1987 325e sedan M30B35 swap

[st.petebiodiesel]

Sorry for the lack of turbo updates I've been busy with our first born and building a garage. The e30 has been killing it doing dad stuff. I've put 12k miles on it since I swapped it, and it hasn't given me any issues at all.

I can't really work on any cars at the moment as we are building a garage addition. I won't have a free space of concrete to jack up the car till construction is done at the end of January.

After the garage is complete I plan on taking the e30 off the road, swapping out the g240 for a g260, and doing all the turbo stuff.
I took the car to a euro car show not to long ago and ran it down the 1/4 mile a couple times just to see what it would do.
Let's just say I was a little disappointed.

Keep in mind that was on stock 6" wide bottle caps and a 3.64 diff. I could not floor it in first gear at all. With some decent rubber in the back I'm sure I could pull a 2.0 60 foot and get a 14.5 sec pass. My trap speed was a pretty good indicator that the car should run a faster time if traction was not an issue.
Oh yeah I picked up a clapped out 540i 6 speed to drive around while the e30 is down. 227k miles and runs like a champ.

Funny it gets better MPG than the e30.

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[lukeADE335i]

Not surprised on the 540i getting better economy than the e30 - the M30 loves to drink fuel that's for sure!

Good to see the e30 on Dad duties - I used mine for the same for 10 years & around 150,000km (as a 2.0L auto for the first 50,000km, then as an M30B35 Manual for 100,000km). Served its purpose just fine :D

[AWDBOB]

Boooomp

[st.petebiodiesel]

Boooomp

I thought you were M30 swapping Linda?

My brother bought a OK condition US 635csi to replace his wrecked euro 635, and then promptly turbocharged it.

Junkyard B35, custom inverted exhaust manifold turbo manifold, 62/66 precision turbo on pump gas. At 12psi it made 320whp and 350wtrq.

Long story short, after setting up 2 step on his megasquirt he eventually broke 2 rocker arms on cylinder 3 while on 2 step.

Being a good brother, I offered him my cylinder head off of my e30. Before I swapped the car I had it tanked, decked, valve guides replaced, and a valve job performed. Basically a stock rebuilt B35 head with HD rockers and rocker locks.

Both engines looked pretty good with the heads off.
E30

E24

So now with my new junkyard head being rebuilt I wanted to make sure this would be the most reliable head I could build for abuse.
I had IE HD rockers on my previous head and never had a problem with them. However for this head I decided to go with an indestructible rocker arm. K&M Cams sells a M10/M30 steel rocker arm, and really the price isn't that bad considering this will be the last set of rockers I will have to buy.

I spent an hour polishing the pads.


I also ordered a DBilas 290 cam with 12mm of lift.
My garage addition is only a few days from being completed. Just have to epoxy the floors and then I can start wrenching hardcore again.



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[AWDBOB]

Awesome progress on the garage, and your brother's car is probably a blast to drive! Also, did you see Metric Mechanics just released an M10/M30 rocker arm? I sent them an email inquiring about price.

I was going to m30 swap Linda, but I had 5 e30 projects going on at one time, and the m30 parts I had were all over the place and incomplete so I just sold it all to start fresh. I've got two more cars to sell, once those are gone I have to bring the M3 out to Indiana, and then I'm going to buy a manual E34 535i donor car to get the job done once and for all. Long to-do list, but if I do it in the right order I'll actually get it done.

Until then, I'm just living vicariously through your build and Anthony B's build.

[st.petebiodiesel]

Awesome progress on the garage, and your brother's car is probably a blast to drive! Also, did you see Metric Mechanics just released an M10/M30 rocker arm? I sent them an email inquiring about price.

I've never bought anything from MM, but I have read people expressing their discontent for that shop in forums.
I bought my rockers from Pure PF in Sweden. Took about a week from ordering till they were delivered and cost $520 shipped.

http://server.pure-pf.com/webshop2/en/rockers-and-locks/690-enhanced-cast-rocker-for-m30.html

One thing about the steel rockers is that they don't use a softer bearing material at the rocker shaft, is just steel on steel. We will see how long they last.


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[AWDBOB]

I've never bought anything from MM, but I have read people expressing their discontent for that shop in forums.
I bought my rockers from Pure PF in Sweden. Took about a week from ordering till they were delivered and cost $520 shipped.

http://server.pure-pf.com/webshop2/en/rockers-and-locks/690-enhanced-cast-rocker-for-m30.html

One thing about the steel rockers is that they don't use a softer bearing material at the rocker shaft, is just steel on steel. We will see how long they last.

The MM ones are $50ea, they said it'd be $625 out the door after shipping. I think I'll just get the IE HD ones when the time comes, with those eBay rocker locks you showed me.

[st.petebiodiesel]

The garage is complete!

The baby and the dog are just as excited as I am.

Finally had the e30 towed over to it's new home.

I'm having my camshaft and valve train parts delivered tomorrow. If the machine shop finishes replacing my valve guides in a timely manner then I should be putting this head back together within a week.

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[lukeADE335i]

That's awesome! I won't share a pic of mine as it has structural issues that have resulted in the floor cracking and dropping a foot in the middle of the garage! Still using it for storage, but you can't get a car in there.

Nice work on the porta cot in the garage... you can tinker with the e30 AND keep an eye on your baby at the same time :)

[st.petebiodiesel]

Check out these lobes!


Had a fun time getting the cam nut off the old cam. They are torqued to 100 ftlbs.

Cam specs:
duration intake/exhaust 290/290
Lift intake/exhaust 11mm/11mm
Lobe separation angle 108.
Degrees of overlap 13
Lift at TDC I/E. 2.5mm/2.5mm
Probably not going to run this cam when I turbo the car.

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[wworm]

holy lobes, congrats on the garage!

also your dog changed colors, what gives?

[AWDBOB]

That’s the dbilas 290 from that group but correct? I’ll totes buy it from ya once you go turbo.

[st.petebiodiesel]

Guys, this is always hard to admit but I've had quite the streak of bad luck.
I got my head back from the machine shop. All new exhaust guides, good as new.

I assembled the head installing my new indestructible K&M steel rocker arms, rocker locks and high lift high duration camshaft.
Got it running with break in oil, even took it to a car show with some friends. It sounded super mean at idle.

Later the next day the engine developed a terrible tick. I attempted to diagnose the source and prudently decided to pull the head to find the source. My brand new rocker failed in 300 miles!


How could this happen? I thought these were the last set of rockers I would ever have to buy.
I contacted K&M Cams and they promptly sent me a replacement rocker.
I assembled the valve train and ran the engine once again. It had an even louder knock now. Apparently I now had a bent valve that no longer would return until tapped by the piston.
So once again, head back off again.

I have no idea what would cause the valve to bend especially at the top portion of the valve stem.

I replaced the valve with a good used one, re assembled the engine and drove it for another 300 miles before it developed a familiar sounding tick. I pulled the valve cover and now I have another rocker pad excessively worn attempting to ruin my brand new cam.
I don't understand why my rockers are failing. New camshaft, new rockers, new valve springs, retainers, and collets.
I'm even running a ZDDP addative.
So basically I spent $500 on rockers that fail randomly every 300 miles. 1st failure was #1 intake, second failure #4 intake. My cam isn't damaged so I assume the rockers were improperly heat treated or something. I know I have sufficient lubrication. I even ran my engine breifly with the valve cover off. (Don't do this unless necessary, it makes a huge mess)

I'm going back to the IE HD rockers. The failure rate on the K&M steel rockers is unreal.



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[gnmzl]

So sad to read this...
Hopefully you get it on the road once more and never have to go through this crap again.
Oh, I love your garage!

[wworm]

holy smokes thats so frustrating! Would love to hear some lopey idle clips when this is back together :devil: