Corey's JDM-Tech 2

[cheffy30]

what a story... jesus man. score on the parts car though... Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[Simple_Smith]

reserved for updates

[Simple_Smith]

After replacing the damaged seat bolster and finalizing the dead pedal, I turned my attention to the exterior. Although a rust free chassis, the paint was faded and showing its age so it was in desperate need of a proper paint correction. The faded paint I could at least remedy myself, at least to the best of my limited abilities with a buffing wheel and some compound. I set to work with a 7" soft foam wheel and come Meguiar's cutting compound being careful to not get the paint hot or cut too deep. Overall I'm very pleased with what I was able to accomplish although I'm sure a professional could've gotten some of the deeper scratches out that I didn't want to take a chance with, but it looks much better than it did. Sunroof section much hazier than the rest of the roof midway through.



After a long debate with myself on what suspension to go with now that I had a wheel choice in mind, my decision was made for me when a friend let me know he was parting out a shop car build and he had some CA tuned coilovers up for sale still new in box. I had debated whether I wanted to go all the way to coilovers on this build as I wanted to keep it *relatively* tame but this was a deal I couldn't pass up considering the extra adjustments they allowed for, I figured if I wasn't happy with the ride quality, I had dampening I was able to play with as well as potential to change out for softer springs if necessary.

Accompanying the coilovers were new rotors and Hawk HPS pads along with new brake hoses, dust shields, and wheel bearings. With this being a non-ABS car, there were no wheel speed sensors to replace thankfully.



Once I had made the decision to go with coilovers, my wheel and tire combination was the next piece of the puzzle. Hours upon hours of wheel research ensued. I wanted something Japanese or at least something with a heavy influence in japanese tuning cars. My first thoughts were of Weds Albinos or Fins of some flavor, but after scouring ebay and various wheel sites and coming up empty handed on 4x100 16" varieties, I decided to see what I could find that was still being produced and in sizing I could live with without having to have the wheels completely refinished. After placing orders with ICB Motorsports and TireRack, I had a set of 16x8 et35 Desmond Regamasters and Dunlop Direzza ZIII tires in 225/45 sizing. Motorsport Hardware 78mm studs and Muteki lugs joined 15mm front and 20mm rear spacers to dial in the fitment I was chasing. Maybe one day regas will be available in e30 friendly fitment, but I doubt it. Unfortunately I had to remove the front lower fender liners and factory brake ducting to prevent rubbing now that the car was lowered and on much wider tires than factory, The additional caster from the M3 CABs contributed to the rubbing due to wheel now sitting a bit farther forward in the wheel well, but the performance gain is an acceptable trade-off in my eyes.









To compliment the adjustability of the coilovers, I added Condor Speed Shop adjustable camber and toe trailing arm eccentric bushings. When I dropped the rear subframe to replace the trailing arm bushings, I also replaced the 31 year old subframe bushings with OEM bushings filled with windshield urethane to reduce flex without significantly increasing NVH. Rear brake hoses, rotors, and pads were also replaced at this time.



One piece I forgot to mention until now was the Z3M finned diff cover I always lusted after. Before deciding on suspension and wheels I had ordered a Z3M diff cover and found bushing options were near non-existent for them unless I wanted to pay another small fortune for one as if the cover itself wasn't enough. Luckily John Grimes of Revshift hooked me up with a 90A poly bushing for it which did increase NVH over factory, but not enough to have me reconsidering paying $150+ for a single bushing. While the diff was out for a fancy new cover my driving style hardly deemed necessary, I also serviced the fluid and removed the spacer in the LSD unit and replaced with a third clutch and dog ear plate to increase lockup.

[Simple_Smith]

One more thing I was displeased about was my new Mtech 2 that was lacking a proper dead pedal. The outline of the factory Mtech dead pedal was left in the carpet so my guess it the PO wanted to keep that for himself (which is understandable considering what people are getting for them nowadays). Undeterred, I began mock up of my own custom dead pedal first transferring the outline to masking tape, then to cardboard, and finally stainless steel to compliment the ZHP knob along with grip taping all the pedals. Again, a full day of work, but with results that reflect that in my opinion.





e46 convertible mats are pictured and I would give them a 6/10 for e30 fitment. In this case pictures do them much better justice in the sense that pictures are very misleading. I don't know of any others that fit better, but I would like to see how e82 mats compare. And saying the rear mats fit is absolutely laughable. Overall I'm very pleased with how the interior is coming together. I recently purchased and installed a husco armrest with aftermarket brackets, but haven't uploaded any pictures of that just yet.



Shoutout to Northern for pointing out my out of phase steering shaft, here is the corrected unit. Just had to remove the steering shaft with the engine back in (much more annoying) and add a piece to replace the guibo, yet still remain short to work with the e46 rack. Starting with a square piece of what I believe was about 1/4" aluminum, I let my OCD run wild and spend far too much time making a circular 90 degree offset spacer. Not bad for a drill press and a couple grinders.



Thanks so much for reading this far, or even if you just scrolled through the pics, thanks for stopping by. I'll continue to add to this as the build progresses and please don't hesitate to ask any questions about any aspect of this build. I have a ton more pictures, but this is all for now.

Cheers!
-Corey

[Simple_Smith]

Having tackled getting the engine swapped along with hours and hours of cleaning, I needed to address the broken seat back mounts on the driver seat and replace the driver side bolster with a replacement from the forum member brutus . This was my first time pulling apart an e30 seat so I was very deliberate with how I disassembled it, but the whole process still took much less time than I had expected despite me being so cautious. Getting the new fabric to cover the foam properly took a bit of time and making the new mounting bracket was a bit meticulous but I was quite pleased with the results.

[Simple_Smith]

I had decided I wanted to keep all the stock parts as complete as possible so I was going reinforce the subframe from the parts car and use that to keep the full M20B20 dropout complete. The plan was to rebuild the B20 in my spare time to in case I decide to sell the car later on, that can go with it. The subframe reinforcement plates I had purchased fit like.. well actually they didn't fit for shit in my opinion, so I decided to make my own. It took a ton of time getting them to a point that I was happy with although it still wasn't to the level that I was overjoyed with. I just got slightly past the point of diminishing returns so I decided they were acceptable for what they were, especially compared to what most of the companies producing these plates were passing off as reinforcements.


Once the subframe was reinforced and repainted, the other goodies began to come in. I added an e46 clubsport purple tag rack and modified the euro steering shaft to work with it by eliminating the steering guibo. As a "while you're in there" I also added a set of Turner Motorsport engine mount cups. With this build I wanted to keep everything firm, but still streetable so I figured this would be the best route for that. Still need to order the trans mount cups from AKG..

[Simple_Smith]

During the time I was apart from my newly dead e30, I found a parts car with a complete manual drivetrain as well as a good M20B25 ready for a new home along with a few nice odds and ends that we e30 folk just have to keep, knowing we'll need one as soon as we throw it away. Upon the arrival of the Mtech 2, I dragged the power washer out into the slightly above freezing Michigan weather and washed it as well as the weather permitted before pushing it into the garage to begin the teardown.



The first two modifications I made before even addressing the engine was to swap out the 385mm Mtech 2 wheel that came with the car to the 355mm that I had on my previous turbo e30 and to swap in an e60 lever from another previous e30 along with a new ZHP knob of course.

[Simple_Smith]

Hey guys its been a long time since I've posted on here and just wanted to share my story with you all. Earlier this year I ran across a marketplace ad for what was one of my realistic grail e30s, a Delphin Japanese market Mtech 2. After talking a few times with the owner and getting a ton of pictures, I put down a deposit and booked a flight out to Cali. A quick test drive told me I wanted it but it desperately needed more power being the m20b20 available in euro and japan models, but the car was otherwise exactly as described so cash exchanged hands and my return journey from L.A. to rural Michigan began. The next morning my buddy AJ and I decide to take a mountain road over towards Vegas rather than be stuck on an L.A. expressway longer than we already had been. This was the beginning of a much longer and expensive trip than we had expected. The mountain road offered less and less traffic as we journeyed onward, slowly realizing, although not wanting to voice our concerns to one another. After about 30 minutes of pristine empty mountain roads, we found our way blocked by a gate and about two feet of snow as far down the road as we could see. Evidently California wasn't as proficient at plowing these roads as we had hoped. Luckily we were able to backtrack and find a couple local enthusiasts on a morning drive of their own in a 911 and miata that pointed us towards a way out.



Several hours later we stopped for a quick lunch in Vegas and continued on to Grand Junction, CO. We very quickly realized one of the things we failed to check when looking at the car; the operation of the heater. In our excitement in seeing an e30 with working A/C, we simply overlooked twisting the dial back to check for heat under the warm Californian sun. Not to be deterred, we pressed on after stopping and buying what I thought at the time was an excessive amount of hand warmers. Having done a trip like this the year previously with wonderful weather and only flecks of snow ever coming down I was foolheartedly expecting the same results. We quickly realized this wasn't going to be the case. Waking up in Grand Junction early the next morning, we began what we hoped was a long drive to somewhere in Nebraska to stop for the night. We made it two and a half hours to Glenwood Springs, CO where we were forced off a closed I-70. Our way through the mountains was blocked and the poor e30 that had likely never seen snow was introduced to it hours into my ownership. This may be the time where some of you are saying "why not just have it shipped back from Cali right to your doorstep?" To you I say, "Where's the adventure in that?" Despite that being the obviously safer route, I like to think I'm more adventurous, rather than saying I'm a complete idiot, but more on that later..







Two days passed in Glenwood Springs. Two days of unyielding snow. We made the best we could of the time, continually clearing the constant buildup of snow from the car, trudging through town to see the local sights, and taking a dip in the hot springs. These distractions came to an end when our incessant checks of the live stream I-70 traffic and weather reports said the pass had been reopened. What should have been a two and a half hour drive to Denver was nearly six hours of a mix of boredom, white knuckle driving, and extreme anxiety. After FINALLY making it over the mountains and seeing Denver in the distance out spirits began to lift as we started our descent to the city below. My first plan of action was to get all this snow and slush off my car before gassing up and handing over the keys to my copilot. I was in desperate need to get out of the driver's seat for at least a little while after the stress of the morning drive. This was just the beginning of the day though and much more was in store.. After cleaning the filth as best I could at the self wash and snapping a couple pictures I settled into the passenger seat. Unbeknownst to either of us this was going to be the shortest drive of the trip. We made it about ten feet out of the car wash and the timing belt went. Yes, our bad luck followed us over the mountain. I had discussed this with the PO, but after seeing the maintenance that had been done on the car and his insistent trust in his mechanic, I was less concerned than I should have been. It was my mistake not pulling the car apart before even starting on the trip to be sure of it, but we were already behind schedule so I decided to trust in the PO. If they did the cap, rotor, plugs, fuel filter, etc. they would've done the timing belt and water pump if it was questionable, right? Not right. So after hearing the wonderful lack of compression that's accompanied by the snapping of a timing belt and a quick look through the oil cap hole to see the cam wasn't moving, having a small breakdown and silently screaming at myself, I began to gather my wits. Luckily AJ's aunt lived 20 minutes away from where the car had given out so I had it towed there to await a proper shipping truck to have it brought home to Michigan. Feeling completely defeated, I booked us both flights home to Chicago and Detroit and settled on a company to ship the car the remainder of the journey.


This picture was taken minutes, if not seconds before tragedy stuck.