Project Lessmeister: 91 318iS Restomod w/ MTech2 and modern drivetrain

[Jordan]

I used SEM Color Coat, Satin Black#15243. Resist the urge to lay thick wet coats and instead hold the can at least a foot away and do many repeated light coats. Finished product is smooth to the touch and not crunchy.

[Jordan]

I managed with the assistance of a coworker today, to get all the large heavy powertrain items I've had stored at work until now home. Now starts the tear down and cleaning, and I'll go over the engine top and bottom to make sure everything is in order. Change all pertinent gaskets etc.

M54b30
GS6-37BZ 6MT
Z3 3.46:1 Torsen differential
e36 M3 AT driveshaft
E34 oil pan/dipstick
Twinmass flywheel from a GS6-37BZ equipped car



I hope to get most of this work done tomorrow, along with the oil pump pickup tube fabrication. The e34 pickup will not work with the M54 oil pump.


Jordan @ Stitched Wheels sent me this just now, and man oh man is this interior going to be cherry! The stitching looks flawless. The leather scrumptious. Its going to be a shame to sit on it!

[AwakenNoMore]

Why not stick with the rear sump and use an Arc Asylum subframe?

[Mouse]

Sub'd. Great work Jordan, long time no talk. Glad to see you back on R3v. You've always helped me in the past, let me know if you need help with anything. I'm free on Wed and Sundays if you need an extra set of hands. You might want to put me in line for purchase of car as well. ;D

Great work as always.

Eloy

[Jordan]

Why not stick with the rear sump and use an Arc Asylum subframe?

Because modifying the sump pickup will cost me about $25, and the money spent on a new subframe isn't a value-added item IMO. I'm not going to recover that cost on the other end.

The E34 pan & pickup is perfectly up to the task of holding and feeding oil to the engine.

Sub'd. Great work Jordan, long time no talk. Glad to see you back on R3v. You've always helped me in the past, let me know if you need help with anything. I'm free on Wed and Sundays if you need an extra set of hands. You might want to put me in line for purchase of car as well. ;D

Great work as always.

Eloy

Hey whats up man, long time no see. You should swing by some time!

[Mouse]

I will man. Would love to see this in person. Also, add me to the list of people who feel like lazy bums. (Except I really am lazy, just makes it worse seeing progress like this.)

[stonea]

Theres a rumor that a oil pick up from a e38 728i is plug and ply for the e34 oil pan. I think someone in Hoveringuy's thread said it works.

[Overlord475]

I have the same ratio LSD and love it.
Great work! Keep it up.

[Jordan]

Not a whole lot of stuff going on today, although a local did stop by and bring me some donated rear window trims that I have been badly in need of. The previous owner bent the originals up pretty bad but these replacements are great.

I sanded them down to clean up some scuffs, then shot them with a fresh coat of SEM 39143 to match the rest of the shadowline. Installed the trim into the window/gasket assembly then installed those into the car. All of the matching Sicursiv glass is now installed on the car. So happy, little progress but big difference in appearance.

[george graves]

Is it just me, or is that SEM paint so rewarding to spray? You almost can't go wrong with the stuff. Don't get me wrong, it seems to like a few lights sprays as a base coat - but it's almost monkey proof. When done right, you can't tell it's not OEM - or that you did it in a garage.

[Jordan]

You're absolutely right George, hell I even like the smell of the stuff. It sprays great, coverage is good, it dries really fast and provided you follow instructions and apply a mist coat or two before the final coverage coat the bond to the substrate is outstanding.

If you accidentally scratch something installing a part it also sprays out to blend into itself seamlessly as well.


I had told myself I was done for the day earlier, but then I decided to go back into the garage to do some more work.

I set out to fabricate the new sump pickup tube as the E34 pickup tube will not work on the M54 oil pump. Nor will the E34 oil pump for that matter, leaving you to fabricate the tube yourself. I've also read that the European E38 728i oil pickup tube will work, P/N 11417503261 but my schedule at this point mandates simply making it work.

First thing first I grabbed a hole saw, approximated the dump pickup location and popped a hole in the E46 pan. I wanted to know how much standoff there was between the pickup and the inner bottom of the pan. Survey says 5mm.



Next I bent some steel plate I had laying around to create a jig against the outer bottom of the E34 oil pan. I taped a spacer to the inside of it to account for the thickness of the pan and the desired standoff.



Once I was done chopping and sectioning the M54 pickup down into a size that would work I test fit the E34 pan again, with some pink Play-Doh I stole from the kids on the pickup and squashed it down. End result is right on the money. 5mm+- a smidge. I'll drop this off to get TIG'd Monday.

[smooth]

Do you need the tools to replace the shift pins in the trans?
I've got a set that I can send out.

[bradnic]

You could not pay a "real shop" 25k to create this car for you. No way in hell. Call CATuned, Call Guten Parts. Ask them what this quality/spec build would run you. I bet it would be 40-50k or more. 25k for a turn key "brand new" e30 with all the right stuff would be a steal, even with a used, tried and true drivetrain.

Truth. SUB'D. Such an absolute pleasure to follow this build.

Already picked up some harness tape and neoprene foam from amazon lol. Looking forward to my IX coupe and vert restos though they'll take me much longer.

Are all the new fasteners you've used purchased through BMW? Alot of time the new fasteners and brackets I've ordered don't have the same cad plating as the original parts. Any advice?

Love the fender seal work btw. And thanks for the heads up about being able to order a brand new vin sticker through BMW.

[Jordan]

Do you need the tools to replace the shift pins in the trans?
I've got a set that I can send out.

I appreciate that, but I also own the tools. I use them every now and again on ZF 320z boxes. The GS6-37BZ I'm using in this build doesn't have a reputation of problems like the 320z does.

Truth. SUB'D. Such an absolute pleasure to follow this build.

Thanks!

Are all the new fasteners you've used purchased through BMW? Alot of time the new fasteners and brackets I've ordered don't have the same cad plating as the original parts. Any advice?

Yes, any new hardware purchased was straight from my local dealer, BMW of Houston North. I've not run into many anomalies in parts deviance, all the bolts have had the correct yellow zinc plate etc.


Today was just not the productive day I'd hoped for.

I started the morning by doing some more cleaning on the engine, and test fitting the token e36 headers everyone used for the M/S5x swaps. I myself has used/installed numerous sets of these without problem.... this set however seems to have been made on a Friday evening right before close....

I tried pulling and prying with a long ass pry bar to force them into side by side compliance without avail.



I'm not sure which one is the problem, or perhaps both are, but they are so out of line its not even funny. I put them back in the box and emailed the seller.

Part of todays goal was to tidy up the garage to leave maximum work space for when Jordan @ StitchedWheels arrives next weekend to do the interior retrim. To that end it was time to fish the trunk harness into its position, install the lock servo, install the shiny new license plate lamps, and fit the trunk liners.



With all of the trunk liners in place I can now store some soft parts in the trunk until they are needed, mainly interior trims. While I was in there I moved the trunk springs to the second notch detent to compensate for the added weight of the MTechnic II rear spoiler, which has conked me on the head more than once thus far.

Feeling redeemed with the productivity I decided to install both front seat belts, which meant fitting the new bpillar trims first. These guys have an updated texture, foam backing, and they are over $100/ea new. Why they are so expensive I have no idea....but I plunked down for them because all the used ones I've seen at work are all broken at the top.




I tried to fit the drivers side first, which is difficult to do as it has to fit under the rear window gasket. It would have been a good idea to prefit this prior to installing the glass, but none the less I got it in.... which led to much swearing when I realized the square cutout for the coat hook up top was made in the front F*&$king spot.

Here is a picture of an original, notice how the cutout is centered..... now go look at the new one above.


Both of them are like this, and it renders them completely unusable to me. Now I need to find a good used pair.

As I had already bolted the seat belts into the base of the bpillar I went ahead and hung them up and snapped the rear quarter panel interior panels in place.



Done with that BS I unwrapped the brand new wiper stalk that finally came in yesterday. The fresh crisp screen printing sure looks nice. Once that guy was installed I was finally able to build the wiring block on the column and fit the upper and lower covers on.



Oh, and here is the fabricated steering linkage, back from the welder.

[Bimmer_man]

Dude I'm loving the progress. Your e30 is going to be one of the cleanest in existence if not the cleanest.