IronJoe's back in an e30... 1989 M3!

[Panici]

New wheel looks good.
IMO the M-Tech 2 wheel needs at least a plastic bumper car otherwise it looks too "new" for the chassis. M3 works even better!
Agree that the 370mm feels just right. Stock steering rack in there still? What's the lock-to-lock on an M3?

I have the H&R / Billy combo on my E30 and E36 328i.
I increasingly feel like the Billy Sports (now called B8s?) are valved too aggressively for the soft H&R Sport rates.

Actually switching the E36 to a set of Koni STR.T in the near future to try and get some more comfort.

[IronJoe]

Alright, back to more fun things.

As mentioned after switching to 16" wheels and proper diameter tires, addressing the suspension was high on my list. I looked at the new offerings from KW and GC and quickly decided that was a "maybe some day" based on price. Since the car itself blew out most of my budget I'm trying to maximize bang for buck, so I settled for now on the H&R race/Billy sports combo I ran on the Henna car for many years and miles.

This car already had Bilsteins, I looked up the part numbers and while they were an older version, they were the "sport" shocks so all I needed was springs. I bided my time and got a great deal on a set from Amazon of all places.

H&R Sport vs Race:
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr


This wasn't my first rodeo so I got the new springs installed in an afternoon, done before dinner. On the Henna M3 I had removed all spring pads and paired the fronts with 15mm drop hats, this time I decided to see where the ride height would land with all the pads left in. Not bad, but I'll probably grab some more drop hats for the front ;-)
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr


For my "shakedown run" I left my center caps at home just-in-case I needed to tighten lugs or remove a wheel, and I ended up liking the look. So much so that I painted the centers of these wheels black Alpina-style, just to have a little fun with them. I ordered some custom center caps to fit inside which I'm hoping will arrive today!
Untitled by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr



And lastly, an upgrade I desperately needed, the 370mm Mtech 2 steering wheel. I am a tall guy with long legs so the 385mm wheel had to go ASAP. It needs a new M badge and the horn button is all wonky, but it's here and I didn't pay an arm and a leg for it so I'm happy.
370mm Mtech 2 steering wheel -E30 M3 by IronJoeT16S, on Flickr

[IronJoe]

insane engine work. how did this one fly under the radar so long ? possibly mileage i guess. it's not like i watch the market, $50k is as unattainable as $100k to me. glad it's got a good home.

edit : i like how your tesla ended up as well.

Honestly it was the worst-presented M3 for sale I think I’ve ever seen. Also the wheels turned a lot of people away, including myself.

The engine work is what sealed it for me, especially the head work. There are tons of 2.5 cars out there that have no head work and can’t breathe like the Sport Evo intended. This car has huge valves, throttle bodies, port & polish everywhere, etc.

The one downside I intend on fixing is the engine management. Right now the car has a Dinan chip for a 2.3 which is suboptimal for this recipe of hardware.

[82eye]

insane engine work. how did this one fly under the radar so long ? possibly mileage i guess. it's not like i watch the market, $50k is as unattainable as $100k to me. glad it's got a good home.

edit : i like how your tesla ended up as well.

[DEV0 E30]

Welcome back! And very interesting story about the engine, you've got a unicorn in more than one aspect.

Love the changes already, can't wait to see more.

[Panici]

Wow, that's a spicy overbore!
In theory it should handle high RPM work better with the shorter stroke compared to a Sport Evo.

This is the first I've heard of the 2.6L Dinan. Pretty wild that specific four-pot had a larger displacement then the M20 six.

[parkerbink]

Awesome! Congratulations!

[IronJoe]

I've never heard of an S14 with a bore that large, since most don't go that far. I believe most people say that 95mm is the max bore of the 2.3L because it leaves a margin of safety. Besides, why punch out (max overbore) the block and risk it when you can stroke it? BTW, the 87mm evo crank was always available through the right channels and you can use the stock or evo headgasket. What head gasket was used for your engine?

Here's an old link to Gustave's Sonic testing of the the 2.3 block.

https://www.e30sport.net/tech_articl...nic/sonic3.htm

Thanks for the link! I didn't intend to sound so snarky but it came out anyway it's just frustrating when people throw around the term "maximum" and "impossible" because they read it on the internet, and if you have evidence to the contrary you must be full of it.


I believe you that the Sport Evo crank could be had if you knew the right folks... but back in the early 00s I doubt your everyday average M3 owner could walk up to the US BMW dealer and get one. From feedback I received from one of the first US-built 2.5L owners, the only way to get a crank other than from a third party import/export in Germany was through Australia. My car's engine rebuild took a year back in 2003-04 with a large part of that time waiting on parts. Or, maybe the PO that commissioned the rebuilt was just being lazy, cheap, or both. I’ll never really know as I’ve not been able to make contact with that owner.

This car runs the Group A headgasket which should bump up the CR another quarter-to-half point from what I've read, so that puts it roughly in the 11.25:1 CR ballpark.

[reelizmpro]

I've never heard of an S14 with a bore that large, since most don't go that far. I believe most people say that 95mm is the max bore of the 2.3L because it leaves a margin of safety. Besides, why punch out (max overbore) the block and risk it when you can stroke it? BTW, the 87mm evo crank was always available through the right channels and you can use the stock or evo headgasket. What head gasket was used for your engine?

Here's an old link to Gustave's Sonic testing of the the 2.3 block.

https://www.e30sport.net/tech_articles/engine-tech/sonic/sonic3.htm

[IronJoe]

Here's the most interesting part of this journey so far... diving into the engine rebuild. As mentioned, this car was advertised as having ~10k on an engine rebuild with no other details. After googling the VIN I found the previous-previous owner and was able to confirm that this was rebuilt to a 2.5L back in 2004, and got a treasure trove of documentation and photos from the car's previous lives.

But digging into the parts list from the rebuild, I noticed something glaringly absent: there's no line item for the 2.5L crank, which is easily the most expensive single part of a 2.5L build. This was a high-end rebuild which cost over $10,000 in 2004 (you could easily buy a whole E30 M3 for that price back then) so what gives? Eager to suss out this mystery, I remembered that the 2.3 and 2.5 crank hubs attach differently. I checked the crank hub and sure enough, this car has a normal 2.3L crank nut, instead of the 2.5L crank bolt. So what gives? It's got way more torque down low, this has to be a 2.5L, right?

The answer, it turns out, is a little nutty. It took some sleuthing, connecting with the (now-retired) owner of the shop who did the work, deep dives into the 20 year old rebuild documentation, and conversations with the E30 M3 SIG members who were around back in the day to come to the right conclusion.

The standard 2.3L S14 has a bore of 93.4mm and a stroke of 84mm for a total capacity of 2,302cc. The Sport Evo 2.5L motor is both bored and stroked, 95mm bore and 87mm stroke for a total displacement of 2467cc, or 2.5L if you follow conventional engine rounding (tenth of a liter).

When going through the paperwork for a previous for sale ad, the description was that the car had been "bored out to 2.5L" and in the specs from the engine builder the pistons labeled as 96.4mm diameter. So my 2.5L engine is actually *not* a stroker like the Sport Evo S14B25, but actually an overbored S14B23 with the factory stroke! A bore of 96.4mm by the factory 84mm stroke yields a total displacement of 2452.4cc, which is *just enough* to round up to 2.5 litres. This revelation was baffling to say the least.

Here's where it gets even more interesting. All the "experts" I shared this information with swore up and down that boring the factory 2.3L block from 93.4mm all the way to 96.4mm was impossible. I was told by some reputable SIG members (I won't name names here because sorry, they are wrong) that 95.5 was the maximum, or else you'd start cutting into the water jackets. And even if you were able to get away with such an aggressive bore, it wouldn't last. Eventually I was able to find out that back in the '90s, Dinan offered a "2.6L" S14 which was a combination of the Sport Evo crank and an overbore to 96mm. Unfortunately other than verifying its existence I have not come across any other details.


Well this car's existence proves them wrong. I have since gotten in contact with the now-retired owner who's shop did the rebuild and confirmed that yes, they special ordered 96.4mm forged pistons from JE for this build and bore & honed the block to match. The reason? This build was completed back in 2004. Sport Evo cranks were not available to US buyers at the time like they are now. I actually got in contact with a SIG member who imported two of the first 2.5lL cranks into the US, and him and his engine builder had to fly to Germany in person to make it happen. So my car was owned by an enthusiast that wanted the 2.5L, couldn't source a crank, and instead kept the original stoke and overbored the block.

This car has now done roughly 13,000 miles in this configuration. While that's not a lot of driving in twenty years, it's got enough miles under its belt for me to be confident in driving it without fear of it blowing up.

So that's it, the story of the "impossible" 2.5L S14.


One of the great gifts I received from the previous-previous owner was photos from the engine rebuild. Here you can see just how thin the distance is between the cylinders.

[IronJoe]

I can see why the E30 chassis called you back after driving a silent tesla.
Yes they're fast but they have no soul. There will always be a faster car.

Right you are. I bought it mainly for commuting, which it is great at with Autopilot and such, but unless you are absolutely stomping on the go-pedal, it isn't fun to drive. The novelty of 0-60 or whatever does indeed wear off and as you said, there will always be a faster car. I don't want to play that game, I'd rather rip around in an old 200hp BMW.

Welcome back Joe. Nice looking car and I'm sure it will turn out better than it was. Did you sell the Tesla?

Thanks Barry! Good to hear from you. I still have the Tesla, although it doesn't get driven much as my wife's car is the "family" rig and I now bring out the E30 every chance I get.

[reelizmpro]

Welcome back Joe. Nice looking car and I'm sure it will turn out better than it was. Did you sell the Tesla?

[moatilliatta]

No place like home. Thank you for removing those wheels! 16" are perfect minus tire choices. Nice score on the M5 wheels and great replication of the EVO wheels! Smoked side markers.. What's Next?

[Panici]

I can see why the E30 chassis called you back after driving a silent tesla.
Yes they're fast but they have no soul. There will always be a faster car.

Talk about a score with that 2.5L S14! I bet it absolutely sings, I'd love to hear it.

Subscribed. Your M3 already looks very clean, excited to see what you have planned.

[gone002]

nice work.... i will ingnore the tesla . welcome back to the darkside ! =)