[Entropy] - E30 Hiatus cont - More seeing, less wrenching.

[Digitalwave]

Are you doing carpet in the E30? Truck liner is too heavy and hard to keep clean as a floor surface. Just paint it with a roller if you're not going carpet.

[moatilliatta]

April 2021

Work

Slow but decent guilted progress from a bit too much time taken on my stuff... And faulty parts making it hard to get things done.

Constant defects, you name it.


Official part mascot


But eventually got back together. Replaced condenser since it was rotted and beat up. Initially had to pull all back for hood cables. But back together again.


Some suspension installs


Some milestones. CAD


Lots of holes, Lots of hours


Houston, we have what looks like a floor.


MAJOR.

[moatilliatta]

April 2021 - CONT

Progress, still chugging

Old Rear deck sound deadening


Fresh Rear deck sound deadening in Dynliner


Lower seat delete panels getting covered up




Checking fitment, Snug but good! Sorting how to complete and tie in delete


OLD school, Just glued right onto the wheel wells.


I was impressed on how the seem and fitment turned out!


1/2 Dynaliner on back of all the seat delete panels




Getting some fitting sorted for the ABS install


Used loctite 242 on the AN adapters


Euro Spare - 25 LBS savings


Some additional sound deadening, Not trying to go too crazy.


Id like to pull the old stuff off, but didn't want to open a can of worms. Time ticking...


Fresh fuel! After a while you figure out how to do anything by yourself...


Whelp! sneak peak of interior


Burgundy is a hard color too match up.






Eventually will do a tinted style truckbead liner, Rapter liner? But for now just trying to get a feel for what color.


The fuel tank vent line fit pretty well going over the inner wheel well into its pass though the AN bulkhead fitting showed above.


Pulled an all nighter and drove to NJ (Nine Stitch) and back to pick up the interior and started to fit it right away. But first some travel photos.


Who doesn't think twice about, Hmm id like one of those also?


Nascar VS Camper





And here we go, Is this what all my wait in debating color was for? Will it come together as I though it would?


As always, Modify one thing, modify a million things. That plug was a bugger to get in there. Hope to never remove. Bites tongue.


Getting seatbelts sorted before sending brackets off to powdercoating.


Under dash wiring getting finalized


Built a cable to plug in my wideband oxygen sensor LSU 4.9


New radiator arrived!


I initially painted just parts of my roof, But since my rear window gasket wouldn't stop leaking.. I had to pull the rear window out and decided to paint the roof interior fully...




SEM paint was used, FUN! Looks a lot better than before!


That's all the E30 progress for April!

[moatilliatta]

April 2021

Progress?

YESSSS

Seat delete template, intimidating at first, Amazed how accurate CAD can be...


Fit up is going well on the seat delete


Testing out some color


Interior remodeling - Wire Wheeling and Priming seat delete bracket - Prepping for paint


Removed the Mishimoto Zline radiator. I just think its too heavy, not efficient enough...


Things are going back together!




Test fitting seat delete with my carpet shim samples


One thing powder coat doesn't do is protect inside and lapping metals that well, over the years always noticed some rust coming gout of areas. Cavity wax to the rescue ever nook and cranny,





Gas tank getting ready to go back in.




Changed up the venting since the rear coil over moved the vent line inside, Turned down a vibrant nipple that was a bit too aggressive.




TIGa


Seat delete getting closer!


Carpet has arrived!


Gas tank filler tube vent painted and ready for install


Noted, Old vent tube cute off


On with the retrofit


You can see the bulk head fitting goes inside where it picks up to the gas tank vent, the highest point vents through a filter to atmosphere..


First time laying down carpet like this, here we go




Spray adhesive 90 was on back order, so used 3M super trim adhesive.

Genuine


Stoked! My mustang speaker grill turned out well for the SUB punch though


April TBC

[moatilliatta]

Hasn't left the shop, but moved on its own power, has solid brake pedal. Hope to get some miles next week. Leak rear window, in sync to finish interior. More to follow, just this for now.

[moatilliatta]

Good updates and progress. I went from a 19mm to a 16mm to no rear bar, and much prefer no rear bar. It's setup dependent, of course.

Thanks!

What front bar do you run? Whats the M20 putting down?

I am hoping the 30MM front bar negates removing rear bar. I considered no rear bar, persuaded on less work... But now was the time to fit it...

If it feels right, I always like having the option to disconnect the rear bar for rain.

[Digitalwave]

Good updates and progress. I went from a 19mm to a 16mm to no rear bar, and much prefer no rear bar. It's setup dependent, of course.

[moatilliatta]

Zakspeed Bimmerlife Spring / Summer 2021

https://bimmerlife.com/publications/2021-spring-summer-ncr/

Cheers!

[moatilliatta]

[moatilliatta]

Thank you for continuing to update this thread in such detail!
it’s such a bummer that threads like this are few and far between! This e30 is so bonkers in every right way and cannot wait to see new progress... especially excited to see interior updates!

Are you doing AER in the same e30 again this year? (Apologies if I missed it somewhere)

Welcome, I enjoy it and it helps motivate. More hours I put into it, the more I start believe that it is bonkers.

Hopefully interior stage 1.5 will be done within the month. Seat delete carpet ordered and seats are 50% done or so by Nine stich.

I am spent.. I think I'm just starting to recoup my energy. And the tow rig had some major repairs last year... This weekend starts the AER season also, a bit sad..

We're looking at a tarmac rallye in south Kentucky later this year.. I really want to get this car reliable and driving, and focus on work this year. Get some miles away.

[moatilliatta]

Man I really felt this. I've had to pull more of those exact same damn bristles out of my skin than I care to remember. There are certain pairs of my shop pants and shoes that I put on only to find a sharp little "surprise" still embedded in them when I put them on.

Also, reading through all of last season's races (and wins) makes me really appreciate the dedication, time, and money that goes into racing, let alone having to actually drive the car at a high level. Having replaced several sets of wheel bearings on my E30 and E46 in the last year or two, I couldn't imagine having to replace them and other similarly "difficult" to replace items so frequently. Kudos to you, and congrats on the championship!

Id be a sucker if this was all or one project, but somehow they all end up in the remains same pile.. But yes. I fell this too even looking back at this photo.

Thanks! And were running such a basic car. I couldn't imagine something more complex with the small team we had to support from. Luckily everything was fresh and I've done the mechanical side a few times on other cars throughout the years. :)

When I get a chance Ill post up the article from the resent Bimmerlife which has more grit about the season.

[moatilliatta]

March 2021
Cont

We did begin building some Rtabs.. with bearings.. But time pushed that project aside. Stim tech came out with a setup, always good to support products like this in hopes that they grow... And hopes that they'll work for a while!


All the alignment adjuster were marked before disassembly and put back into their locations. These will be harder to adj with the Posi-Lock since they are "Floating" and not held to an "Axis" with an eccentric... But I hope once they are set and with the additional rigidity, not much adjustments should be needed.




Coming together. With more precise rigid components it really puts into perspective of the attention of fitment. WOW looking good!


Longer grade 9 1/2 bolts trimmed down to get more "shoulder" length. the threads end about 1/8 to the nut, hope to rule out flex or sheer points.


I am excited about an Ebrake!


Getting everything together was a little tougher than normal.


After a few week wait I finally get my Nardi personal hub adapter... Wasn't what I expected... The search for a collapsible unit with the rubber boot in in search... Found and ordered from crowder's customizing... 4 week weight. This unit also is quite heavy...
I modified the MOMO hub I have and the signal cancel has always been out of sync by 45 deg..




So... I didn't mean to go this far... But I had the wrong pads setting around to get things going.. Ordered new pads and the calipers wouldn't re-track all the way. I always questioned if I should go ahead and rebuild. So no more questions. Stainless Pistons from Bimmerworld, I think made by centric.. and brass guide pins setup.




PFC 08 and Euro E36M zimmerman floating rotors, 12.5mm spacer to bring my front track width wider by 1mm~~








PFC 332 Rear pads zimmerman standard E36M Rotors






Front Swaybar Mounting welded up and primed in spraymax 2k primmer - STOKED




Rear also wire wheeled, Primed.




A frame is made to hold the seat delete bottom, It will be in 2 panels for fuel pump serviceability..


A cool speaker cover I found for the center of the back seat delete. For some mustang, should fit in quite well


And finally, my Motorsports flashed / tuned/ Firmware MK60 unit has arrived. This took a bit as I had to calculate parameters for track widths, and vehicle weight. Tough to do on an uncompleted project.

[Joeyz31]

Thank you for continuing to update this thread in such detail!
it’s such a bummer that threads like this are few and far between! This e30 is so bonkers in every right way and cannot wait to see new progress... especially excited to see interior updates!

Are you doing AER in the same e30 again this year? (Apologies if I missed it somewhere)

[moatilliatta]

March 2021
PROGRESS?

YES.

Haven't crashed yet and photobucket is so tedious, Just loads photos that'll think it'll load... But good progress!

Snagged a slick top roof for a future mold for a carbon fiber roof, Lower on the bucket list right now, Just had a great opportunity to get one.


Teaser, Custom horn button!


Devil is in the details, which way is houndstooth sposed to flow?


I didn't expect to go to The Vintage 2021 with sway bars on the car, But to get the Trailing arms powder coated finding the pickup points was a must. Fitting up the Rear 16MM bar. Was on the edge of considering running no bar, So though Id start of with the smallest.


Took some time sorting locations, making sure everything would work together, Didn't go just with a zip.




This is Ireland Engineering's 16MM bar. Trimmed down AKG rear swaybar links so I can adjust the turnbuckle with out unbolting them. Mounted them with a strait though bolt and not with a bracket One annoying detail is the legs of their sway bar are different lengths, I found this out on the spec E30 we run and was annoyingly remembered after fitting the longer side.... Still much better sway bar link angles than stock...

I took their billet mounts and made them for my use


A lot of Power Coating colors are just RAL colors, It took me a while to find what I originally used. Original RAL colors were in German, cool little fact as it was a German coding system.


While things were at the coaters I was able to catch up on the front end. I did go with the Dorman E30M control arms. I fell confident, and they will be replaced with something else I assume before the have enough service to Time Out. They look like quality forged units with the same amount of articulation as the Genuine 96+ units I comaired them too.








New Bearings, I hate adding weight... I wonder if new Genuine ones look like originals. I do know these need machined down if I ever use PFC rotors..


Brake Duct backing plates


Wow Even a front bar!?!?!?! The S54 pan pushed me to a better solution than just the 2 tabs hanging off the Arc Acylium set up. They were beefy, but now were direct into the chassis. After tinkering with parts I found the E46 bar fits pretty well! so I grabbed a Hotchkis bar and it was great match. 30MM hollow front bar. If needed GC makes a bigger bar and much more smaller ones available.


Getting the seat delete frame into position and welded in


This was the point I was hoping to be heading towards 2 years ago at Vintage.. Tada!




Figuring out seat delete colors. I've been so monotone that takes some time. Hard calls,


We have a rear seat delete panel, I used 6MM alumilite panels. Lightweight, Strong, and should deaden sound quite well.


How you want people to think you work and how you really want to.


How your actually work.... not all the time


This diff is not going back in without some studs! Machined up some spacers


Cut down some MSI wheels studs


Always proper loctite and torque


Coming together!


E46 M3 rear subframe nuts, Super nice locking Flange nuts



TBC

[Albie325]

Noted in another rust repair thread, Made me think of these as i was cleaning up.. Hmm I wonder where all the bristles went....

Man I really felt this. I've had to pull more of those exact same damn bristles out of my skin than I care to remember. There are certain pairs of my shop pants and shoes that I put on only to find a sharp little "surprise" still embedded in them when I put them on.

Also, reading through all of last season's races (and wins) makes me really appreciate the dedication, time, and money that goes into racing, let alone having to actually drive the car at a high level. Having replaced several sets of wheel bearings on my E30 and E46 in the last year or two, I couldn't imagine having to replace them and other similarly "difficult" to replace items so frequently. Kudos to you, and congrats on the championship!