TAC's Long-term (M60b40) E30 thread

[TAC]

Just wanted to make a dedicated thread for all my projects and e30 adventures!

I bought my first e30 (alpine white '89 325iX 5-speed 4-door) last year here in Boise. The AWD system wasn't working and it was a bit of a project but I got it quite fixed up and absolutely loved it.



Anyway... I made the hard decision of selling it this summer and replaced it with my red '90 coupe 325i that I traveled to Portland for. I was able to get the car for quite a deal because it was an automatic. Miraculously I found someone parting out a late model within a mile of where I picked up the car. He had a complete 5 speed swap that I brought back for $500. I rebuilt the shifter linkage with some stuff from Garagistic while the swap was being done along with a bunch of small items like trans mounts, fresh odo gears, and, of course, a nice shift knob and boot :D

Day I bought it:



Back home, cleaned and waxed:



New shift knob etc etc...



Aside from the fan/alt belt breaking, causing the JB welded radiator to break, the car has been drama free and a joy to drive. I plan to keep it for a very long time. I've already picked up some 16x8 style 5's to fill/redrill and eventually mount with some drop hats up front and Billy/H&R shocks and springs. Also gotta replace the huge, immensely ugly airbag wheel.

In the very far future I plan to s54 swap the car and refresh the body with some AC Schnitzer side skirts, spoiler, etc.

Until I have the funds for more major things like that, I'll just be chipping away at my smaller goals day by day.

[TAC]

Update #1

Haven't had the time or money to do too much yet, but got a couple things done.

The car has had a vacuum leak since day one so I went ahead and ordered a complete vacuum hose kit from HPSI that worked great. It also includes a few coolant hoses, some washer fluid line, and multiple other miscellaneous hoses.

Installation was pretty easy and quality seemed great for the price.



Turns out the line under the throttle body that goes to the charcoal canister was, erm... a little torn. The throttle body, plenum, and associated hoses were caked with grime. Amazed at how well the engine ran despite this... German engineering lol!

The culprit (valve cover hose cracked when I removed it it was so brittle):




Disgusting intake :(



I went ahead and changed the timing belt, tensioner, and oil while I was in there as well. Car started back up great and runs much smoother in the low end now. No check engine light either (which is always good lol).





Super excited for both winter and summer! Just need an LSD and some Nordman 7's before snow. Going to try to nail down suspension and wheels in the summer with these 16x8 style 5's I picked up on craigslist.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/28uvJXC]

[TAC]

Update :D

Got our first snow!



Open diff lets the tail get out just fine but still doesn't compare to my old VLSD, so I hope to get an LSD and winter tires for the bottlecaps soon.

Replaced the gross airbag wheel with an M Stitched Renown wheel. Bolted on real easy and feels great. Size is perfect and it goes great with my shift knob an boots. Highly recommend!



Also did my first bit of rust repair and touch up with some color matched paint from AutomotiveTouchUp.



First bit of sanding on all the rust spots etc...










Primer...





First bit of paint.







And some clearcoat



With a bit of work later it all turned out looking quite good. Color matching was perfect.

Car is a joy to drive as always! Can't wait for more snow :)

[jeenyus]

nice. Sometimes I think about jumping ship and getting myself into an RWD BMW, but then i realize that I would probably just get a 335i and make poor decisions. The IX has been a wonderful learning experience for me and I have enjoyed the daily drive.

Great progress so far. I really like that valve cover breather hose.

[grid]

Nice - how'd you like the automotive touchup products? I need to do the same thing to my (new to me!!) red 325is.



What'd you use to sand down the rust spots?

[ATL_E30]

Nice work on the Rust repair! I just recently found some in similar locations and i've been hesitant to tackle it, but after seeing this I think i'll take some time during the holiday to knock it out!

[TAC]

nice. Sometimes I think about jumping ship and getting myself into an RWD BMW, but then i realize that I would probably just get a 335i and make poor decisions. The IX has been a wonderful learning experience for me and I have enjoyed the daily drive.

Great progress so far. I really like that valve cover breather hose.

I’ve loved both my iX and the 325i. Have to say I slightly prefer the RWD. Easy to work on and more of a lively steering feel. In the snow though there’s absolutely no comparison though.

[TAC]

Nice - how'd you like the automotive touchup products? I need to do the same thing to my (new to me!!) red 325is.



What'd you use to sand down the rust spots?

The color matching was perfect. I used a metal scraper to get the large, crude imperfections smoothed out and then used their sanding kit as their instructions directed. The primer worked great. Only tricky part was blending the clear coat texture properly on the plastic mirror. Clear coat spray cans (which they also sell) would likely go on much smoother than the brush. Color matching, durability, and ease of application were all perfect though. Their online instructions are nice and straightforward.

[TAC]

Nice work on the Rust repair! I just recently found some in similar locations and i've been hesitant to tackle it, but after seeing this I think i'll take some time during the holiday to knock it out!

Definitely recommend doing it! Even with my limited 18 y/o experience, it was nice and easy. Just had to take my time and be thorough.

[TAC]

2019 Update!!!

It's been far too long (over a year) since I gave this thread any attention, but I plan to be much more consistent from now on.

First, I'll briefly recap this past year's progress :)

Over the winter I built (and sold) this little RC E30 touring. It was an absolute blast and ludicrously fast - could drift like nothing else and was 100% waterproof so I definitely had some fun with it. Had to sell it to fund real E30 parts though.








I also flipped a few motorcycles to gather some spare change, which actually worked out quite well [and gave me the opportunity to ride 'em a bit of course :) ]

This little Postie bike was a really fun one to work on. Dangerously slow on the street but somehow still fun. Such a quirky machine.



This little XT200 was an absolute blast to thrash around on, but it was such and awful bike. Incredibly lightweight, but Yamaha simply didn't build them very well.



The BMW F650 was a totally different story. Had over 50k miles, incredibly well built, reliable and decently powerful for a 650cc single. I simply didn't enjoy riding it though. It was too heavy to be fun offroad, and too well-mannered to be fun on-road.



This Suzuki Dr350 was by far the most fun overall. It had a Pumper carb, 440cc BBK, FMF exhaust, and loads of other upgrades. Insanely torquey (3rd gear power wheelies) engine with addictively snappy throttle response. Didn't have electric start though, and it was the worst bike to start cold. Sold it to fund my M60 swap :)



Finally picked up this little '70s CB125s in the Fall for running errands etc... By far the most fun around-town bike I have ever ridden. It's the epitome of slow bike-fast. It looks pretty neat too :)





Also went to the groundbreaking for Gem State Raceway, which was pretty darn cool - looks like it's going to be a heck of a track!







Over the summer, I gave the E30 the following work:

Filled and drilled style 5's
10mm rear and 3mm front spacers (shaved the front calipers a bit as well)
Extended studs
Hubcentric spacers (might get better ones because there's some minor wobble at highway speeds)
New rotors
New pads
New front wheel hubs and bearings
All new e-brake parts
New brake fluid, of course
Garagistic brake lines
New axle nuts
New front right caliper (old one was shot)
Rebuilt the front left caliper
H&R Sport Springs
Z3 Steering Rack Swap
New Control Arms
New Tie Rods
RevShift FCABs
Garagistic Drop Hats
Redline MTL fluid flush for tranny
Oil change
Garagistic front and rear Strut Bars
An alignment

The Z3 rack completely transformed the car and makes correcting oversteer effortless! By far my favorite upgrade yet :)













So now onto the exciting stuff :)



By the time it was fall, my third gear synchro was almost completely shot. It still worked fine clutchless but it was clear I had to swap the trans. In addition to that, my engine was leaking quite an annoying amount. I started heavily considering just swapping something else in. I had always planned on eventually doing an s54, but I definitely don't have the funds currently and the sound was never my favorite either. The more I looked into the M60, the more I wanted to do it. One of the local guys (ArtFoodBMW on here) has one in his E30 and it sounds absolutely incredible. I considered the M30, but I wanted a bit more power and a bit better weight distribution if I were to go through all the trouble of swapping. You really can't beat the sound of the V8, so i pulled the trigger. I sold my Suzuki, did tons of research, and started ordering parts...



Beginning of this winter, I also started working on restoring my uncle's '64 CJ5 for him. Plan is to have it done by spring, so that has been taking up a large portion of my time. However, he is letting me use his heated shop for my swap and paying me hourly so it worked out incredibly well :)






Just a couple weeks ago, my brother picked up a (very) cheap '89 Bronzit Sedan. The paint is awful, but the chassis doesn't have even the slightest hint of rust. The reason it was so cheap is because it had been sitting with a bad head gasket. So I told him that if he would let me use it while I'm doing my swap, I would give him my M20 for free. He sold his '90s manual accord and, thanks to the cold weather, we drove the Bronzit from Mountain Home to Boise without overheating. Of course we had to have the hood opened and the heat running, but it made it back :) Over the next couple days, I swapped my M20 into his car and got it running nicely without any major hiccups.













Last time my car will have an M20 under it's hood :)







It's a bit of a long story but sadly we are going to be keeping the autotragic in the Bronzit for now. Eventually it will probably get an M30b35 with a 5 speed though :)







So after a new fuel pump, exhaust gaskets, and a couple minor things, the Bronzit is running great and very much daily-able.






For the M60, I got a crate engine from Japan with under 80k miles. Over in Japan, they didn't have the issue with fuel eating away at the Nikasil blocks, so there is less to go wrong. It's been compression tested and oil pressure tested with no issues. I've had to make a couple junkyard runs for various sensors, tensioners, and things like the alternator and power steering pump. Also have a manual 540i wiring harness ready to be mounted to it along with bunches of gaskets and other goodies. I'll grab some more pictures next time I'm at the shop, but I've removed the valve covers to be powdercoated and started tackling all the maintenance jobs like the valley pan.






I'll post more updates as things progress, but I figured the thread was far past due for some attention.

[Holland]

Looking good so far. My E30 project has been at a dead halt for a while now. Can attest to the sound of BMW v8's though. My N62 sounds wonderful in my 550i.

[TAC]

Looking good so far. My E30 project has been at a dead halt for a while now. Can attest to the sound of BMW v8's though. My N62 sounds wonderful in my 550i.

Thanks! I can't wait to get the M60 in there. I've researched every square inch of the swap over and over, so I'm pretty hopeful for the end result. I just know it's going to take a lot of work and patience...

[TAC]

Minor update.

Valve covers are currently being powdercoated red, so I've only gotten around to the cooling and intake maintenance. New valley pan, water pump, seals, and gaskets for the intake manifold installed alongside lots of cleaning.


I also had to replace a couple of the knock sensors with ones I snagged at the junkard because the connectors were cut off.












Can't wait for the valve covers to get done so I can make more progress!


E30 bay as it currently sits with some (very) light cleaning. Lots of work still to be done to the chassis. Hopefully going to have the subframe reinforced and the manifold setup dialed this coming week.




Also did some snowboarding in Boise and in McCall with the Bronzit (and my dad's unstoppable iX). I am still thoroughly impressed at how these cheap Nokian Nordman 7's totally transformed the car's capabilities in snow. The only limitation now is the open diff. Of course it is no comparison to the iX, but the RWD E30's with good tires can be surprisingly capable and incredibly fun in snow.






Not the most exciting update, but things will get much more interesting very soon :)

[TAC]

Managed to get a solid chunk done for the M60 and the E30.


For the chassis...

- Removed the front subframe to be reinforced.
- Swapped the output flanges and cover from my open 4.10 onto the 3.23 Torsen LSD from a Z3 that will be replacing it.
- Cut off the end of my steering shaft and fitted the low profile steering coupler.
- Replaced front and rear sway bar bushings and new end links for the rear (front were just replaced)

Next I'll tackle the rear wheel bearings while I'm waiting for the CV rebuild parts.








For the M60, I finally managed to make some actual progress :)



Got the Valve Covers back from the powdercoating shop! Job wasn't perfect but I'm very happy with it overall.




Mounted to the engine! With fresh gaskets and grommets, of course. (Not a fan of how the blue Bosch injectors contrast with the red valve covers, but it's not that bad with the wiring harness installed)






Cleaned up the wiring harness contacts and plastics. Also re-wrapped the loom with new fabric tape.




Got the power steering, rebuilt alternator, and tensioners installed with the new belt.




Aaaand threw the wiring harness on - much more easy than I was expecting, I'm glad to say! Took hardly over 5 minutes.






Unfortunately I'm an idiot and didn't notice the knock sensors I snagged from the junkyard M60 have a different connector type than the ones on mine... So that kinda sucks.




For the oil filter, I opted to use Clipz Motorsport's custom relocation kit. It's a bit expensive but I'm very glad I bought it. It's remarkably well built, comes with everything you need, and has zero clearance issues with the mounts, alternator, wiring, or power steering pump. Really happy with it!







Anyway, that's about where I'm at for now. I'm sure I forgot some things, but so far so good. No major issues yet :)

[TAC]

I'd say an update is long overdue! Things were on a bit of a hold for few weeks because of the Jeep I have been helping my uncle restore. Over the past week I've had the chance to make lots of progress though! There's too much to list in detail, but here's some photos of the major stuff.

Extended the wires on an aux fan I grabbed from the junkyard and mounted it to the radiator with a temp sensor from an e36 318ti.






I installed the driveshaft from an e36 m3 with a new e30 CSB pressed on and began mocking up the booster and gathering parts for a linkage setup similar to what ArtFoodBMW did with his Bronzit. Also removed the firewall insulation and cut off any studs that might hit the trans.





After lots of runs to the junkyard for various parts and some wiring, I test fitted the engine and trans. For the shift linkage, I used the arm from an e34 535i and a custom length DSSR. Also redid all the shift detents. Feels soooo good now :) Unfortunately the flywheel I bought was the wrong bolt pattern, so I went ahead and ordered one from TTV that will work with the e36 m3 pressure plate and TOB I am using alongside an e34 m5 clutch.







I've been searching to find out what plugs this flywheel inspection hole, but have had no luck. Couldn't find anything on RealOEM or forums or anything...




Also got the exhaust headers done. Monday the flywheel gets in and the brakes get finished, then it's a matter of putting everything in.