89 Schwarz 24v Project

[rbartongrimley]

I doubt anyone remembers, but I had planned on doing this swap into a bronzit shell I had, BUT decided to go another route. I am a full time Physics student right now, so finding time for my cars has been very very hard. Today was my first day of winter break, so I got right to work.

I also figured I should start a thread for me to keep track of what I am doing on my e30. Ground Control, s50, UUC, Borbet, Treehouse Racing, IE, and tons of other types of win. (The s50, ZF tranny, and Steering rack I am using are out of an E36 M3 that I had).

Here is the car when I first picked it up. The previous owner had a valve tick or something odd, and let it go for very cheap. The car is very clean, and has an almost brand spotless interior.
















NOW TO TODAY 12/13/2010

Pulled out the entire front suspension (control arms, struts... etc). Got started on cleaning the motor and getting all of the unused garbage off of it (air conditioning, power steering). I am heading over to a friends to weld in reinforcements for the front sub-frame, and I will also be starting to assemble my coil overs (will have pics of that tomorrow).








I also found a HUGE rats nest under my steering column (all fell out when I undid the knee bolster). Apparently sitting outside for 3 months with no interaction forced my car to try and make new friends.




Will have more updates this coming week!

[freeride53]

cool whip. you should have grabbed those ds2's while you were at it! :D

[rbartongrimley]

cool whip. you should have grabbed those ds2's while you were at it! :D

Still have the e36 and everything else on it sitting in my lot :D

[iXguido]

are you going 5 lug?

[MR 325]

cool whip. you should have grabbed those ds2's while you were at it! :D

They are DS1. :)

[rbartongrimley]

are you going 5 lug?

Not going 5 lug. I got a really good deal from a friend on a brand new ground control set. Couldn't pass it up!

[TexasTerp]

Nice Project! Looking forward to seeing how it works out!

[freeride53]

They are DS1. :)

good catch. totally ignored the centers.

[rbartongrimley]

Another little update. I got took the sub-frame over to my friend's house and welded some reinforcements. I have not welded in over 5 years and I did not practice at all before I set right into my sub-frame. Turned out pretty well, and my welds aren't to ugly either. I added some metal to where the engine mount brackets are and where the steering rack bolts up. Easy to do and it actually does something. I washed it down after that and sprayed it back to black. I was going to get it powder coated, but I really don't care enough hah.


Before:


In-between:


After:



You have to swap out your brake booster to allow clearance of the intake manifold, so I have been prepping my new booster. I am using a 325iX (all wheel drive e30) double stake booster. I picked it up for a tremendous deal with the MC. The parts seem almost brand new, and pretty much no erosion or rust.



I disassembled most of the accessories off the engine too. I do not plan on keeping air conditioning or power steering, so that stuff went right into the garbage. I set to working cleaning with Oil Eater, tooth brushes, and brake cleaner. Works like a charm!



Here is it starting to come back together. I didn't touch the valve cover because I am going to have it hot tanked, and sand blasted. No real reason for me to waste my cleaner when I am going to be doing that.




It is supposed to be raining here tomorrow, so I wont be able to work outdoors on the car. I am going to start assembling the coil overs instead.

[rbartongrimley]

Got some time in at my friends machine shop today. I cut down my strut tubes, and prepped everything for welding tomorrow. I am shortening the tubes by 1" and running a 3" spacer inside, so I can use shortened Koni's. Should be pretty awesome when it is all together. I will snap some pics after I weld and sand blast them tomorrow.

[rbartongrimley]

It has been raining here for the past couple days, so I have not been able to get any work on the body of the car. I have really wanted to prep the engine bay, but I have no garage and it has to be kept outside. BUT, I have been spending time in the machine shop getting some work done when I can.

I finished up welding the strut tubes for my coilovers today. Having access to a full machine shop made feel like I was doing things way more precise then I really should have, but I can't complain about doing good quality work even though it has taken me a while go get back into the swing of using these machines. I went ahead and sandblasted the strut tubes after I was done welding, and they are all ready to get painted. Not quite sure on the color or type of paint, but I will be doing that tomorrow or the next day.






More updates coming soon!

[xLegendOZWest]

kick ass thus far!

[rbartongrimley]

kick ass thus far!

Thanks!

Small update. The rain here has put a complete handicap on my project. Not having a garage to work in means no time to work on the car when it is pouring rain.

Got my wheel stud kit in today, and I finished painting the strut tubes to the ground control color. Figured I might as well try and make it match. I also started to disassemble my VANOS unit to rebuild it. I picked up the new thrust washers and seals, so I can eliminate that awful rattle.

[Cabriolet]

nice progress. keep up the good work

[Kimbo63]

I call dibs on first ride! :D