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

[twright]

You don't take as long to do a 5speed swap as I do. It's probably because you didn't put the shift knob on it.

[AWDBOB]

The hoopty and I went up to the ClassicDaily HQ this week for manual swap and hangs! We had two solid days of wrenching, and intended to manual swap hoopty and swap an m20 on a vert he is trading some labor on for an e28.

I had planned to do a valve cover gasket and heater valve before I went up there, but the trip got pushed forward a day, so instead I trekked a very leaky, untested car 5hrs north.

I left out of the parts warehouse early Wednesday to grab a few last minute items.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



The trip up was a success, but not without casualty. The heater valve really gave out (rivet fully failed) about half way up. No overheating, Hoopty is a sweetheart! The guibo was also living on a prayer but handled 5hrs of 85-90mph with mercy and gentleness.

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




Within a few hours, the auto trans was out, and the subframe assembly/engine was dropped out the bottom of the vert!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Tim prepping the new M20 for the vert required some assistance.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




After a fight with the pilot bearing, the manual trans was in! I bought a car last year that came with a manual swap full of nice bits. I used a late model, 140k g260 I got from a customer who sold his e30, e36m shifter, all new delrin bushings, DSSR, new shift selector, 13lb lightened m20 flywheel, stock sachs PP/clutch, FTE clutch master/slave, and the $75 S3.73 from FB marketplace which ended up being great. While we were putting the trans in, Tim was up on the rolly-steps replacing the exhaust manifolds with ones that had good studs, as these snapped every stud upon removal. Tim was also kind enough to press on the new CSB on to the manual driveshaft.


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



I dropped the car down to do some engine bay stuff like valve cover gasket that puked on the trip up, and also swap the heater valve/heater core. Not a terrible job, but there are a few specific bolts that are a pain. The new valve had a leaking Oring, so I had to pull the entire assembly back apart to throw the orings in from the old valve and hope they didn't leak. I transitioned to the passenger seat and employed bimmerbuddah to massage a few of the pesky bolts into place the last time around. Around this time, Simple_Smith stopped by to snag some trunk tension rods and hang.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Time was running out, so we threw the exhaust back up/bled the clutch hydro and forgot the heat shields, fixed that, and then dropped it back down. The car moved backwards and forwards, success!

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



I had to leave in the AM, and the test rip around the compound was a success so I loaded up and headed out. Realized a mile down the road that I forgot to bleed the cooling system after the second heater valve removal, so I did that on the side of the road after she got a little warm and all was well. Car is much happier with the manual, and the mission was a success! I have some vibration on decel that I'll investigate once I get time, but until then, she's a manual ripper. We didn't have time to finish getting the m20 swapped in the vert, but deemed getting hoopty done to be of higher importance, due to the fact that I had to drive it home on a timeline. Jake is making killer progress on installing his new Dynojet, so the next plan is to go up to do a video on a stock car being converted to megasquirt, using hoopty as the victim. Felt great to get out and drive an e30 with some risk involved. Driving untested 30y/o cars on extended trips keeps you honest, lol


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

[AWDBOB]

Those new springs did the trick, perfection!

Did you check behind the firewall panel for the nest or is this down in the heater box area? Easy enough to pull the core since you'll be pulling most of the panels anyway fitting the pedals, master, etc....it's easy to vacuum and wipe out the whole area.


Can't wait to get the full report from the visit up to Jake's...

Yes!! They settled too after driving for a bit, and they worked out perfectly. The car feels like a million bucks now. The subframe bushing NHV was lessened to an acceptable level with proper shocks out back.

Re: heater core- I had the same thought! I pulled the HVAC cover again to reorient the cover over the blower motor itself and sprayed a ton of air in there with fan on full blast and a vacuum and I think got most of it out. I have a newer heater core I'm going to put in when I swap the heater valve to hopefully get the rest of the nest!

I installed a MarkD chip and the car idles very low. Makes me wonder if, even though the ECUs were the same between Auto/manual cars if MarkD would tune differently for manual cars, causing it to idle low with the resistance of the torque converter.

Got hoopty #4 back on all fours! Did H&R OE Sports, KYBs, brakes all around, and a few other small odds/ends like ebrake cables/hardware, brake hoses, etc. Nice to have the suspension sorted! I know I keep saying it, but this car is really nice. When's the last time you pulled an ebrake cable right out of the housing without a fuss?

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[mjweimer]

Those new springs did the trick, perfection!

Did you check behind the firewall panel for the nest or is this down in the heater box area? Easy enough to pull the core since you'll be pulling most of the panels anyway fitting the pedals, master, etc....it's easy to vacuum and wipe out the whole area.


Can't wait to get the full report from the visit up to Jake's...

[AWDBOB]

Somehow I knew that rabbit hole would be explored...ha ha.


Solid (but still rubber) FCAB's are always a great choice to improve the feel of the front end. I have been pleasantly surprised how much nicer the Z3 rack feels in my car, I think any upgrade to quicken the steering a bit is worthwhile.


Got to love the simple solutions to problems and appreciate when the present themselves....

Agreed re: solid rubber CABs! On this car I wanted to test the solid centered CABs vs the offset ones that I typically use, and I like the centered ones more. By not adding as much caster, the steering wheel returns to center faster and feels much better for a daily, specifically with the regular E36 rack. The offsets feel better on Linda, which has a Z3 rack, as it calms down the Z3 rack a bit.


And with one odd problem fixed, another is revealed......driving it in the winter has me using the heat which led to the realization that there is still a mouse nest.... inside the dash vents, and I assume, also trapped in the HVAC box. It's restricting flow so much that it is blowing the blower motor fuse after a few minutes of operation. I don't know if I have it in me to do another dash out job, but I'm headed up to MI next week and will need the heat functioning..... we'll see.


The car was feeling very crashy in the rear over bumps so I assumed the "claimed good" rear shocks I got with the racecar were shot and...... they were shot. I opted for some new Konis to match the fronts, and went with a 6" rear coilover spring since I don't want to go very low with the car. The car sits just right, and gives me a ton of room to go higher if needed for winter, rally cross, etc.

The best part of it all is not having the rear coilover springs fall out of their perch when the rear of the car is jacked up! It's the small things.

I also assembled a lot of the small manual swap items here so we can just focus on the business when I get up to Jakes. A flywheel came in a box with racecar parts, and it turns out it's an M20 flywheel that's been lightened a good bit. Going to use a Sachs Clutch/PP. My tool box has become my work bench and became a catch all. I've been saying I'm going to get organized, but it hasn't happened yet.

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




Gained way more than 1" going from from 5" springs and blown shocks to 6" springs and good shocks.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


Down to a suitable ride height.


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[mjweimer]

And down the rabbit hole I went. It appears that boiled linseed oil is the ticket, and requires little prep. Helps seal the porous paint, as well as exposed metal.




Thanks, man!



----------------

Got her back from alignment today and took the car for a shake down. The powerflex rear subframe bushings were a bad move- NHV went up quite a bit, but the reduce in flex is noticeable.

The rear end is very crashy. I have the rear 5"x2.25" GC springs/adjusters as high as they'll go and the car is crashing over even the smallest bump. I suspect shocks are out of travel, but would still like to get the rear end higher, so perhaps a 6"x2.25" rear spring is in order, and potentially Mustang Konis.

The good is that the front end feels excellent with the GCs and E36 rack and centered E36 CABs. I wanted to see how the camber plates aligned out and found this....... only two bolts in the camber plates. Wondering what went wrong to require so much adjustment. Perhaps something in the plate is assembled incorrectly? Pretty sure two bolts per plate isn't going to cut it. I could see three, but two..... no way that adjustment is going to hold.

The other positive is that my rear fender roll worked well, and there is no rubbing!


Rear end still slammed after adjusting the rear all of the way up.


Oh, and in the process of sealing up the cabin I found my wiper issue. These three ground wires (that you can see by accelerator pedal linkage on the left) were exposed and touching the pedal box when driving, causing the wipers to actuate/spray. Sealed them up, and problem solved! Have an ignition tumbler rebuild on order as well as the two firewall plugs for the locations shown below, but BMW NA is taking their time on orders at the moment. The firewall grommet was mostly removed causing a ton of water ingress, so I was able to get that reinstalled as well. The heater valve failed, too, so am going to steal a few seals from mr EDC Matthew and rebuild the one on the car.

Somehow I knew that rabbit hole would be explored...ha ha.


Solid (but still rubber) FCAB's are always a great choice to improve the feel of the front end. I have been pleasantly surprised how much nicer the Z3 rack feels in my car, I think any upgrade to quicken the steering a bit is worthwhile.


Got to love the simple solutions to problems and appreciate when the present themselves....

[AWDBOB]

I've heard that folks use a scotchbrite pad to level the patina before applying clear but I've never tried it myself. My neighbor has a couple '60's Chevy's with nice patina and he uses some coating designed to preserve the look after he scuffed with steel wool....I'm sure there is a deep rabbit hole on this topic within the Google's.

I hate chasing water leaks but it sounds like you are all over it....I've got some 25mm plugs if you need them. Keep that thing solid.

And down the rabbit hole I went. It appears that boiled linseed oil is the ticket, and requires little prep. Helps seal the porous paint, as well as exposed metal.

nice work!!!

Thanks, man!



----------------

Got her back from alignment today and took the car for a shake down. The powerflex rear subframe bushings were a bad move- NHV went up quite a bit, but the reduce in flex is noticeable.

The rear end is very crashy. I have the rear 5"x2.25" GC springs/adjusters as high as they'll go and the car is crashing over even the smallest bump. I suspect shocks are out of travel, but would still like to get the rear end higher, so perhaps a 6"x2.25" rear spring is in order, and potentially Mustang Konis.

The good is that the front end feels excellent with the GCs and E36 rack and centered E36 CABs. I wanted to see how the camber plates aligned out and found this....... only two bolts in the camber plates. Wondering what went wrong to require so much adjustment. Perhaps something in the plate is assembled incorrectly? Pretty sure two bolts per plate isn't going to cut it. I could see three, but two..... no way that adjustment is going to hold.

The other positive is that my rear fender roll worked well, and there is no rubbing!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




Rear end still slammed after adjusting the rear all of the way up


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





Oh, and in the process of sealing up the cabin I found my wiper issue. These three ground wires (that you can see by accelerator pedal linkage on the left) were exposed and touching the pedal box when driving, causing the wipers to actuate/spray. Sealed them up, and problem solved! Have an ignition tumbler rebuild on order as well as the two firewall plugs for the locations shown below, but BMW NA is taking their time on orders at the moment. The firewall grommet was mostly removed causing a ton of water ingress, so I was able to get that reinstalled as well. The heater valve failed, too, so am going to steal a few seals from mr EDC Matthew and rebuild the one on the car.



Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[e30austin]

nice work!!!

[mjweimer]

fully agree re: the patina! I love it. I will slowly derustify the car over time as I drive it for preservation measures, but the car won't ever get paint. I wonder how much time/funds would be required to matte clear the car down the road. The paint is quite scaly, so I'd imagine it'd have to be sanded a good bit for a clear to adhere without the paint underneath continuing to fail/bubble.

As far as ride height, I like the way that Linda looks/rides, so I've been loosely going off of her measurements to get it set up.

The big issue I am chasing currently is water ingress. Several firewall grommets are damaged/missing, the trunk leaks like crazy, heater valve started leaking, etc etc. I need to get the cabin dry so as to not promote any floor rust, as the floors are surprisingly good in their current state.

I've heard that folks use a scotchbrite pad to level the patina before applying clear but I've never tried it myself. My neighbor has a couple '60's Chevy's with nice patina and he uses some coating designed to preserve the look after he scuffed with steel wool....I'm sure there is a deep rabbit hole on this topic within the Google's.

I hate chasing water leaks but it sounds like you are all over it....I've got some 25mm plugs if you need them. Keep that thing solid.

[AWDBOB]

Looking good on the ground! I'll be curious to hear where you end up on ride height, seems like a bit more travel would be good for a semi-daily. That paint patina has me thinking paintless dent removal and matte clear to lock it in forever....

Thanks for posting the diff info...new to me and will be going in the archives.

fully agree re: the patina! I love it. I will slowly derustify the car over time as I drive it for preservation measures, but the car won't ever get paint. I wonder how much time/funds would be required to matte clear the car down the road. The paint is quite scaly, so I'd imagine it'd have to be sanded a good bit for a clear to adhere without the paint underneath continuing to fail/bubble.

As far as ride height, I like the way that Linda looks/rides, so I've been loosely going off of her measurements to get it set up.

The big issue I am chasing currently is water ingress. Several firewall grommets are damaged/missing, the trunk leaks like crazy, heater valve started leaking, etc etc. I need to get the cabin dry so as to not promote any floor rust, as the floors are surprisingly good in their current state.

[mjweimer]

Looking good on the ground! I'll be curious to hear where you end up on ride height, seems like a bit more travel would be good for a semi-daily. That paint patina has me thinking paintless dent removal and matte clear to lock it in forever....

Thanks for posting the diff info...new to me and will be going in the archives.

[AWDBOB]

Admittedly, its not an e30, but with my ti I definitely prefer the resonator w/the Stromung. I have a Magnaflow cat, ultra quiet, then Stromung. Its still a bit loud on the highway though has no drone below 55-60mph.

That is good intel!! I will take that into consideration when I have this m42 exhaust made.

----------

The racecar went on to live a new life in Detroit with a first time E30 owner. He is going to keep me in the loop as he builds the car.

With the racecar gone, I finally got time to finish building/installing Hoopte's coilovers. Found a new set of front rotors in the parts stash, so I threw them on along with a nice set of caliper brackets. The calipers themselves were just rebuilt, but the brackets used were pretty blown out. Also bled the brakes with Bosch ESI6-32N which has a good boiling point for the price. This seems to have solved my spongey pedal feel, but time will tell.

I forgot bump stops, will get some and put them on when time allows.

I also took a chance on a $75 "open 3.73" FB marketplace diff, and hit the jackpot. I found this SRS concepts Diff Gearset ID link via KI4UJO, and opened it up to find an "H35" marking and a "25S" marking on the carrier indicating 25% lockup and 3.73 ring and pinion ratio. So Hoopty has a diff for the manual swap! This led me down a diff identification rabbit hole for diffs I had without tags, and found out that I had two med case S2.93s and a small case S3.45 that I'm pretty stoked about. Screenshot provided below in case that link ever goes down.

I have an alignment scheduled for Monday, so I'm trying to decide on a ride height! I think I will raise the rear a bit since she's going to get all of the miles. Headed up to see Jake sometime early/mid Jan and we're going to manual swap hoopty as well. I reaaaallly like this car.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

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

[KI4UJO]

Admittedly, its not an e30, but with my ti I definitely prefer the resonator w/the Stromung. I have a Magnaflow cat, ultra quiet, then Stromung. Its still a bit loud on the highway though has no drone below 55-60mph.

[AWDBOB]

If you are using a catted center section I'd try the Stromung without a resonator first....I think it would be just fine. Otherwise....absolutely use a resonator without a converter.

Sounds like a great plan on the Classic Daily work...

Sadly someone cut the converter off, and with the price of a 50 state legal converter I planned on putting a resonator in its place. Perhaps, since this car is going to be sold off, it may be best to put a cat in to make it easier on the next owner.

We were hoping to tune Linda on his dyno & fix battery box rust before winter, but he ended up selling his old dyno and is transitioning to a newer dynojet! So I’m just going to wait until post-winter to take care of that, and get hoopty 5sp and on megasquirt in the meantime!

Proof:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[mjweimer]

A supporter of the hoopty series offered up a stromung catback for this that I'll be using when I have the exhaust built (still have to retrieve yet, but that's the plan). I'm going to use an ultra quiet resonator in conjunction with the stromung in hopes to keep sound and drone down.


In other hoopty news, hoopty #5 (325iS) is going to cruise up with me to the ClassicDaily HQ some time this winter where we will be manual swapping and doing a before/after dyno Megasquirt conversion! Will likely report back this weekend (bday is sunday), with whatever I'm able to get done over the next few days. Coilovers are welded, should be able to build them and get them on the car, maybe get m42 hoopty running, etc etc. We'll see!

If you are using a catted center section I'd try the Stromung without a resonator first....I think it would be just fine. Otherwise....absolutely use a resonator without a converter.

Sounds like a great plan on the Classic Daily work...