My M30-Swapped Alpine Coupe

[iso_hi]

Beer run successful. I've been bleeding the cooling all week and today I felt confident enough to put the hood on and get it out on the road. Even got out of work a little early to do it.

Once I got back into my driveway I noticed a small stream of coolant coming from the front passenger side. It was the lower radiator hose, the clamp wasn't tight enough so I fixed that quickly. I threw a piece of cardboard under the car to monitor any leaks overnight. If it's clean it'll get to go to work with me.

After taking this photo I realized the hood needs to be aligned better. So I'll add that to the never-ending to-do list.

Glad to be back on the road. Next on the list is a LSD and I might try and change the trim/grills to an OEM-look rather than the gloss it has now.

[mike.bmw]

Wooohoooo! What kind of beer did you pick up? ;D

[jeenyus]

Wooohoooo! What kind of beer did you pick up? ;D

This is the real question.

I also want to say, i'm a big fan of that yellow on the 'is' lip.

[iso_hi]

This is the real question.

I also want to say, i'm a big fan of that yellow on the 'is' lip.

Modelo! My weekday beer. On the weekend I go with the local HenHouse Brewery or something similarly heavier.

And thanks! I put the yellow there since the color match wasn’t perfect so it breaks it up and pulls your attention away from it. Hopefully I can get it painted/repaired during the summer. I had a splitter too but it dragged after a screw came off. Getting a little too old for the low life.

[2mAn]

Glad to be back on the road. Next on the list is a LSD and I might try and change the trim/grills to an OEM-look rather than the gloss it has now.

Just get some SEM Trim Paint and respray the trim/ grills

I want to see some daytime pics with the wheels

[wworm]

^same. Lets see those wheels in the light!

[rzerob]

I am a big fan of Modello. When are you getting it smogged?

[iso_hi]

I am a big fan of Modello. When are you getting it smogged?

Not too sure. Still figuring out some things, the o2 sensor cord was wrapped around the exhaust lol so I have to connect it and see what's going on there. I've been driving it how I got it before I did any major work just to make sure everything is normal. I drove it all day and so far so good.

Here are some photos I just took, at the same spot as my first post in this thread. I felt kinda rusty I haven't taken photos in a while. Same with editing I don't think I did a great job color-matching in between pics but oh well.





Aaaand my bumper needs an alignment as well. Those are custom vinyl trim pieces haha. My brother never installed the real painted pieces and lost them.



I think I might raise the rear, and the front just a hair.



Kooglewerks spoiler



CA black/yellow plate coming soon, any suggestions?



Mis-matched Recaro's, best seats ever.



I think most if not all headunits are ugly so I run a Kenwood bluetooth amplifier behind an OEM delete plate with a BMW Motorsport decal made by myself. The amp has a USB port and that's why you see a lightning cord sticking out. Clean and simple.


I know this look isn't for most E30 or BMW fans. I love an E30 on HR Sports with Euroweaves as much as the next guy but for this car I'm just doing what I feel.

[iso_hi]

I just drove the car for like an hour and it's great. I'm loving the NT05s.

The one thing I now have to change, which I knew I should have done in the past month or so, is... the diff. The 4.10 it has right now is ok around the city or short sprints but anything above 65-70mph for over 3 seconds just sucks.

So question to the M30 swap guys, what diffs have you tried and are they tolerable on the highway?

[wworm]

ive always wondered why people do the yellow strip between the lip and the valence. I like the little yellow hits on this car and the wheels look great. TBH it looks sick as low as it is but would prob ride nicer a lil higher lol. Where in the bay are you? I've been thinking about an m30 (among a million other power plant options) and would love to go for a ride in this thing if youre close.

[glnr13]

I personally like the 3.46. 3.25 good for a lot of highway driving

[LJ851]

I personally like the 3.46. 3.25 good for a lot of highway driving

Solid M30 advice.

[iso_hi]

I'm going to go with a 3.46. I was playing around with the final drive ratios on Forza 7, while it's not a perfectly accurate representation since I used an S38-equipped car, it definitely gave me a better idea of what I want.


Ok, and now I want to vent about some cooling issues. Pun intended.

Since the day this car was bought I have never been confident in it's cooling system. The previous owner said just run the fan whenever I'm driving. The gauge would always fluctuate from the middle line to the red zone. It would never reach the red but it would never stay in the middle either. I've always just thought this is how M30 swaps were because of lack of clutch fan.

I've changed every cooling bit. From radiator, to hoses, to new thermostat bleed screw. The radiator and pump came after a hose burst on my first long drive (About 40 miles). It still runs the same even after all this recent work.

But I think I may have figured it out. I would like some feedback before I drain the coolant again.

I went over the swap on many threads and on the e30 wiki. Everything is the same as what I have aside from the lack of a heater. It was supposed to be a drift build before I came in so there's no heat/ac. The fan doesn't even work or I'd try and put heat back.

From the E30wiki it shows two sets of hoses that go to the heater core, as they should. PO skipped that and added an extra piece of hose that tied everything together. There was a huge piece of hose that went from the radiator back to the starter, where it had a kink blocking flow, and then to the expansion tank. I thought that was my issue so I simplified it to my revision. That hasn't worked which made me read more today and maybe have finally realized my mistake.

From E30 Wiki - M30 Swap


PO's Heater Delete


My "Revision"



I'm thinking this is way better than his version because A) it get's rid of the kink near the starter and B) less hose? I obviously don't understand too much about coolant flow and other technicalities.

Fix?


After reading more today and discovering new info I realized me and the PO are both wrong, instead of looping they should have been plugged. So I think my fix is to separate those two line from that T connection and that'll essentially be the same as if I would have plugged them from the beginning.

I don't know what I'm doing. Any input?

And some good news. I found a cheap storage unit where I can keep a car and parts. 3rd car coming soon?

[2mAn]

I know this look isn't for most E30 or BMW fans. I love an E30 on HR Sports with Euroweaves as much as the next guy but for this car I'm just doing what I feel.

I love it.

[glnr13]

I don't know if your reroute will make much difference but I will say that the temp should not be bouncing around like that. I drilled 1/16" hole in my thermostat to help bleed the system and car stays below 1/2 mark unless I'm in stop and go traffic. Leave me at a light for too long and that temp goes up quick.

I have a spal 16" that brings the temp down fast. Be sure you have the fan gasket, helps a ton.