War Eagle Motorwerks E30 Project Thread

[gdrumm93]

Sub'ing to this. I'm in Springfield, MO. There are a bunch of e30 enthusiasts here (I'm a SoCal transplant) but I haven't found a shop/group/individual that specializes in e30's yet.

I transported my 1988 'vert out here after sitting in Cali for the past 2 years. She burns/leaks oil and had 192k on the broken odometer when I bought her back in 2008. Not sure if I'm going to pull and refresh the motor or just go for a straight swap.

I also have a '92 M Tech that needs a new starter to get rolling. Would love to get some contact info from you for advice/parts, etc.

Sorry I missed this. I have been super busy with other projects. Feel free to PM me.

[gdrumm93]

Time for an update. I've been busy with some other projects but I have made some progress on the E30 as of late. I ordered an E90 brake booster to use for this swap. I've heard a couple of rumors that they have been used but I have never personally seen it done. Here is a side by side comparison picture:



The master cylinder brake line ports are on the opposite side. I tried fitting a master cylinder from an X3 (which has the ports on the same side as the standard E30 one) but it was too big. Adapters have to be used to fit the E30 lines because they a smaller thread pitch. In addition to that this car has some sort of proportioning valve that I haven't seen on any other E30 before so that made fitting the lines even more complicated. Most of these additional lines came off of an E39 parts car. Here it is finally hooked up:



Since the E90 booster is longer than the E30 I ran into some issues hooking up the TPS. More on that later.

While the engine was out, we got the rust spots sorted out. All of the rust was cut out, welded, and seam sealed:













I went ahead and put new rubberized undercoating in the fender well to cover the seam sealer. I'll be doing this on the other 3 to match, and I'll get some pictures of that then.

I started on a suspension overhaul as well. All new rubber and ball joints everywhere. With around 300,000 miles on it this stuff was looking pretty rough. Bad picture but you can tell it's not looking so good:





I always use high quality/OEM spec parts on all of my builds. These new Lemforder components should last a long time and the car should handle really nicely:



Coated control arms with new bushings/ball joints:







I also coated the subframe while it was out. Before:



And after:



The G260 transmission got a full service and I cleaned it up. I've never seen one that was as caked with oil:



New rod bolts were installed before bolting the oil pan up:



And then the engine was dropped in. I don't really like the color of the valve cover and oil filter cap so I think I will repaint them Zinno when I paint the car:



Using these E34 motor mounts. They seem to get the job done:



I've done a lot of engine bay cleaning. I'm working on getting rid of all of this nasty overspray from the PO:



Manual pedal box swapped in, disregard the dirty carpet, I'll be addressing that soon:



That's it for now. I'll be finishing up the cooling system, wiring, and manifold install soon. I'm also prepping a rear subframe to be installed so that will be happening in the next couple of weeks hopefully.

[captain awesome]

Do you need any H&R race springs and drop hats by chance? I'm about to pull mine out Wednesday of next week for a coil over setup.

[gdrumm93]

Do you need any H&R race springs and drop hats by chance? I'm about to pull mine out Wednesday of next week for a coil over setup.

I'd be interested in the springs, pm me a price.