Something Something Tony G's E30 Sedan (we're using a coupe now) - S54 Swap

[Panici]

You're going to love that RHD flywheel.
Can be more challenging to drive (depending on your clutch & slave choice).

But the rev-match downshifts and blips are glorious.

[spike68]

Heres another update. Been slowly chipping away at things and just haven't been doing a good job at recording things. I think I just get lazy with the extra stuff or I think it's not interesting enough.

So for the most part the engine is all back together. Didn't really run into any hiccups aside from doing the valve adjustment. Cams are now almost out of tolerance than the size shims you can get in a shim kit. I know before the head was rebuilt it was well within tolerance and the only thing thats changed since then is the valves. Either way I'm rolling with it for now.

IMG_5140 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

I've also been getting some supporting parts in like this RHD flywheel. It was cheapest and the lightest. Could be a bad recipe, but we're just gonna send it.

IMG_5256 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


On top of engine stuff I finally felt like it was a good point to start tearing into the car to prep for engine insertion. Got the m52 pulled out of it and parked it on a stand. Took a couple hours to get out. there wasn't anything connecting it to the car so it was simple. Just unbolted the trans and motor mounts and out it came.

IMG_5156 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


I decided while I waited on some parts I would go ahead and just repaint the engine bay because why not try to make it look a little cleaner?

IMG_6026 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

IMG_6027 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


Not bad for a rattle can paint job. The only thing I'm a little disappointed about is that the paint I used seems to still be tacky after almost a week. I'm going to try some solutions I read online, but if it stays that way I may sand it down again and try another paint. A little disappointed, but ehh I've got time while I wait on parts from Garagistic for brakes.

Before the engine goes in I'm actually plumbing my own brake lines so I've been collecting supplies and tools to do that. It wont be anything complicated, but the previous owner had their own after removing the ABS module and just looked like trash. Since I'm going with a Willwood pedal box I figured this would be a good opportunity to learn a new skill.

Thats all for now.

[Panici]

You guys have any thoughts on this?

EDIT: I'm wrong. It's not chipping. It's just stubborn carbon buildup. I think this is just a sign that no matter how deep I go into car shit that I still have no idea what I'm doing. Just learning along the way.

You said it before I could, carbon buildup.

And those are true words.
There is always another area to learn or new challenge that comes along.

As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.
-Socrates

[spike68]

More recently I've been working on rebuilding the head. I decided to replace the valve stem seals and doing a valve a port clean while I was at it. I invested into a ultrasonic parts cleaner and it's been great. It's nice to be able to set some parts in and just walk away for a while and really gave me a head start on the valve cleaning.

However while cleaning the exhaust valves I noticed some pitting. I could easily get these fixed, but fuck it. Lets ball out and buy some supertech valves.

IMG_4807 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


Here is the second part of all of this. While cleaning the exhaust ports I noticed this

IMG_4816 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

That is indeed chipping in the port. I'm assuming that when this motor let go it may have thrown some small pieces of piston and caused this damage. Right now I'm leaning towards this isn't an issue because this isn't on the valve seat, but right above. If anything it could effect airflow, but probably isn't noticeable. This occurs on both exhaust ports of at least two cylinders.

You guys have any thoughts on this?

EDIT: I'm wrong. It's not chipping. It's just stubborn carbon buildup. I think this is just a sign that no matter how deep I go into car shit that I still have no idea what I'm doing. Just learning along the way.

[spike68]

I'm back! Here to provide an update since not much has moved since I purchased the race car back in May.

The summary of the waiting was that I had an issue with main bearings for the build. It was a mixup and some issues with ordering that took some time, but on top of that I procrastinated some. Tbh this whole engine building process has seemed intimidating, but I'm happy to report that S54 reassembly has started!

IMG_4538 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

IMG_4619 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

IMG_4272 (1) by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

IMG_4620 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr

[spike68]

If you haven't seen it yet, Chilezen has a great thread on cage work:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/photoshop-media/10066751-i-build-roll-cages

Wow I didn't see this. This gives me what I need.

Chilezen I spent quite a bit of time looking at your welding porn. Love your work!

[Chilezen]

Coincidentally I've also done rust repair, for another forum member here. I salute you on your brave attempts! It's not hard, just annoying lol. Absolutely get a proper mask so you don't breathe in fumes.

[Panici]

I'm going to have to look up how to properly box in the connection points so they're structurally sound. Might as well take a shot at fabrication skills.

If you haven't seen it yet, Chilezen has a great thread on cage work:

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/forum/general-forums/photoshop-media/10066751-i-build-roll-cages

[spike68]

Only downside to the car is the cage. I found out that it's only bolted in which seems so silly to me. The front half is most likely coming out since the front bars are poorly routed in front of the dash and the door bars don't seems as needed since the doors aren't gutted or anything. It looks like the rear half was a purchased as a kit and the front half was added later, probably to meet some kind of regulation on the track. I'll rework the rear half to be welded in. I'm going to have to look up how to properly box in the connection points so they're structurally sound. Might as well take a shot at fabrication skills.

The floors aren't in great shape either. The drive side was modified to lower the seat mounting position for the previous owner. He's a tall guy.

IMG_3157 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


As for the passenger side it just had some general bars added and drilled huge bolts through the bottom of the car. At some point one of the bolts caught the ground and crumpled the floor some. I'll just massage that side out, but some weird shit was done to get seats in this car.


In terms of everything else I've evaluated, the chassis harness was definitely modified in a few ways. Looks like theres an aftermarket ignition system that was for the m20. It was also rewired to not need a key to start the car. i'll probably undo that so I'll be keeping an eye out for a keyset (car didn't have keys).

[2mAn]

I like the chaos... yes... yes I do

[Panici]

Well....If you thought this thread was getting derailed YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET.

It's to put the s54 in the race coupe.

🔥🔥🔥
Racecar looks the part that's for sure!

[spike68]

Well....If you thought this thread was getting derailed YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET.

You wanna know what I have an addiction to? Looking at FB Marketplace. What did I find? more e30s. What did I do? bought some e30s. Yes I said it. e30s. PLURAL.

So I told myself while I was working through some of the rust repair on the red coupe that I would keep an eye on other potential candidates. It either just showed up really early or I just cant help myself.

The story is that someone was selling a previous NASA ITS race car. The car was in the middle of an m52 swap after blowing the m20. Previous owner decided to move on from the e30 and upgrade to a newer bmw. The catch is that he wanted everything gone. Anything e30 related gone. No separating, everything gone for one buyer. So what did that car include? A parts e30, an extra m52, the old blown m20, another blown m20, and a g260 transmission. Parts car didn't have an engine or transmission, but still had an interior, straight body, and no rust.

So how did I make this happen? I sold the original sedan to my brother. We both agreed on a price and it's now at his house.


So what did I do? Make him a somewhat low offer and he actually took it. Here are some photos. There are a lot more details to the race coupe, but I'll go into that later.


IMG_3131 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


IMG_3124 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


IMG_3077 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


IMG_3075 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


IMG_3118 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


IMG_3119 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


IMG_3113 by Tony Gomez, on Flickr


So whats the plan now? (because thats the question I ask myself at every post)

It's to put the s54 in the race coupe. What happens to the rusty red coupe? I'll probably sell it, but I'm also considering still doing rust repair since it's still a good learning experience. I need a reason to use my welder.

There a lot of things to do in front of me at the moment so I'm going to start planning all this out and figure out how to best use my time.

Thanks for continuing to read these. I'll update the thread name since we're not using a sedan anymore.

[dillon7]

I'm biased, but I think you made the right call with the early model coupe. Best of luck with the rust repair. No better way to learn.

It looks like it's been resprayed. Any idea what color it is?

[Northern]

Yeah, honestly I think those floors look good vs your average E30. Frame rail is rough, but I think using it as a learning experience is a great idea.

[spike68]

Over the weekend I went to a guy's house who is parting out an e30. He agreed to let me try and cut out the floor pans to use on my coupe and boy did it go terribly wrong. I realized that his floors were more rusted than I thought and with the one panel I tried cutting out I realized how much lapping there is.

Removing the floors isn't worth it. I'd have to cut out the beams that support the seat and the trans tunnel along with it. In addition I managed to catch a finger on the angle grinder not wearing the right PPE. I worked for a few hours on the car, injured myself, and walked away empty handed.

The next step is to just buy general sheet metal, grind out the rust in place as best as I can and then either lap or butt metal in like Panici mentioned.