The Journey of Linda and Friends - the M20b31 Lives

[AWDBOB]

That's pretty great. I have been thinking about replacing that harness simply out of principle and because they are on sale for like 125.00 on ECS. Eventually I know it will need to be replaced.

I jealous of all your parts. That white IX looks like it's gonna be so nice. What color is the interior?

Send me the bumpers! lol

In my experience it's not if but when that harness goes bad. You could pin yours out and repair the connections but I am lazy and just grabbed a spare I had.

I've got quite the stash building up! I now have two full manual swaps for an iX but no buyers in the Midwest. The iX has tan interior but I have a really nice black sedan interior I'm considering swapping in if I get time. I'm going to do a timing belt service on it and finish a full detail on it, fix up the interior (or swap it) and then worry about what I'm going to do for a trans. It'll likely end up manual.

[rturbo 930]

Hmm... wonder if that's what's wrong with my car. It has had a rough idle the entire time I've owned it, despite the fact it has a completely different motor that has hall new gaskets, and nothing else, like the intake boot, seems to be in poor shape, that I can see.

[AWDBOB]

Hmm... wonder if that's what's wrong with my car. It has had a rough idle the entire time I've owned it, despite the fact it has a completely different motor that has hall new gaskets, and nothing else, like the intake boot, seems to be in poor shape, that I can see.

It's definitely worth checking! I'd take apart the C191 and at least clean up the connection points.

[AWDBOB]

I'm getting down to the small things now! I've got an alignment scheduled for next Thursday morning. After that I can drive it to my buddies shop for exhaust work!

My rad hose came in from Lativa. For anyone using an M42 rad on an M20, the correct p/n is 11531722217. It's a perfect fit!

I also found the rod for the my drivers seat rail so I can adjust driver position without a fiasco.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


I pulled a full uncut chassis harness out for chrisbike from one of the iXs. It wasn't all that terrible, just takes a lot of patience to separate each loom and pull them individually through the firewall. Oh and the fuel tank wiring wasn't fun either.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





And here's a fun update. As if I needed another project....... this weekend I secured almost an entire M30b35 swap locally for a great price. Got two M30 bellhousing g260s- the one I'll be using only has 60K on it and has a short shifter already installed, got an M30b35 w/ several rebuild components, ECU, etc.

Engine needs the head gone through but is otherwise in good shape, comes with most of what I'll need to refresh it (thanks Vic!). I'm going to get the motor/trans good to go and sometime over winter I'll swap it in.

The plan:

IE 270 Billet Cam
New Febi Rockers (half the price of HD rockers)
IE Rocker Arm Guards
RHD M30 7# Flywheel
Reuse my new M20 Clutch
IE M30 Headers
Good n Tite Engine Mounts
179 ECU


I made a very thorough spreadsheet and all said and done after selling off my M20 setup my M30 swap will cost me all of $400 (probably less).

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[2mAn]

In my experience it's not if but when that harness goes bad. You could pin yours out and repair the connections but I am lazy and just grabbed a spare I had.

I think this will become a bigger issue as it really is a bad design and after winters we will likely see the issue pop up more.

I just replaced mine

BTW Whats the West Coast itinerary?

[AWDBOB]

I think this will become a bigger issue as it really is a bad design and after winters we will likely see the issue pop up more.

I just replaced mine

BTW Whats the West Coast itinerary?

Yes, I agree! I'm going to start keeping them on hand because I always end up needing them.

West Coast itinerary is still TBD. I have 10 days off (not a ton), and my sister works the summers in Mt Hood, OR so I'd like to see her (and I love it out there). Hoping to do a nice hike/camp every other day while driving out. I'd like to hit Zion National, hit a bit of RT1 and see the redwoods on our way up to Oregon. I'll probably take my time getting out there and then rush the drive back. I'd also like to mtb a day somewhere out in either CO or OR, but there are so many solid spots it's hard to narrow down.

E30 should be good to go, I'm just going to attempt to do as much shakedown as possible before we head out. I'm making a list of the small things I can bring with that will likely fail on our journey :D

[Vic]

I'm getting down to the small things now! I've got an alignment scheduled for next Thursday morning. After that I can drive it to my buddies shop for exhaust work!

My rad hose came in from Lativa. For anyone using an M42 rad on an M20, the correct p/n is 11531722217. It's a perfect fit!

I also found the rod for the my drivers seat rail so I can adjust driver position without a fiasco.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


I pulled a full uncut chassis harness out for chrisbike from one of the iXs. It wasn't all that terrible, just takes a lot of patience to separate each loom and pull them individually through the firewall. Oh and the fuel tank wiring wasn't fun either.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





And here's a fun update. As if I needed another project....... this weekend I secured almost an entire M30b35 swap locally for a great price. Got two M30 bellhousing g260s- the one I'll be using only has 60K on it and has a short shifter already installed, got an M30b35 w/ several rebuild components, ECU, etc.

Engine needs the head gone through but is otherwise in good shape, comes with most of what I'll need to refresh it (thanks Vic!). I'm going to get the motor/trans good to go and sometime over winter I'll swap it in.

The plan:

IE 270 Billet Cam
New Febi Rockers (half the price of HD rockers)
IE Rocker Arm Guards
RHD M30 7# Flywheel
Reuse my new M20 Clutch
IE M30 Headers
Good n Tite Engine Mounts
179 ECU


I made a very thorough spreadsheet and all said and done after selling off my M20 setup my M30 swap will cost me all of $400 (probably less).

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

Glad I could be of assistance man! I'm just excited to see the final outcome and say I have a small part in making it happen.That build will be sick!

[wworm]

Im glad you decided to swap. M30 will be a blast.

are you planning on running A/C and if so, what are you thinkin about radiator?

[AWDBOB]

Glad I could be of assistance man! I'm just excited to see the final outcome and say I have a small part in making it happen.That build will be sick!

Thanks again man! Absolutely, I think it'll be the perfect balance between fun and not spending a ton of $$.

Im glad you decided to swap. M30 will be a blast.

are you planning on running A/C and if so, what are you thinkin about radiator?

I think so! It took me a while to land on something- I'm glad I ditched the M52 and waited to go this route. Nice thing is, after selling all of my M20 stuff when the time comes I'm going to nearly break even on the M30. And then all of the plans I had for the M20 become M30 plans (ITBs and standalone) and thus become more efficient based on a foundation of 1L more displacement and I don't have to spend $$ building a stroker!

In regards to radiator, I kinda screwed myself by cutting off the brackets for the coolant resevoir for hella shaved engine bay shots, so I'm going to roll with the M42 rad and hope my pusher fan can keep up.

I don't know about AC yet- the swap won't happen until winter so I can enjoy the car as it is for a little while. Perhaps when Winter rolls around I'll have a wild hair to add AC. If I had to guess, probably not though. I'm going to toss this stuff in a corner until thanksgiving, and then get working on getting it ready to swap in.

[wworm]

It would be super cool to make custom mounts to push the engine further back in the engine bay, plus that way you can run a thicker rad and not have the split hairs space between the rad and the accessories.


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[2mAn]

In regards to radiator, I kinda screwed myself by cutting off the brackets for the coolant resevoir for hella shaved engine bay shots, so I'm going to roll with the M42 rad and hope my pusher fan can keep up.

Obviously you'll want to use the M30 radiator, but you can use a M3 overflow that sits up in the battery tray area... it looks very similar to an early model overflow also ;)

It would be super cool to make custom mounts to push the engine further back in the engine bay, plus that way you can run a thicker rad and not have the split hairs space between the rad and the accessories.

M30 already needs to be "clearanced" with a BFH to sit against the firewall, so you cant really move it further back...

[wworm]

Haha yeah I was thinking of a more aggressive approach involving a grinder and a welder lol. Wishful thinking


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[AWDBOB]

It would be super cool to make custom mounts to push the engine further back in the engine bay, plus that way you can run a thicker rad and not have the split hairs space between the rad and the accessories.

That would be nice! I think simplicity is key for my sanity this time around. I need to stop messing with this car eventually so I can finally get then M3 going!

Also, in moving the m30 too far back some folks have ran into brake booster issues which I don't want to deal with.

With that said, I'm 100% with you on getting that weight as far back as possible.

Obviously you'll want to use the M30 radiator, but you can use a M3 overflow that sits up in the battery tray area... it looks very similar to an early model overflow also ;)
M30 already needs to be "clearanced" with a BFH to sit against the firewall, so you cant really move it further back...

From what I can tell the M30 is harder to keep cool than an M20, but most of what I've read pertains to a) having a condenser in front of the rad which I won't have and b) temp problems mainly occurring when not moving for folks using just the stock aux fan.

I've got my washer fluid res going on the battery tray and don't want to run ugly hoses all the way over there for coolant so I'm going to play it by ear with my 16" pusher fan and M42 rad. If that doesn't work I'll swap setups, because the e28 m30 rad is definitely the preferred solution. It'd be nice to mount the rad under the core support but that sounds like too much work.

[AWDBOB]

I've reached a new max displacement cargo level for the back of the Subaru- 3.5 whole liters.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[kronus]

there's not really super significant clearance issues with the M30. The distributor cap is furthest forward, and with typical mounts it sits less than a cm from the radiator, which is close but serviceable with angry enough motor mounts.

the intake manifold is not really near the brake booster in any appreciable way. I've never heard of clearance issues between those two parts.

you only have to bash the firewall if you run a B34, which has a water fitting on the back of the head. as I can see from the photo of your motor, you don't, so you won't.

the m30 is not any harder to keep cool, although it will benefit from a 6cyl radiator rather than the 4cyl unit. people have issues with it because it's a little bit of a pain in the ass to bleed properly, though, but there's a trick for it - http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=58368

your M20 clutch is likely a 228mm unit; you'll need a 240mm unit to fit an M30 flywheel and pressure plate. also, 7# is pretty underweight and you might end up with idle issues.

I haven't had failures with the stock rocker retainer system in an M30 head in ~7 years of endurance racing. unclear that the IE rocker retainers are worth it.