E30 Touring 3.0L M20 Stoker Build

[E30-TourZing]

I finished me 1990 Touring in August put it on the market, and it got picked up in September by a young man by the name of Petar! He travelled from Chicago to then drive the car all the way home. Wild trip!

Since my mishap with the ETA block I decided to go full bore. I started researching daily on any site with useful information about what the best kit was going to be.

I considered buying the 3.1L IE kit, but one random day I get a text from a mechanic friend who asked me if I wanted a free good working 160,000km M52B28. I picked it up that evening and put it on my engine stand at home. I waiting around in thought for a few days pondering what I should do. I basically had a super cheap engine swap in front of me that would weald the same results as a built M20.

So in all its glory, I decided to strip the entire engine and steal the crank and rods...

P1010122 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

P1010125 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010135 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

[E30-TourZing]

E30 Tourings by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr


So.... With my 89' project on hold I decided to finish up my 1990 E30 325i Touring.

We also finished up some cars at the shop. I will throw in some vintage Mercedes photo-porn....

I dont have alot of photos of my restoration process for my 1990 E30, but it came to me pretty beat. Here are the final results before I sold it.

P1010491 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010493 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010406 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010336 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010437 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010507 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010511 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_1a9 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
190SL by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_1ab by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1010051 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_1b0 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_1b5 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
Reflection by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
fullsizeoutput_1b7 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

[E30-TourZing]

A few months ago I decided to spend time in the shop painting the block. I wanted to Remove the timing covers and such to do a solid job. I ended up making a massive mistake...

I needed to take the crank bolt off. It was on full tension. I used my air impact and the thing wouldn't move. I then knew a long bar on the breaker would likely give me the leverage. I then used screwed in the flywheel bolts about half way, maybe a bit more, and wedged in a metal pry bar between the bolts and the engine stand. It wasn't moving at all until I felt a little give. Could it be?

No... Instead the bolt cracked through the side of the crank and gave out. My crank was F00ked. After mildly hyper ventilating, realizing what I had done, I started to plan out my next move.

Originally I was just going to use the 2.7 eta bottom end and wait until I had the money to get a high compression kit. I have never taken the bottom end of an engine apart, and as much as I wanted to learn, I also didn't want to come into the issue where I had dump more money into the bottom end because 'I now had it open.' The engine seemed to be in wonderful shape, so I didn't want to chance it until I could fully commit to a bigger build.

Advice from pros though was to do it all right, and do it right away. After the crank chipped, well... haha I am now in it to win it. I am going full bore.

So.... As I write on this board, I have fully admitted to the E30 network that I am an idiot and made a critical error I will not make again. Once the crank chipped and I knew there was no going back on the crank, I decided to use two metal plates to stop the crank, and it took a breaker bar, plug a 4-foot extension and me hanging on it for the bolt to break loose. Anyway... Here are some more pictures.
P1012500 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012497 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012501 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012495 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012507 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012506 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

[Dagamus(NM)]

Nicely. Very sweet story. Look forward to seeing more of it.

[LateFan]

More info on 3 liter M20 plz.

[E30-TourZing]

Part 2 - Well... We love the car. Infact my lady has almost claimed it as her own. I had big plans for this car three years prior to even knowing we were going to own an E30.

The silly m40 is a great boat anchor, but not much of an engine of my dreams. I knew one day the timing belt was going to pop and that I would then get a new engine in there.

At first I was set on a M54b30. I like that engine a lot, and it isn't really any more difficult to install then any other 24V variants. I was set on this until I realized how much I like vintage engines with cam shafts that offer high duration. Out the window went the M54

Next engine option was the M30. Likely my favourite engine ever. Why? Well... its old, simple, robust and in my opinion kind of beautiful... I love the idea of putting one of these engines in the touring. So I purchased the macalent guide, and happened to get a free M60 swap guide too.

I was fully in.... M30 all the way until my bmw parts guy said good luck finding a manual trans for the M30. My dreams were partially crushed. I wanted a mean sounding inline 6 with torque.

So here is where my obsession started and is continuing with my build.

As I mentioned earlier, I bought a 1990 red BMW 325I touring over the summer. It was an auto, and the engine started to give a knocking sound so time for the swap. I bought a beautiful running M20b25 engine from a very solid mechanic friend who had it in his personal e30 for a long time. He also sold me a trans, driveshaft, freshly rebuilt 3.73 LSD diff, and Bav auto headers. In October my bud and I took on the weekend challenge of pulling the motor and trans. Refreshing everything we could on the engine, doing the dreadful pedal swap and what have you.
Once that was completed I had a 885 head from the engine I pulled out of the red Touring for my Black touring's stroker build.

I then started putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Getting the parts. I bought a Schrick 284/272 cam, MINT MINT MINT low km 260 trans. Confirmed 90,xxx original mile 2.7eta block, 525 ecu, and some recaro high backs that I legally stole from the previous owner.

A few weeks ago I took apart my head to find bad news... the knocking in the old block (main bearings) sent metal up to the head and pitted most aspects of the cam and rockers. I didn't care much about that stuff but the cam journal was not looking good. It looked like it had ovaled in the center too. I then brought my head down island to the professionals at Thompson machine to inspect the damage. He wasn't worried. He told me was thousands of an inch and would not cause damage to my new camshaft.

I then left the head to get a three-angle valve grind, new guides and a ever so slight decking for a clean surface.

Next step while waiting for the head to be done was to pull out the ol' M40. 1.5H later is was free. At times when I was driving this car with the m40 I was like... Ah, man... its not so bad. I would then hop into my 300hp 98' JDM STI wagon and hit my head over the dashboard in disgust I could almost convince myself it was an okay engine for my application.

My reasons for removing the old engine so soon are to repaint the booster, and install a E46 steering rack with the ease of the engine out, and the lack of pressure that I will put on myself when the engine gets closer to being finished.

I have a line on some Ground Control Dual adjustable Coil-overs that I will likely buy and install before the engine is to be installed.

Some of the other parts I need are... Stromung cat back exhaust, SSSquid chip, Sachs clutch kit, M50 injectors Mishimoto Rad, new stock looking plumbing, z3 shifter, dying the rear seats to match the front recaros... and likely more, although I generally have most of what I need to pull this off.

For confirmation... My plans are to have a clean looking street orientated fun car. I want to do is all right. New bolts where needed, replace every seal, inspect all bearings. I have taken apart and repainted almost all the reused parts over the past few months as I want it to resemble a new drivetrain. This is my first build. I've done engine swaps before, but I never had the chance to fully take apart and rebuild an engine. So I consider this my schooling. Needless to say, I am very excited.

Here are some photos of the removal of the M40

P1012474 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

P1012476 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

P1012475 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012480 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012481 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012484 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012490 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on FlickrP1012492 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr
P1012431 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

[E30-TourZing]

Hello E30’ers!

So, first off, my name is Jan, and I am located on Vancouver Island BC. What I will try to show people is the glimpse of my journey with my E30 Tourings.

My first Touring I bought in December of 2016. Its a hell of a story, I bought this car while it was not for sale, and the owner happened to have it in their family since new in 1989. They imported it from Germany to Canada in 2006 and it lived as a family member until they really didn't drive the car often anymore.

I am a rather particular car nut, and the touring was on my radar, although you do not see them often here. Let alone for sale. One day I saw this touring on the street and my lady pointed and yelled 'E30!' Sure enough it was, and as it came closer and passed by I was astounded to see it in wagon from. She then proceeded to say 'I think it had a for sale sign on it.' I stomped on the brakes, whipped a U-turn and tried to catch up, but sure enough... No for sale sign.

Two-years later as I am biking through town I came across this same car again. First time I saw a touring since the last one. The car and its owner pull into the local lumber shop, and I follow. I just catch a glimpse of the owner, and I lock my bike up. I wrote my name down on a sheet of paper with my phone #, and hound the store for the person I have never met before. Sure enough after a few minutes I find this man, introduce myself and pass along the words " if you ever want to sell your car, please let me know. I am very interested." I then hand him the piece of paper and he smiles and says, " well thank you Jan, I must say I can't see if being sold as its been in our family since new. My wife's father bought it, and passed it along to her once he had deceased.' At this point I really dropped all hopes, and just appreciated that it was a very special car, with a very special story.

A month goes by and while I am cycling again I get a honk from behind me and sure enough it is the E30 touring. I wave and dreamed of one day owning a car like this. 30-minutes later I pulled into the store my lady and I managed, and sure enough the owner was in the shop with his wagon outside. I rush inside, write my name down on a sheet of paper with my # and proceed to find him. I did, I then handed him the sheet again and said, please just keep it in mind. He responded "Well its funny you ask again Jan, after your last offer my wife and I talked about it, and we are kind of considering it. Its starting to develop some rust, and it never came with power steering, so my wife doesn't really enjoy driving it to much. We just don't want to see it rot."

Inside I am literally FREAKING OUT! I felt like a three-year-old child laying eyes on a bouncy pit. I try to hold my excitement, and he says the words "want to take a look at it?" ..... ummm

Anyway... I go outside with the owner and we look at the car. Its a 1989 318iT. In diamond Swartz. Its had the AMAZING 534-hp M40, 5-speed 240 trans, roll up windows, manual sunroof, original stereo, no power steering from the factory. Its perfect to me. Its exactly what I would have ever wanted.

Anyway... to make it shorter, a month later I bought the car. It was hard for them to let it go, but they knew it was in good hands. I to this day have connections with them about the car and the stages of work I complete on it.

So what happened from there?

Well.... I fixed all the rust on the car, repainted the lower rock guard around, replaced the struts with bilsteins+H&R springs, M3 front control arm bushings.

I bought some Kopi Alpina rims, and made a lifelong friend in doing so.

At this point my lady went to RMT school down island, and I stayed up island to pursue my own ventures. Katy took the touring and I kept our Subaru STI.

In the summer of 2017 a red touring came into our lives and we decided to buy it. It's a mess, but I am steadily bringing it back to good condition. It will be for sale soon to harbour the opportunity on my dream touring build.

Here are some photos of the car when I got it, to what it looks like now.

Our New E30 Wagon by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

BMW E30 Touring by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

89' Touring by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

P1012051 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

P1012052 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

P1012053 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

E30 touring by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

P1012055 by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr

E30 Touring by Jan Willem Wilderom, on Flickr