Corey's JDM-Tech 2

[Albie325]

The car looks great, the story is interesting, and it looks like you have a great plan for some really tasteful upgrades. Keep it coming!

[PieterVN]

Wow, i have a soft spot for the Delphingrau and M-Tech 2 combination. I hope to one day own a 325i in this colour or a Sterling Silver one with the M-Tech 2 Kit.
So sad the timing belt decided to cr*p out on you. You will not regret the B25 upgrade and big respect that you're planning on keeping the original engine and restoring it.
I'm a sucker for originality.

Keep up the good work!

[Simple_Smith]

Northern it took me a while before my pea sized brain could wrap itself around this concept. I've only driven the car a handful of times this season and I did get an odd feeling from the steering, but I wrote it off as not being familiar with the car, but after seeing your comment and watching this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idk3BVDVHq4 things started to click for me. I'll definitely be pulling it apart to re-phase the u-joints properly.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! This is why I love r3v. I'll continue chipping away at the to-do list and posting updates as I go. If anyone would like more details on anything I've covered so far, PM me or simply post in here and I will gladly share what information and knowledge I can.

[robrez]

So many twists and turns in the story arc, but you’re on the upswing now!

[Northern]

This car is such a nice combo, I love it.

FYI if you run it like this with the ujoints out of phase, it's going to introduce a sine wave into the rotational output.
It might feel like the rack turns more at certain spots in the steering rack. Easiest fix is to make a guibo out of some thicker sheet steel. It should still fit the rack that way.

[cheffy30]

I want a manual so bad. one day maybe... meanwhile my auto is holding on with 300+k... Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

[mike.bmw]

Great story so far! Way to stay persistent. Looking forward to more updates!

[Simple_Smith]

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

A spare manual swap is always a nice thing when space isn't an issue, never know when a clean auto car will come up begging for a swap.. Luckily when I was looking for another M20 several were up on marketplace and this was a little over an hour away. The other option that's still on the table is to use a spare block I had to build a "mild" 3.0 M20 but that was a bit more involved than I was wanting at the time.

[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]

reserved for updates

[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.

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.