Wow, this is quite the impressive build, congrats on the good work! Will this car see any track duty?

 

Hah, thanks dude. The only thing I have left to do is get the exhaust adapted, but even though I called the only exhaust shop in town and told him I'd be in this afternoon he decided to close up shop and leave 90 minutes early today naturally still nothing goes to plan.

Hopefully it'll be ready on Monday.

Car will most likely see track duty after I've got the suspension sorted out. All I need is camber/caster plates, new front wheel bearings and some coilover springs and I'll be set, I've got new rear shock mounts, new Konis and new front strut casings with M3 sway bar tabs welded on (makes the upgraded swaybar ~2x as effective). I'll try and take it to the drag strip (just for sh*ts) after I've sorted out the engine, then later when I get the suspension worked out a track day here or there.

 

Very nice. I am impressed that you are patient enough to post the progress here with the pu$$y-@$$ 5-pic-per-post limit.

By the way, you need more...





Of course, I could stand to find a nice M50NV to go in place of my M20B27...

Do you still have that chipped/cloned 173?

 

Lies! I've got plenty of:



Just need a set of used 2.5" springs, some camber plates and I'll be set.

I had the 173 but I basically gave it away with the engine when I sold it :[ otherwise I would have hooked you up with it. I listed the engine and a bunch of extras at a crazy price because I needed cash and the only guy who offered to come pick it up wanted a payment plan didn't have much of a choice and he turned out to be a cool guy and helped me out, so the M20 went to him.

I do still have a 153 if you want one for cheap but IIRC you already had one. The 173 is better anyway, and my 153 only has a stock chip.

P.S. And don't forget, I've already got plenty of this installed:



The goal for this car as of right now is to take people by surprise. Ratty beat up old E30 with stock bottlecaps (or 14" weaves with RT615s that I've got in my room) at stock ride height won't raise any eyebrows, even if it's got a DOHC engine, lightweight flywheel, rebuilt upgraded brakes, swaybars, Konis, new tie rods control arms/M3 CABs and E36 steering rack, etc etc.

 

Just got it back from the exhaust shop. Damn it's fun. I forgot how fun this car was.

The M50 definitely pulls significantly harder than the old M20 that was in there, I probably gained a good 30whp. The thing doesn't completely fly but it gets up and goes pretty well, first gear goes by in the blink of an eye. When you're in the powerband in a corner in the first few gears you've got to be careful.

And best of all, no coolant leaks, no oil leaks, no overheating problems, no blown head gasket.

 

good to hear! you should post some sound clips and maybe a pull clip!

 

Very dirty beater unfinished pics... but it drives









Quick vid



Not stupid fast or anything but it's quick enough. Stock suspension means it really squats when you get on it.

This engine could really benefit from a raised rev limiter, it smacks the limiter too soon and the 2-3 shift brings it out of the powerband just a bit. So, I'll probably be looking into a Mark D chip soon.

 

good job, Nathan

 

yeah real good job! i love how straight 6's sound. she looks pretty quick too.

 

So, at the time of the engine swap I had done a lot of things to ensure that I wouldn't have to **** around replacing **** with this car for awhile.

I replaced the engine with a better, newer one that had must have been maintained better than the M20 that was in the car
I replaced the thermostat, water pump/housing, a bunch of vacuum and coolant hoses on the new motor.
I replaced the fuel lines, I replaced the brake booster and master cylinder. I replaced the steering rack with a low-mileage E36 unit. I replaced one of the tie rods on the new rack.
I replaced the two front calipers with rebuilt units. I replaced all the pads and rotors.
I replaced the damn radiator with a new one. I replaced the control arms with new Lemforders. I replaced the rear shocks (Konis) and mounts and had plans to replace the fronts.

So, how fitting it would be that a month after I complete the swap, I break a selector fork in the goddamn transmission--it works fine otherwise, but now it'll only shift into reverse and neutral. I jumped on a new one with new seals for a great price from a r3vlimited.com member that will hopefully be coming in the mail sometime soon, and I'm eyeing a clutch kit as well.

This morning I tried my hand at pulling the old tranny in the parking lot outside my apartment; as usual, pics aplenty.



And heeere we go...



Driveshaft disconnected


Clutch slave disconnected


Bangin' tunes commenced

 

Here's the car, and just to give you an idea of the setting I'm working in...




Pulled the IM to get at the starter


Uh, I guess somehow a dead moth made its way onto my intake valve, not sure how that happened yet.

 

Dropped the subframe a bit to get at the upper tranny bolts



Moar bangin' tunes


Aaand this was as close as I got


It was getting dark, so this is when I started to pack up (I didn't have a flashlight this time)

 

Getting later, I couldn't for the life of me get the subframe bolted back up (I had lowered it again in hopes that the engine/tranny would lean backwards, to no avail)



Getting reeaally late, using my phone as a light, still trying to line up the god damned subframe.


I wound up giving up, figuring I'd try again in the morning. I got the tranny most of the way off but not all the way, and I couldn't get the subframe or LCAB's back reconnected, so I did the best to make the car look like nothing was up, supported the subframe with the jack (I know I know) and left it overnight.

Here's how I left it



I really didn't have much else to do, I didn't want to set the car down on its wheels when the subframe or LCABs weren't connected. (The LCABs were pretensioned sort of so that the subframe didn't line up when they were connected). Anyway, here's to hoping for a good outcome tomorrow.

 

Wow, all the work you have put in is impressive (as well as working on the tranny in your parking lot; those bike racks suggest its a college-town apartment complex do you goto UCSB?). I hope it all goes smoothly tomorrow.

 

Good eye--I do indeed go to UCSB (graduating this year), and yes I live right next to campus.

I hope I'm able to finish up tomorrow, I really don't like how I left it tonight.

 

Damn man, that's a lot of work right there. I know how you feel about leaving something unfinished, I installed coilovers today but I had to leave my rear suspension alone because I didn't have a good U-joint

Keep updates coming, E30s a great car.

 

your my hero!

 

you people suck at parking

 

Half of these people are girls

...In sororities

 

damn Nate... good luck to you man... good to hear the motor's working well.

 

Haha, thanks dude. The motor pulls pretty strong but I am not completely happy with it yet...

Anyway here's my much belated update from the "tomorrow" I spoke of (last Sunday)

She's sitting there just how I left her, I'm surprised the jack's still there


I finally managed to get the subframe bolted back up with heavy use of a BFH and trial and error


Hmm, this makes me not want to lower it...


This is kind of cheating, but this jack doesn't lift very high without help


That's better, much easier to get under now

 

But alas, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't budge it further. Since I had the subframe bolted up, the firewall was now blocking the damn transmission.


So, I set it back down, on its wheels this time, to avoid getting towed for the next week. The CABs are not connected, so I've got mad caster and wheelbase yo!


May have an update this weekend. Should be helping pull another G260 that I will get to use, fingers crossed.

 

congrats on ur progress man, that was a very interestin thread, hoping to see more

 

Haha, that reminds me of a C5 LT Install:

 

Dude, if I had a phonebook handy I'd have used it. That craftsman jack is pretty light and portable, but man it doesn't lift for ****. In retrospect I'd rather have paid the extra $50 for the bigger aluminum jack.

 

Anyway, I rode the bus to Carpinteria on Saturday to give my buddy Rory a hand pulling the engine and trans out of one of his E30s

On the bus, some guys were protesting Toyota, but honestly they made the logo a lot cooler, so I took a quick picture



Anyway, I got to Rory's place, here's the E30 we're pulling the motor from (My other friend's old car)



And here's the motor, this is why Rory got it for free



lol



Here's what the oil looked like when we drained it

 

It would probably look delicious in the context of food, but it was the nastiest stuff I've seen in awhile smelling like motor oil and coolant



ANYWAY, I got the driveshaft, trans brace and shifter, Rory unhooked the rest of the stuff in the engine bay... he'd already pulled most everything else prior to my arrival, so here we are, ready to pull the motor



If you're wondering what's under the car cover, well it's got an S50 in it, it's totalled and it's conveniently located right next to a 4-lug E30 with no engine and a stock steering rack.

Rory next to the M20 (sorry dude I didn't get the best pics of you)



Again, not the best pics of Rory, lol

 

And here's the trans we're going to stick in my car, thanks again Rory.



I'm going to try and sort out the clutch this week somehow, hopefully next weekend it'll be time to put everything back together.

 

Waitaminnit. Whatever happened to the seals/selector fork kit you bought?

This thread is ridiculously addictive.

 

Your adaptability makes me feel lazy for not having completed my 327i build by now...

 

I bought a transmission with new seals included, guy dropped the transmission and cracked the case, refunded me. Then my friend offered the trans out of his old car if I helped pull it.

I just bought a super eta with a blown transmission for $240. I will be following your threads, as I think after a new trans goes in and I decide what to do about the Jamaican flag paintjob, I may be doing an M20 build. Schrick 284/272 and S50 rods sounds good to me....

And no, I am not joking. I've got an E30 with a blown transmission struggling to get it out, and I bought another E30 located a block away from me with a blown transmission. F*ck, I am stupid.

 

Oh yeah, P.S.

 

whyyyyy????

 

Because I felt bad for the poor thing, and it was $240.

 

wow thats a lot of work...

 

Victory at last!


I wrestled with it for an hour or so, trying to equalize loads and pull it off by hand, in the end I just jacked from the oil pan with some wood blocks, got a big section of pipe and BFH'd it.


Thank you, BFH. May I never underestimate you again.

Oh yeah, did I mention it was raining?


I pulled the pressure plate, clutch and pilot bearing, saved the throwout bearing (should be okay if a little water gets on there and evaporates off) to use on the super eta. I couldn't get enough torque to the flywheel bolts without the motor turning over, so I'm probably going to try an impact driver tomorrow. This will be the last step before I get to start putting it back together again (oh joy).


Then I stripped the trans of everything of use to me (guibo which is now in iffy shape, shift tower/***** clip, selector rod and joint, trans mounts) and for fear of murder when my girlfriend got home to a transmission on the floor, set it behind the car. If someone steals it, well it's 80lbs, and it doesn't work. Now I don't have to take it to the dump.



Then I went to go check out the super eta down the street. In the meantime, the very dead battery is hooked up to a trickle charger. I'm not sure if it's ever going to charge or if it's just gone.

 

it doesnt look to be in to bad of shape besides the paint.. why not? lol

 

Parts alone are worth far more than $240.

 

So far I'm up to $380, registered in my name until May 2011.

Car $240
Reg/etc $120 (obviously haven't smogged it yet)
SI Board batteries $20 (make sure the tach's working)

Small update, after I pulled the trans from the swap car I walked down the street to check on the little super eta.





While I was looking under the hood these two twatwaffles came up and asked if my car was broken and if they could help. I tried not to laugh too hard.

I wish we could have Jemima's witnesses.

Anyway no fuses appeared to be blown but a few were missing.

I had some fuses in the swap car. Now the interior lights, both fogs and power locks work, but you still can't lock the car from the driver's door. I'll have to get a lock kit.

Here's the only real damage to the car

But as I was leaving I noticed the trunk doesn't line up very well, and the gas cap doesn't quite close all the way. Seems like the rest of the body panel gaps are even; hopefully the frame is alright.

 

Here's why the eta's interior looked partially stripped (this is not the 325i now).

I tightened the light switch mounting nuts which seemed to take care of that problem as the parking lights haven't come on any more.

I pulled the steering wheel because it had a bite out of it (left) and I had another intact one sitting around (right)


I pulled what was left of the turn signal stalk, I've got another one coming in the mail


Looks like someone wanted to signal very very left


Pulled the gauge cluster


Either this car is relatively low mileage or there are some broken odometer gears around the corner...