Project Stitch: The 1980's car with a 21st Century Spin

[stonea]

Looks to be NLA unless you have another source?

I personally I bought mine from Amazon, but it seems to be NLA on there too

[Sirotto]

Looks to be NLA unless you have another source?

[stonea]

What head unit is that? I like it better than most options ive seen.

Ditto on the head unit. I love it.

Its a Kienzle MCR-1016BT, I think it fits the styling of the car pretty well.

[ahrensNW]

Ditto on the head unit. I love it.

[Sirotto]

What head unit is that? I like it better than most options ive seen.

[stonea]

No link to show love for that mint exhaust I hooked you up with?! I really wanted to keep that exhaust, but I need to fund the rebuild. That engine I picked up is in create condition. Time for the rebuild. And yea you can use the driveway.

Went a head and gave you a free plug to your build thread, haha. I'm really pumped for getting this exhaust. It was the one thing really holding me back from getting it inspected. I'll let you know about the driveway, I'm still trying to collect parts like rebuilt axles and a 3.73 lsd diff so I can do it all at once.

[paynemw]

No link to show love for that mint exhaust I hooked you up with?! I really wanted to keep that exhaust, but I need to fund the rebuild. That engine I picked up is in create condition. Time for the rebuild. And yea you can use the driveway.

[stonea]

To start off the updates lets bring up some drama shall we? So Racewerks did the engine swap on my car. They've always done great work and I've always loved dealing with them. When I first started talking to them about doing the engine swap I inquired about them keeping the old M20 in exchange for a slight discount on all the work done. They told me that they had no use for it and would just throw it in the trash. So then I started talking to the guy actually doing the work on my car and told him he could take it. In exchange he said he'd throw in a little few extras like the M3 shifter and installing my front sway bar. I thought all was well when I was browsing craigslist when I saw a similar M20 for sale on there for $350 that was listed as "Was running when pulled".... Okay that might be true, but it wasn't running well. I called the mechanic I gave the engine too and he told me that Racewerks wouldn't let him take the engine and accused him of trying to screw them over. So basically I paid them X amount of dollars to do the swap and when I tried to help a fellow e30 enthusiast by giving him my old engine for his stroker project they felt that it wasn't fair because since I didn't want the engine they should be able to sell it for even more money... Needles to say I won't be going back, but besides the whole engine thing anyway I wasn't going back anyways because 1) its about a 45 minute drive there, 2) My car sat for at least 2-3 weeks because their customers with race cars came first, and 3) The main reason I went there was for the guy who quit, but luckily for me he's opening his own shop and told me he would hook me up with any jobs I needed. I'm hoping to meet up with him later this week to get my GC's welded up along with some other things. I'm not going to bad mouth Racewerks because if I was in my mid 30's had some money, and had a e36 or e46 race car then I'd probably continue going there, but if I went to the other local (Only 10 minutes away) BMW shop in the area I'm sure I would have gotten the same quality of work done, in a much quicker time, for probably a little less, and I could have actually of had say to what happens to my engine after it was pulled out of my car.

Well enough of that, on to the e30!!!

I started off by ordering the window crank delete plugs for my door cards. I didn't even notice the were missing until I installed them.





Then I did some more small things like clean/RainX the windows and install new wiper blades. I also installed new trunk and hood gaskets along with a new hood strut. My favorite thing that I've done to the car is replace the stupid gas cap. The one that came on the car looked like it belonged on a lawn mower. The gasket was so hard a brittle that pieces literally were crumbling off of it.









Now for my favorite touches! I did the Z3 antenna swap like I did on my ix, except this time I used soap to get the plug in there and it only took 5 minutes as opposed to half an hour. Next up was to finally get some new front and rear roundels on her. The front actually had two on there. The PO cut the little nipples off and just glued it onto the existing roundel. I also found out that the hood has been repainted sometime in its life. The roof has also been repainted, but at a different time.











I really started to like the way the car was coming together so I went a head and threw my euro plate filler and euro gills on there. Along with some clear turn signals.





To close off this update will be my new exhaust! I picked it up from paynemw and its beyond mint! I'm hoping I can find someone to let me use their driveway sometime this week so I can get this thing installed and inspected.

[stonea]

So I started the day off right by going to the Virginia Beach Cars and Coffee. I didn't take any pictures, but someone posted a decent picture of my car on the VB C&C Facebook page.



Once I got back I felt the needed to do something to the e30. Since I could finally acess the rear seats now I decided to finish scrapping off the parking stickers from the PO. While I was in there I also felt it was necessary to install my Cup Holders, eBrake Boot, Leather eBrake Handle, and my rear ashtray.

[stonea]

Nice! Looks like a fun project, I think the M54 will make for a great street car. You doing the wiring and ECU?

I'm more than likely going to get Andrew325is' Wiring Harness Adapter. This would be my first wiring job and I'm not that comfortable tackling it. Plus when given the chance I always love to support the members of r3v. He offers a free EWS flash with the purchase of one of his harness adapters, but I'm unsure if he will delete the rest of the stuff I need deleted. If he can't flash everything I need then I will send it off to Market Motorworks to get flashed along with a tune.

[Jb325is]

Nice! Looks like a fun project, I think the M54 will make for a great street car. You doing the wiring and ECU?

[stonea]

Sounds good!

You totally stole my idea of 'modernizing' an E30 chassis too! Excited to see where you go with it, as I may steal some of your ideas along the way.

Reading your build thread, with its pretty awesome introduction, makes me want to get another build thread going.

I gotta get a move on.

I originally had the idea to do this on the ix, but the community has come out with some really amazing things since then and its actually possible to do the things I want to do. Like keep the OEM radio, but with bluetooth installed, stealth gauges, USB charger, 1 touch windows from George Graves, HID retrofits, Clusters from BavRestoration. I feel confident that I can actually accomplish what I want. Also thanks to Jordan and Andrew325is my dreams will one day be a reality.

Also I keep checking on the project forum to see if you've posted a new thread, lol.

That's really cool that you and your dad got into e30s together. I'm sure I wouldn't know shit about cars today if it weren't for my dad helping me throughout the years. I've actually started getting him interested in e30s(not to the point where he would buy one, but he enjoys working on them). Also I like where you're going with this. I think I see some gc's in my future as well, what spring rates are you going with?

We may have gotten into e30s together but we couldn't be different, lol. He buys e30s to relive his past, I buy them to drive them and modify them. I really have to give my knowledge on cars to this forum and my uncle though. My dad is an engineer and I guess you have to be an engineer to learn from an engineer. Anyways I'm running 440/660 springs as per Ground Controls recommendation. I'm afraid they might be to stiff for what I want, but they are the experts and I'm not.


Some updates: My Ground Control Coilover Conversion Kit came in the mail yesterday. Its amazing how fast they got here.



Also I'm sure a few of you have seen me post this else where on the forum, but my drivetrain of choice for this modern e30 is none other than a M54 paired with a Zf 6 speed. I will be using Jordan's Swap Guide as a basic guideline of the swap, but I do have some of my own ideas that I want to try out. The M54 paired with my GC's and E46 M3 brakes will make it a blast to drive. I've already sourced a e34 oil pan, e38 728i windage tray, and a e38 728i oil pick up. For those who don't know the M54 is rear sump, and the e34 stuff won't bolt up to it. So the only options are custom (I don't trust myself), rear sump (Very expensive, and I would rather find an OEM solution), and e38 728i parts (BINGO!!). The e38 728i is front sump like the e30 and comes with the M52tub28, which is very similar to the M54. I also got a Shifter Carrier and Selector Rod from Reboot Engineering for my Zf 6 speed.

Windage Tray
Sump Tube





My friend asked me to go to the junkyard with him a few weeks back to help him pull a 3.73 LSD diff out of a e30 there and I found a Houndstooth interior. Its not even close to being in great shape. It has stains and holes every where, but its much better than my old seats. The previous owner converted the interior from tan to a black/gray/blue interior and used sedan seats so at least now I can access my back seats.

[TheWipprSnappr]

That's really cool that you and your dad got into e30s together. I'm sure I wouldn't know shit about cars today if it weren't for my dad helping me throughout the years. I've actually started getting him interested in e30s(not to the point where he would buy one, but he enjoys working on them). Also I like where you're going with this. I think I see some gc's in my future as well, what spring rates are you going with?

[MR E30 325is]

Thanks! I'll probably make a lot more progress on this than my ix for the time being. I really want to take care of the rest of the rust on the ix before I continue building it.

Sounds good!

You totally stole my idea of 'modernizing' an E30 chassis too! Excited to see where you go with it, as I may steal some of your ideas along the way.

Reading your build thread, with its pretty awesome introduction, makes me want to get another build thread going.

I gotta get a move on.

[stonea]

Great start!

Thanks! I'll probably make a lot more progress on this than my ix for the time being. I really want to take care of the rest of the rust on the ix before I continue building it.