Phoenix e30 -1987 Royalblau 4 door 24v project

[brshelton]

A little late starting my build thread but better late than never. Big shout out to PimpinWalrus. This wouldn't be happening without his garage, and probably not without his help either. Also thanks to chinampa and my friend Morgan.
All pics can be found at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/fckbenshelton/

I bought my e30 originally as a 91 Alpine 4 door slicktop with a obd1 m52 swapped into it on billy sports/hr oe sport and worn out everything else. It had ripped blue cloth interior. Over the course of a year of owning it I did a LOT of work to it but I rear ended someone on December 16th. I decided buying a very clean car I knew of local, parting it, and reshelling everything was the route I was going to go...and so it began.

Got the car at 181k but it was already swapped
OBD1 M52 175K
ZF Trans 175k
7 series/325ix double diaphragm booster 175k


Was untuned and running the wrong injectors
21.5 lb pink tops 183k
TRM Chip 183k

All 4 boots were ripped and changed fluid in trans and diff (3.25 diff got replaced later with a 3.46)
Axle Boots 185k
Gear Oil in Trans 185k

Ordered the intake one night drunk as hell cuz itd look sweet with the carbon fiber YO
KA Motors Intake 186k
ZHP Knob 186k

This blew out one day and I had to change it in the snow
Valve Cover Gasket 187k

Needed to start getting rid of all these worn out parts and making it less bobo.
Green CABs 188k
Control Arms 188k
Ball Joints - Febi/Bilstein 188k
Sway Bar Endlinks Front 188k
Spark Plugs - BKR6E iirc 188k

Grip for days (and real wheels)!
TRM C1 15x8 ET20 189k
Hankook RS3 189k

Busted my oil pan after I installed IE3 springs
E34 Oil Pan 190k
Oil Pan Gasket 190k
Oil Level Sender Gasket 190k

The RS3 demanded more braking power to utilize all that grip
Rebuilt OEM Calipers 191k
Stainless Steel Brake Lines and clutch line 191k
Centric Slotted Rotors 191k
Hawk HP Plus Pads 191k

This was all done at once
BC Coilovers 10k/14k 6" 192k
E36 steering rack 3.2 192k
Tie Rods - Lemfoerder 192k
Steering Rack Boots 192k
3.46 LSD 192k
75w90 Redline Diff Fluid 192k
Condor P/S Loop Kit 192k
Serpentine Belt 192k
Raceland Euro M3 Rep Longtube 192k
Stainless 3 inch 2 mufflers 192k
Magnaflow y pipe 192k
Summit Vbands 192k
Exhaust Manifold Studs and Nuts 192k

Snapped a subframe bolt during install of it all
Subframe Bolts - 10.9 Yellow Zinc 192k

Put winter tires on
Kumho Ecsta 4x 205/55/15 194k

Of course once I started the project I decided that while I was in there I would do all of the things.

Front Sway Bar Bushings
Revshift 95a Green Motor Mounts
AKG Steering Rack Kit
IE Steering Guibo
VCG
VCG grommets
Throw out bearing
Revshift 95a Green Diff Bushing
Revshift 95a Green RTABs
Revshift 95a Green Subframe Bushings
Mishimoto Radiator
Metal Impeller Water Pump
Metal Thermostat Housing
Mishimoto Silicone Hoses
Revshift 95a Green Transmission Mounts
Revshift Poly/Aluminum Guibo
Oxygen Sensor
80 degree Thermostat
82 Degree Fan Switch
SPAL Fan
Sport seats
Coolant
Paint on all the things
Garagistic Delrin Shifter bushings
Garagtistic Clutch and brake pedal bushings
Throttle Cable
Injector Rebuild
Gear Shaft Rod Joint and foam thingy
Gas Fill Cap Boot
Garagtistic Billet Throttle Bushings
Valve Cover Gasket
Oil Pan Gasket
Shifter cup
Clean the whole engine bay
Remove interior and shampoo everything and clean all the things
Restore bumper trim and bumper surrounds
Shift lever washers
Heater hoses
Intake gaskets
Exhaust gaskets
Z3M shifter
CSB
Sport Seats
Guibo Hardware
Trailing Arm Hardware
Rear Strut Hardware
Throttle Cable Clips


White car when I first got it

Put some sweet rimzz on it...lol.

A week or so before the wreck and about a year after the rimzz

Reshell canidate

[brshelton]

Day 1 was a huge day as half the garage was full of junk. We spent 4-6 hours cleaning the garage out and filling the entire yard with junk, sweeping and cleaning, and organizing. After that was done we got the white car into the garage, removed a few things, and drained some from the m20




Day 2 was a huge day of wrenching. We pulled the m52 and stripped the white car completely except for the differential and axles. We felt pretty accomplished for hitting the 24 hour mark since starting and having the m52 out.




Day 3 I worked on cleaning the m52 while they worked on getting the m20 ready to pull. We decided we were gonna get the m20 out that night and got to it. Mission was accomplished after using a ratchet strap as a load leveler (stupid massive auto trans) and physically lifting it over the core support for the final bit (lol harbor freight hoist yunolift high). Called it a night after that.







Days 4-6 have been pretty unproductive. We got the blue out of the garage to powerwash and clean the bay and got the rear end off the white car on day 4. Day 5 and 6 I did some wire harness work at home and a friend wire wheeled the valve cover and we started painting stuff at home in the heat. I also cleaned and rebuilt the injectors. Its been between 10 and 30 degrees with a nasty wind here the past couple of days. I finally broke down and ordered some Carhartt coveralls tonight and paid for overnight shipping. Hopefully tomorrow will start the real work again. I also decided the harness that the PO had hacked up for the original swap was too hacked up and got a new harness and am making an adapter.

[E30NJ]

Sub'd. Love the color. Im about to get a 4 door Schwarz soon.

[brshelton]

Sub'd. Love the color. Im about to get a 4 door Schwarz soon.

I will be trying to keep up with daily posts. Reread the OP I updated it.

[brshelton]

Day 7 I didn't do much. Sold a car for a friend and made a sales commision, and bought parts with the money, and sold some parts off the blue car, to also buy parts with the money. I also did some brake pads and a caliper for a friend for some cash, which also went to parts. Ordered what should be the last parts. I also put 2 more coats on the valve cover for a total of 3 now and put 2 coats on one side of the headers. Carhartts get here tomorrow and I will, hopefully, be able to ignore the temperatures and just do work. PS the Jameson was emptied at the end of day 3 when we got the second motor out. I think I'm gonna pour the 8 dollar rum out....

[slammin.e28]

Such a nice, neat, organized build thread....

be a shame if someone came in here and...

tossed things up a bit....

[CorvallisBMW]

Love the color of your new car, keep up the good work!

[ST1G]

Such a nice, neat, organized build thread....

be a shame if someone came in here and...

tossed things up a bit....

That would be a shame.

[brshelton]

The color was one of the factors in deciding to reshell. It is the same co lo r as my first e30 and one of my favorites.

[ncbrock]

yoloswag

[brshelton]

Day 8 nothing got accomplished. Had a bunch going on today and was waiting on coveralls. Got them just now though. May go seperate transmission and some stuff.

[slammin.e28]

Man, this thread is so bold.

[ST1G]

Going where no thread has gone before.

[brshelton]

Lol makes it easier to find the relevant posts when scrolling through yalls shenanigans ;)

[brshelton]

So worldpac sent me the airbag knuckle when I ordered my 87 steering knuckle today.... Apparently they don't sell the non airbag knuckle. Just going to modify the one that is on the car and replace the steering guibo due to lack of fundage issues (non airbag one is 70 more than what I already spent on airbag one and could use the money...)