Aw, here it goes!!

[CorvallisBMW]

Picked up some VHT wrinkle paint and started painting the VC and manifold. 3 coats with 5 minute intervals followed by 48 hour dry time. Here they are wet:





And after fully drying:



Lots of parts came today! It's like christmas morning.





New 22mm front bar vs the old 25mm front bar



This is why I'm getting toe adjusters for the rear



More to come soon!!

[CorvallisBMW]

A bit more progress today. I spent the morning degreasing both transmissions and swapping the output flanges, along with greasing the TO bearing and lever. Didn't take any pictures, there wasn't much to see.

I installed a new rear main on the M30. The old one wasn't leaking, but it's cheap insurance.


I also got the new 22/19mm sways installed




And reversed the Kmac camber plates so that I could get rid of some of the excessive negative camber. These will be going on along with some e90 drop hats. I'll get pics tomorrow of the whole assembly.


Also put my Vorschlag camber/caster mounts up for sale (see link in my sig)

[CorvallisBMW]

Do work son!!

I finally got the Kmac struts figured out and reversed to remove the negative camber. They can't be set exactly 180 degrees opposite because of the shape of the plates and the mounting holes. So you can rotate it about 120 degrees either one way or the other, adding or subtracting a small amount of caster along with the camber adjustment. Since I'm already running m3 CA bushings and an e36 rack, my steering effort is really high and I didn't want any more caster. So right now they're set up to remove some camber and caster, and when i take it to the alignment shop they can really dial it in. I also put on the e90 drop hats at the same time.

Between the new front suspension and the m30 motor, I have no freakin idea what my ride height will be. But it was really bad before, hopefully I can get it about 1" lower.

So, on to pics:

Finally got the struts together. There is very little clearance between the top of the spring perch and the camber plate. But once I got the gap set just right with a few spacers, they went together great.








The new sway bar seems to have more of a bend than the old 25mm, and it's practically touching the Mason/Zen x-brace. And this is with the suspension unloaded. I'm afraid that when I put the car on the ground, the bar is going to crash in to the brace. I may need to swap it out for Eric's x-brace and hope it provides a bit more clearance.




Now.... engine delete mod!!

Out it comes:






Finally free of it's dirty, nasty engine bay. As soon as I get my subframe back from the shop that's welding in the rear toe adjusters, I can roll this thing out of the garage and pressure was the living shit out of the bay


And i nice shot of the M30 with painted VC and manifold

[Wishno87]

Some sweet progress here! You going to run AC? What are you doing as far as wiring?

[ck_taft325is]

Very, VERY nice, dude!

[CorvallisBMW]

Ya, trying to keep A/C. It's still R12 and cold as shit, i don't want to give it up. Wiring is very straightforward, I keep the stock m20b25 wiring harness and it all plugs right in. I may have to lengthen 1 or 2 wires but it shouldn't be too bad.

BUT.... I found that the stock m20 fuel injector harness will not work because the injectors on the m30 are spaced further apart and the wires won't reach. So I need to find an m30 injector harness.

[ck_taft325is]

P.S.

Great touch with the sanded ridges and BMW/roundel. I think the black wrinkle paint + polished bits are just top notch. And in the bay of a clean ass M-Tech 2 Alpine Vert with an M30? C'mon... sex.

[Jean]

Nice! You are going to love it :)

Harness wise, I would personally go with an e32/e34 b35 harness..pre 90/91 were 20pin c101, and after that they went with 25pin. So keep that in mind.

[kid325e]

Lookin dope. Can't wait to see it at the picnic.

[CorvallisBMW]

Any particular reason? I was under the impression that the normal m20b25 late model harness was just fine and would just be plug-and-play. I haven't hooked it up to the new motor yet but so far everything looks perfect. It's got all the right plugs and hookups, and I don't have to worry about the ECU end being too short to reach in to the glovebox.

[4drPwr]

Any particular reason? I was under the impression that the normal m20b25 late model harness was just fine and would just be plug-and-play. I haven't hooked it up to the new motor yet but so far everything looks perfect. It's got all the right plugs and hookups, and I don't have to worry about the ECU end being too short to reach in to the glovebox.

I was under this impression as well. I thought all you had to was extend a couple wires and be good to go.

[Jean]

You can do that, it still won't look or fit as nicely as an e32/e34 harness (since it was meant to fit these engines and has the nice plastic covers that hides a lot of wiring).

[CorvallisBMW]

hmmm well I may hit the yards around here and see what I can find. I already have the M3 wiring covers, and i may pick up some split looms to clean up the wiring under the manifold. How did you mount the ECU with the shorter e32/e34 harness? For now I still have that stupid front-mount battery so space is limited.

[Matt-B]

Ive seen a swap car (24v) with a metal ammo can with ecu in it :)

[N2MYE30]

Wow! Moving right along.