E30 Coupe Complete Rebuild + M60B40 Conversion Thread

[E30Bug]

Hi first post ever.
Never really got a chance to post cause all my questions had answers.
I have been saving up to do a M60 swap myself
I have a complete donor car I figured I will work up from there
Anyway reason for post is cause my car is also RHD so I will follow your thread mainly for the engine clearance stuff
Progress on that shell alone is amazing great job please keep it up.
Cheers
Mason

Hi Slum Dog, that didn't feel right calling you that haha.

Thanks for your nice comment. Things slowed up a bit the last couple of months for one reason or another but I've made a little bit of progress of late. Will post some more pics up shortly.

I'm no expert with this conversion but will try to answer any questions you might have regarding the fitting of the engine, or anything really. Just be warned, there is a lot to this swap and heaps of things that you don't account for that you have to work out. That said, I think it will all be worth it and encourage you to do it.

I have test fit the engine with the engine mounts I bought from here:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-E30-V8...-/172431780069 which I found were a lot cheaper than other places but are of very good quality.

The fire wall needs "massaging" back quite a bit as you can see in one of the pics to allow for the pipes running across the back of the engine to have clearance. Brake booster needs to be relocated either under the glovebox on the passengers' side (our left) or set down the front on the passengers' side behind the headlight. There are plenty of forums and writeups on here and other places like rtsauto.com -http://www.rtsauto.com/e30-bmw-m62-v8-swap-3/

Headers are the other thing that is not easy for us guys with RHD cars to do. You can purchase some nice headers from Ergen Motorsport - https://www.ergen.co.uk but they work out quite expensive for us with exchange rate and shipping. I am getting some custom made at the moment which are every bit as good, if not better than the Ergen ones for a lot less.

Hope this helps a bit.

[slum dog]

Hi first post ever.
Never really got a chance to post cause all my questions had answers.
I have been saving up to do a M60 swap myself
I have a complete donor car I figured I will work up from there
Anyway reason for post is cause my car is also RHD so I will follow your thread mainly for the engine clearance stuff
Progress on that shell alone is amazing great job please keep it up.
Cheers
Mason

[E30Bug]

Wow, great build! Can't wait to watch this thing progress!!

Mr. Wolfe

Thanks Mr. Wolfe.

Hopefully I'll have a productive weekend and I can do another post.

[Mr. Wolfe]

Wow, great build! Can't wait to watch this thing progress!!

Mr. Wolfe

[E30Bug]

E30 Coupe Complete Rebuild + M60B40 Conversion Thread

Not much progress to report unfortunately.
Now that the underside is done I'm working on getting the subframe and front crossmember reinforcements finished and painted up. My poly bushes arrived the other day and I should be able to order my coilovers shortly so will be good to get all those in.





Strongflex Poly Bushes, CSB, Transmission Mounts and Guibo

[E30Bug]

Wow! That's what the underside of your car looks like? I can't wait to see you finish the rest.

Cheers. Yeah I'm looking forward to seeing it finished also.

[jpod999]

Wow! That's what the underside of your car looks like? I can't wait to see you finish the rest.

[E30Bug]

E30 Coupe Complete Rebuild + M60B40 Conversion Thread

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[E30Bug]

E30 Coupe Complete Rebuild + M60B40 Conversion Thread

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So happy with the end result. The pain was all worth it.

[E30Bug]

E30 Coupe Complete Rebuild + M60B40 Conversion Thread

Getting closer.
All 2Pk primed and sanded back. Was finally able to get the stone guard on all the inner guards. Not far from colour now.......







And the colour is on

[E30Bug]

E30 Coupe Complete Rebuild + M60B40 Conversion Thread

More stripping of the underside.



About 6Kg in total was stripped off.
I know, I know, some people have said "but BMW put that on there for rust protection," and "It's going to be noisy." Well for the noise issue I'm going to put some sheets of Dynamat on the inside of the floor. You only need to cover 25% of the area to stop it resonating. And I have fixed the rust spot in the floor which was under the coating, etch primed everything, and all the seams have been sealed up again.




Applying the seam sealer.




Next it's time to 2pk prime the whole underside, stone guard the inner guards, and apply the base coat, Kandy coat, and clear. Looking forward to seeing it all in paint finally.

[E30Bug]

Great work on stripping the undercoating! It's one of the messiest jobs there is but I find it gives a lot of satisfaction once finished. Keep up the good work!



Blasting that undercoating won't do much, it'll only strip the paint off of it. And getting it dipped isn't a great idea neither. As acid will still get stuck between the flanges and might cause rust or eat away your fresh paint once you're finished.

Thanks mate. Yeah it is very satisfying knowing that every square inch of your car has been stripped, checked, re-sealed and painted. Not to mention how clean it looks.


True ^^. I was looking for an easier way but really there isn't I don't think.

[E30Bug]

Why not send out shell to be dipped / blasted?

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Yeah, same reason as D. Martijn said and because of the cost.

[0-60 freak]

Great work on stripping the undercoating! It's one of the messiest jobs there is but I find it gives a lot of satisfaction once finished. Keep up the good work!



Blasting that undercoating won't do much, it'll only strip the paint off of it. And getting it dipped isn't a great idea neither. As acid will still get stuck between the flanges and might cause rust or eat away your fresh paint once you're finished.

Oh, I'm not familiar with the process but I did think that they dip the shell back in a neutralizer when they were finished, I'm only inquiring because very soon I'll be doing a rotisserie build myself, along with Jordan sarette here locally in Houston

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

[D.Martijn]

Every time I ground some off I would spray that area with etch primer when I'd finished for the day.
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Great work on stripping the undercoating! It's one of the messiest jobs there is but I find it gives a lot of satisfaction once finished. Keep up the good work!

Why not send out shell to be dipped / blasted?

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Blasting that undercoating won't do much, it'll only strip the paint off of it. And getting it dipped isn't a great idea neither. As acid will still get stuck between the flanges and might cause rust or eat away your fresh paint once you're finished.