The MR E30 Project Thread

[ian e30 318is]

Unintentional smoke machine? lol good luck bud

[MR E30 325is]

September 18th, 2013

The appointment has been set. On October 4th, the adventure begins. I am very confident that this has never been done before.

In the meantime, I had a screechy noise that was speed dependent. I take apart the rear wheel, and this falls to the ground.



Fortunately it wasn't damaged, and I was able to just put it back where it belongs.

On another note, I have to figure out why my trunk is smoking!



More teaser/vague posts to come. The finished product will be epic.

[JCarp90]

[MR E30 325is]

September 14th, 2013

I had to sell my 1995 XJ today due to a new living situation where I only have 1 parking spot, and the fact that the transmission was broken.

Devious plans for the E30 are beginning to be set into motion. I promise not to disappoint.

[MR E30 325is]

This is a great build thread, man. Are you ever planning to rebuild the Rotrex SC, or is that a thing of the past?

I keep thinking that a SC might be fun on my S52 :)

Cheers!

I would love to reinstall it, but it is apparently non repairable once it takes a shit. It currently decorates my bookshelf as a big hefty paperweight.

Turbo is the way to go in my opinion.

[kingston]

This is a great build thread, man. Are you ever planning to rebuild the Rotrex SC, or is that a thing of the past?

I keep thinking that a SC might be fun on my S52 :)

Cheers!

[AwakenNoMore]

Just read thread, awesome stuff. I need to get around to meeting other e30 people in AZ sometime.

[our guile]

Just read through the entire thread...

Wow your car is amazing.

[MR E30 325is]

August 23rd, 2013

I took a roadtrip out to Cali before school starts again. Definitely needed the break from the daily grind.

And of course, the E30 was the chariot that got me to where I needed to go.

This is in the middle of nowhere, getting some gas.



Another gas station shot



Relaxing here in Monterey Bay, 500 feet from the beach.



E30 handled the 850 miles very well so far, I have to travel back another 700 this Sunday night, and I hope that that is just as problem free.

Some front end updates will be happening in the upcoming months, if everything with school works out well enough.

[MR E30 325is]

By the way, I noticed that your E30 sees some snow, if it happens to see any salt as a result, be weary of the poly RTABS that have the aluminum core, because with a steel bolt inside of an aluminum core you'll run into some bad corrosion issues. The bolt will seize to the aluminum core and the next time you go to take your rear subframe apart you'll have to break out an angle grinder to get the trailing arms off. The cores should really be machined out of stainless steel. Oh, it'll also make your car sound like an old, old wooden ship. I speak from experience lol.

The E30 used to see snow, but it wont anymore. I had to drive it through one winter due to finances and the lack of anything else to drive.

A 95 XJ assumes DD duty during the snowfall now. E30 either stays babied in the garage, or heads down to Phoenix for a vacation.

[Bullet Ride]

Not all the way in, making install into the subframe near impossible.

These are the Revshift trailing arm bushings. I have already installed their differential and subframe bushings (of the 'hard' variety) into my car. They went in easy and were engineered well.

The trailing arm bushings, on the other hand, were hell in a handbasket. Outside of the trailing arm, they appear to be very tight and solid pieces of polyurethane.

But once you install one half of the bushing into the trailing arm, the other piece becomes near impossible to insert.

A c-clamp failed, and using hammers to try and smash the bushings into place is futile.

After hours of wasted time, here is what we came up with, and it is a solution that works best, compared to everything else.

Find an appropriately sized bolt with long enough threads to fit through the bushing after getting one half on the bushing into place. (Getting the first half in isnt really the problem, but the second half is). Get two washers that are big or bigger than the bushing and use two wrenches to crush the bushing into place.

You will probably discover, like I discovered, that the bushing bubbles up outside of the hole on the trailing arm, and have a tendency to expand outward after you remove the compression created by the bolt. The strategy I discovered was to simply crank the nut and bolt down and let it sit for hours, and this would keep the bushing from expanding back out after the bolt was removed.

All in all, I like their products, but I strongly feel that their bushings need to be reengineered with better tolerances. I understand the concept of having the bushings tight, but this was overkill. At the very least include a sheet of directions on the most hassle free install procedure for the trailing arm bushings.

The final bushing is compressed right now, and I will break it free tomorrow morning and reinstall the trailing arm onto the subframe, and then put it back in the car to temporarily finish the rear underside of the build.

Til next time!

I just skimmed through the whole thread. Quite the build diary I must say!

Just wanted to point out one thing with regards to installing RTABs. I've installed both factory rubber as well as poly RTABS in the time that I've owned my E30 and what I've found to be the most important thing is prepping the trailing arm properly. The amount of effort required to install the bushing was night and day with a simple 60 second prep job on the trailing arm.

The one time I went to install some OEM rubber bushings using a hydraulic press at work, and even with generous amounts of lube the bushing would only make it in part way, then it would bind and start to bubble. After wrecking a set of bushings I took a closer look at the trailing arms, there was just the slightest bit of corrosion in a couple spots. I took a small sanding wheel in an air tool and buffed the inside of the trailing arm. Went to install a new bushing and with just a little bit of lube it slid in like butter.

By the way, I noticed that your E30 sees some snow, if it happens to see any salt as a result, be weary of the poly RTABS that have the aluminum core, because with a steel bolt inside of an aluminum core you'll run into some bad corrosion issues. The bolt will seize to the aluminum core and the next time you go to take your rear subframe apart you'll have to break out an angle grinder to get the trailing arms off. The cores should really be machined out of stainless steel. Oh, it'll also make your car sound like an old, old wooden ship. I speak from experience lol.

[MR E30 325is]

August 15th, 2013

Long time since an update, but I had an issue with the Revshift 24v guibo they make, but I got it all straightened out.

Fan got a very official mounting setup, and the car is prepped for the roadtrip to Cali next week. Should be an interesting 1500 miles behind the wheel.

Sad to say, but even after all of the work this winter, the oil level still slowly decreases, causing me to have to top it off every now and then.

[JCarp90]

Love your car man!

Also wanted to let you know that I took your advice and picked up the AKG shifter. Love it.

[MR E30 325is]

June 23rd, 2013

Not much has been going on with the E30, apart from driving the piss out of it to work and school.

Jalves619 and I are moving into a place here in Flagstaff. Let the E30 badassness begin!

New brakes and control arms are in the works, as soon as I move to the new place (beginning of July). Bigger tires, fender flares, exhaust, cage and turbo parts are all swimming around in my head.

This E30 will never be finished.

[mohamed...]

this is a big inspiration. i love everything about your car. i cant imagine how the S/C s52 feels in an e30. great build keep up the great work!