'88 325is M30 street car-->S54 -->S50 -->M54 Enduro Race car

[acolella76]

I don't really trust my brakes enough to do 140 into 10A yet

So lift at 139

Those turbines look great, I seriously love your car

[328ijunkie]

So quit buying sexy wheels then ;)

[Jb325is]

I've had these wheels since like '11.. It's the e39 m5 that is causing the e30 to take a hit, I love that thing

[scotte30]

great build. the s54 is an amazing engine, it's what I miss most after selling my e46 m3.

I think a tune and 3" vs 3.5" exhaust will make a big difference.

looking forward to more updates.

[328ijunkie]

Come get a tune!

[csermonet47]

Love it Jon! Looks killer with the turbines. I still need to see this thing at some point.

[Jb325is]

You definitely do, it's been years man, come on down!

I was bored this afternoon so I decided to take apart some stuff on the car that I am not happy with. First, is the sketchy E-pedal mounting. To use the pedal, you buy the bracket(white piece in pic) that normally mounts the pedal to the e46 floorboard. The bracket mounts to the floor and the pedal slides on. Unfortunately, the bracket does not fit an e30 floorboard correctly, and there is no way to properly secure the bottom of the bracket. I had the top bolted and the bottom kind of wedged in the e30 floor channel, but the bracket need to be thinner and have external wedge tabs to work properly (see pic of e30 floor bracket). I'd really like to fix it, it's something that's going to be in the back of my mind always, I'd hate at a track somewhere and have the pedal come loose and lodge itself under the brake. Paranoid I know, but shit happens

This is not how the pedal sits all the time, but shows that it isn't properly secured
e30throttle by braswell.jonathan, on Flickr

e30throttlebracket by braswell.jonathan, on Flickr

e30lowerbracket by braswell.jonathan, on Flickr

I am thinking I want to make a new bracket, but I think the only way to do it feasibly is to 3D print it. Are the any mediums out there right now that I could rely on to not break in this application? Anyone have access to a printer that would work for this? If so, I can model the part in Solidworks and send a .stp file

[The Dark Side of Will]

Looks like it just needs to have a couple of nuts welded to the floor board at the right elevation... what am I missing?

[Jb325is]

You could do that I suppose, but its not really feasible for everyone doing an s54 swap to pull carpet and weld some nuts it. Maybe a rivet nut or something would work too but I dunno, it would be cool to just have a bracket that snapped into the floor like its supposed to.

[TwoJ's]

How big will the part be? I have access to a printer at work and could do something for you. My max print volume is 10'x10'x10' though. Also, this is not a FDM style printer -- it is a higher end model that uses UV cured resins rather than thermoplastics. So print quality will be higher than expected. The strongest material I have at the moment is "ABS Like" material -- it is resin so it isn't technically ABS, but has very similar mechanical properties.

Shoot me a .stp file and I can take a look at it. Sent you a PM.

[Jb325is]

Looks like it just needs to have a couple of nuts welded to the floor board at the right elevation... what am I missing?

I ended up getting some spacers, drilling a couple countersunk holes in the pedal bracket, and adding some flathead bolts. Pedal is secure. Thanks for the suggestion, I was definitely over-thinking it

I also swapped out my master cylinder today, for another 17/22. Turns out the rod for the booster delete was radiused on a bench grinder, and it had some rough edges on it that gouged up the inside of my master cylinder pretty well. I'm 95% sure thats what caused my brakes to hang up at autocross, the rod hung up on one of the the burrs. I fixed the end of the rod with some filing, and I'm feeling a little better about it now.

Sent you a pm TwoJ's

[E30stan]

Top work man! Have fun working out the kinks, i find that phase as the most rewarding during a project!

[gills]

So you didn't like how the pedal was secured, but how is the actual location of the pedal for heel-toe braking? Is it in an awkward spot vs the stock E30 pedal?

[FredK]

I secured my pedal similar to Jb325is, except I modified the white bracket's through hole, and made a sheetmetal bracket so that it would sit on the stub properly. I added a zip tie to fully secure the white bracket to the floor stub. My pedal sits pretty much where it did in a stock e30, and I don't have any issues with heel-toe.

I did have an issue when the pedal itself broke while heel-toeing. The hinge is flimsy plastic. The fix is to attach it to a metal hinge, but I just got a brand new pedal, which was around $120. Once it starts failing I'll just retrofit it with a metal hinge. I also have a backup pedal which is safety wired together, but still works.

[Jb325is]

The pedal location is fine, just a good as stock for heal-toe. I wish I would have taken some pictures before I put it back in but I was tired of messing with it. I drilled a countersunk m6 hole right above the lower "slide" for the pedal and an M5 hole on the left side. I chiseled away the sound deadening under the carpet so my spacers would be on the floorboard. I think the spacers were ~5/8" or so