Northern's Cocaine Cowgirl

[Rossabal]

its definitely been a long time since ive been on CO!
If anything it will be a fun project to kill sometime? Ive got a long list I'm trying to get done before the snow falls

[Northern]

I should probably clarify that I'm going to cut almost every corner I can on this build... I'm reusing a broken E34 pan, relocating the brake booster, using the busted hood/trunk/brackets, and generally cheaping out wherever I can. I just want an E30 that I can daily year-round.


Keeping with that theme, I realized I have some old "Lencas" M20 engine mounts that I want to repurpose. They're a straight-thru stud with a polyurethane puck and an aluminum puck stacked together. I think I'm going to shorten them and offset the stud to use as 24v engine mounts to save a buck. Either that or redrill holes on the subframe to match (I'd rather not).

I also remembered I have a bunch of exhaust stuff:
5ft section of 3" mild steel pipe
big box of 3" mandrel bent "seconds"
3" truck muffler
at least one 3" ebay vband clamp/flange assy.
Enough 3" stainless to hopefully make some exhaust tips.

[Northern]

its definitely been a long time since ive been on CO!
If anything it will be a fun project to kill sometime? Ive got a long list I'm trying to get done before the snow falls

Yeah, I have a craptastic E36 parts car in my back yard that I need to pull a few things off and get rid of. Once that's done, I think I can move some stuff around make waves on this thing.

[Rossabal]

I’ll defintely be keeping an eye on this thread. A local budget build is right up my alley lol.
I’ll have to meet up with you sometime. Be interesting to take a look at your builds!

[Northern]

^ Hopefully once the silver car is running/tuned haha. Not much to see right now sadly.


I did sign a new 3-year gas contract for Argon today, and picked up all the wire/receptacle/box for the 50A 240V outlet.

I have a 240v 40A sub-panel in my workshop, which is wired with 6-3 for max 60A but only has 40A cartridge fuses in it, and the breaker panel only has a 40A breaker there. I'll try to run it like that for now since the welder says it maxes out just below 40A input.

Biggest problem is that the sub box is disconnected, and the 40A currently goes to the oven/range (which is propane and only needs 110v) so I need to do a little more work to make this happen.

I need to figure out how this tig works soon, because I need to get my aluminum skills up enough to blast this oilpan back together before I even dream about putting this engine in the car.

[lambo]

Ughhh I need a welder...

[varg]

Good enough is what I aim for too, though I care a lot about the things that matter most like the tune, suspension, etc. 3" exhaust on an NA M50 though... I hope that muffler is quiet, those things sound like ass.

[Northern]

Other car had a 3" when it was NA, just with vibrant resonator/muffler instead of this one. I think it sounded nice, albeit loud:
https://youtu.be/YZYiM0lUnTg?t=6m23s



EDIT:

Found more parts in the basement:

16" mishimoto puller fan
Mercedes fan switch for that fan that fits the stock aux fan location
Driver side OE Mirror
Various guibos

[varg]

I'll listen to that video in a bit, can't do it now. I heard a 3" straight piped M50 E36 at Sebring recently and it made me want to jump off of the observation deck when he went by. Loud loud loud and rasp rasp rasp

(edit) Not too bad. I like the deeper tone that a quiet muffler and a turbo give and the turbos really kill the rasp.

[TheWipprSnappr]

Dailying this thing yet?

[Northern]

Between winter and school, I haven't touched it. Currently slammed trying to assemble our FSAE car to make it to Formula Michigan in a week.

After that's over, I need to get my other E30 registered/inspected and do some small things to start driving it, then I need to cut up an E36 shell to make room for this one and I'll probably start working on the swap around the beginning of June.

[Northern]

Priorities are probably:

Swap
Locate/Fit panels
register/inspect/insure
Paint
Clean interior.

[Northern]

It's been 2.5 years that this car was sitting tucked at the back of my driveway. School and house renos used to kill all my time, but online classes are weird and I have some time on my hands during days now.

So I decided to try to slap this car together this fall/winter. Hell, maybe I'll even drive it before the end of the winter.

I started off re-attaching all the front suspension that we temp. robbed to get some local guy's e30 through inspection, then rolled it onto the slab in my back yard with Iain's help.

This rear end is a work of art. The single orange light on the left side really sets it off.






Absolutely grot


We started by jacking the front end and putting the rear on wheel stands, then started to tear off the last few pieces of bodykit.



Great to finally get the bumper off and find the valence is a mix of rotten and hacked to hell


And a random piece of galvanized angle, cut jagged as hell and screwed haphazardly into the trunk to support the bumper.


The discerning eye will also notice the weld burns where they tacked in a piece of sheet where the battery tray should be...






Next, we tried to save the sideskirts because they probably wouldn't be bad if they didn't have that peel-n-stick chrome shit above them, but unfortunately they were held on with panel bond over the paint, and sheet metal screws that were too rusty to remove.


on wheel stands rear, jackstands up front. before the wheels came off.


The valence from my old ix came with this car for some reason, and at some point in 2017ish I put it on to make this look less derelict


This corner was all bent up from when the PO rolled the hood down a hill while loading the car on his trailer.


Fenders are rough, but could be worse. ~6x6" hole at the jack point behind it.


Yet another hole, plus the damage from the chrome strip/panel bonded skirts.


Who knows what the fuck happened in here. Scared to take the wheel off and find out to be honest


Rear bumper was bondoed onto the car at the wheel arches...


This speaks for itself:

[Northern]

Alright. Plans for this shitbox.

1: E36 rack swap. Have everything already, suspension was off and the knuckle was already loose, may as well start there:

Old rack off, making a mess and getting the tie rods off. One ripped boot so I'll just bin that. Might reuse the other.


New rack was filthy. Iain and I spent 30 mins with a brass brush and some engine degreaser to get it to this state and loosely bolted it to the car until I can find rack spacers.


While I was in the bay, I got distracted. I beat the majority of the dent out of the caved in wheelwell. No idea what happened here, but it was just collapsed in on itself and had a lot of bondo on it. Just looked about as bad as it could, really.
I just gave it a handful of good smacks from the inside of the wheelwell to pop it out. I need some dollies to get it much further.


Then while I was on that side of the car, I noticed the paint sticker was still there under the engine bay paint and decided to see if I could find out what colour it originally was.
Looks like it's cirrusblau, which isn't too far off what it is now, minus the stripes and sparkles.




now where was I? Oh yeah, plans!

2: Suspension.

I have basically new front bilstein sports swapped in already. Rear shocks are some cheap aftermarket ones but don't seem blown.

Springs? I always joked that I would buy some $50 civic coilover sleeves/springs, then replace the springs with hyperco/eibachs because it's cheaper than buying the sleeves by themselves.
Well, I bought some $50 CAD civic sleeves/springs from amazon. Mystery rates, but they seem way too nice for $50...

A quick check based on my body weight says they're ~300lb/in front, ~425lb/in rear (both 6" length). Not really a good split for the e30 but I'm going to try them and may end up using one pair for the front and ordering new rears.

Planning to find some better spherical bearings for my old ebay camber plates, and pairing them with some thrust bearings to prevent spring bind.

IE RSMs for the rear.

Ground control M3 droplinks, need to fab/weld tabs.

3: Body.

Plan for now is to get it driving and in condition to pass inspection.

I'm going to chop the trunk pockets and rear valence because there are no aftermarket panels for these at the moment (and if I had some, they'd go on my good car.)

I have a full front end. Euro grilles, smileys, bumper, valence.
I do not have a rear end at all.
Solution for the rear end and the rough rockers/lack of rear trunk pockets is to buy a Duraflex Mtech II sedan kit.

Fender bottoms will need to be welded, and one previously repaired spot on the rocker might need attention.
One hole in the floor, still need to check opposite jack point.


4. Drivetrain/Brakes.

I have a laundry list of small items I need to buy. Brake hoses, TOB, pilot bearing, some gaskets, csb, etc...

I need to refresh one of the M52s in my shed and do all the work for the swap.
Basic engine plan:
M52B28
M50 Manifold
welded up E34 oil pan (need to reinstall pickup baffle or alternative)
redrilled/shortened M20 "Lencas" mounts
G260 + driveshaft from my old M20.
Single mass fx racing s52 flywheel + cheap clutch for now
small case LSD with whatever ratio is in the car now. Once I build an s2.93 for my other car, I'll inspect the s3.73 and hopefully throw it in this car.



I need a booster/master as the car didn't come with one. I purchased an E90 booster/master/res to see how that compares to the ix setup.


Flywheel/clutch/pp: I bought a single mass conversion kit. I should've bought an FX Stage 3 kit like my other car, but they shot up another $150 right before I went to order, so I went with something cheaper. A gamble, but it was cheaper than just the flywheel by itself.

[Northern]

Monthly progress report:

Figured I'd get the engine out of the shed. Threw a cable on each hoist point and use a 2x6 and two people to carry it across the lawn, then hooked it up to the hoist to get it on the stand so I could clean it up.


That's when it started to leak oil out of the flywheel bolt holes in the crank. Weird because I didn't think it had oil in the first place, and the engine was nearly level. Drained the oil as it sat, and it was mostly water or coolant.

Engine on stand. VIN says production is 05/96. Has the split coolant temp sensors still.


Since I can't tell what was going on with either water/coolant in the oil, I decided I'd just tear it all apart.

It was pretty uneventful, highlights:
Cams are rusty
Oil was full of crap - pine needles and bugs in the head, sludge in the bottom end.
Rod bearings aren't the prettiest
Small rust at top of cyl 5 and 6 from top ring rusting
Head gasket appeared fine
only snapped one exhaust stud
and evidence that some neanderthal has been in here before:



I don't understand how they managed this, but the woodruff key got sandwiched between the timing sprocket and the harmonic damper hub and they just sent the crank bolt home.
I managed to extract the smeared remnants of the original key, and replaced key/hub with one from a seized M50tu.


Head is off, extracted dowels and removed all fittings/sensors/etc. Taped off rod journals and deck to try to keep moisture away, then sealed the block in a construction bag/tarp for later.



I went through a bit of a mood over a few days where I felt like I didn't use my 3d printer enough, so I made a VANOS tool, intake blockoffs, and a tial MVR (all from either thingiverse or grabcad), and an 84mm piston ring compressor (needs to be revised a bit, but might be good enough once I smooth it a bit)










The head went off to the machine shop to have 11 exhaust studs removed, get pressure checked, and resurfaced. Probably should've gone for a hot tank as well, but lesson learned.



I know the valves/ports have a ton of crud built up, so I started disassembling







Ran into a conundrum about which lifter to use, INA are pitted as hell, but if they're lighter, I might find a set.



Cleaning the other (non-INA) ones regardless, using the wood 2x4 + tape method to disassemble.




I am going to properly halfass this and reuse the piston rings with my other pistons, so I pulled them off and cleaned all the crud off them. Napier ring was packed solid with carbon on all of them.




The point I realized I should've just paid the machine shop to clean everything:




Before/After razerblade and some effort






Had kind of planned to clean the ports up if the head came out, but didn't expect there to be so many random lips/harsh transitions inside the intake port




View down the intake port. I'm going to do some work here because why not.




As far as bodywork goes, I haven't done much. I ground the paint and filler off the left wheel tub in the engine bay and I'm slowly beating the dent out of it more and more.



The bondo was apparently covering more than dents. Not sure if I bother to fix this for this car because this whole corner should be replaced if I keep the car.


Re: "whole corner should be replaced"





Creases in the corner