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My M30-Swapped Alpine Coupe

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    #76
    Originally posted by econti View Post
    Bring the fan on earlier. Should be set a tiny bit higher than the thermostat open temp. If you drive in cold weather it will have no chance to get to temp, and that's bad news
    Car doesn't get driven in cold weather. It doesn't have a heater so I don't even try.

    And yeah MPGs are not even an issue with this car. It's all for fun.
    1987 325 Turbo

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      #77
      Econti, and everyone else probably, was right. Just drove my typical work route, about 10 miles round trip, and the gauge stayed at 1/4 the whole time. I stopped at a drive through and it got up to half.

      The car is currently cooling down and I'll be swapping the 80c thermostat back in.
      1987 325 Turbo

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        #78
        I got the 80c thermostat in. I've pushed it pretty hard, up to 100mph, and the needle stays a little under the half line with the fan off so I'm happy with that. At a stop I turned the fan on and it wouldn't go any higher than half. Finally.

        Moving on from that I removed the yellow headlight film that was starting to come off. I've also been in contact with e30_dad about some cluster work. I'll probably send it off to him in late April.





        Bonus with my bro's GF M3

        1987 325 Turbo

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          #79
          The E30 has been great so far. I put the Focus away last weekend and have been driving the E30 ever since. The temp gauge stays pretty much in the middle through all driving conditions and there are zero leaks in the engine bay. A few major issues I'll need to take care of; tachometer doesn't work, headlights suck, and new diff/LSD.

          For the tachometer I'll be sending my cluster to e30_dad at the end of April. It'll get fully refurbished. The only customization I asked for was a yellow tach needle. Maybe shift lights in place of the service interval lights. We'll see.

          Not sure what to do for headlights. I'm thinking depo lights off eBay? Or any good deal I can find on here.

          And for the diff I'm going to go with a 3.25/3.46. I let a couple slip away recently because I didn't want to pay $400-500.

          Today I realized I should have shelled out the cash for the diff. I woke up at 6am and drove to the Cars and Coffee meet in Novato, about 25 miles from my house. I drove pretty slow on the freeway and I was still at like 3k rpm. Good thing I was cruising at 65mph because there was three cop cars with radars on the way there. Last time I showed up at 7:30 and had to park in a different lot. There was only one other E30 so that's kinda lame but there was a good variety which I like about this meet. My favorite car was a C6 ZR1. I took a few pics.







          And a lil bit ago I decided to clean up the trunk since I've been stashing boxes from parts orders there. I consolidated everything I could possibly use into one one box. I have a ton of oil to recycle so theres some of that in here also.



          I took this time to install a new chassis ground from Bav. Rest. since the og looked like shit. I was missing the noise suppression strap on the hood so added that as well.



          And finally a shot of the engine bay. I got proper hoses for the upper radiator to thermostat housing and expansion tank to thermostat housing. I have to clean up some of the coolant that spilled from the bleeding process and organize the harness a bit better. It's not a show car but I'd like it to look as clean as it can potentially be without spending crazy cash.

          1987 325 Turbo

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            #80
            I haven't done anything new to the car. I've been driving it almost every day aside from when I went to Coachella last weekend. I took the Focus because I didn't want to risk breaking down. Coachella was amazing I got to hang out with friends I don't see often, Kid Cudi killed it, and I met a cool girl.

            We decided to hang out this past weekend. I had to make the drive from Santa Rosa to Stockton. It's 100 miles so naturally I'd take the Focus. But the battery died somehow and doesn't hold a charge. I didn't have time to deal with it so I said fuck it and took the E30 on it's first long drive since I did the head gasket.



            I need to redo the lip it falls off at least once a week.

            I left work Friday at 5pm and Maps gave me a 2h30m estimate. With one solid traffic delay of 30 minutes. Nervous is a bit of an understatement. My motivation was Jeremy Clarkson who said donuts impress girls and the Focus can't do donuts.

            The E30 performed beautifully the entire way there and back. I was so happy. In the traffic delay I flipped the fan on and the gauge was right at the half. Plus the car has so much torque that it's impossible to stall in traffic. I'm definitely swapping the diff but overall it wasn't as bad as I thought. It's loud for sure but there's also always power when I put my foot down. Mileage was in between 12-15mpg. 6/10 would do again with the 4.10.

            She said my car was cute. Here's a pic of her taking a pic with her polaroid.



            For the car, I'm working on getting the fender trim and possibly euro trim and grills to get rid of the gloss black. And I need to send my cluster to E30_dad because I'm tired of the tach not working.
            1987 325 Turbo

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              #81
              Really liking the new car! i too have been looking more and more into doing an m30 swap into your old car.

              also, your old car drove 14k miles by the end of my trip over the 90 days!! who would have thought it would have survived so i like to think i have proved there is no reason not to take your e30 on any long distance drive. heck, may aswell get rid of that focus now!!

              the e30 is getting shipped to me in London in the next couple of weeks!!

              also... i have a spare set of euro smileys and some euro grills here if your interested ;D

              Originally posted by iso_hi View Post
              So my dumbass installed the thermostat backwards. I'm still going to install the new 71c and drill a small hole at the top.
              the thermostat was upside down on your old one too.

              I drove my e30 from California to London!

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                #82
                I know that feeling... Glad you liked Cochella. I just got back from Desert Hearts, it was next level.

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                  #83
                  Originally posted by benwalsh91 View Post
                  Really liking the new car! i too have been looking more and more into doing an m30 swap into your old car.

                  also, your old car drove 14k miles by the end of my trip over the 90 days!! who would have thought it would have survived so i like to think i have proved there is no reason not to take your e30 on any long distance drive. heck, may aswell get rid of that focus now!!

                  the e30 is getting shipped to me in London in the next couple of weeks!!

                  also... i have a spare set of euro smileys and some euro grills here if your interested ;D



                  the thermostat was upside down on your old one too.
                  Damn man sorry about the thermostat. I feel so dumb haha. I swear the headlight wiring wasn't me though.

                  I definitely kept up with your thread. Incredible journey. I can't believe the little 325e made it! And now its off to London. I love that I can keep up with my previous rides on here. You should go with the M30 swap for sure it's so much fun. Worth the shit mileage.


                  And my selector rod broke this morning. The car wouldn't get into reverse then all off a sudden the shifter got incredibly loose. I popped of the boot and you could see the rod dangling off the clip. After work I put the car on stands, removed the rod, got it welded it, and reinstalled in about an hour. Not too bad for my first time touching the shifter assembly.

                  1987 325 Turbo

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                    #84
                    Originally posted by iso_hi View Post
                    Damn man sorry about the thermostat. I feel so dumb haha. I swear the headlight wiring wasn't me though.

                    I definitely kept up with your thread. Incredible journey. I can't believe the little 325e made it! And now its off to London. I love that I can keep up with my previous rides on here. You should go with the M30 swap for sure it's so much fun. Worth the shit mileage.
                    Yeah man, just got a new laptop last night so i can now finally update my thread on the journey!! going to take some time that though and eventually i will create a build thread for the old 325e.

                    I drove my e30 from California to London!

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                      #85
                      Hey just a thought if you wanted to get your lip painted you could paint it black to match the trim and front grill


                      Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                        #86
                        Nice work getting the cooling sorted on your car & nice looking M30 swap!

                        With mine, I run the 71 degree thermostat with an 82 degree fan switch from an e28 in the thermostat housing. The cooling system works great, on the cruise the thermostat holds the temp around 1/3rd on the gauge, the 82 degree switch kicks the fan in just a hair below half when stopped. Once on the move again the fan kicks back out pretty quickly except on the hottest days (up over 100F).

                        Mind you, even our coldest winters down here are pretty warm :)
                        My e30: OEM+ with M30B35

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                          #87
                          Hey, in terms of diffs I think you should look into a 3.64, if 3.73 is short in the eyes of r3v, and 3.25 is more of a highway friendly diff your options are really 3.46 or 3.64 for an all arounder. I'll be using a 3.73 but have a sneaking feeling it'll be a bit short, even with a lightweight flywheel and and a tightened up shifter. Just food for thought.
                          Jah bless! :pimp:

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                            #88
                            It won't be - I loved the 3.73 in my car. The M30 absolutely hammers with that ratio and puts the meat of the torque curve right where you want it on the highway. First is still usable.

                            I've also run a 3.45, and now have a 3.25 LSD in the car. The 3.25 makes the car drive like it would have had the M30 had been fitted by the factory (same ratio as the e28 535i), but I found the 3.73 the most fun to be honest. Gas mileage wasn't much better with the lower highway revs.
                            My e30: OEM+ with M30B35

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                              #89
                              Right on thanks for the first hand knowledge! Tbh I'm pleased with everything you just said, because I was afraid 3.73 would hurt mpg compared to, say a 3.46, which is as low as I'd even consider. That and my pops rebuilt the 3.73S in my car already so I have an inclination to use it. I'm the type to rev match every stop sign anyways, sounds like with a 3.73 you're in the meat of the power band until around 120, 125mph at which point e30s get a little squirrely anyways.
                              Jah bless! :pimp:

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                                #90
                                It's been a while since I've updated this. Not much has been done to the car in a few months now. I've been busy getting a new job and I'll be moving within a week or so. Things have gotten pretty serious with the girl I met at Coachella so I haven't had much part money either. Things are looking up tho so I should be updating this more towards the last few months of the year.



                                About a month ago I noticed a fuel leak by the rear passenger tire so the car had just been sitting til today. Two hoses were cracked, one connected to the fuel filter and another connected to the fuel pump. It was like $2 for new hose so that was easy.

                                I'll be moving the car from Santa Rosa to Stockton so definitely needed to take care of that issue. After I gave the car a much needed wash and threw on the cover. I've considered selling the car but I know I'll regret it.



                                Still need a LSD, gauges, and new headlights.
                                1987 325 Turbo

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