My Official "E30/M50 (+ S52) Improvement Effort Thread"

[Dj Buttchug]

the most elaborate contraption to assist in installing a cylinder head lol. why didn't you simply grab it with two hands and position it on the block?

[pandaboo911]

Hawtness

[RenaissanceMan]

Reuniting the cylinder head and block

After the block surface and pistons were all clean and shiny, it was time to reinstall the reconditioned head. Since I was working by myself, my main challenge was figuring out how I was going to simultaneously guide the timing chain through the head while singlehandedly lowering the head onto the block without dropping the chain, damaging the head gasket, or bashing a valve into something and messing it up. So, after some head scratching I decided that I was going to use my engine hoist to lower the head while I monitored the threading of the timing chain.

I needed to figure out how to suspend the head with the hoist in a balanced, horizontal fashion, so I eventually decided to temporarily attach the intake manifold and one of the S52 headers.

Intake attached on the bench:



Anal-retentive nature resulted in my making a makeshift 'gasket' out of cardboard for the exhaust side to protect the aluminum surface during hoisting. :D



After some experimentation I realized that I would have to mount the exhaust header upside-down to facilitate the balance I was looking for:



Ready to hoist:







Initial 'liftoff' resulted in an out-of-balance suspension, so I had to move the mounting point of the exhaust header and also change the lift points:



Corrected with new lift points and a bungee cord 'tweak'.





Head gasket installed and ready to go:



Neat shot of the underside of the head while in the air:



A couple of bungee cord tweaks later, I had my solution and I was ready to drop the head. Here we go!









A successful landing!!!

[RenaissanceMan]

Block surface and piston top cleaning

Next on my list was cleaning the block surface. On the last motor I put together, I ended up using a lightly-abrasive scotchbrite type of pad attachment with an air die grinder to remove the old gasket residue, taking care not to dig in too much and score the surface. That worked well, but I didn't want to go as aggressive this time around. After doing some research, I found a fantastic tool for the job made by 3M: A Roloc Bristle Disc (white) that does an incredible job of removing gasket residue and grit without damaging the surface.



First I stuffed clean rags into the cylinders so as not to get any debris in there that could score the bores.



Then I started cleaning the surface with the die grinder/Roloc attachment. Here are a couple of pics of the surface after working on it:







As you can see, there was quite a bit of bit of carbon buildup on the pistons. Depending on who you talk to, some folks will say it's a waste of time to clean them or that you're risking getting carbon pieces in the cylinders that will damage them, etc... I elected to take my chances and very very carefully clean the tops, mostly because they were sitting right there beckoning me with their dirty, ominous black stare....

The safe way to clean, I decided, was not to use any sort of air or rotating tools which might throw little tiny carbon flecks everywhere. Instead I went old school and used a small putty knife to first work off the excess with one hand while I held a shop vac cleaner attachment with the other. This allowed any carbon broken off to be immediately sucked into the vacuum, and safely away from the rags that were stuffed in the cylinders. This was a long and tedious process, but it worked. After removing the excess, then I sprayed parts cleaner onto a microfiber cloth and scrubbed what I could of the remains off of the surfaces. I had to repeat this process for each cylinder several times, but this effectively removed 99% of the carbon and made the piston tops completely smooth again. Here are some pics from steps during the process:

[RenaissanceMan]

Better late than never...

It has been quite a while since I've posted. Work on the swap was massively slow over the holidays. Really didn't get much done, but in the past couple of months have made some progress that I'm just now putting together to post.

Since I am going to be swapping the current Getrag 260 transmission in the car with the ZF S5D320Z (E36 M-car 5 speed) I bought with the motor, I decided to to the shift pin service before installing it in the car. Having owned an E36 M3 in the past that suffered from the sticking detent issue that put the neutral shifter position out of whack, I made the call to preemptively address the issue. Lucky for me, a buddy of mine had the ZF service tools already that included all of the various drifts needed for the job, so I didn't need to purchase them. If you need to buy them you can get them from Thayer Motorsports (www.thayermotorsports.com):



Transmissions don't like to sit perfectly upright on their own when you are working on them, so I made a makeshift 'stand' by simply putting two threaded bolts into a couple of 2x4s that I passed through the trans mount ears:





This kept it from rocking back and forth as I was working on it. Pretty simple solution. Then I proceeded to do the service. It starts with replacing the pins and sleeves for gears 1-4. First you remove the pin caps:



Removing the shift pins:



Old pins removed:



Old and new pins. Notice that the diameter of the newer pins is a little different. Hence, the replacement sleeves that go in the trans have a slightly different I.D. as well. The newer design supposedly does a better job of preventing binding and sticking.



Installing the new sleeves:



New sleeves installed for gears 1-4 and lookin' purty:



Installing new pins:





New shift pins and springs installed and capped:



Shift pins and springs for 5th and reverse removed:



Now for the hard part... These sleeves in the 2 bores need to be removed. Without going into too much boring detail, the big challenge with these is getting the cylinder sleeves out without damaging the bores. The DIYs online suggest using a small screwdriver or pick to try and deform the sleeves, allowing enough room to grab and pull them out. In the real world, this is virtually impossible to do without scoring the bores. I learned this the hard way and ended up having to purchase 2 new cylinder sleeves, only after having to restore the smoothness of the bores by patiently using j.b. weld and super fine grit sandpaper... Ugh.



Removal using the screwdriver deformation method. You can see how the bores were unfortunately scored during this process. This was my first time doing the job before learning of the blind hole puller tool...



New sleeve getting ready to be installed. There are 2 of these. One for reverse, and one for 5th gear:



New sleeves installed:



In the end, I got everything restored and working, but let me save you a HUGE hassle if you are going to do this job. Go to AutoZone and rent their "blind hole puller". It is essentially a glorified slide hammer with attachments that grab the O.D. of the sleeve and extract the sleeve without destroying the bores. Don't even waste your time without this tool if you have an AutoZone anywhere nearby. Wish I would have known about that tool before trying this the first time! :D



New 5th and reverse pins and springs installed, with new caps and circlips:



Job done!!!! :D

[RenaissanceMan]

Camshafts and Gorilla Glue. :)

It's been really tough to find time to work on the car lately, but today I was determined to enter into the weekend with a little bit of momentum.

This wasn't really any huge accomplishment, but it was bugging me so I took care of it. The passenger side footwell trim panel was broken and was showing an ugly hole where the mounting screw was supposed to go.





I located a replacement panel locally but to my surprise and frustration I could not get it to fit properly. A little investigation revealed that a previous repair resulted in some minor 'misfitment' in the footwell and consequently the trim panel was going to have to be shaved down in order to get it to fit flush. I didn't feel like experimenting with my new-to-me trim panel in mint condition, so I elected to shape and repair the original one and keep a perfect spare in case I needed it.

I had to cut back the rear edge of the panel repeatedly until it finally fit properly flush against the footwell rear. I went slowly and incrementally and took my time so that I didn't take off too much material. I used an air die grinder with a filing attachment to contour the shape. Finally got it shaped perfectly and then it was time to fix the hole.

I had to use a heat gun to first reshape the damage surrounding the hole that was bent inward. Then I carefully took the broken piece and figured out the exact orientation it was in before it broke. A little bit of Gorilla Glue and 24 hours of set time later, the hole had been properly patched and repaired and I could once again secure the panel properly with the mounting screw. Yes, this was a bit of an OCD repair but I find little detail projects like that enjoyable for some strange reason. :p The end result came out pretty decent:





I decided the next thing I wanted to do was reinstall the camshafts. I vacuumed off my work area to make sure things were clean, and then sat the head on the bench. Because was going to be replacing the camshafts on the bench before installing the head, I made sure to seat the head on a couple of blocks so that any valve movement below the head surface would not result in me bending anything.



This is how I did the same job on my m52 build recently and it saved a little bit of time and hassle having the camshafts already mounted and timed before mounting the head to the block.

Next order of business was replacing the non-return valve in the bottom of the head. Although not everyone replaces these when doing a head gasket, I think it's good insurance to go ahead and do it because over time these lose their ability to keep oil in the cylinder head, resulting in 'dry' startup conditions that make for noisy lifters and whatnot... Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture, but in case anybody was wondering this is part #2 in the following diagram:




I then proceeded to apply assembly lube to the friction points in the valvetrain.



Then installed the intake side camshaft.



After installing the first camshaft I realized I should probably go ahead and install the cylinder head bolt washers so I wouldn't forget later! This was made easier with the trays and camshaft already in place by using a magnet to point them where they needed to go. Then I just released the washers using a thin screwdriver once they were in place.



I then installed the exhaust side camshaft:



I then torqued all of the bearing cap nuts to 15 nm and celebrated with a tasty Izze sparkling grapefruit beverage since I ran out of beer!!! :)



Tomorrow I will time the camshafts using my cam-timing tools to get the head ready to be reunited with the block. Just to reiterate my earlier point, this is why you want to maintain clearance between the head surface and your work surface:



Next step: Clean the block surface to insure the integrity of the head gasket seal and then reinstall the cylinder head!



And... in my next installment I'll tell you guys and girls what the UPS man brought this week for my build... :D

[Poorhouse]

Great work!

Will be following this. Appreciate your level of detail as I embark on my first E30 project.

[Kershaw]

The Ronals look much better, not only is the design better, but the silver stands out much nicer than the black.

[RenaissanceMan]

Head back from the machine shop!

A couple pics of my newly-reconditioned cylinder head. Got a multi-angle valve grind and decked the surface. All flow-tested and ready to go! Going to try and put it back on the motor over Thanksgiving. :)





Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

[RenaissanceMan]

The Ronals look much better, but Im guessing theres a weight penalty for that beauty.

Yup, the Pro Race 2.0's are definitely lighter, but they certainly don't look as 'classic' as the Ronals.

I think the iX booster is THE ideal braking setup for a swapped E30. I feel like using the appropriate parts for the E30 without modifying braking components is the best way to have OEM brake feel. I never liked the idea of using other boosters or modifying the clevis and rethreading stuff. K.I.S.S.

I'm in total agreement. I'm really glad that I sussed out the boost issues before going ahead and upgrading other components. It gave me a super-strong baseline knowing that everything else is still basically stock but now provides great performance.

It was also nice not having to cut and re-thread the rod like I did with my last 2 boosters on the racecar. The car is so much more pleasurable to drive now.

[2mAn]

The Ronals look much better, but Im guessing theres a weight penalty for that beauty.

I think the iX booster is THE ideal braking setup for a swapped E30. I feel like using the appropriate parts for the E30 without modifying braking components is the best way to have OEM brake feel. I never liked the idea of using other boosters or modifying the clevis and rethreading stuff. K.I.S.S.

[Skarpa]

Nice work! I like it how thoroughly you document your everything and share it.

[RenaissanceMan]

Wheel options

For fun I put my Team Dynamics Pro Race 2.0's on the car to compare to the look of the Ronals. They are anthracite gray, but look a bit darker in the pics. These are the wheels I was planning on running with my Massive BBK F&R race kit since they allow enough clearance for the large Wilwood calipers. Now that the brakes are so much more improved, I may not do BBK on this car... Still deciding.

Ronals:





Pro Race 2.0's

[RenaissanceMan]

Booster Swap

Sorry it's been a while since I have been able to update. Lots going on over here... Anyhow, I completed my booster swap project and wanted to share that with y'all...

So here is what my setup looked like originally. Like so many of the swap cars out there, I had an e21 booster with the e30 22mm master cylinder:





Although my brakes had been operational, I lacked serious confidence in them because of a hard pedal with limited braking force in instances where I had to panic stop. It was the one thing about the car that was driving me crazy, and having gone through this before with my e30 racecar, I was determined to finally get to the bottom of the issue. As was mentioned earlier in the thread, I purchased a used e32 7 series booster (same part number as the ix booster) for a song which already had the spacer on it. First order of business was painting it to make it look more presentable. Before:



After:





Mounting the booster using the spacer tube meant that it was going to protrude farther into the engine compartment. Although the diameter of the twin diaphragm casing was basically identical to the e21 booster, its mounting position with the spacer required some serious filing of the intake manifold vanes. I had no room whatsoever between the booster and the manifold so I did a series of flle-test steps to evaluate whether or not I could clear. I loosened the motor mount nuts and lifted the motor up far enough to where I could get a file in between, file a bunch, and then lower the motor to see if it cleared. I didn't want to file more than I had to; hence the reason I kept raising and lowering the motor to check things. It was quite unnerving how much I had to file. Where the contact was greatest, I actually filed past the vanes, continually checking to make sure I wasn't going to break through. Yes, I could have shimmed the mounts, but since I was already in there I wanted to get it as close as I could without futzing with shims. In the end, I got the contour the way it needed to be and so far after many miles of driving no manifold leak issues. :D Here are a few pics of the many stages of filing I undertook. You can see how I had to keep eliminating more and more material...







Super-tight fit, obviously.

Here is the booster in place with the e34 M5 master cylinder mounted and the brake lines bent to connect to it:



New 2002 grommets and connector tubes installed:



New vacuum hose cut to properly fit the check valve:



Since I was going to be using a 2002 remote reservoir, I needed some kind of bracket to mount it. Being that I like to try and keep things looking as factory as possible, I decided to take the old black plastic relay mounting bracket that was no longer being used and modify it to mount the reservoir. Because of the height I needed to mount the reservoir, I needed to change the orientation of the bracket, so I decided to mount it upright and sideways. I had to first remove the relay mounting clips:



I also had to drill mounting holes for securing bolts and file off the back of the bracket to allow it to fit more flush against the mount:



I then made a bracket backing plate to secure it to my modded mount:



To finish it up I am going to paint the bracket black and also use more appropriately-sized hardware to make it look more factory, but for now this is at least a functional version of it.

Attaching the new brake hose to the reservoir after measuring and cutting to fit:





Since I needed to use the original reservoir cap and level sensor with the new reservoir, I had to extend the wiring to reach the new location. The harness wiring that was there already was too short to reach. Cut and soldered new extension wires for the sensor connection and shrink-wrapped everything to look more factory:







The remote mounting location also required a brake hose extension for the clutch line, which was also too short to reach. I cut an extension to reach the reservoir and purchased a brass hose union fitting to join the hoses:



Here is the extension mounted and finished off with mounting clamps:



And here is the finished product:



SUMMARY:

This is hands-down the best improvement that I've made to the car so far since buying it. The brakes are NIGHT and DAY different from what they were before. Braking power is plentiful and well-balanced. Pedal modulation is just like that of a modern BMW and I can finally lock up the wheels and get into ABS if I want to. I have to be honest and tell you I didn't have a whole lot of faith that this booster upgrade would make a super-significant difference, but I had to give it a shot to see what it would offer. Although this ended up being a much more time-consuming project than I expected due to the little details I wanted to incorporate, it was well worth the effort. The brakes are so much better now that I am actually considering not going the direction of the BBK... This would allow me to keep running the Ronals which I really like the look of better than my Team Dynamics Pro Race 2.0's that I kept from my racecar... In the meantime, I am enjoying the car much more now that I have so much more confidence in the brakes!

[RenaissanceMan]

A little paint to make things look new.

Had some time today to work in the garage and the weather was gorgeous so I decided to paint the block. I did the same thing to my M52 build and it came out really nice. Used POR-15 since it 'soaks' into the metal nicely and prevents corrosion. Plus it dries into a nice glossy black color. :D

Of course, before I could get to the block surface to paint, I had to remove a bunch of stuff.





Evidently a lot of moisture (coolant leak?) had previously made its way in between the old paint and the block metal. As a result, a lot of the paint was flaking off and areas were looking pretty well-oxidized... Here are both sides as I was prepping for paint after I removed the motor supporting brackets and the harness and sensor stuff:





An air tool die grinder with a steel brush rotating attachment came in very handy as I was prepping the block. It allowed me to get into all of the nooks and crannies and it scuffed off the surface rust really well. I made sure to cover up any coolant passages or oil passages that were exposed so as not to get any of the debris in the motor.

I applied the POR-15 using a couple of different sized brushes and here's the end result:





While the paint was drying I was staring at my harness mentally trying to prepare this OBD2 conversion. I'm sure I'll be utilizing all of the OBD2 threads up here as I try to figure out all of the wiring and whatnot.



Hope to have more brake upgrade progress to report soon...