Resurrection of my coupe

[Sagaris]

What was wrong with the M20?

[N2MYE30]

That's one mighty fine trans brace you have there friend. ;)
Looks good. Your gonna love the nv m50.

Thanks! I can wait to drive this thing!

Wimpy update but I got a little bit done last night.
1) Bled the brakes and clutch with new fluid.
2) Attached powesteering hoses and added new fluid. Installed res on e36 mount arm.
3) Put it back on the ground! :D
4) Relocated the charcoal canister.
5) Started hooking up wires.





Next will be to finish up wiring and start cleaning up the mess.

Thanks for looking. Cheers!

[White325is]

That's one mighty fine trans brace you have there friend. ;)
Looks good. Your gonna love the nv m50.

[N2MYE30]

Can't wait to see that thing back in your driveway, i need some motivation for the ix

Me too! Ive been driving around in the cabrio for days so its going to be a welcome change from an auto to my M50 coupe. Im going to get back to working on it tonight. It really shouldnt be too long now. If all goes well, it should be at the exhaust shop in about a week.

Great project! Which shifter did you choose?

Thanks! When I put in my clutch in ~3 years ago, I put in a Z4 2.5 shifter...which is the one pictured. One of my favorite mods! :)

[Yogawrench]

Great project! Which shifter did you choose?

[Krueger]

Can't wait to see that thing back in your driveway, i need some motivation for the ix

[N2MYE30]

A little bit of headway...

The goal for this evening was to finish up under the car minus the exhaust and put in the strut bearings.

Everything is all tighted up.

As you can see the shifter lines up perfectly with me twisting the carrier an selector rod.




New bearings!

I had some rubbing coming from the strut area and I thought it was because my bearings were shot. In a way it was true but not in the way I thought. As you can see from the pic, the bearings were so old the they collapsed making the drophats hit the bearing and wearing a groove in the drophat.


Old bearing with drophat...

New bearing with drophat...

I should have no problems now...especially since the only thing not new on the frontend is one wheel bearing...everything else is brand new!!!

And she waits for next weeks plan, plumbing and wiring.


I also want to send a thanks to alot of members for making this build happen, on my dime but none the less. :up: I needed to get the new TOB so I called Carquest/worldpac to order it as well as the bearings. They shot off a price that floored me even with my connections. I called Blunttech, and Steve answered. Right away he overnighted the pkg to without hesitation and without paying in advance. I cannot express how nice it is to get an even better price on these goods but also talk to some...actually talk to someone. Most of the new parts on this project have been with him. Thanks Steve!

[N2MYE30]

A couple of updates on this now that I had my camera.

I knew that I had to have a spacer to make my 89 M3 rack swap but didnt really know what to use without waiting nor stacking washers. While renting a pilot bearing puller from Carquest, I asked about any sort of spacers as I descibed. Scored big! He happen to stock all types of possibilties. So I picked up 2 that I thought would be close. When installing, it was the perfect thickness and made of metal. At $8.98 for the pair, it was a done deal. FYI...part number DOR 690-023


Pick of inner/outer installed.


New swaybar bushings.


I didnt take any picks of the shift carrier mod but it was easier than I thought. 2 Vicegrips twisted the shift carrier and selector rod ~12* (by eye). No heat was needed at all! I was surprised on how easy the metal was to flex. I did not bend the selector rod.


This part happened kinda quickly so not too many pix...


IN!!!




Shifter setup.


Intake mani just for looks...


Trans brace. I need to get mor bolts as the e21 mounts are larger than the e30's


I dont look forward to getting this done but the best place in town is about 5 miles away. Anybody drive that far with just the manifolds?


From here on out its gonna be little wins as I don thave too much time to get this done..but it will get done!

Cheers!

[N2MYE30]

Well my weekend started out like this...up in the air for a couple of days.

Exhaust out. Btw, this is how my magnaflow was installed.




Intermediate stages...




coming out...




My cabrio's waiting garage-side making sure his older brother is taken care of. And e30rapidic's cabrio.


new rear main seal installed.


Comparo between e30 rack and my newer 98 m3 rack and inner/outer tierods.


No pix but I did degrease and powerwash.

All went pretty well for one days work.

The next day...I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! Ill take some more pix the next time.
What we did get accomplished was...

M3 rack installed. I had to cut a bit off the firewall for the steering shaft to clear the body. Easy.

Engine and tranny ready to go back in but need to get the chift carrier adjusted for that 12* twist.

All is going very well but the biggest surprise was replacing the front sway bar bushings. What a pita!

Ill have the engine in tomorrow.

Cheers.

[N2MYE30]

Nice Cant wait to see her done!
My engine is ready for the vert just waiting on ckrank sensors.....

What oil pan gasket did you use? paper/cork or metal one?

Yeah, it should be fun. Im keeping an eye on yours too.

I got the metal one.

[Luis325]

Nice Cant wait to see her done!
My engine is ready for the vert just waiting on ckrank sensors.....

What oil pan gasket did you use? paper/cork or metal one?

[N2MYE30]

Tear down tomorrow!

Finishing up harness.

[Simon S]

I totally approve of everything !!

Superb taste in all endeavors.
Well done good sir.

[e30shmobberr]

nice work, cant wait to see it done. what are your other plans?

[N2MYE30]

Well, its been a while. Collecting all the parts needed for the swap aint easy...at least no for me. Several trips to the pnp in this heat makes it worth the premium price some command on these parts but for the most part, all good deals and great members to work with. But the last piece came in the mail today so I guess I can update thread.

The plan is to do the swap on the weekend of June 15-17. But before then, I wanted to get some "quick and simple" things done. The plan was new VC and oil pan gasket and put on the manifolds. This should be easy, right....

Well the valve cover gasket was easy enough as I removed it a while ago. We took a better look at the cams, seems to look ok.




Oddly enough, I didnt take any pix of the part that took the longest. All but 3 exhaust studs backed out with the nuts...just too damn rusty. PB blaster was our friend but each bolt took us about 5 minutes to get off. We got them all off but it wasnt fun. The Dominos special of BBQ chicken made this task a little but more bearable. :)

Anyway, flips the block over to do the pan. I knew when I bought the engine that this bolt was already locked so it was nice not haveing to deal with this...


E36 sump removed...


E34 pans baffle drilled out...thanks AB!


and ready for the new gasket.


Flipped her right side up and put the plastics on just for a visual that it comming together, bit by bit.




Accesories are next but may wait for the swap weekend. I still have to make my harness so I have time.

Oh, btw, I scored a 98 M3 rack! This is gonna be fun once its all buttoned up!

Cheers!