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

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Yeah z3 rack is twice the cost for a tiny difference. Isn't worth the $200 extra imo

yup exactly.

Does the M50 intake manifold clear the brake booster with out any issues?

not at all. I trimmed the fins on the IM, moved the booster over 1/2" AND swapped to a 944 booster. Now I have about 1/2" clearance.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Open diff from the east coast with the 3.23 ratio I wanted. East coast makes lots of rust - extreme wire wheel action needed





New seals and grease and gaskets etc to refurbish the axles and the diff





This is why you should wear leather gloves whilst wire wheeling. Safety first. Though it made a nice scar.





Nonexistent rubber boot





Another nonexistent boot





the axle nut stripped. Going to have to get a new axle.





Autozone replacement. Not my ideal choice, but an OEM rebuilt axle is expensive. As has been noted/mentioned before, the splines get a little roughed up during their refurb process. It looks like they are media blasted. I had no trouble threading the nut on, though I had to carefully hammer the thing in far enough that the nut could thread on and pull it the rest of the way in.






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[pandaboo911]

That looks like it hurt

[Sh3rpak!ng]

That looks like it hurt

It sure did. Actually hurt more the day and weeks after than it did right when it happened. Aggressive wire wheel/angle grinder to the hand. Where were the leather gloves? Why sitting on the shelf of course!


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[Sh3rpak!ng]

Closeup of autozone rebuilt axle splines. You can see where they get messed up.





Cleaned and degreased the joint of the remaining axle.





Old parts and new parts all cleaned up.





Rebuilt the other axle. WHAT A PAIN IN THE BUTT. Next time I will just get new ones. That ordeal was not worth it.





Got an e36 3.25 LSD locally in pristine shape. Planning to rob the LSD unit and pop it in the e30 3.23 unit. Seemed like such a shame to gut such a nice diff.





How the hell did I end up with three full diffs??





E36 on left, e30 with the WRONG LSD unit on right (that unit was for the taller gear sets - after I assembled, it was clear the lashing was WAY off)





E30 3.23 LSD fully assembled with appropriate redline fluid. I stripped the rust and painted it with engine enamel. New output seals and o-rings.







Installed.




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[TimKninja]

How does that exhaust sound with that big magnaflow? Im thinking of doing the same thing, my car has The same setup but with a smaller Borla muffler and its really loud. tryin to quiet it down.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

How does that exhaust sound with that big magnaflow? Im thinking of doing the same thing, my car has The same setup but with a smaller Borla muffler and its really loud. tryin to quiet it down.

It's perfect IMO. I really didn't want something loud either and this was spot on for a daily driver. It's just loud enough that you can hear it, and it wails at wot. But normal driving, it has a nice burble and low sporty sound. I was pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. I'll post a video at some point after I fix some exhaust leaks at the slip fit joints.


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[Sh3rpak!ng]

Got a bunch of these bolts to replace one of the front bumper bolts I lost. It was cheaper to buy a bunch of them from mcmaster than to buy one from BMW. Also - my trophy from bimmerfest last year ;D





Used some wire to prototype a bracket for a catch can.





Magnetic drain plug after third oil change at ~1400 miles since rebuild and ~1000 miles since last oil change. I will switch to full synthetic now.

Castrol european formula 0w-30 aka "green oil" aka "GC" (german castrol)





First autocross with the SCCA. Also finally bought myself a nice helmet.







Second autocross on the next day with speed limit racing





Brand new meyle expansion tank cap broken. Might have been my fault. I realized I bought a cap for the m20 system which operates at a lower pressure (1.4 bar) than the s52 (2.0 bar). I was also constantly slow leaking coolant out the overflow tube with the 1.4 bar cap so this mistake now makes sense. Replaced with a behr 2.0 bar cap and all is good.





I was initially using an OBD1 throttle body which was smooshing the TPS against the brake fluid reservoir (visible in previous pictures). So I switched to an OBD2 TB which locates the TPS on top - no more interference. However, the TB cable for an OBD1 TB is a different mounting point than on the OBD2 TB - it's hard to describe. Basically, while clipped in properly, the OBD2 TB was held open. I was able to move the end of the cable to a different mounting point which doesn't have a "safety" clip, so I drilled a little hole and stuck a wire through it to absolutely retain the cable in place.





Got a new steering wheel. I have been eyeing this one FOREVER. MOMO Mod-07 in leather. Perfect for the car IMO. Also I was happy to have the steering wheel stick out a bit more to take the wheel further away from the wiper and blinker stalks so my hands don't get tangled in the quick movements at the autox/track. Also allows me to put the seat back further and not reach for the wheel. So many benefits.





Got supplies to fabricate my own length and "twist angle" adjustable selector rod which will feature needle bearing joints.






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[Sh3rpak!ng]

Holding everything straight so nothing gets welded crooked.





One end welded





Second end welded





End welded to rod





Cleaned up to look nice (not that people frequently climb under the car to see how well I welded a modded selector rod)





Finished product. The idea is that you can adjust the angle and the length which should adjust where the neutral position of the shift lever is. The goal for me was to bring the neutral position of the shift lever back further to match the steering wheel position and my seat position.





If the pictures don't explain enough, thread the rod in/out until desired length and rotation has been obtained and then clamp it with the collar.

Unfortunately this didn't fully work. The basic design and theory is sound, but the clamp wasn't strong enough to hold the position. With the large lever (shift lever) force being applied on the selector rod, the rod was still easily spun inside of the tube so basically it was all loosey goosey. I would up finding the length and angle I liked and welding the rod to that position. Everything else worked perfectly.

Not pictured are the joints converted to needle bearings resulting in basically ZERO slop of the shifter.





Pulled apart cluster to replace a bulb and check which SI battery I have (it needs replacing)





Decided I was tired of the rat's nest wiring/"temporary" initial harness modification. Time to strip it, shorten it and tuck it neatly so I can cover it properly.





Got a small leak on the front bolt/grommet hole. Got lazy, pulled it out, cleaned it, smeared it with hondabond and it hasn't leaked since (if it does I'll just replace the grommet )




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[Sh3rpak!ng]

So I ripped apart the harness because it was too messy. The original plan was to just shorten, butt crimp and heat shrink the harness conversion. Then I started pulling wires apart... and more... and more... until I made a mess.





Making progress?





Done several hours later. Much better. Still want to relocate the O2 connectors. I'll do that another time.





Zip tied and cleaned up the CCV hose routing. Pictured is the "return" hose from the catch can to the IM to pull vacuum. After reading some articles on correct CCV routng, I think I need to add a T into the pre TB/post MAF area so I pull some vacuum at part throttle to WOT. There is no vacuum pulled at WOT with this setup which is when most blowby occurs.





Starter doesn't sound good. I got an OEM refurb unit. Need to install it.





WTF WTF WTFFFF why am I still getting oil in the intake manifold?? Catch can isn't doing it's job? My CC placement/routing is bad??





Here's the pile of wires that I cut out while trimming the harness. There is A LOT of extra wiring in the e36 harness that adds a lot of bulk.





Got door lock rebuild kits so I can lock/unlock the car again. It was long overdue. Also placed an order through the stealership for a brand new cut vin-matched key.




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[Sh3rpak!ng]

Driver's side door lock was in pieces. No wonder it stopped working...





Passenger door lock was missing parts. It looked like someone tried to rebuild it and used a wrong wafer. It did not line up whatsoever with the original key. After the rebuild, all is good again!





In progress





O2 sensor connectors relocated to the battery terminal area on the passenger side firewall. I cut the female connectors off, pulled the wires back out the engine harness, shortened them appropriately and hid the connectors behind the cover. Much better.







New starter vs old starter. I also got a peek at the flywheel through the starter hole to make sure there was no oil leaking past the rear main seal - ALL CLEAN!!

So I proceeded to swap starters... top reverse-torque bolt is a pain in the ass on the e36... e30 is worse. There's less space and you can't undo trans mounts to let it tilt because the motor is already basically against the firewall. I went through about 15 extension/swivel sockets until I got a winning combo.






So my old starter was pretty old. It was making some nasty noises but still started the car. The new starter is wonderful. It sounded so smooth and quiet and starts the car so quickly I literally sat in the driveway and started the car and turned it off 15 times just because I was so pleased with the new part. It's the little things in life...



Also worth noting, this thread is finally up to date with reality. I'll be updating progress as it occurs from now on.



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[Toodaloo]

Awesome progress! We have the same wheels and suspension, sort of!

Subscribed and excited for more :)

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Awesome progress! We have the same wheels and suspension, sort of!

Subscribed and excited for more :)

Thanks! I'll have to check out your build now.

There will always be more ;D

[Sh3rpak!ng]

Started a small 2 part project - replace transmission output seal and fix some exhaust leaks.

I got a few of these vibrant accuseal clamps for the slip fit connections (I read excellent reviews regarding this specific type of clamp) and some muffler/tailpipe sealer to help close of any tiny leaks.





Elring transmission output seal. I actually intended to do this prior to the motor install when the trans was out but didn't have the right socket to take the huge 30mm nut off the flange (it requires a thin walled deep 30mm socket). And I thought NBD since it wasn't leaking at the time (or maybe it was and I didn't realize...)





The nut came off with some heat and the impact gun and the car in 1st gear. The output flamge was a little tougher. Would've been easy with a puller (I don't have one). But I successfully pried it off little by little with a pry bar.





Flange after cleaning.





This is a suitable socket I found mentioned in another thread iirc it was ~$6 on amazon





And everything reinstalled with curil-t as the sealer. I smeared it onto the threads and a lot of it around the base of the nut. I hope that forced the sealant a bit into the splines and created a good seal. Time will tell. Bentley manual recommends loctite 242 (iirc) on the threads - not to threadlock the nut, but rather prevent trans fluid from leaking through.




The selector rod and shifter assembly caught in the wild.





Here is the curil-t. It is made by elring-klinger and recommended by bmw in several areas.

From manufacturer:

Curil T
The non-curing, high-temperature resistant,
synthetic resin-based, universal sealing compound
for permanently hot service conditions.
Temperature stability: -40°C to +250°C.
Seals on exhaust turbochargers: “hot”operation, high temperatures.Curil
T’s outstanding sealing efficiency makes it ideal
for joints which are subjected to extreme thermal conditions,
and especially for finely finished, rigid surfaces. Curil T’s other
special areas of application include internal combustion engines,
transmissions, turbines, generators, pumps and threaded
connectors. Curil T is resistant to mineral oils (also with
additives), most commonly used synthetic oils and greases,
gasoline and diesel fuels, hot and cold water, seawater, gases,
air and weak acids and alkalis. Curil T is designed for stability
and is therefore well-suited to sealing vertical surfaces.




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[Sh3rpak!ng]

Selector rod seal. Old (not really old, this was replaced when the motor went in ~2 months ago) on left, new on right. I thought I bought elring or better for all the seals, but apparently the selector rod seal was some other brand. You can see the difference in where it seals in the bore. The "old" one is mostly metal, while the new elring seal has rubber/plastic rings to help it seal more fully. I also coated it in a thin later of curil-t.





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