Let's make an E30 M3! (M3 S14 cabrio clone project)

[hankolerd]

What crinkle paint did you use for the valve cover? I am tempted to this soon myself, any tips you can give is appreciated!

Also, I realized I never got back to you on the driver side window motor/regulator, seat belts, and exterior window trim. If you still have any or all the parts I am still interested.

Keep up the good work!

[IronJoe]

What crinkle paint did you use for the valve cover? I am tempted to this soon myself, any tips you can give is appreciated!

Also, I realized I never got back to you on the driver side window motor/regulator, seat belts, and exterior window trim. If you still have any or all the parts I am still interested.

Keep up the good work!

I just used some VHT hi-temp wrinkle black engine paint. Application is pretty simple, I did this ~6 years ago when I first got my M3, it lasted all the way up until the valve cover was damaged in the accident. Pretty simple application, I masked the holes and sprayed it then baked it in the sun for a few hours. After it got tacky, I used a razor blade and scraped off the paint from the lettering and lines. Once it was totally dry and set up I lightly sanded the lines & letters until they were clean.


Yep I still have parts for you, let's try to get together soon!

[IronJoe]

Things are moving along. Received my new(to me) cam box yesterday, it was a great deal easier than having to weld up the original. I'll be checking the tolerances this week and if all goes well, I'll have the motor back together this weekend.

I got a few items in from various vendors. First, my ground straps were a bit questionable, especially the hood and valve cover strap. I received the S14 ground strap kit from Bavarian Restoration, these are absolutely great and worth the money! I had no idea how bad my alternator ground was until I removed it

Also I received my injectors back from MEPEH, freshly cleaned, refurbished and painted. I'm thrilled.

More to come, stay tuned!

[iwantspeed]

nice work on that valve cover it came out great

i got the chance to meet mepeh in person and he took care of my injectors in house

good guy

[ArtFoodBMW]

Coming along nicely!

[Matt-B]

the dash on that m3 cabby is grey. i've never seen that before.

or tapped logos, but leaving the cluster un taped lol

Top-end work is in progress. Hopefully once its done I can at least drive her around the block!

i read this as an engine rebuild joke lol



Good progress Joe

[hankolerd]

How hard was the alternator ground strap? Does the intake manifold have to come off to get to it? I also got the ground kit from BavAuto (and agree it is an awesome kit), but have not done that strap yet as it looked like it was going to be tricky to get to.

[jhaurimn]

How hard was the alternator ground strap? Does the intake manifold have to come off to get to it? I also got the ground kit from BavAuto (and agree it is an awesome kit), but have not done that strap yet as it looked like it was going to be tricky to get to.

It takes maybe 15 minutes to remove the plenum, its definitely worth doing.

[IronJoe]

How hard was the alternator ground strap? Does the intake manifold have to come off to get to it? I also got the ground kit from BavAuto (and agree it is an awesome kit), but have not done that strap yet as it looked like it was going to be tricky to get to.

It takes maybe 15 minutes to remove the plenum, its definitely worth doing.

I actually replaced mine without removing the plenum. Having the airbox out of the way was enough, I was able to slip my hand behind the alternator to undo the nut on the back holding the ground strap down.


In other news, the cam box is coming home today and we've taken all our measurements to ensure all the caps are within spec. The engine will be all back together soon.

Oh, and I picked up the E30 M3 Diablo exhaust from Rogue Engineering. Great price and sound, I'm very excited to hear it rumble.

[2mAn]

Once the engine is put together how quickly are you going to finish it?

[IronJoe]

Made a bit more progress this weekend.

Cleaned out the shell, got it bolted to the old vert 4-lug, made it a roller and prepped it for sale. It'll be on eBay in a few weeks, if anyone is seriously interested shoot me a PM.


Got the S14 cam box installed, cams in, and timed. What a pain - there are two sets of marks on the S14 camshafts and it turned out I had them lined up with the wrong set of marks. Spent quite a while scratching my head on what I had done wrong - wasn't until I referred to my teardown pics that I saw I had the cams misaligned. Thank goodness for thorough pictures!




Also I splurged a bit on some wheels from a forum member. Absolutely unnecessary for the rebuild but they've been on my mind since I first got my M3. Excited!






Once I have the motor sealed up I'll start work on replacing the rusty battery tray. Fun.

[M3pare]

Great work so far! PM me if you're ready to sell those Startecs. :)

[2mAn]

Specs on the BBS?

[IronJoe]

Specs on the BBS?

They're RS005s front, RS061s rear. They were for sale by a member here. He replaced the barrels from 16x7 in the front to 16x7.5 square. It will be very similar to my current setup.

Made a bit more progress in the engine bay. I pulled the power steering pump as it had been weeping fluid a tad bit over time, bought the rebuild kit so I'll be walking through that in this thread for anyone interested in doing theirs. I also found weeping coming from the oil filter housing so I'm going to reseal that while I'm in there.

[M-technik-3]

Are you relocating the battery to the back? New tray is just to mount the coolant overflow bottle correct?

Wonder if you swap your BBS lips if you would get a non staggered set up