Where there was one, now there are two.... a M42 318i for the boy

[Jordan]

I suppose it is entirely possible there are different stampings of E30 front subframes, I think it is faaaaaaar more likely that the aftermarket is coming up short. I have a generally low opinion of IE products as a whole, but that not withstanding no modifications needed to be made to my Garagistic kit to fit my own car. The inner plate fit inside the recess and welded down immediately, and the outer plate tacked in the corners and then tapped into final shape with a ball peen hammer for finish welding, all as expected. I had to spend near 30 minutes modifying the inner plates to fit inside the subframe recess stamping, and the outer plates I had to bridge a fatty gap with the welder resulting in not so pleasing stacked birdshit I then had to drag a puddle over to neaten up.

This evenings project was pleasent indoor air conditioned home work....

I bought the rekeying kit from the dealer so I could make the drivers door lock cylinder match the rest of the car.... the car came with two keys, one for the drivers door, and one for everything else. I feel safe in assuming the drivers door was the odd man out, so I'm rekeying the cylinder to match the key which I am assuming is the original so I can discard the additional key.



It took about 15 minutes with it laid out through trial and error to mix and match the wafers until I had a properly adjusted and functional cylinder with the key inserted. Topped off with a snazzy Bilstein keychain I snagged from the Bilstein booth at the WorldPac tradeshow last year.

[kronus]

I've struggled to fit both into various subframes I've done. My suspicion is the motor mount ears are either not precisely formed or not precisely located on subframes from the factory, leading to different level of fitment for these kits.

[E30SPDFRK]

The 325i subframe got a quick blasting in the cabinet to prepare it for reinforcements. I went with Ireland Engineering's plate kit this time around (I've always used Garagistic before and man do I regret it. The IE kit fits like hammered dog shit, and it needed to be trimmed and modified considerably to make work. The Garagistic kit just fits and welds in no fuss and no wasted 30 minutes of my life. Highly recommend against the IE reinforcement kit.

This has to be written backwards; the Garagistic subframe reinforcement kit is laughably far off from fitting.

[Jordan]

That tool looks fantastic! Seems like it would cut the time down by a lot to handle the bushings, wow

Indeed, I think it ended up taking me about an hour to do both bushings. I was blessed by the E30 gods and both bushings fell away from the body under their own weight, no issues with the aluminum stem being welded to the body cavity.

[2mAn]

I was able to lower the subframe one side at a time and use the shops E9x subframe bushing tool to pull the bushings out of the E30 subframe.




.

That tool looks fantastic! Seems like it would cut the time down by a lot to handle the bushings, wow

[jeenyus]

oh that looks salvageable.

[Jordan]

Went back to the shop today to iron out a few more small details.

Was able to get the turn signals working, found fuse 4 was blown, replaced it and bam.... I'll take it.

Right rear door lock actuator is another story. I powered it directly out of circuit and it didn't do anything so I went ahead and pulled it out. I could see reddish brown discoloration through the case which told me water got in it and rusted out the motor. I went ahead and sliced open the case halves to confirm.




So then.. I need a right rear door lock actuator PN 51261385116 to get this door back together and functional.

[Jordan]

Alright the weekend is here so that means another day of progress on this E30.

First matter on the agenda was swapping in a pair of new Genuine BMW engine mounts, because I suspected the aftermarket MTC brand mounts were what caused the sudden onset of unbearable vibration. I was correct, and with the Genuine mounts you can hardly tell the engine is running at all... So PSA, DO NOT BUY MTC M42 engine mounts, they are garbage and its not worth the small cost savings. If you like how solid/Delrin mounts feel the MTC mounts are for you....


MTC LEFT, Genuine RIGHT





Next item was to replace all 3 accessory drive belts, and the P/S pump adjuster bracket which someone previous had thoroughly stripped.



After than I jumped on the rear subframe bushings which are originals dated 1991, with 193k on them yeah as expected they were beyond wasted.



I was able to lower the subframe one side at a time and use the shops E9x subframe bushing tool to pull the bushings out of the E30 subframe.




Reinstallation was a cinch, I coated the subframe bore and the bushing with foaming glass cleaner and drove them home with 2 whacks of a deadblow.

Last task for the day was to figure out where the wiring short was that insta-smoked Fuse23 killing the lighting on the right side of the car. Didn't take too long to discover the right front turn signal bulb was missing, and the ground contact was inexplicably bent over bridging both the park and turn contacts. I bent it back, installed a bulb... and all is happy. Sort of...




All lights are now working, the hazards flashed, but I have NO turn signals. No clicking relay when the signal lever is kicked to either direction, nor do any of the four bulbs light as they should.... I wonder if this short murdered the turn signal relay? I task for another day regardless.

[dmanb2b]

I would try to get that returned asap. Word on street is that OnlineAutoParts.com, LLC (AKA eeuroparts.com) filed for bankruptcy within past few days

[Jordan]

I didn't know there were other options aside from OEM mounts for the e30 m42. I know the e36 m42 mounts will fit with the locator pin filed down, but are there aftermarket engine mount options for the e30 m42?

Yes, WorldPac has MTC brand mounts. They looked identical so I ordered them. Out of the bag they looked and felt fine so I tossed them in. Holy hell, I mean 100% serious it feels like the engine is mounted with solid Delrin rather than factory style rubber.

I have 2x Genuine BMW mounts in my parts storage at the house for my own 318iS so I am going to swap those in. It is a pain in the dick though, and the only thing I hate more than working for free is doing it twice. I'll have to make his mother make it up to me :rofl

Here is the MTC mount at an online retailer: https://www.eeuroparts.com/Parts/166...ne-Mount-1055/

[mike.bmw]

I didn't know there were other options aside from OEM mounts for the e30 m42. I know the e36 m42 mounts will fit with the locator pin filed down, but are there aftermarket engine mount options for the e30 m42?

[Jordan]

Has anyone installed the MTC engine mounts on a M42 318i before? Hold hell this thing is a buzz bomb now, the whole car resonates at idle and blipping the throttle is intense vibrations... it wasn't in the least like this with the prior sagged ass factory mounts.

[Jordan]

I made the mistake of not using low temp solder on the thermal fuse and it fried the entire central locking system on the car....as in every cam lock. i trust you're smarter than I was :)

Nope, used whatever solder I had laying around. Used as little as possible to make it stick. Minimal cares exist beyond that point. Door locks work, that is all I'm concerned with.

Pulled the rotten 28 year old muffler off, and installed the Stromung exhaust that I bought like two years ago in a group buy for my own 318iS but then decided against using it once I saw it in person.





Fit is OK, finish is OK... that tip though, looks awful on the ground.

Car is much quieter now with a functional muffler. Sounds OK just free revving, haven't driven it though.

[jeffnhiscars]

I made the mistake of not using low temp solder on the thermal fuse and it fried the entire central locking system on the car....as in every cam lock. i trust you're smarter than I was :)

[Jordan]

This is awesome...keep up the good work. Try not to steal the muffler :>)

I'm afraid its rotten, through and through.




Today was chock full of progress. First task of the morning was to replace the broken throttle cable, being this car is going together with a new driver in mind the potential for a hanging throttle can't be overlooked. Also went ahead and replaced all of the linkage pivot bushings and rubber grommets in the foot well so the throttle linkage feels buttery smooth.



Moving on the front suspension and steering rack were the big ones on todays list. The front control arms and tie rods all had play in each ball joint, the tie rods had been replaced before with some off brand (no markings) but the control arms were originals.

Balljoints just wasted.


With the engine bridge in place I lowered the subframe down as a unit, phew looks at those gaping holes where the engine mounts are supposed to fasten down!




While this is technically repairable I picked up a replacement subframe from a 325i that isn't torn or cracked to work with instead.

While the front suspension is down and out of the way I dropped the lower oil pan to inspect for loose bolts from the upper oil pan, and found two rolling around in the pan, with the remaining bolts loose. I removed them all, thoroughly cleaned with brake clean and reinstalled with loctite before cleaning and replacing the oil pan with a new gasket.



Here is my brand-used steering rack I picked up to replace the leaker that was on the car. This unit was clearly reman not too long before the parts car it was removed from met its maker. New Lemforder tierods installed.




Rack hanging, ready for the subframe to be installed.



New engine mounts as the old ones were quite sagged.



The 325i subframe got a quick blasting in the cabinet to prepare it for reinforcements. I went with Ireland Engineering's plate kit this time around (I've always used Garagistic before and man do I regret it. The IE kit fits like hammered dog shit, and it needed to be trimmed and modified considerably to make work. The Garagistic kit just fits and welds in no fuss and no wasted 30 minutes of my life. Highly recommend against the IE reinforcement kit.



Subframe back up in the car with new Lemforder control arms, bushings and sway bar links hung in place.




The bottlecaps on this car were chromed at one point, technically they still are, but the chrome has metal aids and is failing reaallllly reallllllyyyy bad.




I got to looking around for something to replace them with and a friend offering up some XXR 501's for free if I came and got them, well that's an easy decision!



Will order tires next week for the wheels and get them on the car.