Mac's Daily Driver Project

[_Mac_]

Here goes my first post, I figured I should put something together to keep track of my summer e30 project. I enjoy seeing progress people make in their build threads, it always motivates me to do something. So heres my build...and sorry if there are alot of pics haha.

Background: I previously owned a Nissan S13. It was my first car and was a great car, but that time came around where I got tired of it and wanted something else. All the work was done by me, I pretty much touched everything on that car except for stuff deep within the motor. The motor ran strong so I figured theres no reason to mess with it. It was my daily driver and my weekend track car. Well heres some pics of it and the stages it went through in order. Yesss I like wheels...



















Introduction:
With that being out of the way, heres the E30. A buddy of mine finally convinced me to hop into one. I couldnt really see myself in one, but who cares I wanted one anyway. After looking around a bit, I talked to my mom and little did I know, she had a friend with a garage kept 84' 318i. I talked to him and just wanted the car. After waiting for the car for a few weeks with tons of patience, he finally came over and dropped it off. ;)

Goal: To make a nice/fun daily and a little drift machine for the track.

Before:












Me being me, with all my excitement I started messing with it next day. I gave it a nice wash, I can't work on a dirty car, it bugs me haha.

I knew there were bottlecaps under all that dirt. :D

Previous owner had a dog that shed ALOT, not fun to clean up, but I did a decent job.

Hopefully I can keep you guys entertained with this build. :razz:

[metalsoul]

Good looking S13

[JK_E30]

That s13 looks great.

The e30 looks like a great start, I like the color.

What plans do you have for it?

[Dj Buttchug]

love for a fellow s chassis owner. Love the battles on the hatch. an e30 for FREE???@#($*$&

you cant beat that!!!

[AbsorbantNut]

Nice e30, what color is that?

[_Mac_]

That s13 looks great.

The e30 looks like a great start, I like the color.

What plans do you have for it?

Thanks man, plans for it aren't set in stone because I tend to change my mind alot. But, I'm aiming for M50 swap, coilovers, wheels. Not too sure on appearance, all I know is that I want it LOW.

Nice e30, what color is that?

I got around to painting some of the trim with that duplicolor trim paint. What paint am I supposed to use for the chrome window trim?
Before and after:



My friend had a friend selling a headunit that had all the features that I needed, so I picked it up. Pioneer 4200UB. I installed in next day and overall I really like it. Could care less about the flashy look, but it makes stock speakers sound pretty decent. I need my tunes to enjoy driving the car, I'm happy. :D








I went to junkyard this weekend and did pretty well. I dove into the junkyard hardly knowing how to work on E30s. I got my monies worth thats for sure.

Found an LSD:




Rear trailing arms for drum to disc swap:
Not completely understanding how to pull trailing arms out and doing it at the junkyard with basic tools was not easy, quite fustrating actually.


Front calipers so I can run vented rotors:


Hella Ellipsoids, bye bye sealed beams:
One side done..

Both sides done, looking good.


Also picked up a rear plastic bumper with shocks and all necessary hardware, not pictured though.


Today I went ahead and cleaned up the rear calipers. I took them apart and cleaned everything, just waiting on new seals.
Dirty dirty

Cleaned up a bit, will clean more when I put everything back together.


While taking things apart, I found this little guy had quite alot of play. Its a good thing I guess. Now I have no choice but to get new bearings haha.


Things on order:
-BC Racing Coilovers
-New Emblems Hood/Trunk
-Rear Trailing Arm Bushings
-Caliper Seals Front/Rear
-Rear Wheel Bearings

[moe30]

Nice work so far, thats one slick e30

[AbsorbantNut]

You are quick with the mods, keep it up

[JK_E30]

You did very well at the junkyard!

Its looking good, keep it up!

[_Mac_]

Well the car started idling all funny yesterday. High idle, jumpy idle, low about to die idle. So this morning I yanked out the icv and plugged everything up, it made all the difference. The car is actually a little more fun to drive now haha.



Yes those are lugnuts lol, I couldn't find anything to plug the hoses up and came across some lugnuts from my s13.

Also, yesterday while trying to fix the idling, the crush rubber seal before the fuel rail started squirting out some fuel. Got that replaced with some random grommet o-ring thing from home depot. No more leakage there...and less of a fire hazard.





While enjoying the clean and steady idle in the driveway. This guy came to drop off some goodness.

BC Racing Coilovers
I figured they'd be perfect for daily driving, I just need to get them welded on. Took everything apart and everything looks great.


I finally got a chance to see the ellipsoids at night. Nice to see everythings working.


According to tracking numbers I should be getting in rtabs, emblems, rear wheel bearings, and f/r caliper seals tomorrow. Should be able to get some updates next week. Thanks for reading!

[F34R]

I love the S13, I am sure you will take care of that e30!

I think you should tuck the dive board bumpers and swap in a i motor.

[xwill112x]

lots of progress so quickly! nice!

[drumad]

something about 240 guys who turn to e30s..

I still have my 240 tho. Yours was nice!

[Roysneon]

Really nice looking 13. I'm digging the 318 too. I have the same idle problems with my 84 318i, I'm just going to fix it with an engine swap in a few months though.

[_Mac_]

I love the S13, I am sure you will take care of that e30!

I think you should tuck the dive board bumpers and swap in a i motor.

I'm not really planning on keeping the dbs for long so I'm not sure if I wanna waste time tucking them. As for the motor, I'm currently looking around for an M50.:)

lots of progress so quickly! nice!

Thanks! Nice to hear some positive words.

something about 240 guys who turn to e30s..

I still have my 240 tho. Yours was nice!

What about 240 guys who turn to e30s? Haha thanks man.

Really nice looking 13. I'm digging the 318 too. I have the same idle problems with my 84 318i, I'm just going to fix it with an engine swap in a few months though.

Well it is my daily driver so it needs to be running and cant sit for too long. So its just a temporary fix until I find my motor.

7/11/10
Well anywho, after a little camping trip with the family. I came home to some more goodies. Well boring stuff, but it needs to be done...

New emblems, caliper seals, rtabs, and rear wheel bearings.




7/12/10
Woke up and I got bored so I decided to throw on the new emblems for some sort of motivation to work on the car.

New Emblems, nothing too exciting...




Finally grabbed a buddy of mine to go with me to buy some paint (im not old enough lol). Picked up some paint for the calipers, diff, and trailing arms. I couldn't help but get started on the rear calipers so here that is..

I was dumb enough to paint the calipers before I rebuilt them. I completely forgot what brake fluid does to paint. Wasn't a big deal, but something I didn't want to deal with.

I have never taken apart calipers, but I'm pretty sure its not a good thing when you have gunk build up in there. :???:

After a little bit of cleaning

Here's everything put back together, I'm really happy how everything turned out. I just hope I did everything right, I guess we'll find out once its on the car.:nice:






As of right now, I'm waiting on a buddy of mine so I can use his hydraulic press for the bushings and bearings.