My Hoopte30 Project Attempt #6 - the painless way to earn cash back every day

[AWDBOB]

I mean it looks close enough in the pic that I didn't even question it lol

This makes me happy. The armrest is rather flaccid, so I think once I add some velcro and figure out a center mount rear seatbelt receptacle mounting location I will achieve the bliss I'm after

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I've been laying low in hoopty land, but the behind the scenes escapades have been on brand.

I'm still mainly pretending OG hooptie doesn't exist because the exhaust hits everything and is way too loud. I aborted mission standalone and bought a MarkD chip for it along side some fresh 19.9lb @3bar rebuilt injectors from a volvo. Turns out Mark had a custom tune he made for a 10:1 hartge 2.7, close enough for me. Oddly enough, I found a 2.7 super eta squid chip for sale a couple days later at a nice price and secured that as well.

While pretending I don't own the car, however, the winter e30 daily itch re-inflamed. I still have the '87 325i sedan from the last couple pages, but it needed too much to get me stoked on fixing it.

Thankfully FB marketplace solved that problem, and revealed to me that an acquaintance a state over was downsizing his shop and selling off his shitboxes. An orange rust free early '85 coupe, which I'm a real sucker for, was on the chopping block, so I made the arrangements and it appeared before me, in all its glory.

The car was a supposed rust free, rough interior, mostly redone mechanically, m20b25 swapped, just needed some final engine stuff finished off before it would run/drive type of buy.

I apparently didn't learn from texas holdem and had the car delivered, and needless to say, the car is a pile.

I'm looking at it once it shows up. EVERYthing is spray painted. Under side of hood. Dash. Floor. Full exterior was treated to a glass out spray bomb. "bilsteins" are leaky Monroes. Whole arm fits thru rust hole in passenger rear wheel well. Drivers door ratchet strapped closed because door mech failed. Sadness. (Edit: I'd like to note here that I do not associate any fault with the seller. I had the car delivered, so it is my responsibility. Most of the description was passed on from the PO before him, so there were quite a few unknowns that weren't uncovered until I started poking around, unlike texas holdem, which was grossly misdescribed/untruthful, maybe we'll say, optimistic). Moving on.

Reality starts to set in. Start looking for silver lining. None found. Panic follows.

Turned to google sheets to neutralize the noise, and it informed me that I can make my money back with low sale price expectations.

All the sudden that '87 sedan wasn't looking so bad with a rolling parts pile parked behind it, so I got to work.

Hit the brake pedal in the '87 and the rear lines exploded everywhere. Lines so rusted I couldn't even get the fittings off above the gas tank because they went from 11mm to half 4mm and half 7.3mm wrench size. So I did the ole rust belt trick, and cut the rust off, flared the factory steel line (super fun on the car), bought a new ATE brake T, followed by a caliper side soft line to the hard drivers trailing arm line (which I also had to replace), and 10.5" of parts store NickelCopper hard line to the passenger side trailing arm line (which I also had to replace). Good enough for who its for


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ugh






'87 sedan got the calipers/rotors/pads from the rotten orange. First round of lowering springs was a set of iX H&Rs. Found out the fronts are OE sports (50404.55), and the rears are slightly shorter iX springs with more spring rate. Around this time, a wire wheel plus mastercoat prolonged my spring perches and trailing arms, and I threw on some fresh rear endlinks. B8s on the rear.

Taxihoopty didn't like the rear iX springs, so I swapped on spray painted assumed normal H&R sports from the ole HIV30 with some iX spring pads I had handy. Still tall, but I'll play with spring pads later.

iX H&R after bouncing on the bumper for a while

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Some other H&R w/ iX thick lower spring pad

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Front OE sport/ iX H&R Crossover discovery. Installed them with KYBs up front with some genuine USMs off of my buddies perfect 37k mile MT2 car. I had a 60k mile front sway/links/bush setup from the zionsville haul that I tossed on out of laziness around this time. Also installed new control arms with E36 centered rubber CABs.

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In taking this picture I noticed several new leaks I'll have to get acquainted with. Also, the new control arms don't match. Tie rods had no play so they'll stay for now.

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In all its glory (still at the old shop, landlord decided not to sell the building, so even though I have nothing over there, I'll keep my lift there until it's time to go)

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Test fit some Equip 03 reps before I listed them on marketplace

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And we'll finish it out with a local $250 sport seat score! '87 4dr has torn black leather comforts in it, so these were a half point buzzer shot

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M3 is still in PA awaiting some sunroof headliner repair before it comes out so I saw the opportunity to fully default in the meantime.


That's all for now, folks.

[Northern]

hahaha sorry my satire apparently didn't come through. The armrest was added by someone with sub par execution, aka the perfect M3 seat to appropriately match hoopties shitbox charm!

I mean it looks close enough in the pic that I didn't even question it lol

[AWDBOB]

did I just not know that they made skipass versions of M3 rear seats? I've never seen one before

hahaha sorry my satire apparently didn't come through. The armrest was added by someone with sub par execution, aka the perfect M3 seat to appropriately match hoopties shitbox charm!

[Northern]

did I just not know that they made skipass versions of M3 rear seats? I've never seen one before

[AWDBOB]

I'm in for m30 e30m. It would take some suspension tuning, but I expect it'll be the setup that you've been looking for.

Some day I'll live out my big 6 single cam dreams!


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I spent '24 mostly ignoring Hooptie after having the header built. I am hoping to start '25 off on the right foot, so I tried to tie up some loose ends tonight.

I bought new quarter window seals but the headliner started to disintegrate upon removal of the old seals, so they stayed in.

I bought that mini sub that goes behind the drivers rear door card and ran an RCA for it, but realized that the class d inside of my new head unit won't run the sub and thus I'll need an additional monoblock to run it in addition to it's own speaker lead. Ordered an NVC VADM1 compact amp that I can hopefully fit where the airbag module sits on 90+ cars to avoid pulling the interior apart again.


While visiting family over Christmas I retrieved the rear M3 seat I bought for hooptie. I need to figure out a center belt receptacle solution since the buckle clips are centered, but until then I can flex on internet people with my rear center arm rest.

I had seat assembly on my mind, so I finally pulled apart hoopties driver seat to replace the side hinges for a set with good tabs. So glad this is fixed.

The pop out latches exploded recently so I bought the billet latch repair kit. I exploded all of my 1/8" allen sockets trying to flare the pins, got some freshies today and added some grease on the pins and got them flared without casualty.

It's hilarious that hoopty has a billet door handle and billet pop out latches.

Things I still need to do for optimal hooptying:

-Convert to Jake's standalone
-A/B dyno with the header vs stock exhaust
-Redo the exhaust so it sits under the factory heat shields for more ground clearance
-Figure out why the fancy r134 A/C system stopped working last year
-Install updated curved blade aux fan and wire on high speed

I honestly wish I just had a stock motor and exhaust in the car at this point as I just want to drive it without the extra complications of the current setup, but alas.

Happy new year r3v!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
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Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

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[KI4UJO]

I'm in for m30 e30m. It would take some suspension tuning, but I expect it'll be the setup that you've been looking for.

[AWDBOB]

My goodness this was a lot of work for a transmission #nopartsleftbehind

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

[AWDBOB]

Its old school cool, but not top of the list. M30 is 15 more lbs than m50?

Might was well get an Audi and disconnect the FWD..

Agreed- m30 definitely scratches an old school german hot rod itch. Not sure weight wise, only basing that off of how the m30 car felt. The only 24v car I've driven that I liked was that early polaris S50 sedan I owned a few years ago which had a nice powerband and didn't feel nose heavy like the m30 car felt. I drove my buddies well done m52b28 car back to back with hoopties OG m20 and the m20 felt superior in all the ways

Id love to drive a big 6 car that felt more nimble. M30b35 with a bit more compression and a light flywheel, plus ITBs I bet would change the mood. Aka m88/s38.

M30b35 just felt heavy/numb and didn’t feel lively enough to justify the weight.

On my blk e30 m3 m88/3 is at 320hp. I have a lot fun with it in the curvy turns. I don’t regret doing the swap 26 years ago. I have had Alpina’s e21 and e30 B6 2.8 they were fun drive. The Alpina suspension was weak for turns. I’m doing a s38 turbo e30 m3. I trying to lighten it up in front with aluminum control arms, Mason x brace aluminum and carbon fiber hood that weighs 11lbs. Every thing on back of e30 is steel.

If we lived closer I would give a ride in the black m3 and probably let you drive it.

I'd love a ride in an m88 swapped car! I'm sure if done well it feels copacetic. The M30b35 swapped car I drove was nice, but was on an off the shelf Bilstein/H&R combo. Wonder how the car would've felt on GCs with some extra spring rate up front.

Have any brilliantrot side mirrors in that storage?

Unlikely- 97.6% of mirrors from parts cars need paint. I'm pretty sure I have a set of nice henna mirrors from an early m3, but nothing brilliantrot that wouldn't need to be resprayed

[Mike36]

Got a spot for engines, heater boxes, carpet etc etc, the ole barn is coming along!

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Have any brilliantrot side mirrors in that storage?

[e30m3s54turbo]

Agreed- I have been looking for a long time. Any time I want to do anything M30/S38 related, finding a transmission always holds me back. The ones that pop up for sale the most are the 83-84 5/6 series g260/5 that are considered "weak". $500 for a g265 would be nice from your friend!




Heavyweight champ

I finally drove a well set up M30 swapped E30 last year and it killed my M30 dreams. The car felt so odd with that much weight over the nose- I was not a fan.

On my blk e30 m3 m88/3 is at 320hp. I have a lot fun with it in the curvy turns. I don’t regret doing the swap 26 years ago. I have had Alpina’s e21 and e30 B6 2.8 they were fun drive. The Alpina suspension was weak for turns. I’m doing a s38 turbo e30 m3. I trying to lighten it up in front with aluminum control arms, Mason x brace aluminum and carbon fiber hood that weighs 11lbs. Every thing on back of e30 is steel.

If we lived closer I would give a ride in the black m3 and probably let you drive it.

[moatilliatta]

Its old school cool, but not top of the list. M30 is 15 more lbs than m50?

Might was well get an Audi and disconnect the FWD..

[AWDBOB]

Lucky to find a e34 with 5 speed. I been searching for one or two five speeds for my projects. I might get lucky to find a $500 265-6 from a friend. I found two tranny’s for 2k each.

Agreed- I have been looking for a long time. Any time I want to do anything M30/S38 related, finding a transmission always holds me back. The ones that pop up for sale the most are the 83-84 5/6 series g260/5 that are considered "weak". $500 for a g265 would be nice from your friend!

M30 e30m?

Heavyweight champ

I finally drove a well set up M30 swapped E30 last year and it killed my M30 dreams. The car felt so odd with that much weight over the nose- I was not a fan.

[moatilliatta]

M30 e30m?

[e30m3s54turbo]

Lucky to find a e34 with 5 speed. I been searching for one or two five speeds for my projects. I might get lucky to find a $500 265-6 from a friend. I found two tranny’s for 2k each.

[AWDBOB]

Been quietly looking for ages for a cheap manual 535 e34 parts car and one finally popped up. Dude even delivered it!

It'll get parted but I'm keeping the transmission for the m30 swap i've been talking about doing for 10yrs that'll happen in another 10 if i'm lucky

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