Project Money Pit - A 24v Story

[GuercII]

Engine Fan

Installed an auxiliary engine fan and 80/88c temp sensor. Now the temp gauge stays pointed perfectly vertical, even in stop and go traffic or extended idling.

[GuercII]

A little while back, baby got a new set of shoes. Got rid of the rock-hard 195/14's and put on a set of 225/15's. The original tires gave me no traction, especially in the rain. I would sometimes find myself burning rubber inadvertedly.

The 225's fit great. No rubbing or interference, even at full lock. The car is NOT that lowered though. I use M3 springs, which are visibly a little lower than stock, but I've never had a problem with potholes or speed bumps.

[GuercII]

Original 3.73 Limited Slip, proudly displaying the "S". Drained the fluid and reinstalled a bottle of new Redline fluid. Maybe it's all in my mind, but it just feeeeels smoother driving down the road.

[GuercII]

Another Undercarriage Shot

Engine & Undercarriage shot. I think it's pretty damn clean, but despite new gaskets all over the place, there's a leeeeeetle bit of oil moisture on bottom of engine, which annoys me. Trans is clean enough to eat off of.

[GuercII]

Undercarriage Pics

I took it to a custom muffler shop to have the E36 exhaust better adapted to the E30 body. They welded some new hangars, and gave it some body english to get it right. No more banging on washboard roads. The exhaust note is just like a stock E30, you wouldn't know it had anything done to it.

I'm going for a Miami-Vice theme in the undercarriage. Green swaybars by Suspension Techniques, TRM Control Arm eyeballs, and a pink Getrag260 adapter (made & painted by a guy on this forum). Why pink? Don't know, didn't have the time to repaint black before installing it.

[GuercII]

Paint Detailing

Rubbing compound, polishing compound, 2 coats of turtle wax. Every weekend, I attack a different quarter panel. Unlike some of you guys, I really don't enjoy the obsessive prepwork and polishing. So I do it a little bit at a time.

All of it applied Mr. Miyagi style, wax on, wax off. I don't have a machine polisher, and I read of people who have burnt or otherwise destroyed the original paint with those machines. Until someone can show me the proper application, I'm doing it old-school style.

The original paint is in very good condition, but as you'd expect, has seen its share of sun, pollution, bird crap, etc.

[GuercII]

Project Update

(For some reason my original ID has been blocked out and I haven't been able to post on R3vlimited.)

Since I last wrote up, I've been going around and doing the little projects. Not much money, lots of elbow grease, but a lot of final satisfaction.

Installed a new bottom seat cushion for the driver sport seat, and hot-glued an extra layer of foam in for good measure. It makes a world of difference in support.

(After this picture) I re-dyed the seats using Doc's Leather Black. It is a leather conditioner with a black dye, did a great job of filling in all the scratches and creases, so the seats are a nice consistent black color. Great results for a measly $14.

[MSFIT]

WOOOOOT! Passed smog referee. Took it in to Alameda, CA Smog Ref. Had a nice folder of documentation, including replacement engine VIN and its smog history. I don't think you needed it, but it certainly helped him identify the replacement engine. He looked through the smog books, then visually checked a few items. He took peek underneath to make sure there was a catalyst, then "uhhhh.... looks good. Wait here, I'll get you a sticker". Like any good state government worker, he slapped the smog cert on the shock tower in a piss-poor manner.

Smog Ref spent most of the time looking through requirements on the computer. Since he didn't ask, I forgot to mention the M3 cams. Oops, my bad.

A smog test isn't required until registration comes due in June. When I go in, the smog shop will treat it like any other 1995 325i.

I'm in the middle of my 24v swap right now and want to go this route (CARB Ref). I don't have any paper work from the motor I bought though, do you know if this will be a problem? Is there already a thread about this?

[iamsam]

so now you have an S50 valve cover on an M50?

[Guerc]

according to post 2, it has a Z3 shifter...
Looks like a really nice project! What was the determining factor with picking the M50 over the S50?

Yeah, it has the Z3 shifter and new bushings. The original shifter was so loose it was like stirring soup.

The S50/M50 was about cost / performance. Also, I'm an accountant, I'm a sucker for documentation.

I bought the S50+ZF on a whim for a few thousand dollars, before selling it as costs escalated out of control. It needed computer + E34 oilpan, and history was unknown. The guy *said* it was low miles, but really had nothing to prove it. For all I know, it could have been thrashed to within inches of its life.

By comparison, the M50 was $500 complete, from a T-boned 525i. Bought from reputable local shop with 10+ years of maintenance records. It was probably Grandma's daily driver, likely never revve'd over 2500 RPM in its life. For extra $100, he thew in a huge pile of spares: another DME, another MAF, a Getrag 250, and 328i driveshaft (most of which got promptly resold for a few $ on R3v and Craigslist, bringing the all-in cost down).

In retrospect, yeah, an S50 would've been nice, but an M50+cams+chip should do 200 whp = 230 crank hp, gets you near the M3's stock 240hp. The car isn't a tire-churning monster, but it is very nicely powered, nicely balanced, and rev-happy. I'm happy with the tradeoff.

Besides, a few months later, I found YET ANOTHER S50+ZF, totally complete, in PicknPull, including computer. Picked that one up for $600 including paying a guy to deliver to my home. Kept the "==BMW M Power==" valve cover and sold the rest to finance my new wheels.

See that story here: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1399230

[iwantspeed]

looks good.

[gearheadE30]

according to post 2, it has a Z3 shifter...

Looks like a really nice project! What was the determining factor with picking the M50 over the S50?

[chadthestampede]

And God Bless California… not a spec of rust. I used to live in Buffalo, NY and grew up working on rusted-out derelicts. I paid my dues, I deserve this luxury.

I used to live in California, I'm used to clean cars with brittle plastic.

[SamE30e]

You need to get a short shift. PM Blunt and get a price on a Z3 1.9 shifter, it makes a world of difference.

[Guerc]

Interior Shot

And an interior shot....

This is a nicely optioned car, with all the little extras: Black leather sport seats, M-Tech steering wheel, Maplight mirror, 13-button OBC, Tape cassette console, etc.