I'm going to be doing a bunch of work to my S50 E30 over the next few months, so I figured I'd start a thread to post pictures and info...
The car has been sitting in my warehouse since November. I was autocrossing and started getting a nasty noise from the clutch. Driving it back home (I was on a temporary tag back then, which has since expired) things got much worse, to the point where I could barely get in and out of gears, and the noise coming from both transmission and engine is just nasty.
So, it's been parked since then. I finally towed it home last weekend and put it up on jackstands. I drained the oil just to check for metal. Nothing found, the oil is good and clean. It's got maybe 25 miles on it, and is Motul Chrono 10w40. At $17.50/quart, it's too good to just throw out, so it'll get strained and put back into the engine. (http://www.chartersventures.com/car/...50e30motul.jpg)
At a party over the weekend, a friend who has an S50 E36 suggested that the noise I was hearing is probably the flywheel moving around, as he thinks the flywheel bolts have backed out. He had this problem with his E36, and he's running the same UUC flywheel and clutch as I am. That would also explain the issues shifting, and the flywheel moving around would definitely cause the entire crank to move, which is why I'm getting sound from the engine and front harmonic balancer.
So, the transmission will come out sometime in the next month and I'll see what's what.
At the same time as I've got her on jackstands to do that work, I'm going to do the necessary things to pass smog. When I first brought the car into California back in 2007, the smog referee noted a few things I need in order to pass smog:
- Catalytic converter.
- "Check Engine" light.
- Re-position the O2 sensor.
- Charcoal canister.
I have the catalytic converter -- it's a Random Tech unit. (http://www.chartersventures.com/car/...omtechcat1.jpg) I'll have to pull the exhaust in order to remove the transmission anyways, so while it's out I'll have it modified to accommodate the catalytic converter. Also, the smog referee noticed that the car has OBDII S52 exhaust manifolds which each have a bung for an O2 sensor. He says I need to fill all factory ports with functioning O2 sensors, which means I'd need to have a second O2 sensor (there is currently only one installed, in the rearmost exhaust header). However, since I'm OBDI, it makes more sense to just install the single O2 sensor farther downstream in the exhaust system, past the collector, just in front of the cat. So, I'll pull the S52 manifolds and either fill and re-wrap the O2 sensor bungs or just switch to S50 manifolds (or perhaps an aftermarket header).
The charcoal canister is pretty straightforward. I have the parts, just need to install it.
The check engine light will be the hard part. The cluster isn't stock anymore (it has a BMP/VDO setup, see the following photo: http://www.chartersventures.com/car/.../e30cage08.jpg), which means I need to figure out which wires in the harness to tap into in order to get the check engine light signal. I suck at electrical stuff, so it'll be a challenge.
Lastly, a friend has a 3.25LSD which he offered me. It needs a bit of love, so I'll give it some attention and then install it when I button things back up.
Oh, and I just might get the BBS RS003s refinished (silver centers, polished lips) while it's up in the air.
On to the pictures. Here's how she sits as of tonight. If you look closely you can see a nice layer of dust.
Random undercarriage pics:
And the oil that I drained this past weekend:
That's it for now.
The car has been sitting in my warehouse since November. I was autocrossing and started getting a nasty noise from the clutch. Driving it back home (I was on a temporary tag back then, which has since expired) things got much worse, to the point where I could barely get in and out of gears, and the noise coming from both transmission and engine is just nasty.
So, it's been parked since then. I finally towed it home last weekend and put it up on jackstands. I drained the oil just to check for metal. Nothing found, the oil is good and clean. It's got maybe 25 miles on it, and is Motul Chrono 10w40. At $17.50/quart, it's too good to just throw out, so it'll get strained and put back into the engine. (http://www.chartersventures.com/car/...50e30motul.jpg)
At a party over the weekend, a friend who has an S50 E36 suggested that the noise I was hearing is probably the flywheel moving around, as he thinks the flywheel bolts have backed out. He had this problem with his E36, and he's running the same UUC flywheel and clutch as I am. That would also explain the issues shifting, and the flywheel moving around would definitely cause the entire crank to move, which is why I'm getting sound from the engine and front harmonic balancer.
So, the transmission will come out sometime in the next month and I'll see what's what.
At the same time as I've got her on jackstands to do that work, I'm going to do the necessary things to pass smog. When I first brought the car into California back in 2007, the smog referee noted a few things I need in order to pass smog:
- Catalytic converter.
- "Check Engine" light.
- Re-position the O2 sensor.
- Charcoal canister.
I have the catalytic converter -- it's a Random Tech unit. (http://www.chartersventures.com/car/...omtechcat1.jpg) I'll have to pull the exhaust in order to remove the transmission anyways, so while it's out I'll have it modified to accommodate the catalytic converter. Also, the smog referee noticed that the car has OBDII S52 exhaust manifolds which each have a bung for an O2 sensor. He says I need to fill all factory ports with functioning O2 sensors, which means I'd need to have a second O2 sensor (there is currently only one installed, in the rearmost exhaust header). However, since I'm OBDI, it makes more sense to just install the single O2 sensor farther downstream in the exhaust system, past the collector, just in front of the cat. So, I'll pull the S52 manifolds and either fill and re-wrap the O2 sensor bungs or just switch to S50 manifolds (or perhaps an aftermarket header).
The charcoal canister is pretty straightforward. I have the parts, just need to install it.
The check engine light will be the hard part. The cluster isn't stock anymore (it has a BMP/VDO setup, see the following photo: http://www.chartersventures.com/car/.../e30cage08.jpg), which means I need to figure out which wires in the harness to tap into in order to get the check engine light signal. I suck at electrical stuff, so it'll be a challenge.
Lastly, a friend has a 3.25LSD which he offered me. It needs a bit of love, so I'll give it some attention and then install it when I button things back up.
Oh, and I just might get the BBS RS003s refinished (silver centers, polished lips) while it's up in the air.
On to the pictures. Here's how she sits as of tonight. If you look closely you can see a nice layer of dust.
Random undercarriage pics:
And the oil that I drained this past weekend:
That's it for now.
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