NOR-CAL General Chat.

[CarsonE30]

Ugh, super bummed for you Carson. Fucking Ferraris. :(

Thanks Nate, it'll be okay. Still deciding on what to actually do, spend the money to piece the 135 back together or spend roughly the same, possibly less, to have a fully functional N55 powered E30. Good god, that scares me.

[Herr Faust Schinken]

Man people in Palo Alto seem kinda douchy


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[Toodaloo]

Does anyone have a spare rocker arm retaining clip? Eric, I can trade you my old block for it! (I'm sure you have one or two laying around)

Sold my old head, bought a new engine that was missing one, and id like to install it before fitting the new engine back into my car.

Pic pulled off another thread for reference

[2mAn]

Carson, there's no way those two ideas are remotely in the same price range. Fix the 135i

[CarsonE30]

Carson, there's no way those two ideas are remotely in the same price range. Fix the 135i

You'd be surprised, I've taken the 1er to 2 different shops and the estimate came back about the same. I have a lot of friends down in socal, 2M Autowerks is the main one, and they'd be willing to take another look at it and give me their estimate. If it ends up being close to what the 2 local shops are, I see no downside to having a fully functional N55 swapped E30. Other than it's gonna be totally horrifying and probably spin the tires through 3rd gear, but that's minor.

[wilholl]

No... No... No... Carson.
Swap the N55 to the e30 then sell it to me, cheap!
part out the rest of 135i and buy another one.

Everything will work out fine... trust me

[CarsonE30]

No... No... No... Carson.
Swap the N55 to the e30 then sell it to me, cheap!
part out the rest of 135i and buy another one.

Everything will work out fine... trust me

Cheap as in the same price I paid for the 135? Lol the swap is definitely something I'm entertaining, only time will tell!

[Bimmerman325i]

I ask in the least parade-rainy-way: have you done a motor swap before? Do you have experience with the N55 electronics?

I ask because an E30 and an OBD1 E36 are fairly simple, and it was a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitch to get an S54 to be electrically happy in E36 systems, and that's with very little mechanical fab. An S54 is electrically in the stone age compared to the N55 and DCT stuff. My swap cost roughly double what I had originally anticipated, with my friends and I doing all the labor and fab and R&D. Time-wise, it took us 6 months of literally every spare moment I wasn't working or sleeping. The only reason it went that fast and within that minimal budget overrun because I researched it exhaustively for a good 3+ years before buying parts (Nate can attest to this).

Do you know how to code out the traction control from both the DCT and DME? How will you get a cluster signal? How will you get wheel speed to both the DCT and the DME without DSC? Or, will you swap in DSC, and go through that particular nightmare? DCT requires wheelspeed and communication with the DSC and DME, and E30 wheel speed sensors aren't compatible with E46-era DSC let alone newer stuff, so.....good luck on that one.

I don't mean to necessarily dissuade you, but....this is a HUGE undertaking, and I would hate to be the one paying a shop to do the R&D on it. I don't believe the N55 DME has been nearly as figured out as the S54's, meaning coding out systems will be a much bigger PITA. I also am pretty sure the N55 doesn't bolt up to the same manual transmissions the M5x/S5x series do-- the S55 uses a totally different bolt pattern on the trans so I'd wager the N55 does as well.

An N55 E30 sounds like a cool idea, but to do it even half-assedly will take a giant pile of money and time. If you're going to do it right and have it pass smog, it will take astronomical money and time. Just look at the huge PITA people are having to get S54s through BAR, which is a way simpler swap mechanically, electrically, and emissions-y.

I was not kidding when I said another S54/E36 BAR swap owner I've met, whose swap a very well known shop performed, took two years of work and labor charge, and it cost 2x the originally agreed upon budget. Basic racecar S54/E36 swaps are $10-12k from reputable shops. There is zero way a pioneering N55/DCT/E30 swap won't be at a minimum double that.

Do you have the tools? The electronics (wiring, software, etc) skills? The fabrication skills? The time? Three times the money you think you need? Think this through, this is not a swap to blindly charge into....

If you want to explore it, by all means do. I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just saying really really think about it and know what you're getting into. Also don't do it.

[2mAn]

I have an idea. Buy suspension for the E30, drive it and fix the 135 at your own pace

[decay]

I have an idea. Buy suspension for the E30, drive it and fix the 135 at your own pace

i have an e30 with a suspension that's about to get donated to a veteran's charity in a few days.

[CarsonE30]

I have an idea. Buy suspension for the E30, drive it and fix the 135 at your own pace

Can't I just wake up one day and walk outside and be on nice suspension? Why does everything have to cost money.

[Steven]

Does anyone know of more custom parts companies than the ones listed below? Or people that make custom parts for any type of car..

AKG
Condor
UUC
CATuned
Bav Restoration
Garagistic

[decay]

if you need a rich data set of manufacturers, let nopi.com be your guide, my son.

they'd be america's autobacs if they'd ever figured out how to have a web presence.

also, look for my build thread, I don't remember every vendor but the list is longer than 6.

[agent]

Does anyone know of more custom parts companies than the ones listed below? Or people that make custom parts for any type of car..

AKG
Condor
UUC
CATuned
Bav Restoration
Garagistic

Kadunza offers some custom E30 parts (door handles, seat bracket adapters, valve covers, etc.). Ping RobertK.

[Cabriolet]

if you need a rich data set of manufacturers, let nopi.com be your guide, my son.

they'd be america's autobacs if they'd ever figured out how to have a web presence.

also, look for my build thread, I don't remember every vendor but the list is longer than 6.

wow that website looks like it is straight outa 1995. gawd that's bad