Reap3rs E30 Bought back, Now M52B28

[Dj Buttchug]

pretty sure it will. you just have to change out the bearing pressed into the crankshaft to the larger one?

[Reap3r]

pretty sure it will. you just have to change out the bearing pressed into the crankshaft to the larger one?

Yep I've been reading up about that and it seems it should work, just need to change the pilot bearing. It will be the most straight forward swap and hold the power better. If 200whp blew up the g240 i'm certain when it has 300 it definently wouldnt last long.

[Reap3r]

Couple of pics, didnt take too many once we realised the box was different

Up on stands ready to get started:



A Fraction of what drained out of the old box. Theres still plenty more inside and looking through the fill point all the teeth on 2nd gear are completely gone.

[Reap3r]

So heres a somewhat quick update. I got more done on the car I just haven't taken any pics so I'll try and get to that today if I have the chance.

So my brother got defected in his car and asked if I wanted to sell my seats so he could get his legal again. In the end I settled and sold him my seats but also managed to get his Getrag 265 and M20 bellhousing off him. I looked around and found nothing at all to do with this swap on a M42 so thought I'd just give it a go and see what happens.

Getrag 265


M20 Bellhousing


All assembled


While I was at it I also picked up a lightened flywheel from him. 5.1kg apposed to the stock m20 one I had that was 8.6kg. After picking this Up i sent it and the clutch assembly to get all balanced

Flywheel fitted


Now it was time to lift the gearbox in and bolt it up. One thing I can say is its a lot heavier than the 240 so it was fun to try and just lift it in like you would a 240. We ended up using a jack to hold it. Also if you think the starter motor bolts are difficult on the standard M42. They are a lot harder with a Getrag 265 Bellhousing.

We got it all bolted in and made the mounts up. I only snapped a photo after the back mount was made. Since we've made a front mount and today I plan on pulling them off and tidying them up/giving them a paint to make them look better if I have the time.

Gearbox in and rear mount made:


The clutch and flywheel setup was exactly the same as if you did a m20 flywheel swap on a stock m42. I was expecting to have to get a different throw out bearing but after some measuring it was all the same. My stock slave cylinder even bolted straight in and works. Car runs good, no funny noises and the clutch engages. So all in all I think it was a good Afternoons work :)

[Reap3r]

So it seems I haven't updated this in a while. I don't seem to have any photos of what I've done recently which hasn't been much in general anyway. The getrag 265 went in and shifter all mounted up. Custom driveshaft shortened and the larger guibo flange put on. The car drives very well with a Getrag 265 and it runs and drives a lot easier with the lighter flywheel too!

Along the way I put in some E36 sports seats but I'm not happy with these so they are going to be sold off in favour of my very first seats I had in the car.

This brings me along to where I am now, I found some rust in the sunroof caroselle last week so this has prompted me to do a very major teardown and rebuild of the shell. So expect many updates over the next while.

Heres a final photo of the car complete, This will be the last time you'll see it in this colour complete! Bring on a new colour!

[Reap3r]

So today I got started on sorting out what to do and fix this rust in the sunroof cassette. Started by pulling the seats and most of the interior out and got to drilling out the spot welds holding the cassete in and cutting the brackets off. Unfortunately I got a bit ambitious and forgot to take photos of this process.

After lots of heating with the heat gun and a putty knife we were finally able to get the cassette out without any damage to the roof skin which i was very happy about!

Onto the pictures, here is a photo of the rust on the cassette.



Still not sure what I'm going to do with it, most likely send it somewhere to get repaired as its far outside my ameteur welding skillset.

The roof skin where the rusted part was up against.



Gave it a clean up with the die grinder and got rid of all the surface rust and it actually looks pretty good so I dont think theres a lot of work to do here.



Stay tuned for more updates as there will be a LOT more too come for this car!

[Dj Buttchug]

yikessss @ that rust. way to get it all sorted out :up:

[Reap3r]

So I've been doing little bits here and there the last few weeks, but in reality not a whole lot. I had some free time today so I decided why not get into it and get some stuff done.

I tossed up heaps of different ideas with the sunroof cassette. I was tempted to get a brand new one from BMW because that way its new and wont cause me any dramas. Upon getting a quote of close to $1000 I explored other options. First place I went to repair it also wanted $1000 to do it which means they just didn't want anything to do with it. Next place I went to I got quoted $160 to do it and was wrapped so I left it with them.

I figure that if it doesn't fit quite right I'll just splurg and the the new one from Germany.

Anyway I got a call earlier this week and picked it up from him, Pretty happy with the work for $160 and think I can work with it, still haven't test fitted it to make sure it works nice with where the sunroof lip on the roof cuts down but I'll get there.




Also last weekend I sold my wheels to a fellow E30 owner in Brisbane so I got the car up on stands and got some temporary 14 inch weaves for it to sit on off a mate.



Today it was time to start pulling the engine out.

Bonnet off and pic of it together for the last time in a while


Intercooler/radiator and front turbo housing all out.


Everything else disconnected ready to pull the engine.



On the ground with the basketweaves


Basically just waiting now so I can go and pick up a engine crane and pull it all out, then I can start looking at stripping the rest and work on paint.

[Dj Buttchug]

bitchin!

[Reap3r]

So here we are nearly 3 years later. In this time, I parted the E30 out completely and sold the entire lot off. Been through 3 other cars including an E46 Touring before ending up purchasing my E30 back. Completely different to what it was and a whole lot rougher unfortunately. I bought it back in May and have slowly been working at it to try get it closer to where I want it.

Still have a long way to go, Basic setup now

M52 B28 Alloy block
M50 Manifold
M20 lightened flywheel & HD clutch
3.73 LSD Shimmed to 80% (soon to swap gearing out for 3.46)
Just purchased a set of K-Sport Coilovers as the Hacked up set of non shortened ground controls mixed with blown 10yr old Koni's was pretty horrid.
K-sports are running a True coilover rear with a custom support bracket in the rear.
RX7 brakes sitting on the shelf to go on when the front coilovers get welded up in the next few weeks.

Plans:
Fix hail damage and all the superficial paint damage that has happened over the last 2 years of being in the hands of careless owners.
Tidy up of the paint all over the car
Have a set of mint condition leather seats from an E36 to go in the front
Air conditioning setup on the M52 (Top priority in summer)
3.46 gearing swap over
Get Rx7 brakes on
Then the real fun starts, I plan on hunting down and preparing to build and swap in a S62 + a whole heap of other supporting mods.

I've always wanted a V8 E30 and the M60 is good, but I have a habit of wanting to take things a step further and make it better than anything else locally to me.

Anyway on with it, here is some pictures of how it sits currently.













Down travel before true coil-over swap



Down travel after true coil-over swap

[varg]

Wow, that was one good looking car in its prime. I really dig the old wheel setup and super-clean M42 turbo setup. I don't know how I missed this thread when I was searching for Turbo M42s while I built mine. I'm hoping to see it back in that kind of shape again!

[Reap3r]

Wow, that was one good looking car in its prime. I really dig the old wheel setup and super-clean M42 turbo setup. I don't know how I missed this thread when I was searching for Turbo M42s while I built mine. I'm hoping to see it back in that kind of shape again!

Thanks. I really do miss the M42 setup, it was one hell of a fun drive. It will become bigger and better though over the time to come!

[Reap3r]

Few quick updates from last weekend

I hit a possum a few months back so I finally got around to painting my New valance. Fortunately early this year I gained a lot of experience and skill when I did a bare metal strip down and painted my first car for my girlfriend at the time.



So I painted my New front valance, both my mirrors which had paint flaking off them and also my iS lip which was new and bare.



I Also bought a few new gauges and put them in my Gauge holder



Picked up a new solid mount shifter setup from Matt Gresham which I'll be putting in over the Xmas Break



Finally I gave the whole car a Clay bar, Polish and Wax. Heres a photo from Last night, Shame it wasn't cleaner but it's been rainy terrible weather here of late.

[Victell]

Found your can when trying to get my 16" wheel fitment questions answers. Wicked car, glad you got it back. Any updates?

[jsta1109]

Found your can when trying to get my 16" wheel fitment questions answers. Wicked car, glad you got it back. Any updates?

Car is long gone, sold nearly a year ago, Ben is currently finishing off a turbo M30 E28