Chase Bays M54B30 E30 Build

[spiDmang]

Excited to see progress of this! Was always a fan of your CRX back in my honda days.

[Chase Bays]

Looks tidy..fuse box will be playing hide and seek I assume ;)

Just hide never seek =P

3.73 gear ratio is way too short to be used with e36 trans. I would go with 2.93 or even 2.65 if you are turboing it.

Absolutely. 3.73 is for NA, I will change it when its boosted. It will be a year before I boost it. I like short gearing on NA cars, pretty much every NA car I've had I change the final drive on. My 350z has 4.08 and comes stock with 3.5

Those wheels

I got lucky they showed up so clean! My 18's for the 350z are pretty dirty on the inner barrel.

Quit sandbagging and post more progress shots, I know you're further along than what has been posted so far

I know I know, just doing so as time permits otherwise I will never post anything.

Excited to see progress of this! Was always a fan of your CRX back in my honda days.

Thank you sir!

[Chase Bays]

Usually this is the most overwhelming part of an in depth build. WHERE to begin!? Owning a business has taught me to set small measurable goals or tasks per day, per week, and per quarter (3 months). Some problems take over a year to solve and that another reason why most businesses / big projects fail. Its also why people always ditch their new years resolution, the bar is too high and overwhelms our minds. You have to be patient and take it one milestone at a time. A yearly goal is still in place but only to create your smaller attainable goals. This is a big key to success, its a quick sprint instead of a marathon. Its highly motivating when you’re celebrating 10 wins instead 1 (if you even reach it).

Something else to consider is I am designing a ton of products for this chassis which can make a 2 hours task take 8 hours. Think, create, document, hate it, then repeat. This makes my progress less exciting at the end of the day sometimes…”all I did was run 2 lines?!”.

I decided to attack suspension first since its kind of my least favorite, especially with all the additional work E30 requires (worth it). Always do what you want to do the least, first.





I didn’t take any before or during photos. Used Garagistic Camber/Toe weld-in’s, and Rev Shift Subframe Bushing/Riser Kit. Then coated it in battleship gray. I like it because its neutral but not standard black.









Onto the front. Using BC Racing Coilovers with 8k Front // 10k Rear Spring Rates. VERY important if your spring is separate in the back, always make sure the rear is higher. 90% of manufacturers rates are incorrect and leave a lot of function on the table. Got new FAG wheel bearings on along with the longest extended studs I could buy from Motorsport Hardware. I like long studs and tiny nuts that are a little used looking. Oh look I made an innuendo.









Also took a moment to mock up this seat. I am 6’3” so height with a helmet is a concern. Not a problem, tons of head clearance in E30. Huge win, this has always been a problem in other chassis.

[2mAn]

Which control arms are those? E46??

[pazi88]

Absolutely. 3.73 is for NA, I will change it when its boosted. It will be a year before I boost it. I like short gearing on NA cars, pretty much every NA car I've had I change the final drive on. My 350z has 4.08 and comes stock with 3.5

Yeah but the problem is that the e36 zf trans has straight fifth gear. The 350z for example has overdrive sixth gear. Also e30 has lot smaller diameter tires than 350z so try driving your 350z with fourth gear on highway and you get to know what 3.73 gear ratio with e36 trans and fifth gear means in e30. If that is ok for you then go for it. But in My experience even 3.15 diff with e36 trans is too short gear ratio.

The e30 stock has overdrive fifth gear so that 3.73 gear ratio is ok. But the e36 trans doesn't have overdrive which makes that 3.73 rear end bit problematic.

[Chase Bays]

Which control arms are those? E46??

Correct! Working on getting Wisefab but may use these in the meantime. As it sits the width is good on the front with stock fenders on E46 arms so I don't want to mess with that.

Yeah but the problem is that the e36 zf trans has straight fifth gear. The 350z for example has overdrive sixth gear. Also e30 has lot smaller diameter tires than 350z so try driving your 350z with fourth gear on highway and you get to know what 3.73 gear ratio with e36 trans and fifth gear means in e30. If that is ok for you then go for it. But in My experience even 3.15 diff with e36 trans is too short gear ratio.

The e30 stock has overdrive fifth gear so that 3.73 gear ratio is ok. But the e36 trans doesn't have overdrive which makes that 3.73 rear end bit problematic.

E30 would actually be slightly longer in 5th gear than the 350z, the 2 transmissions have very similar gearing. They're practically the same 1st thru 3rd and a little longer 4th and 5th. Here's a chart I did to compare, I have a retina display so the text is fuzzy. You're right about the 6th gear, it would be very helpful to have. 4000rpm at 80mph max freeway speed is pretty reasonable though.

[CoreyZ]

I just did a 1000 mile round trip from Indiana to the brodeo in NC and back again with a Zf / 3.73. It's not that bad and the short gearing was great on the tail.

Staying four lug for the time being?

[Chase Bays]

I just did a 1000 mile round trip from Indiana to the brodeo in NC and back again with a Zf / 3.73. It's not that bad and the short gearing was great on the tail.

Staying four lug for the time being?

Thats good to hear, its all just personal preference. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Staying 4 lug. I have Wilwood BBK and think 4 lug is cool. Will save me hundreds of minutes while changing tires (in a 3 year period). =P I'm not sure what I am going to do with all that extra free time.

[Chase Bays]

So I picked up the M54B30 from a local wrecked 330i. Has 98k so we did some good preventive maintenance. I replaced every gasket I could sans head gasket with the good stuff from Eeuroparts.com, rebuilt the VANOS with Beisan rebuild kit, and got the Achilles Oil Pump Shaft kit so I don’t have to worry about that common problem.













Since the engine is rear sump like S54 I wanted to do it right and get the rear sump oil pan and subframe modification from Tyler at The Arc Asylum. Got the headers too since M54 respond super well to headers, especially ones with merge collectors. =P My intention is to make the most power out of the most simple setup, even if that means spending more money. This stuff is AMAZING.









Oil Pan Skid Plate



Beautiful Headers!







Onto the engine, once it had all new gaskets on it and was sealed up it definitely needed a good pressure wash. Its still a little dirty in some places so we’ll have to do that again before it gets dropped in.







Next I’ll be showing off the engine bay paint prep!

[ThatOneEuroE30]

I like where this is headed.

[Chase Bays]

The entire “reason” (hard quotes) I tore the car down was a fuel leak. I know I am not the only one with this problem so it was on the docket to make a sellable Tank to Engine Bay Fuel Line Replacement / Upgrade Kit. The brake lines were rough too, even the hard lines. So that was added to the ole docket; Engine Bay to Caliper Replacement / Upgrade Kit. I’ll show brake lines first.

This first view is where the factory front to rear brake hard line goes along the LHD driver side, then goes into the tee adapter. From there, it splits off to go to the short soft lines, then back to a hard line along the trailing arm, then back to a soft line into the caliper. If you’ve had to replace these, you know exactly what I am talking about when I say as soon as the line enters the tee, it makes no sense. We can make this better, and we did. It will be a product for sell soon. On the left of photo is the spare tire well, for perspective.



Another view with questionably tan underbody and a jargon of factory lines/hoses.





This would NOT come off with pressure washing so I had to go back and scrub it by hand before the new coating. Apparently Starbucks latte’s used to REALLY stain things. Some real post-war quality stuff going on here.



The whole fuel and brake line assembly removed



Recoated some but not all, I just didn’t like looking at the tan underbody color while working under. OCD. I will have to touch it up more after paint. This may surprise but I actually just use SEM color coat Landau Black to go over the existing undercoating. It works really well and has held up on some cars I have built for 7+ years.



Kind of fast forward past many hours of back and forth with this. I finally decided on a design, we’d eliminate the separate tee entirely. From engine bay to caliper its gone from a total of 9 lines to 3 lines. I used a bulkhead tee fitting on the chassis mounts where 1 line usually passes through. On this photo, you’re looking toward the back of the car and this part of the subframe is where the driveshaft enters. The line to the right is the one long one coming from the front of the chassis. The center of photo line is the bridge from one side to the other. The other side of this is where the lines pass through the trailing arm and to the caliper. Formerly 3 piece on each side, now 1 piece.





Here is the opposing side of that



This is where the factory fuel filter sits, and where the line routes through (unsecured)



Secured using factory stays

[Kershaw]

Very nice!

[Pootis]

So you aren't running anymore hardlines for the brakes?

[rzerob]

Interesting brake line setup. I will take a look at them in more detail when you have them available for sale.

[Luke_M]

I had always hoped Chase Bays would introduce e30 products. Subscribed and thank you for helping keep these e30's alive and well!