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I am really excited to watch this project unfold. Loved seeing your car while it was parked next to Camilo's, hope to see it again once it reemerges! -
The parts collecting continued, I got a k20-BMW ZF adapter plate, flywheel, and clutch kit from KMiata, and a ZF 6 speed transmission from an e90 330i to fit to it. I also picked up a Link Fury standalone ECU.
Then I started saving money for a trip to Europe I had been wanting to take with my girlfriend for our anniversary/my birthday. I had to finish up a project I had been doing at work before I left, 1995 Dinan e34 540i that I was swapping an s62 into.
The car had the Dinan Fikse's on it already, but they were weaksauce 17x8.5 all around. I rebuilt them to 18x9.5 and 18.10.5 to be able to handle the extra power. The rest of the visuals the car already had.
We made longtube equal-length headers for it and had a custom tune, it ended up putting out 381whp on the dyno. Super fun car. I got it finished up just in time for the trip.
We based the trip around the Belgian and Italian F1 races, with time exploring in between and a week in Paris at the end since my girlfriend used to live there. Took a bit over 3 weeks off from work, did it all as a road trip starting and ending in Paris, with stops in Brussels, Cologne, Stuttgart, Munich, Stelvio national park, Parma, Genoa, Monaco, Villefranche, and Nice. I think we did about 4k km total and hit 7 countries. I took so many photos, these are just some highlights
Brussels
Spa
Cologne
Nurburgring. They were having a race the day I was there, so no driving. I told my girlfriend this means I have an excuse to go back
Stuttgart. Went to the Mercedes and Porsche museums, both are awesome.
Neuschwanstein Castle
First e30 spotting of the trip!
Hahntennjoch Pass going into Austria and our Giulia rental
Northern Italy. Such a beautiful area
Awesome Alpine just sitting outside a gas station in the middle of nowhere
Pagani Museum. Pretty good for how small and new a company they are, although very self-centered around Horacio
His personal car that he drives to work
Ferrari museum. Kind of lame TBH, a couple of old cars then just a bunch of new ones. Set up poorly too
Ferrari did e28 bottlecaps first!
Milan looked like a painting
Bellagio, Lake Como
Monza, I sprinted up the main straight for the ceremony, the atmosphere was crazy
Unfortunately our car got burgled while we were at the race, all our luggage gone. Luckily we had our passports and electronics on us. Still felt pretty shitty though.
Villefranche Sur Mer
Back to Paris
Second of 2 e30's on the whole trip
Now back to reality.
I had been researching upgrades to the k24 and found 4Piston racing. They make CNC heads and other parts for k series, and they are the current world record holders in a couple of drag racing classes (9.1 @ 152mph NA Civic!) I was saving up for a bunch of parts from them when they announced a Black Friday sale. I took advantage and bought their k340 package, but upgraded it with a pro163 head that should be roughly the same down low but make more power over 8500rpm. It has Weisco 12.5:1 pistons, Saenz rods, their RR4 road race Vtec cams and valves, and Ferrea springs. They say it should be about 360hp with a good intake.
So I packaged up my engine and head and shipped it to them in Indiana
But this meant I wasn't going to have an engine for a few months, so I went on the hunt for a second k24 to use as a mock-up engine for the swap. This actually took a while, because I didn't want to spend another grand on something I didn't have a use for once my engine got back. I ended up finding one at a junkyard for $200 that had been sitting open in the rain for a few months. Oh well.
I want to be able to use e85 with the engine since California only gets 91 octane and it would be a shame to lose out on some power from such a nice engine, so I got some Injector Dynamics ID1050x injectors, a flex fuel sensor, and some new fuel pumps.
I made a fuel surge tank from an old fire suppression tank a while ago, don't remember if I shared this yet
Strapped the car to the dyno to get a baseline before the engine comes out. 96hp! Factory Freak! The only things I can think of that would improve power is the exhaust and no PS/AC. Explains why my car is quicker than my roommates 325e.
and a final hurrah for the m10/NT01's
Engine out time!
Weighed my engine/trans combo to compare with Jean's weights. I assume he had PS or AC still to make up for the extra weight. There was 13lbs of chain/load leveler at this weight
Filthy engine bay and tunnel
Racecor suspension barely moves without an engine
Powerwashed the bay
More surface rust under the battery :facepalm
ZF 6 speed next to the m10 trans. It's a bit bigger that's what she said
Mated the k24 and ZF using the KMata adapter plate
Transmission needed some modifications to clear the starter
Engine in
I knew the oil pump was going to be an issue since it picks up from roughly the center of the engine. I'm going to be running a ported pump from a k20a2 since they flow a lot better than the k24 pump, they don't have balance shafts, and they can handle the high RPM. So I bought a new pump and proceed to cut it apart to try to make it fit.
Even with this done, the engine still sat pretty far forwards, and it just didn't look right in the engine bay. The mounts on the transmission were already past the slots in the floor, so I said fuck it and pushed the engine back to where it looked right.
The tube sitting on the frame rails is where it was before. It ended up about 1.5" back.
This meant I needed to do something creative with the oil pickup. I debated making a box-style pickup like old V8's had, but I was worried about oil flow since I don't understand it completely and didn't want to do something that wouldn't be ideal.
I talked it over with an engineer friend, and he suggested using the factory pickup, just relocated. I liked that idea since the factory one obviously works, so we went about making it happen.
The depth and angle match factory, in case you were wondering.
I needed to make some mounts, so I made a temporary brace to hold the engine in place while I mocked them up
Used OEM 325i engine mounts instead of the softer 318i mounts.
It's tough designing mounts in the car, so when the engine comes out for the new one, I'm going to use them as templates to design stronger and better looking mounts.
Transmission needed mounting next. The mounting points on the ZF are unboltable, since they used this transmission in so many different models. I tried a ZHP mount, but it was way too wide for the tunnel.
It looks like e90 330i mounting points would fit according to pictures online, but they cost $150 and I needed to make a custom trans brace anyways, so I just went about making my own. I used e21 320i automatic transmission mounts because they are also a stiffer design than the 318i ones.
Not completely finished in this pic
I put the mounts in front of the plate to be able to still use the mounting slots in the floor so I wouldn't need a cantilever trans brace.
Stages of the trans brace.
Bought a ZHP shift carrier to modify, it somehow ended up fitting perfect right out of the box.
Driveshaft from a e36 M3 auto. Needed to be extended 70mm to fit the flex disk. The manual driveshaft was like 100mm too long.
ECU mounted in the factory location
And we're caught back up to speed. I'm getting a flange cut out of aluminum so I can start on the oil pan, and I'm waiting on a flange from Vibrant so I can start making the exhaust. Hopefully my engine will show up soon from 4Piston so I can mock up the coolant pipes (k20 head coolant flow is different from my mock-up k24), and I still need to order the Kinsler ITB so I can make the intake.Leave a comment:
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Doing research because I am thinking of buying an early 318i.
Any updates on your swap?Leave a comment:
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Hey Tim! long time no see.
The guy refused to pay for the dent, and I didn't want to get insurance involved because they would just say we were both at fault and it would have ended up coming out of my insurance. I had my PDR guy work on it, but there's like 3 layers of metal there so it's not perfect. You can only see the issues with reflections though because of the color.Leave a comment:
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Fantastic build thread !! Did that guy ever end up paying for that dent ?Leave a comment:
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All riiiight! Definitely looking forward to seeing progress on the swap!Leave a comment:
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I've since changed the muffler from the glasspack to a Burns Stainless race muffler, it quieted it down a bit and cleaned up the sound. I actually missed seeing a bit of muffler under the rear end, I think it's part of the look on early models. It's a more classic look when you can see mechanicals of the car hanging down a bit. You should be able to see the new muffler in the recent posts.
My car had 4 options from the factory: Alloy wheels, sunroof, AC, and electric windows.
They might flow comparable to k20 PRB heads stock, but the port is much smaller and has less material surrounding it for porting out.
Forgot to mention, the car was finally at a point visually where I was ok with showing it off, so we put and article up on StanceWorks. Check it out for some higher quality photos than my phone can provide
http://www.stanceworks.com/2018/05/b...-bmw-e30-318i/Leave a comment:
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Funny, I was reading through this thread thinking a K24 swap would be great for this car. Then you go and post that up, haha. If I ever ditch my M20, that's the swap I'm gonna do.
BTW, I was under the impression that ~06 TSX K24 heads flowed as well as the K20 heads.Leave a comment:
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holy shoes. This is the exact combo I've been dreaming about since I saw the k24 swap thread open up. Stoked that this will be going in such a thorough build thread.Leave a comment:
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Some of the new parts going in, originally tried out some EZ brand kidneys because I liked the venting inside, but they didn't fit great. First pic is original ones vs the EZ brand, second is EZ brand vs new OEM.
New license plate lights
The front turn signals for the euro bumpers use a 2 pin plug instead of the 3 pin that the US cars use. My kit didn't come with new pigtails, but I was able to modify the original plug to work.
New roundels, again
I had been on the lookout for an e30 M3 rear seat for over a year, but they're nearly impossible to find, and even harder to find one listed for sale that the owner actually wants to sell. I hit up multiple people with for sale ads that would respond with "yeah, I'm not 100% sure I really want to sell it". Finally found one in NY and had it shipped over here. Didn't care about the leather condition, as the interior will be getting redone soon.
Finally out with this hot trash
The early cars rear seats bolt down, as opposed to every other BMW ever that clip in. The M3 seat clips in, so I cut some of the tabs off an e38 parts car we have at work and welded them in.
The seatbelts are just clipped into the seat for now, there is no center mount to bolt them to, so I'll need to drop the subframe and add one in.
Trimmed the front plate mount to look more like a Gruppe A car, and to get more air to the oil cooler
Went to a couple of autocross with the car, was running equal times to a couple s2000 during an SCCA practice day, and got fastest overall at the Speedventures autocross at Bimmerfest
The car handles very neutral, but I feel like I'm losing some front grip due to how low it is. I'm going to try to fit the e36 roll center adjusters that Ground-Control makes.
More power has always been on my to do list, but the engine runs well now so I've been trying to get the rest of the car completely sorted before addressing it. I looked into m10 builds for a bit, and there are people out there making pretty respectable power with them, but I don't think it'll be enough to make for a fun e30, even if it only weighs 2300lbs. I don't like 24v swaps, and I didn't want to do an M60 again, because I like the light front end feeling of the car. S54's make the power I want, but they weigh a ton with their iron block, vanos, and ITB's. If BMW had ever made a 4 cylinder variation of the s54 it would be perfect, but since they didn't I started looking at other manufacturers 4 cylinder options. I was working at an evo shop at the time, so the 4b11t popped up at the top of my list, but as time went on and I kept thinking about it (and watching hours of European hillclimb videos), I decided I really didn't want a turbo engine. I had heard good things about Honda K series, so I started looking into them more and decided that was the engine for me. They're small, there's a ton of aftermarket, they rev high, and they can make crazy NA power. This was like 3 years ago, and I've been planning the swap out since.
Since the K series was only ever mounted transversely, the trans was one of the first things to figure out. I found Ballade Sports first, they make an adapter plate and flywheel to mount the engine to an S2000 6 speed, and they're pretty local. I kept looking up swaps into s2000's, then I found people are putting them into Miatas too. That lead me to Kmiata, who make an adapter plate and flywheel to mount the engine to BMW transmissions! A couple of months after I found them, they started a thread on here where they were going to start working on an e30 kit. I had been planning this swap out for a few years, and now before I got off my ass and did it there was going to be an easy way for everyone else to do it. I like being first, so I decided that was the sign I needed to start doing it. The next day after they started their thread, I went out and bought my engine.
Its a k24a2 from a TSX. I chose this one because it's a 2.4l instead of the 2.0, and because the A2 has piston squirters. The k24 head doesn't flow as well as the k20 head though, so I found a k20z1 head on CL and bought that too. Had to disguise it so my boss wouldn't get suspicious.
Weighed the engine to compare it to the m10. Jean weighed his m10/transmission combo and it was just under 400lbs. Transmissions weigh between 80-100lbs, and the clutch and pressure plate should put the engine and trans combo within 50lbs of the m10.
To compare, I've found weights for the s54 listed at 470lbs without the transmission. I got a g420 from an e46 M3 I was planning on using, but I talked with Kmiata a bit and they said a ZHP 6 speed would be a better fit, so I'll be selling it and getting one of those. I'm still collecting parts for the swap, so I haven't taken the car apart or anything yet. I'll be building the engine a bit too before it goes in, goal is 9500+rpm, 300+whp, and roughly the same weight as before.Leave a comment:
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well that just ate up my entire lunch break. This car is awesome. All the little details really add up. Exhaust turned out really nice too and I'm glad you showed how you did that, I've got a set of euro bumpers in my basement and I've been thinking about how to route the exhaust to keep it from hanging under the bodyline of the car.
also, your car came with electric windows, I thought '84 m10 models came with manual windows only?Leave a comment:
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