Ryan's Hennarot 318is (s54, slicktop conversion, MT2)

[rjmcdermott81]

I'm about 2 years into this project and now that it looks like I might actually have success I'm going to try to get the build posted up.


I'm in the middle of painting the car myself and it's turning out better than I could have ever expected so it looks like I may be driving this around soon. Thanks to Tony and learnautobodyandpaint.com.


The plan which evolved over time includes the following, which I'm 95% complete on at this time:

• s54 swap with 6 speed
• GC coilovers
• UUC BBK
• OEM M-tech 2 kit
• A/C
• Power brakes
• Power steering
• z3 rack
• Complete sunroof delete and slicktop conversion - not just a blank plate, I'm going for a smooth OEM looking roof.
• Color change repaint done by myself in hennarot (this is my first car to paint)

Here she is on craigslist in Houston. I note now that the car was wet in the pictures... that made it look 10x better than reality.













After some texting back and forth with the owner he mentioned some tiny bubbles forming on the roof. He texted me the picture below. I, like him, thought it was probably not a big deal.

If you ever see this on a car for sale RUN!!! Those "little" rust bubbles are just the tip of the iceberg eating your roof from the inside out.

[rjmcdermott81]

Here it is at home. You can see it has some bumps and bruises and the clearcoat is peeling all over. And it's just downright filthy from sitting for a couple years in a driveway.


First order of business, sell those hideous Mille Miglia wheels. I think I ended up giving them away on clist after months of trying to sell them...

[rjmcdermott81]

Engine pull day.

Big help from my buddy Ben on that day.

[rjmcdermott81]

s54/trans arrive from NJ! But wait....why are there holes all over it!?

[rjmcdermott81]

Maybe I didn't think this through 100%. At this time we lived in a house without a garage so I stored the engine under a tarp with dessicant in the intake/exhaust and everything sealed up.

[rjmcdermott81]

Tranny off, engine on a stand

[rjmcdermott81]

New house with a garage. Well, 1.5 car garage, 1/4 of it is my office. This allowed me to get a little more ambitious about the project.

[rjmcdermott81]

Taking the front-end apart to send the subframe and oil pan to Arc Asylum (Tyler)

[rjmcdermott81]

Rod bearing day! Thanks to Ken for helping me out. Much more straightforward than expected with the engine upside down.

In position


Oil pump/pickup removed


Worn bearings removed

[rjmcdermott81]

I scored a mint dash while down in Houston.

[rjmcdermott81]

I'm using an e46m3 wiring harness so getting it to reach is really hard. As others have documented I flipped the wiring here to make it work:

Before:


After:

[rjmcdermott81]

I scored a z3 steering rack and modified the firewall to accommodate:

[rjmcdermott81]

Engine install day! I had tons of help.




There she is installed with Andrew's wiring harness adapter in the box on the windshield

[rjmcdermott81]

Working out a custom oil cooler install

[rzerob]

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