Hank's e30 #6 - lightweight 24 valve

[ahrensNW]

Mostly getting this started to help myself document the progress I make on the pile I'm starting with. Instead of studying for a field ornithology final tomorrow, I'm going to write on this a bit.

I pulled this car out from underneath a Doug fir tree in BFE, Kitsap County WA. It seems to be the product of a nasty divorce, seeing as it was the ex wife selling it. Anyhow, a lowball offer took this car home, and at this point I dont have anything into it, really.

1984 325e, Alpine White.

Back at my house


Planning an m52 swap utilizing;
Resealed m52b28
Obd1 harness
CCV and maybe ICV delete w/ catch an
Red label ecu
Kamotors intake
Revshift mounts
G260
Billet trans brace
2.97 lsd :(
M52 exhaust with SAP delete plates
M50 intake, fuel rail
Pink top injectors
Wilwood pedal box and remote resevoirs

Interior will be mostly stripped;
Condor door cards w/ pulls
Renown 130r motorsport
Garagistic chassis mount shifter (when it comes)
Zero sound deadening
OEM radio delete panel
Repositioned window switches?
Currently a recaro sr for a driver seat, but its janky af

Body, going for something very simple, currently hoping for;
Euro bumpers
Alpina front valance
Kooglewerks rear ductail (have it)
Sunroof delete
(CF hood and trunk lid in the future)
Address rust in the trunk and tail panel below the trunk seal

I have a mass of parts collected for this car not limited to;
Raceskids skid plate
Condor solid control arm mounts
Odyssey PC680
Garagistic;
Spare tire well delete
Brake lines
Brass brake guides with new pins
DSSR
Pedal Box
Antenna delete plug
Chassis mounted shifter
Front and rear strut bar
Reinforcements all around
16x8.5 et15 MTechnicas

More pics will come when I buy a new laptop! I'll be expanding on this thread pretty quick.

Here's my other hoopties

Recently sold; 91 318is

And my broke ass 4runner

[ahrensNW]

[Poorhouse]

Nice plan, looking forward to seeing this come together.

[haaken675]

Looks a lot like my build. Good luck! Mince has taken me infinitely longer then expected.

[TFJR]

Big plans! Looking forward to seeing it come to life

[ArtFoodBMW]

:early:

[ahrensNW]

^ thanks guys

Today I talked myself with taking out the dash. Long story short, it's still in there.

Apparently, it's the worlds biggest bitch to take the steering wheel off without a key. The lock cylinder was seized to bad that I snapped the key off. Broke out the HF drill and went balls deep into the lock with a 3/8" bit.

It made a mess, but the steering wheels off at least. I still need to clean up the dust but at least I can take the dash out.

For the sake of simplicity, I'm going to remove the HVAC. I'm thinking of wiring a small 3" blower motor in, and maybe picking up a defroster from Hard Motorsport. I need to replace the front windshield anyway, might as well.

[ahrensNW]

So apparently its near impossible to remove the steering wheel or the ignition tumbler without a key, so stupid. I researched it for a bit and couldnt fint a better option, so I utilized brute force.





I can't wait until all the jankiness of this car is gone. The whole point is to just simplify as much as I can. All I want is a motor in a shell that I can toss around.

My riv nut tool is supposed to get here today, along with the stainless m5 pan head screws i got to mount up the condor door cards I have. Still have to wait until monday to receive the actual alu riv nuts :/

[ahrensNW]

HVAC, Cont.

Wrestled the rest of the crap out from beneath the dash.

It seems like a packrat decided to make the blower motor a home during it's brief stint in Eastern WA.

More pulling and prodding got me to this point.


The four bolts holding the blower motor in are pretty easy to get to without an engine in the way, but man it was tough to get them to clear the firewall.

With enough effort, I managed to kinda just rip it all out at once. I'm trying to decide my plan of attack for thinning out the body harness. The only thing I'm concerned about keeping is the cluster functioning how it should. I'm curious to see how much weight I'm actually removing. It's satisfying to finally get access to all of the tar.

[Nader393]

Does the Porsche have sport seats?

[ahrensNW]

Does the Porsche have sport seats?

Sure does. I yanked them out though, I have a set of BF Torinos in corduroy and leather I'm throwing in.

[Nader393]

Uh, I'm hoping you know the value of Porsche's optional and highly desirable sports seats, and that you're swapping them out to preserve them.

Back in '03, I sold a set of Porsche Fuchs wheels in 6&7x16, for about $300 at a swap meet. That was the going rate back then and I had them stacked up in the corner of a small apartment at the time. I needed the space, and less baggage in my life. Little did I know that less than a year later, I'd buy a house with plenty of space to store that kind of future treasure. Nowadays, those same wheels are easily worth over $1500. I still kick myself over that.

Another anecdote:

I have a college buddy who bought a really nice red '81 Porsche 911SC pretty soon out of college. This was back in the early '90's, when they were $12K cars. He kept it in storage, owned it for only a year or so, then sold it. Felt like it was out of his league. He has a habit of high vehicle turnovers. That is the only one of about 20 cars since then that he's ever regretted selling.

But this is a thread about your e30. I like the idea of a lightweight hotrod e30. Lots of people, it seems, keep the body stock and add lots of horsepower with turbos and engine swaps. I'd like to see one stripped out but still trimmed without jagged edges, and lots of fiberglass or carbon. And Lexan, can't forget the Lexan.

[ahrensNW]

Maybe they aren't sports seats. After a couple.minutes of digging it seems like theres quite a few variations. I really don't understand the Porsche market. All the parts are marked up ridiculously when compared to e30s. The aftermarket it just dumb, although it's pretty cool what kind of parts you can snag for them. My Rennline cart is at like 1800 right now lmao.

I stripped out some more wiring today, it's really starting to seem a bit simpler.

Is it necessary to keep the black OBC box that sits behind the cluster?
I've already taken the obc out. Also managed to pull out all the cruise control stuff.

I can't wait to see how light weight I can get it , just running with a single seat and the m52. I bet it'll be under 2400.

[AWDBOB]

I am excited to follow this build! It's going to be almost exactly what I had originally planned for the red iS. Do you need a vanos tool? I have one I never used. Pay for the ride and she's yours.

[Nader393]

Does the Porsche have sport seats?

Sure does. I yanked them out though, I have a set of BF Torinos in corduroy and leather I'm throwing in.

Uh, I'm hoping you know the value of Porsche's optional and highly desirable sports seats, and that you're swapping them out to preserve them...

Maybe they aren't sports seats...

Hank, you crack me up!