The Journey of Linda and Friends - the M20b31 Lives

[Staszek]

Need R3V's advice:

I've got too many projects and need to consolidate. I have thousands upon thousands of dollars of stuff to buy for this 24V swap still and it's just going to drain me for another year, to a point where I wont enjoy it. For anyone who remembers my last build, Heidi the iX, knows that I wanted to get out of filling my life with nothing but car projects and never driving any of my vehicles. The purpose of this car was just to have a simple fun cruiser and I took it too far, like always.

With that said, I have the suspension and brakes nearly complete on the iS.

I'm highly considering selling all of my 24v shit and just getting an M20, refreshing it, and calling it a day. But have the thought that if I do that it will also turn into a fiasco.

I donno. I'm at a standstill. I've got 5 e30s in the midwest and 2 in PA and shelves upon shelves of parts. I also have a full time day job and a part time evening job. Wrenching is not enjoyable with this much shit on my plate. I just want to do a couple autocrosses and have fun in a car.

Burn it all down? I'm thinking the same.

Im in the same boat as you, although I already have everything I need to complete the swap. Sometimes I just wish I refreshed the M20, upgraded it a bit to get a bit more power and worked on only all the suspension and aesthetics.

But... I am so looking forward to the smokey burnout joy of an S54 E30, combining my favorite body style with a modern powerplant.

So decide what you really want, but since you have other E30's I am assuming with M20's in them I say stay the path and go for it.

[rturbo 930]

Need R3V's advice:

I've got too many projects and need to consolidate. I have thousands upon thousands of dollars of stuff to buy for this 24V swap still and it's just going to drain me for another year, to a point where I wont enjoy it. For anyone who remembers my last build, Heidi the iX, knows that I wanted to get out of filling my life with nothing but car projects and never driving any of my vehicles. The purpose of this car was just to have a simple fun cruiser and I took it too far, like always.

With that said, I have the suspension and brakes nearly complete on the iS.

I'm highly considering selling all of my 24v shit and just getting an M20, refreshing it, and calling it a day. But have the thought that if I do that it will also turn into a fiasco.

I donno. I'm at a standstill. I've got 5 e30s in the midwest and 2 in PA and shelves upon shelves of parts. I also have a full time day job and a part time evening job. Wrenching is not enjoyable with this much shit on my plate. I just want to do a couple autocrosses and have fun in a car.

Burn it all down? I'm thinking the same.

First and foremost, sell off the cars you don't want. You've got 7 cars, three of which you just bought. You have three in your sig. So, is that four cars you can just get rid of? Do that. Of the cars you want to keep, how many are projects? Try to work it down to just one big project. I also see a Subaru listed. If you have that, get rid of the IX that you were going to make into a winter driver.

Second, sell off the parts you don't need. If you aren't going to use them, then they're taking up space and wasting money. Selling parts off is going to be a slower process vs selling off a car, where you can clear a lot of space with one sale. But get it done.

Once you clear some space (and stress) I think you will find working on the IS again - I don't think I'd go back to just an M20. You have most of the parts, you may as well make use of them, and I would assume the end result will be more enjoyable.

I can relate BTW. When I was younger, I got into Zs and bit off more than I could chew. By the time I was 19, I had my 280Z, a junk 240Z, a less junky 240Z, a '53 Willys, and two 280ZX parts cars. I got rid of the first 240Z, and one ZX parts car shell, but now have my mom's old 280Z which I need to sell, but am still sentimentally attached to, and the Z that I'm keeping is a currently a bare shell that I'm in way over my head on. I also have an E30 which keeps breaking, and an Audi, and loads of car parts. Space is so tight around here that there's barely even room to work. I've never driven a Z on the street, and my E30 has seen about 15k miles in 6 years. It's too much. I want to move on. There are other things I want to do outside of cars. If I could get it down to two runners, and a project (my first 280Z) I'd be very happy.

[2mAn]

This is why I keep a strict one daily and one fun car. It was so relieving to sell off those “someday” projects.

[Habla]

Cam the m20 for the is, keep the m3 and forester. Sell everything else and liquidate parts.

Fix yer house...

[stonea]

I say sell of everything except your M3, is, ix, Forester, and 24v stuff. Buy a M20 slap it in there and start enjoying it again. Then keep piecing together your 24v swap. Thats at I did. I remember you and me both had to pull our M20s at the same time, however I opted to just to throw another one back in. Your ahead of me in 24v parts, but I'm ahead of you in seat time :)

[AWDBOB]

1- Sell off all the e30 stuff to guys here. It sounds like all that clutter is the source of your stress and between R3v, ebay and craigslist you could probably off most of this stuff relatively quickly.
2-Finish this swap, drive the sh*t out of it.
3-Crack a beer

This coupe looks really good. It'd be a shame to scrap it all right now. Maybe take a break from this swap to focus what little free time you have on consolidating your projects so that you can focus on finishing this up.

I am in a good mood, so I currently agree with you. Nah but really, I think you're onto something. I've been parting this stuff out like crazy, it just seems like it never ends. I suppose once the shells are gone I'll have some closure (and hopefully more coin to finish the iS). The beer is the only thing that has carried my sanity up to this point :)

Im in the same boat as you, although I already have everything I need to complete the swap. Sometimes I just wish I refreshed the M20, upgraded it a bit to get a bit more power and worked on only all the suspension and aesthetics.

But... I am so looking forward to the smokey burnout joy of an S54 E30, combining my favorite body style with a modern powerplant.

So decide what you really want, but since you have other E30's I am assuming with M20's in them I say stay the path and go for it.

Absolutely man, I couldn't agree more. It just seems like a never ending cycle at this point, and when you just want to drive the car, not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel can be daunting. I think in the end 24v will be worth the while, but I'm not convinced yet it's going to bring me any more joy than an M20 would have. Too far down the road now though to quit, I think you're right.

First and foremost, sell off the cars you don't want. You've got 7 cars, three of which you just bought. You have three in your sig. So, is that four cars you can just get rid of? Do that. Of the cars you want to keep, how many are projects? Try to work it down to just one big project. I also see a Subaru listed. If you have that, get rid of the IX that you were going to make into a winter driver.

Second, sell off the parts you don't need. If you aren't going to use them, then they're taking up space and wasting money. Selling parts off is going to be a slower process vs selling off a car, where you can clear a lot of space with one sale. But get it done.

Once you clear some space (and stress) I think you will find working on the IS again - I don't think I'd go back to just an M20. You have most of the parts, you may as well make use of them, and I would assume the end result will be more enjoyable.

I can relate BTW. When I was younger, I got into Zs and bit off more than I could chew. By the time I was 19, I had my 280Z, a junk 240Z, a less junky 240Z, a '53 Willys, and two 280ZX parts cars. I got rid of the first 240Z, and one ZX parts car shell, but now have my mom's old 280Z which I need to sell, but am still sentimentally attached to, and the Z that I'm keeping is a currently a bare shell that I'm in way over my head on. I also have an E30 which keeps breaking, and an Audi, and loads of car parts. Space is so tight around here that there's barely even room to work. I've never driven a Z on the street, and my E30 has seen about 15k miles in 6 years. It's too much. I want to move on. There are other things I want to do outside of cars. If I could get it down to two runners, and a project (my first 280Z) I'd be very happy.

This definitely hits home. Now that I have the space, it became all to easy for me to buy other's projects, but ultimately that just lead to being stressed and overwhelmed every time I set foot in the garage since there was too much to do and no place to start.

I actually have 5 e30s that I need to sell. I have a really nice iX back east still that needs some work on top of the 4 extra cars I have out here. It's very easy to look at something and say "that'll be fun to buy!" And then sooner than later you realize that you just have 1,000s of man hours in front of you before you can do the stuff you actually want to do.

I'm not necessarily holding parts, per se, I just buy E30s any time I see a chance for profit (and now that I have space that is more often than before). Parts sell infinitely slower than full cars and the whole process ends up turning into a 3,000 part fiasco that steals the limited free time and energy I have left when I get home.

But I think you're right. I suppose my focus should fall on consolidating and recouping my funds, and then hitting the iS and the M3 again.

The other issue at hand is my Forester spun a rod bearing which is a 2wk and $5K project done right, which I have neither the space or funds for currently and puts me out of a daily. Which also expedites the "consolidation".

I completely understand that, man. It's a curse. I want the M3, iS, and a daily, and just to be able to enjoy them all for their individual purpose while "maintaining" as opposed to constantly building.

This is why I keep a strict one daily and one fun car. It was so relieving to sell off those “someday” projects.

You've got the right mentality 2man. You've enjoyed the hell out of your cars because of that! (and I certainly envy that)

Cam the m20 for the is, keep the m3 and forester. Sell everything else and liquidate parts.

Fix yer house...

Yeah, you touched on yet another subject; the house. That's also been requiring my attention 10fold after having to reseal all of my windows and had a furnace break down this past week

I say sell of everything except your M3, is, ix, Forester, and 24v stuff. Buy a M20 slap it in there and start enjoying it again. Then keep piecing together your 24v swap. Thats at I did. I remember you and me both had to pull our M20s at the same time, however I opted to just to throw another one back in. Your ahead of me in 24v parts, but I'm ahead of you in seat time :)

Hey now, you don't need to rub it in ;)

But seriously, that's something I hadn't considered- that is, keeping the 24v rolling in the background while getting an M20 going in the meantime for cheap.





Another large contributor that I failed to mention is that the forester also spun a rod bearing this week, which has me scrambling for a daily, and thusly creating the aforementioned post. Too much is too much, and I'm at my breaking point, with only being able to give so much time to this stuff.

I am beginning to see the light. iS, M3, daily.

Thanks R3V.

[rturbo 930]

The other issue at hand is my Forester spun a rod bearing which is a 2wk and $5K project done right, which I have neither the space or funds for currently and puts me out of a daily. Which also expedites the "consolidation".

Can you just swap the motor with a known good one? How would that compare to what I'm assuming is a full engine rebuild?

[wworm]

aw man! Sorry to hear about the forester! I hope you have an easy time getting all this back in line so that you can make some progress on this project. Dropping in a working m20 to drive while you work on the 24v swap sounds like it could be a good idea. Although now that it's winter something with AWD might be kinda necessary yeah? My living in snow experience is limited so Im a "real winter" noob.

[AWDBOB]

Can you just swap the motor with a known good one? How would that compare to what I'm assuming is a full engine rebuild?

Normally that would be a viable option! ...but the engine I have is specific to 06+ foresters, newer WRXs, etc, so the used market still puts them around $2500 for a used engine. $5K includes a new clutch, rebuilt turbo, etc, as all that stuff has 150k on it and is at the end of its service interval (or needs to be replaced due to bearing material). Brand new OEM updated shortblock is $2K, decked heads/HGs is another $500, so functionally is roughly the same engine vs engine.

I've had my eyes peeled though, I'm hoping an affordable longblock pops up so I can jump on it and get this thing going again on the cheap.

aw man! Sorry to hear about the forester! I hope you have an easy time getting all this back in line so that you can make some progress on this project. Dropping in a working m20 to drive while you work on the 24v swap sounds like it could be a good idea. Although now that it's winter something with AWD might be kinda necessary yeah? My living in snow experience is limited so Im a "real winter" noob.

Thanks man! You're very correct- I also wouldn't want to drive the iS during winter due to the copious amount of brine they use out here (if I can help it).

We shall see how it plays out!

[rturbo 930]

Well, since you've got em handy, might be good to get one of those extra cars going. Sounds like you're gonna need it :/ Good luck.

[AWDBOB]

Well, since you've got em handy, might be good to get one of those extra cars going. Sounds like you're gonna need it :/ Good luck.

Thanks, man. I think I'm going to- at least until I have another form of transportation! I got the '88 running, but it's got no brakes. I'm going to go through that car briefly and see if I can't limp it around for a while until I get the Subaru done.

[alistairolsen]

Lets face it, a 24v swap into an E30 isnt exactly involved, clear enough other projects to clear your head and a little free time and then finish it. I have been and am in danger of being back in the situation you're in and it never ends well.

[Staszek]

Lets face it, a 24v swap into an E30 isnt exactly involved, clear enough other projects to clear your head and a little free time and then finish it. I have been and am in danger of being back in the situation you're in and it never ends well.

Depends on which 24v. The S54 can be quite involved. Not that its hard but there seem to be a lot more little parts to deal with vs an S50/52.

[stonea]

Lets face it, a 24v swap into an E30 isnt exactly involved, clear enough other projects to clear your head and a little free time and then finish it. I have been and am in danger of being back in the situation you're in and it never ends well.

It can be involved depending on the guy. I'm very detailed oriented and want the swap to be done proper and look as OEM as possible. I know its possible to throw in a 24v in an afternoon, but personally I like to take my time and clean everything and replace the parts I can while the engine is out.

[Staszek]

It can be involved depending on the guy. I'm very detailed oriented and want the swap to be done proper and look as OEM as possible. I know its possible to throw in a 24v in an afternoon, but personally I like to take my time and clean everything and replace the parts I can while the engine is out.

That is my thoughts exactly.