hoped during the holidays. Mostly because of unvoluntary family stuff..

But I did buy myself another e30 as a Christmas present:
It's a 324 (turboless) D, bought it because it had a red leather interior. Something I've always wanted after seeing Adam LZ's 335i.

I've already swapped my original comfort blue interior over to the tractor which I plan to sell as quickly as possible.
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The camera really doesn't do the color justice..
The rear bench has a weird sheen to it on the photo, but it looks much better now I cleaned it.
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Also got some black doorcards and painted my carpet to match the black&red theme (notmypicture):


Did some research about painting carpet, and heared mixed messages about it, decided to try it myself and the result is decent. I think I used too much paint, because in some areas it's a bit cloudy... :(

Before:


after:


And lastly, the cardan shaft is finally in place :bow:
v

[getouth]

sub'd

[maxpostma]

Perhaps that anybody knows this:

I tried making the m20 shift linkage work on the ZF320, but it seemed that it didn't work properly (a bit offset and wouldn't go in every gear). Should I use the shift linkage from the e46 5 speed 330ci gearbox? Or do other linkages work aswell?

[Blackout]

This thread may bring you a bit closer to fitting the ZF320 into your car.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=395781

[maxpostma]

This thread may bring you a bit closer to fitting the ZF320 into your car.
https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=395781

Thank you very much, that's exactly what I needed :D

[maxpostma]

Update:

Another small update:

I debated about installing an open air filter, it's the most convenient solution but I like the more classy OEM style, ofcourse the stock airbox didn't fit because of the alternator.

A litte trim was necessary:


Also (almost) finished the back end of the car including the axles, all fresh with new handbrake shoes. Still need to mount the hardlines and bleed the system.

[maxpostma]

It's alive!

Haven't really updated in quiet a while. But that's mainly because I was too lazy to update this thread.

lets start with the boring stuff:

I'm probably the only one that is doing this but the center support bearing was under a bit of stress when mounted, so I made 1 out of 2:
(the mounting slot is a bit longer)


All mounted up, you can see that I needed the extra room:


I saw somebody use the factory airbox, and that's why I stated that I was going to use the factory unit. Unfortunately the m54 air intake valve location is placed lower than the m50/m52. Long story short: Too narrow, no airbox just a plain open air filter, but with a nice pie cut tig welded bend:




Also connected all the fuel lines to the really ugly fuel filter/pressure regulator, (Does somebody know a nice in line fuel regulator 3.5 Bar???)(51psi)


And ofcourse, there was another thing that didn't fit. Made a bracket for the steering reservoir:



Now it's time for the fun stuff: Wiring

I didn't think it was too bad, just researching a lot, removing a lot and trying to keep everything untangled and labled.
I will spare you all the details, but here is the spaghetti mounted in the car:


A while ago I followed the EWS delete how to, not knowing if it worked. I was really exited to try to start it.
The first attempt was not very succesfull. The car was all wired up and connected to the battery, I turned to key to ignition and all of the sudden it started to smoke really bad. Turned out that you shouldn't wire the ECU ABS cable to the c101 plug if your car is European and not equipt with ABS. Because you basicly connect a ground and a positive wire together.

After figuring this out it was time for the second attempt.
This is the first start of the m54b30 in the e30 harness. I was suprised on how easlily it started:


Really cool to finally hear the engine, now I'll just need to tidy up all the wiring, and all the other things.
A car has really a lot of parts

[Jokester]

You can use the FPR from the e46 m3.

It’s 5 bar but once you swap the internals from your current fpr over it is the desired 3.5 bar.

I have it on my car but will probably be selling it soon as I’m going boosted.

[maxpostma]

You can use the FPR from the e46 m3.

It’s 5 bar but once you swap the internals from your current fpr over it is the desired 3.5 bar.

I have it on my car but will probably be selling it soon as I’m going boosted.

Yeah I know, but they're like 120 euro at the dealer. I was hoping that there's a junkyard car solution.
I know that some old Volvo's have a 3.8-4 bar fpr, but I think I
prefer the original 3.5 bar.

[Jokester]

Yeah I know, but they're like 120 euro at the dealer. I was hoping that there's a junkyard car solution.
I know that some old Volvo's have a 3.8-4 bar fpr, but I think I
prefer the original 3.5 bar.

Holy shit -$140 USD? I was gonna sell it for like $80 max lol. Without shipping of course.

[maxpostma]

Holy shit -$140 USD? I was gonna sell it for like $80 max lol. Without shipping of course.

Yes, pretty expensive. But I think that the shipping and import duties to the Netherlands would be to expensive as well.
Thank though!

[sebe20]

Had the same space issues with my M54 intake.
Still have to re-locate the reservoir and build a housing for the ecu since it will stay inside the enginebay.
If you want to get rid of the external fuel pressure regulator get a used M52TU fuel rail. it has a top mounted pressure regulator and returnline at the back to the firewall. If you are from Europe you can easily ditch the fuelfilter if you always fill 100 octane in your tank.