My First Project Car!! // Evergreen E30

[AWDBOB]

Bad motor mounts allow the engine to move forward under hard braking.

BMW put a limiter in place that attaches to the bottom of the bellhousing and hits the subframe to prevent this from happening when the engine mounts fail, but the rubber damper on the limiter is typically missing, allowing the fan to ruin the radiator.

[evrgrn]

I suspected that may have been the case. I should probably still fix this so the water pump doesn't destroy my new fan. Thanks for the insight!

[AWDBOB]

Yup, I definitely wouldn't do another autox without doing engine/trans mounts.

The stopper/limiter is 11811132177 and the rubber buffer for it is 11811132527 BTW. May be worth inspecting/replacing what you don't have while you're down there.

[evrgrn]

Rear End Rebuild (Part 1)

I've been working on rebuilding the rear end for the last few months. I never thought it would take so long, but here we are. As of today, the car is finally back on the road. But let's start from the beginning.

On 2/22/2025 I took the E30 on a long drive through the Smokey Mountains with some friends. It was a ton of fun, and it revealed a number of issues with the car. The main one, both in performance and safety, was the rear end alignment. During hard left turns I could hear the rear right wheel rubbing on the inside of the quarter panel. But when sitting still, it was nowhere close. The trailing arm bushings were so destroyed that you could feel the alignment change during the corner. I was worried that simply replacing them might not fix the issue, since I suspected that something was slightly bent. There was a noticeable toe out on the right side, and the negative camber was significantly more on the right as well. Some previous owner must have had a run in with a curb. Also, I wanted to be able to remove the camber resulting from lowering the car. After doing a lot of research, I decided on the serrated camber and toe adjusters from Garagistic. I figured that since the diff was leaking, I'd may as well fix that too.

But at this point, I had not welded in nearly 10 years, I didn't own a welder, and I had only a general idea what I was doing. But I decided that there was no good alternative and that it needed to happen. I picked up a cheap MIG welder off marketplace, jacked the car up and dropped the subframe.

I did not get good pictures of this process (I will do better with future endeavors) but I used a torch to get the bushings out. I picked up a scrap mustang subframe from a local bodyshop and practiced cutting it up and welding it back together. Once I was feeling confident, I welded the tabs on the subframe.




I went all the way around, grinded them down, and went again. I'm pretty happy with the quality of my welds given that I have no actual training and not much practice. The most time consuming part was using a Dremel to clearance the inside of each tab. After hours of dremeling, I sanded the whole thing down and painted it with POR15. Then I pressed in all the bushings, replaced the axle seals on the diff, and resealed the cover. I put the tabs near the stock locations and installed the trailing arms and diff to the subframe, then lifted the whole thing into the car. I was so excited, thinking I was nearly done. I was not even close to nearly done, however.

Part 2 soon, I need to take some pictures for context. But the car isn't in the garage at the moment (not complaining).

[e30m3s54turbo]

It looks good. Welds should hold.
keep up the good work.

Last year I did my camber plates on rear subframe. Yes it took some time to grind and get fitment correct.

[evrgrn]

Rear End Rebuild (Part 2)

After hours of grinding, painting, and teaching myself to weld I finally had an adjustable subframe.






As I installed it in the car with help from some friends I quickly realized I had an issue. There was no way to get to the outside of the toe adjusters because they were pressed up against the subframe bushings. I was hoping to just toss everything in and limp the car to an alignment shop, but there was no way the move the toe without dropping the subframe again. This is the main reason this project took nearly 6 months. I spent many afternoons dropping the subframe, hammering the trailing arms in or out slightly, then reinstalling and checking the alignment.



I bought a Gyraline, which is a 3D printed thing you put your phone into and use an app to measure alignment. I was EXTREMELY skeptical, but they advertised 90 day returns for any reason so I gave it a try. It's actually super consistent. I've yet to compare the reading it gives to an actual alignment shop, but I'm pretty impressed. Anyway, after countless hours of adjusting I finally got it to -2 degrees of camber and +0.5 degrees of toe. I finally got the car off jack stands to test everything out.



I picked up 15 inch Miata wheels and 200TW tires for super cheap on marketplace (months ago at this point). I was blown away by how well the car handled. Moments like these make all the nights in the garage worth it. And then my axle boots blew up and shot grease everywhere...



No problem, I was pretty well practiced at dropping this stuff at this point. I also replaced the parking brake system, both easy jobs.

[evrgrn]

Cooling Situation Again

I was expecting the engine tilting problem to be caused by the engine mounts, but they looked to be in good condition. I checked the trans mounts and sure enough, they were badly cracked and almost definitely causing issues.

Yup, I definitely wouldn't do another autox without doing engine/trans mounts.

The stopper/limiter is 11811132177 and the rubber buffer for it is 11811132527 BTW. May be worth inspecting/replacing what you don't have while you're down there.

I got these parts installed, but I was worried that they wouldn't do much to stop the engine from pivoting about the engine mounts.



I did something extremely stupid. I was really excited to take the up to SlammedEnuff Gatlinburg to run the mountain roads of Tennessee with a bunch of friends. After getting the refreshed axles in and torqued with loctite, I took the car for a test drive. I was planning on replacing the trans mounts before I left, but FCP sent me the wrong part, so while I was waiting for the replacement to ship out, I decided to test the car in the mountains to double check the rear end anyway. I was with a friend on a motorcycle, and when he stopped suddenly to take a turn I stopped a little harder than I needed to (being extra careful) and felt the engine move. But I thought between the stopper and the electric fan it wouldn't be a big deal. I was wrong. The engine pushed the fan into the radiator and the center shaft of the fan shredded the middle of the radiator. I didn't notice until the car was overheating.

I have no one to blame but myself at the end of the day, but this is just so frustrating. I am now ordering my third aluminum radiator. This time I will be breaking the mishimoto curse and buying a CSF. But there is no way to get one before the event :(

[2mAn]

I picked up 15 inch Miata wheels and 200TW tires for super cheap on marketplace (months ago at this point). I was blown away by how well the car handled. Moments like these make all the nights in the garage worth it. And then my axle boots blew up and shot grease everywhere....

Miata wheels look great! Should be fairly light too!

and of course now you're breaking more stuff haha

[evrgrn]

Miata wheels look great! Should be fairly light too!

and of course now you're breaking more stuff haha

Thanks! I paid $80 for them, and 200$ for the tires. Some scrubbing with a scotchbrite and new valve stems brought the right back to life. Unfortunately I have to run spacers since the hub bore is different, but there are so many good cheap 205/50R15 tires that I think it's well worth it.

[evrgrn]

Here are a few random pictures from the last few months to atone for my lack of photos:






I may have touched the car with greasy hands a few times