Bronzit E30 - OBDII S52 shaved bay - weekend/autox toy - Journey

[s14brent]

damn dude....that really sucks. blame the takeover guys though - effin it up for everyone

[Sh3rpak!ng]

damn dude....that really sucks. blame the takeover guys though - effin it up for everyone

I blame both the cops and the idiots. This all blew up during covid. The cops did nothing to stop it, now it's become "normalized" and of course now it's a problem. Literally down the street from us it happened a few dozen times in a big intersection, we walked over and saw cops hanging in the background and asked them why they did nothing. They commented something along the lines of "not wanting to stir the pot" (this was also close in time to some of the big police aggression news stories).

I'll take a bit of blame too. The air intake sticking out of the headlight is a bit egregious.


Oil filter housing finished with refurbishment and ready for install this weekend?

[DEV0 E30]

The steering wheel felony is about the airbag. If your car is a 1990 or newer, then he's right and they could theoretically prosecute that as a felony, but we all know that would never happen. That is probably reserved for people removing the airbag and then selling the car to an unsuspecting buyer.

Or, you could say your car is a euro model and it didn't come with one - for me it's the truth.

My touring being a 93, I thought for sure a non-airbag wheel was swapped in later on, had to do some digging and realize it didn't come from the factory with one.


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Sucks you had to even deal with that situation. Clearly you weren't a menace to society. Seen plenty of cops that play those "looks like" "suspected this or that".

I can't believe they don't shut down these "takeovers" within 15 minutes of them happening. You're 100% right, they allowed them to become normalized and now won't do anything.

It's not even a complex problem like the homeless or other issues.

It's like a street racing scene, you show up, impound, and ticket all that participate, probably dispatch an ambulance too because people are idiots.

Profiling people not associated or nowhere near these events is dumb.

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To change subject, your oil housing looks great!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Oil cooler mounting brackets done, ready for sandblast and paint

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Finished the oil cooler install

Had to clearance the rad support.













While I was in there I took the opportunity to improve the ducting that I had made years ago. I was never happy with the mounting; it was a bit flimsy. I also never painted some of it and it was rusting lol

Added extra tabs




Rivnutted these





IYKYK



Not sure why I held out picking up one of these AN fitting adjustable wrenches. It’s much better than messing with the standard wrenches that are never quite the right size. Made assembly a breeze with no scratched fittings.



It's tight but fits









This is how I drilled a hole in the frame with minimal clearance. It worked!



Magnetic drain plug after oil change. Only had like 3k miles on the oil. Sent a sample to blackstone labs for analysis.



New ducting parts and brackets, countersunk the fasteners too for an extra fancy detail if anyone else but me notices haha



installed










Another “while you’re in there” was to refurbish the foglight block offs and brake ducts. The paint was chipping and they looked shitty. I actually sandblasted them, sprayed a few layers of 3M paintable under body coating , and topped them off with SEM trim black. Much better.






OCD organizing loose hardware back into parts bins




Finished installation all tucked and fixed in place.







Managed to snake the lines between the alternator and frame. The hose clamps help keep the stiff AN hose in position. There’s also a bracket bolted to the frame that hold the hose routing off the frame and away from the alternator.




From underneath




Another side project, expanding the capacity of my fab table to fit larger compressed gas canisters. This way I can hold a tank of argon and a tank of C25 to do either mig or tig. Currently looking for a good price on a tig.

[s14brent]

new air dam looks great! the one i ended up making is so crude in comparison. The s54 oil filter housing looks so good! i'd like to get rid of my oil cooler/filter cap setup for something like that one day. Feels kind of weird to add a "T" for an accusump on a cap design which isn't a direct in/out setup (which is something i'd like to add eventually as well).Oh and i'm curious to see your spherical rtab impressions! I've been wondering if i should go that route or splurge on a dtm style setup.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

new air dam looks great! the one i ended up making is so crude in comparison. The s54 oil filter housing looks so good! i'd like to get rid of my oil cooler/filter cap setup for something like that one day. Feels kind of weird to add a "T" for an accusump on a cap design which isn't a direct in/out setup (which is something i'd like to add eventually as well).Oh and i'm curious to see your spherical rtab impressions! I've been wondering if i should go that route or splurge on a dtm style setup.

Thanks! Yea, never been a fan of the cap design for the oil cooler. Never liked the idea of having to maneuver the cap with lines for an oil change. I'll check back in after I've driven with the new setup. I have high hopes. It's also my preference to do the DTM style adjusters, but I don't care to take on another significant project like that. Luckily I do have a spare subframe and trailing arms for when the time comes so I can do the project without putting the car on jack stands.

[Digitalwave]

I <3 my DTM adjusters. So easy to align the rear now.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I <3 my DTM adjusters. So easy to align the rear now.

Ugh. Please do not instigate the owner of this vehicle to initiate any further significant projects. He is easily distracted by shiny things like DTM adjusters. He needs to focus on seat time, and restoring his truck.

[Digitalwave]

I like seat time even more than I like DTM adjusters. Lol.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I like seat time even more than I like DTM adjusters. Lol.

Glad we're in agreement

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Time to do some axle rebuilds. As a reminder, I had all of the components cryo treated in an attempt to give them a bit more strength rather than upgrade to the $1500+ kit. In hindsight I should have just bought a pair of axles from FCP and gotten myself on the lifetime warranty train.






The drill press clamp and a wire at the top end kept the axle nice and steady during assembly and grease. Small food scale worked great to measure the amount needed.



Out with the old that’s actually not that old



Stimtech spherical rtabs









I’m also changing to a softer subframe and diff bushing compound from garagistic (only option for a softer material plus the raised bushing)



Of course nothing fits without finagling



All nice, clean and reassembled



My intern is looking longingly at the truck wondering when I’ll ever work on it



Garagistic bushings don’t fit properly… look at the aluminum bushing race poking out the bottom…






Added a magnetic drain plug to the diff






Garagistic bushing fitment with the bracket installed. Theres a 8mm gap between bracket and bushing. Frustrating.



Finishing axle rebuild. They look beautiful.



Make sure you have your inner and outer race oriented correctly. I had one backwards. Luckily I noticed on the bench before install/grease



My intern saw the new fresh axles and was in awe of my work






She keeps an eye on me whenever I’m under the car. I think she worries.



Everything installed, torqued, and marked for reference. I hope this will make future nut/bolt checks easier.



What’s up with this? I noticed that I have 2 different e30 axles. One is beefier than the other. What’s the story?







Registered for an autox July 30^th for a real shakedown. Just need to do an alignment and I’m ready to putt this car back to work.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Forgot to mention a little cheat I did on the inner axle covers. They're difficult to remove without mangling. The original installation process included an o-ring and then the cover machine crimped in place. This will never reassemble without leaking. As a cheat, I used a sealant on the inside edge, clamped it tight, and then tack welded the cover back in place. Finger crossed this results in a leak free inner cover. Last time I did this same job I overlooked this detail and had grease spitting out that joint.

I've also driven the car since the upgrades and the rear feels phenomenal. With the rear trailing arm adjusters, this puts an anglular load on the plastic bushings. As a result, they are quickly ovaled and worn out causing a lot of play in the bushing. I never realized how much the rear of the car was clunking, and how much adjustment was moving around because of this. The rear feels solid and "quiet" now with the spherical bushings.

[greyis89]

I haven't looked at this build thread in forever, but I quickly remembered when I saw the first few pics of the small primitive tent looking shop setup (not making fun). I've been away from R3V for a while. Wow, it's going to take me a few sittings to catch up reading and viewing this one. Good grief man this work is incredible!

[Sh3rpak!ng]

I haven't looked at this build thread in forever, but I quickly remembered when I saw the first few pics of the small primitive tent looking shop setup (not making fun). I've been away from R3V for a while. Wow, it's going to take me a few sittings to catch up reading and viewing this one. Good grief man this work is incredible!

From very humble beginnings this car (and myself) have come a long way. You just inspired me to start rereading my own build thread! So much I don't really remember, what a journey it's been. Thanks!