325ic Calypso Euro Conversion - Houndstooth & dbilas now, MT1 & MM 3.2 stroker coming

[bradnic]

Road trip to Raleigh! My good bud MPoser and I just picked up his new to him 92 vert and are driving back to Chicago. She's a cruiser.. 124k miles, LSD, all original, super super clean, fully functional electric top and a bonus along with the hardtop. Needs sportier shocks and mtechnic springs. That's pretty much it.



Here's a preview of the hardtop bonus. It certainly looks legit - it even has the same OEM convertible top clamp brackets from the car built in to it. But I can't find a record of that part number anywhere. I don't have my e30 accessories catalog to look through, and I can't remember where I've seen OEM versions of these racks before. Besides there are a couple of decent aftermarket carts out there readily available for < $150 shipped, or even better just setup an overhead lift for the top. Cool novelty factor though

[digger]

Preach digger preach. Tell me about the mild cam though. remember I have your favorite ITBs on this car.

you just want a mild cam because its a heavier vert. Preserves more torque below 2500rpm, especially below 2000rpm, so it would make a better cruiser.
as long as you arent after a screamer the ENEM Z45 or dbilas 284 looks like a good choice

yeah that manifold has runners that are 2-3" too short, chops out the midrange

[bradnic]

With a heavy vert you want more cubic inches, nice compression, mild cam , correct Pistons and it will be a torquey beast

Preach digger preach. Tell me about the mild cam though. remember I have your favorite ITBs on this car.

[bradnic]

Interested in seeing how the electric vs manual bootlids differ. I don't recall changing my latches when I changed to manual operation, but it seems to lock and pop open proper.

yeah the latch mechanisms are completely different, but it seems that the electric top latches can be used manually too. But the driver side electric top latch doesn't have the extra safety lock on it found on the original manual latch. So if you're the one person on the planet converting an OEM manual top to electric, and the electric latches are NLA, you're stuck with used parts.

I did end up finding a driver side electric top latch that I think came with the motors Barry sold me 3-4 years ago. They use the same mounting holes and fasteners, but you can see the difference in designs clearly. Not just the latches either - Bowden cables are different too. You can also see part of the safety latch - black part on the top of the pic.



the only other difference in the boot lids is the lever in the center for the top lid motor. I have the hole for the lever in my boot lid, but not the lever itself. no way to add it without taking the 2 pieces of the boot lid apart, and you'd still need the lever - which you can't buy lol.

[digger]

With a heavy vert you want more cubic inches, nice compression, mild cam , correct Pistons and it will be a torquey beast

[robrez]

Interested in seeing how the electric vs manual bootlids differ. I don't recall changing my latches when I changed to manual operation, but it seems to lock and pop open proper.

[bradnic]

Strömung angled tip exhaust delivered today!


Yes it looks straight in the pics. but the muffler's angled when mounted. the ends of the tips are angled vertically as well.

Still have the MT1 bits in the shop though, and still haven't sandblasted the painted bumpers. I'm just out of time for the Vintage. So this and the mtech1 parts will all get mounted on in June. The existing Strömung exhaust will be moved to my IX coupe, which I intend to keep as stock as possible.

My new convertible top boot lid arrived at my supplier today, and they confirmed it is the electric top version which is great! Not sure if I can get it painted and assembled in time for the trip though.

Finally all except 8 hardware bits for the electric top mechanism have arrived, including the top motor reinforcement bracket. So time to start cutting more holes in my car.

[bradnic]

turns out our Canadian friends have the right side indicator strip. You can still buy it new from ECS for $22, part number 62111377320, no euro cluster needed. Left strip is NLA though, so if you're obsessed enough to want rear fogs you'll need a legit euro cluster to score the overlay symbol

Oh and you can still buy the euro clock new for about $110, part number 62131376903

[bradnic]

getting some euro in the cluster

continuing the euro theme.. decided long ago I was adding three things

- the euro warning lights to the cluster

- the rear fog setup - already swapped out the taillight back sections for euro versions

- the euro headlamp aiming system. I have the full set of headlight aiming system bits as well. I just haven't decided what to do about the reinforced and padded knee bolster - pretty sure there is no version of that knee bolster in Europe, so no standard way to fit the aiming system control knob in place.

I was fortunate enough to receive a PM from Francisco, a local r3ver that just imported a RHD 320i convertible. Seems like there aren't enough euro fanatic E30 types in the area so I was glad he stopped over.

The PO wrapped the trim in leather. You can clearly see a sweet mtech2 wheel, all the euro controls and indicators in the pic - dual fog switch, aiming knob, euro indicators in the cluster

Suitably inspired and motivated by a dead tach I finally whipped out the euro cluster Levent sold me a while back. Turns out it's a perfect match, identical SI board and build date about a year later than my car. Unfortunately the SI batteries were dead in the euro cluster too.

I wanted to keep the US gauges, because the wife didn't want the Km gauge, the econo gauge wouldn't be accurate with my chipped engine and I wasn't ready to switch to liters for the fuel gauge. So I did a quick swap of the gauge panel into the euro housing, along with the code plug. Everything lit up as expected except for 2 things

- the indicator for CHECK ENGINE was green instead of orange and blank
- the flashing CHECK doesn't appear, because the overlay in the euro cluster doesn't have the check symbol


Pulled both clusters completely apart and extracted the indicator overlays, then used my laptop as a light table :-)


It was pretty obvious upon inspection that the right side overlays are functionally identical. All I had to do then was make one cut in both left side overlays and splice them together carefully. Then some clear tape and good to go



With flash, shows the true colors better


Result is great! No tach still but I'll swap the batteries once I get them in. I also swapped out the chrome rings for brushed aluminum, though I still need to fasten them properly and re-glue the lens in place. I may change out the lens for something cleaner or experiment with a cracked one I have to see if I can polish it with 3000 grit paper and headlight restoration glaze.

At some point I may add some digital indicators on the left side. If I don't go FI I may not bother though.

[bradnic]

A solid 2.8l M20 with ~10:1 compression will be plenty.

Well I'm not quite with you there. I want to do this motor once. I love all the options available with stroking the M20. Not having to swap pistons is a very serious benefit! But having to live with maybe another 20hp at the wheels from 300cc will just tempt me to go further. Especially when you consider a couple of things

- it's going into a vert that in addition to being heavier than a coupe has to lug around all the sh%& ton of stuff I've added to this car :-p

- the oversized 45mm bores on the dbilas ITBs need displacement.

In my opinion if you are buying pistons you might as well go with a 3.* stroker.

agreed. Once you take the piston plunge you may as well go 3.1, unless you've already committed to other parts.

btw I freely admit most normal people would probably stroke their m20 before adding ITBs. But the dbilas became available so that's why I started there first. If the RHDs had been available I would have passed.

[stonea]

In my opinion if you are buying pistons you might as well go with a 3.* stroker.

[2mAn]

A solid 2.8l M20 with ~10:1 compression will be plenty.

[bradnic]

Keep up the good work!

I'm playing on my project Alpina today. Slave awaying on it like you....

you too Raúl! hope your weather is better than here.

Getting the rest of the wiring gremlins sorted today. Euro clock works great. Heated seats are working fine again (was just a fuse - need to look into what it should be for heated seats). Door lights and map lights didn't turn on.. that was just a fuse too. Still need to get the battery connection sorted on the stock radio (was losing code when car was shut off). Also a couple of dash lights need replacing. Nothing major.

Will also swap components between my stock and euro cluster. Hopefully the SI board in the euro cluster still has some time left on its batteries. I did order 2 pairs of the 3 prong LI batteries via an eBay seller in Canada (for this car and my IX). Hopefully they'll get here in a week or so.

Will post pics once things are back together.

[bradnic]

Thinking of the 3.1L stroker.. my favorite build is still tinkerputzer's.. Myster-E / bimmerheads ported head, MM pistons, S52 crank and rods, Schrick 284/272, IE rockers, whodwho MS. Between this thread and digger's I have the bases covered well.

It looks stock on the exterior, yet over 200lb ft and 210hp at the rear wheels..


Don't really need more than that in a vert, so the Vortech idea may get shelved. Besides already decided I need an E30 coupe hotrod in my life, after the IX build.

Will pull the trigger on this later this year.

SIGH... tinkerputzer's build thread has been photo bucketed.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Keep up the good work!

I'm playing on my project Alpina today. Slave awaying on it like you....