My first project car "Ellie"

[Slybeanx]

What mounts did you get? I’d recommend picking up a set of Good N Tite mounts and asking him to make the passenger side mount for header clearance.

Most m30 headers don’t fit in an e30 due to the angle of the dangle. Ive heard the ones that require the least modification are the BavAuto m30 headers which aren’t sold anymore. Both the IE’s and the Schmiedmann’s require modification. If you had the engine mounts I mentioned above, you’ll be better off but not out of the clear.

Garagistics m30 mounts are whack in various ways, and the website claims they work with the IE headers but I’ve never actually heard of that working out. Perhaps someone can correct me on that.

As far as mods go: do a nice cam (not regrind), headers Injectors, tune. IE makes two nice billet m30 cams that are spec’d pretty well and are affordable.

If you’re feeling adventurous, go Megasquirt and ditch the AFM.

I'm currently at school right now about 800 miles from the engine so I had my dad and uncle snag it (thankfully they both know what they are doing). But I'm really only able to go off pics at this point. Im going to megasquirt my M20 while building up the M30, and to learn how to tune etc. Might turbo the M20 first then swap it to the M30 later. Idk what direction im going turbo wise yet, but the M30 is going in eventually.

Right now I'm waiting to get back so I can redo my seats with the Lseat leather i bought and then buy some tires for the wheels that have been sitting in the basement since like June.I

[Slybeanx]

Anyone have recommendations for What diff to use? I have the 4.10 rn and looking to add 15” wheels and 225/50/15 tires. I want something that’ll be okay for the M20 when I manual swap it this winter and would also be okay for the M30 when I get that bad boi all figured out. I’ve been told 3.46 is a good ratio?

[Slybeanx]

Well my dad today sent me a pic of him buying pop out windows and a functioning 3.73 diff... So I guess thats what im going with for now haha

[Slybeanx]

Manual swap is done!

Thanks to bimmerbudies in PA for doing the swap. I ran out of time before heading back to school and didnt want to wait another couple months to get the feel of slapping gears again. Absolutely terrified my GF on teh ride back having to relearn manual (it had been 6 years since I drove my audi TT in HS.) the stock headlights are abysmal for night driving in the PA backroads idk how people can stand it. I was damn near blind. Need to upgrade the headlights asap.

[Slybeanx]

finally got my seats done. They are okay for what the price is and Im happy to have complete seats again. '

[jeenyus]

this is a great project! awesome that you and your dad are doing this together.

[LateFan]

Seat looks good! Did you buy a skin kit and do it yourself, or an upholstery shop?

[Slybeanx]

this is a great project! awesome that you and your dad are doing this together.

Thanks! It mostly consists of me getting in over my head and either the community, my cousin or my dad getting me out. But it is all fun to learn about.

[Slybeanx]

Seat looks good! Did you buy a skin kit and do it yourself, or an upholstery shop?

I bought the Lseat kit and then had a local guy do it for me. Took him about a week and a half so I assume it wasn't the easiest haha

Heres a link with it all isntalled https://imgur.com/a/8LPypLO

[LateFan]

Thanks! It mostly consists of me getting in over my head....

Well that's what I do!

[Slybeanx]

Has anyone used these mounts? I've seen no reviews for them, but they are cheaper than the other 300$ option..... https://e30goodies.com/product/m30-engine-mounts-e30/

Trying to get my E30 back on the road soon and start prepping parts for m30 swap. Going to order motor arms soon.

Edit: Bought them lets see how they look!

[Slybeanx]

Dad did some work over the past weeek, all new hubs, rotors, rebuilt calipers etc.

I was considering having the calipers painted red to go with the red theme of the car but decided my car aint a sports can and doesn't need flashy calipers. Going to be taking the carpet out and do some rust repair on the car. I know there is some near the circle parts under the body (idk what to call them). They have some rust on the outside showing through the original coating.

Also this happened.... https://imgur.com/a/g5hGPkJ?s=sms

I know I've asked a few questions and dont get many responses but I'll hope maybe someone more experience will be able to chime in.
In the next week im going to be heading home for spring break and will try to get 40-50 hours in with work on the car and maybe even do a little youtube video or two on the work. My question is if I'm pulling the carpet to do rust repair, swapping in the MS unit from whodwho finally, adding E36 tps/ deleting AFM, is there anything I should do while I'm in there? For MS I havnt read anything that seems super common or important, just looking to get it installed and tuned on a base map and start on learning how to do that.

And with removing the carpet I figure ill start upgrading/ refreshing the cars audio system. I've totally messed up my head unit wiring and actually just had to cap the wires and leave it a mess as I was so confused what some of the wires were. Figure I might add some sound deadening to the center of the car under the carpet to help reduce trans noise from the poly bushings. The car is too loud for most people and its actually hard to have a conversation without yelling.

Copped some kicker 5 1/4 speakers for the back.

Parts ive bought and yet to install - Wind splitters/ driver fender (needs paint)/ MegaSquirt/ E36 TPS/ Ebay latvian special Side skirts/ speakers

[jeenyus]

Has anyone used these mounts? I've seen no reviews for them, but they are cheaper than the other 300$ option..... https://e30goodies.com/product/m30-engine-mounts-e30/

Trying to get my E30 back on the road soon and start prepping parts for m30 swap. Going to order motor arms soon.

Edit: Bought them lets see how they look!

https://www.garagistic.com/products/e30-m30-mounts

Well these are made in the USA... also in Merica money, plus cheaper.

[Slybeanx]

TIL I can just copy and paste images into the text body and it works just fine. LMK if the images are massive (they are literally 18x the size when I go to edit but look fine when I save and just view it.

Also M30 finally came home and I sprayed my taillights. I dislike red lights, might be too uneven and dark for me, but I like it more than stock. visibility at night is not effected at all when braking etc

https://imgur.com/a/7BOPcM0

Video of me hooning around w no hood when I was trying to figure out why my car didnt run right

[Slybeanx]

Had some fun with the wiring and putting In a new radio plus updating the speakers with kickers and some alpine in the back. Love figuring out wiring harness etc it’s a real blast....

Also took apart my M30 a bit, so far everything has looked fantastic on the Inside and absolutely horrible on the outside. It’s coated in like dirt etc. also found a weird plate between my motor arms and the engine that looks like someone was making a home made swap.

finally I started swapping my ECU with a whodwho PNP. As you can see I enjoy starting 3 projects and swapping between them throughout the day. I forgot to buy a GM IAT kit tho so I need to figure that whole thing out. Everything else is going smoothly, tomorrow should be finishing up the speakers and wiring. Might be able to finish most of the PNP, but I don’t understand what some of the plugs for it are, I know the MAP sensor is one, and the tuning port is another, but that leaves two ports....