The Journey of Linda and Friends - the M20b31 Lives

[st.petebiodiesel]

No need for a vanos tool to remove the vanos actuator. Just loosen the 4 bolts on the exhaust cam sprocket. Use a 24mm wrench to rotate the intake cam all the way to the right. Then pull out on the vanos while turning the intake cam with the wrench to the left. Should pop right off.


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[AWDBOB]

No need for a vanos tool to remove the vanos actuator. Just loosen the 4 bolts on the exhaust cam sprocket. Use a 24mm wrench to rotate the intake cam all the way to the right. Then pull out on the vanos while turning the intake cam with the wrench to the left. Should pop right off.

Oh, nice, thank you! I will disassemble tomorrow, then. This is my first venture into 24v land, so I am learning the specifics as I go.

[AWDBOB]

I've been trying to go through some of my old parts and get this stuff sold so I can continue funding this build.

I like doing things locally, since I have so many hard working shops in my area fighting to stay in business. Instead of the $260+shipping for the garagistic front subframe mod I had a local hot rod welder do the reinforcements and a local powdercoater coat it. Cost $110 total. Same guy also welded my coilovers for me at an extremely reasonable rate and did a great job. I've also been working at getting my welder setup going so I can start doing more stuff in house.

Got the front brake ducts from Charlie, and they look great!

Also trying to work on getting the engine bay ready. I'm not going to spray the whole thing, so I am trying to figure out how to make it look decent. I've been grinding down brackets, surface rust, etc. Debating on taking out the relay and AFM bracket.

Bought another $30 working parts cluster, hopefully between the 4 I have I can get my iS cluster working perfectly.

[AWDBOB]

Got my GC USMs in today so I could button up the rear suspension. The upper rear mounting tabs didn't fit 100% flat with the rear brace, but I am not worried about it for now.

All that's left back there is to fill the diff, re-pin a new plug for the speed sensor (that I don't have yet), and tighten the rear TAs when the car is on the ground. GC was also kind enough to send me fresh o rings for the front strut tubes.

The GC rear endlinks are quite short. I have them three full turns from the end currently and set the swaybar up in middle position for now.

I'm waiting on my Supertech valve springs for the head. Once I get those I'm dropping the head off at the machine shop to have it gone through. I'm in need of an Achilles oil pan baffle as well. Other than that, I'm just going to clean up the block while the head is off at the machine shop, inspect the chains/guides and replace as necessary, replace f/r main seals, assemble, and toss the motor in the car as a 2.8L bottom end. I have underdrive pulleys, 24# injectors, ASC delete elbow and Riot Racing bored throttle body coming as well. I decided not to do an upgraded MAF, as I do not think it will actually benefit me any (and the intake elbow is $120 vs $25, plus the inflated price of the porsche MAF for OBD2).

Sweet3 will be doing the harness here shortly. He mentioned the harness being different from an E39 vs E36, but the DME is MS41.1 so it should work out.

For now I'm removing the AC condensor/fan and just setting it up with a pusher fan unless some of my parts sell before I get to that point. I'll be running a Nissens M42 rad w/ integrated expansion tank to clean up the bay. Speaking of bay, I have most of my brackets ground down, I just need to smooth it out and have someone spray it, which I may do myself if I find some more time.

[Jaker]

I have a Bimmerworld 3.5" MAF silicone boot for you in case you decide to do the upgrade. $40 shipped.

[2mAn]

Got my GC USMs in today so I could button up the rear suspension. The upper rear mounting tabs didn't fit 100% flat with the rear brace, but I am not worried about it for now.

You can take the mounting tab out and flip it over so the studs come up into the trunk, instead of the other way around.

[AWDBOB]

I have a Bimmerworld 3.5" MAF silicone boot for you in case you decide to do the upgrade. $40 shipped.

A magical $40 appeared in your paypal a few moments ago!

You can take the mounting tab out and flip it over so the studs come up into the trunk, instead of the other way around.

Good call 2man, I didn't mess much with it. I'll flip it around tomorrow.

[Jaker]

A magical $40 appeared in your paypal a few moments ago!

Well would you look at that! I'll pack it up and ship it out in the next couple days. Thanks!

[AWDBOB]

So, in recent news, Jaker has given me the hookup, and I purchased his ported, polished S52 cylinder head with 1mm oversized intake and exhaust valves, along with supertech dual valve springs. I'll be running that with my Metric Mechanic rally cams! This setup on his 3L bottom end made 270whp.

I've missed out on two s52 shortblocks locally. If I can find a decent one for $500 (what both of the others were priced at) I'll pick it up, but if it's time to put the motor in and I don't have one, I'll just run the M52.


I picked up this really nice "axle back" exhaust section to use, saving me quite a bit of money. I believe arc asylum built it for him. I'll likely cut the resonator off, angle it down under the subframe/axles and then throw the resonator in the mid section. I'll be combining the long tube collectors with a stainless vibrant dual 2" to single 2.5" y pipe, then running a single 2.5" through the resonator and back out to the magnaflow 2.5" in/out muffler. It'll be loud, but I think it'll be nice. The long tubes are also out for ceramic coating to hopefully avoid some rasp.





Took some time to finish my coilovers and check that project off the list. This included installing my brake ducts from Charlie. Had to cut the old dust shields off, as I had already pressed new bearings into the hubs and didn't want to pull them back off.






Wanted to get the 2.7 turn z3 rack ready, so I fought it with my grinder and cold chisel for a victory in the final round.





I spent some time working in the bay as well, cleaning it up and trying to prep the surfaces that need to be addressed for sealing/paint. Still trying to figure out how I'm going to tackle the paint. I don't need it to be perfect, just functional. Thinking about just getting a couple cans of brilliantrot from paintscratch and blending it with the existing engine bay paint. For now I sprayed all of the problem areas with a rust converter.

I also removed the ac condenser/evaporator/associated lines, as I won't be running AC at first (will be running after a little while with full r134 conversion).






I also took it upon myself to roll the rear fenders. I knew the paint was bubbling under the fender lips, but I ended up having to wire wheel everything off underneath to clean up the rust, and then spray an undercoater/rust converter to seal it all up. I'm going to have to address this more formally some day, but for now this will do. Passenger side is bubbling so I ground that down and sprayed it to seal it up for now.






That's all for now. My front subframe has been at the powdercoater for 3wks, and I'm waiting on that to assemble the front suspension to get the car rolling again.

I also bought a 318 rad w/integrated res, all I need is a 16" spal to put in front of the radiator to keep things cool. Still need a 944 booster, need to send the throttle body out to riot racing, and need to find a 3.5" porsche maf, among other things. Picked up a pigtail for my diff sensor and 24# injectors, too.

[AWDBOB]

Two of the three iXs I bought showed up this past weekend. Since then, I've been busy trying to get the garage organized. I still think I'm going to try to finish up the iS before I dive into the iXs.





I also picked up my reinforced front subframe from the powdercoater and started to reassemble front suspension components. Hoping I can get my Z3 rack in the car soon (didn't know I had to modify the firewall and make a bracket) and get the car rolling again. I also found a reasonable paint guy to get the engine bay finished up once it's rolling.

[Danny]

Excellent progress! Makes me feel the need to get mine up and running.

[wworm]

Looks great! cant wait for the next update. Good on you for doing things locally too.

[AWDBOB]

Excellent progress! Makes me feel the need to get mine up and running.

Looks great! cant wait for the next update. Good on you for doing things locally too.

Thanks! I can't wait to see the car sitting on it's own weight. It's been a long time coming. Starting to see it come together has been quite motivating and rewarding.

And I've been blown away by the awesome little car community we have out here around Indianapolis. The quality of work folks do for the price they charge has enabled me to get a lot more done lately than I had originally planned! Funny thing is, I'm using all of the american muscle hot rod shops for this european work (euro shops are insanely overpriced for welding and small stuff), but so far they all seem to dig the E30 chassis even though it's not what they're used to working on.

[Staszek]

Thanks! I can't wait to see the car sitting on it's own weight. It's been a long time coming. Starting to see it come together has been quite motivating and rewarding.

And I've been blown away by the awesome little car community we have out here around Indianapolis. The quality of work folks do for the price they charge has enabled me to get a lot more done lately than I had originally planned! Funny thing is, I'm using all of the american muscle hot rod shops for this european work (euro shops are insanely overpriced for welding and small stuff), but so far they all seem to dig the E30 chassis even though it's not what they're used to working on.

So know what you mean mine has been on jack stands for several months. I am hoping in the next week or so getting it on the ground.

Great progress cant wait to see it in the sun.

[AWDBOB]

So know what you mean mine has been on jack stands for several months. I am hoping in the next week or so getting it on the ground.

Great progress cant wait to see it in the sun.

Thanks, man! I can't wait to see it in the sun, too. It's been a while.

Also, just hit the wonderful $15K milestone with this build. Here's spreadsheet so you can all laugh at me:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Brk6EuEQfCtIAEVI_RLOeaSJjIXpZLxNAbC0YjKMRi8/edit?usp=sharing

2016 me should've stuck with an M20.