Winter white e30 project: Zender 323i

[tire 10]

Manual conversion done. Drove it about 10 mins (not me driving I've lost my license) to my new place tonight and it worked a treat It makes the burble burbly noise when you get off the throttle

Phase one over.

[bmw_guy 0]

Very nice

[tire 10]

Ok time for a proper big update now that I've got my hands on a camera! If you have bad internet do not even bother.

First, some photos of how it looks as of this morning..

I finished the manual conversion on Wednesday, using a getrag 240. All the bolts were normal 19mm bolts (17mm for the starter), it being a 1983 car. I reused the clutch, pressure plate, slave cyl and master cylinder. I bought a new release bearing and spigot bearing and new rubber tranny mounts. I had issues with the starter not meshing properly with the flywheel so I ended up taking the box in and out a number of times, in the end the problem was I was missing the 2 little locating dowels that go in the holes for the two lower bellhousing - motor bolt holes. For anyone wondering, it IS possible to do the entire thing yourself on the floor but if you've never dove it before I seriously advise against it! The pedals came out of my 318i and bolted straight in using the longer bolt - only hiccup was I don't know where to put #16 here..? My shifter is also a little sloppy.

Heres some phone photos I took when I was doing it, note tiny garage:

On a side note, heres what happens to the shifter mount rod in e30s when they hit big things front on at speed:

Oh and I got some leather M stitch gaiters from that ebay store:

I also tried to fix up the crack in the sump with some ultra blue silicon gasket maker stuff. It didnt work. Apparently 24hour araldite might do the trick? That's what i'm going to try next.

Exhaust... I measured the pipe and its a 2.5" with a munted centre box and a 2 tip muffler. The muffler came up a treat

Before:

After:

Its not bolted together properly so its making purrrdy noises off throttle I also mounted the pod filter, did a fantastic job see:

I've got a k&n panel filter and most of a stock m20 airbox to put in at some stage:

Got some headlights: drivers side are the smileys off my 89 318i, passenger side are brand new pfl lights. Brand new lights do so much towards making an e30 look good:

Unfortunately I closed the electric garage door on the nose of the car and it caught on my mtech bumper, dragging it down a bit on the left as you can see in that ^ pic. d*ck.

[tire 10]

page 2 because of the photo limit:

Probably the next biggest job is to fix the rust. Its through the battery tray, under the rear passenger window and under the boot seal. I dont know how to make it go away, all I've done is coat the areas with fish oil to so it doesnt progress. I suspect it will be a while until I cbf doing some proper work on it. After digging away:

Though I had more rust photos. oh well.

Moving to the interior now. I got an m-tech 1 wheel, it was $50. The handrake surround centre console thing that the last guy made will be getting kept, fighter jet style ignition button and all so hah. I did however get rid of the white faced chrome dial mph ebay cluster. I put the one in from my 318i which made for some interesting rpm figures (try it, your friends will wtf). The metal accelerator pedal is a keeper, the AC Schnitzer step panel is not.

I discovered fl seatbelt holders don't accept pfl seatbelt clips at a somewhat inconvenient time :S

The scarey hole where the glovebox goes, I had a go at putting it in but there were all these fiddly plastic bits and screws and I didnt know where they all went and it required far too much logic so I gave up:

Check control doesnt work. why? Electric sunroof does and it gets mad props in WA

Anything catch you eye amongs this pile of e30 junk in my boot?

Oh shi-

Thats all I can think of that I have done. The to do list goes vaguely as follows, in chronological order:

1. Drain sump again, clean area around sump crack, emery paper area around sump crack, araldite sump crack, cross fingers.

2. Find two nice pfl front seats.

3. Bolt the exhaust up properly, might have to get the muffler welded to the pipe, its currently attached with a sleeve and two muffler clamps.

4. Get the high beams working properly

5. Fit 6 cylinder cluster.

6. Wash

etc

Some more photos that didn't really have a place:

<---- that arch flare is detached cause it had some scratches which i'm filling then repainting. <-- greasy hand marks from me sliding in and out from under the car. <-- toolbox and light from the 318i <--- euro plate filler from the 318i <-- one 15" weave ($30 bargain), need 3 more lol.

Cheers!

Edited August 22, 2009 by tastic

[Forrest 35]

Getting there Max, good things take time

[e30plz 1]

Mean progress. You still need to ditch those tails though lol.

[tire 10]

Mean progress. You still need to ditch those tails though lol.

Cheers poony but I've actually decided I'm going to keep the tails

[Guest FrantiC]

Look's good.

For your sump, Go get this stuff from supercheap. I forgot what it's called, but its a fake steel kind of stuff, where you mix 2 tubes of stuff together. Roughen the surface up around the sump, then apply the mixed stuff and in about 15 - 20 min's in hardens. Do a few layers, roughening it up each time so it stocks well...

It works alright, But I would replace the pan.. I had to keep redo'ing mine every now and then as it started leaking again and again..

I have a spare oil pan if you want it, $45+ shipping.

[tire 10]

Look's good.

For your sump, Go get this stuff from supercheap. I forgot what it's called, but its a fake steel kind of stuff, where you mix 2 tubes of stuff together. Roughen the surface up around the sump, then apply the mixed stuff and in about 15 - 20 min's in hardens. Do a few layers, roughening it up each time so it stocks well...

It works alright, But I would replace the pan.. I had to keep redo'ing mine every now and then as it started leaking again and again..

I have a spare oil pan if you want it, $45+ shipping.

Cheers I shall try that. I won't take the oil pan its not really worth sending it all the way over here, I've got an option on one locally anyway. How hard is it to replace that pan? - I think I've read somewhere that you have to lift the engine up, is this true??

Got my check control working. pimp

[Guest FrantiC]

Opps, Didn't even notice you were from OZ lolz..

Easiest way is to hoist the engine and drop the steering rack and subframe.

Or you can do it the harder way, but remove less by removing the steering rack, removing the oil pump dropping it into the oil pan and sliding the oil pan out. I have done both ways, Removing subframe is the easy way makes the removal and installation of the pan piss easy..

[Shady 0]

Are 2.3L engine sump removal any different from the 1.8L sump removal? When I done mine, we just jacked the engine up as far as it would allow and had enough clearance - so didnt remove anything like I was told (on here) that we had too. Saved a good few hours. But I dont know how much different the 2.3 is, if any difference?

[Guest FrantiC]

4 cylinder motor vs a 6 cylinder motor. Quite a bit of a difference.

[OLLIE 26]

please remove your sump and get it welded. don't bother screwing around with araldite and the likes. The last thing you want is for all your oil to piss out on a long trip and you not notice.

[Guest FrantiC]

^ +1

I used to work out at vineyards and driving my ultra low e30 out on gravel roads wasn't a good idea. I drove one morning to work, about hour's drive 10 mins of it on a gravel road, parked on the grass next to were I was working and noticed heaps of steam coming out. Didn't pay much attention.

Went home and noticed the car was overheating mad spitting water out crazy. Let it cool, Filled it up and almost instantly overheated again. I pushed the car out of the drive and noticed a small puddle of oil.

I checked the oil level and wow no oil... At all. I looked under the car and there was a hole the size of a 20c coin in the bottem corner of my oil pan and the whole front had a massive crack in it. I used the epoxy stuff as a temporary fix just because it was my daily driver and I needed it for work. I never went to work again in it though, found a job local lol. Then replaced the oil pan (was my second one i had broken). In my time I have completely smashed 1 oil pan, and cracked / holed 2 others.

Definitley change the oil pan, That hole will plaugue you forever until you do it right.

[tire 10]

Opps, Didn't even notice you were from OZ lolz..

Easiest way is to hoist the engine and drop the steering rack and subframe.

Or you can do it the harder way, but remove less by removing the steering rack, removing the oil pump dropping it into the oil pan and sliding the oil pan out. I have done both ways, Removing subframe is the easy way makes the removal and installation of the pan piss easy..

Ah just as I thought. Might have to get the shop to do it then. Or I might just araldite it for now then sort it properly when I get my license back. I'm driving to Melbourne at the end of the year so I'd better have it good then ay.

Edited August 24, 2009 by tastic

[tire 10]

Bumper off tonight. Respray myself? mhmhm

Last owner did a bit of off roading? :S

New (2nd hand) sump should be here next week. along with a few other bits and pieces. Decided i'm gonna fit the thing myself - If I can do a manual conversion I can do a sump! I'm borrowing one of those engine support things that sit on the guards.

I was turning the job over in my head and came up with 2 questions:

1. Do I have to disconnect the driveshaft from the guibo since I'm lifting the motor up which might put stress on it?

2. Do I have to lift the engine enough to necessitate draining the coolant and removing some of the hoses?

Ta

Max

[Boost Junky 1]

Good stuff Max its really not that big a job in a sense of complication, more in the sense of making room to pull it off and all the bolts that hold it on haha. You will not need to distatch the driveshaft from the gearbox and you will need to as you said raise the motor up enough to get the sump off the motor as it will need to clear the cross member. Your other option would be too drop the crossmember down...

[tire 10]

So i'm getting conflicting messages - if I lift the engine do I still need to drop the steering rack and subframe and anti roll bar to rip the sump out?

[tire 10]

For those of you who don't know I turned that little hairline fracture in the sump into a massive gaping crack by hitting a speedbump. Went from leaking maybe 200ml/week to 4litres/5min. Fun.

So I got cracking today and took it off. Replacement was supposed to arrive today but the tards got lost.

Bit of JB weld should sort that right out

It was like was easier than I thought. Went something like this:

-jack front of car up and support it on stands.

-undo 17mm motor mount bolts.

-jack motor up from sump as high as it will go until you start hearing f**ked up creaking noises.

-connect it to the engine support via the thing hanging at the front of the head, remove jack.

-undo all the 10mm bolts. Remove inspection plate to get to the back ones.

-undo ground strap and thing next to it that looks like a washer pump from the sump.

-hit sump with hammer so it falls off (necessary cause mine had bulk gasket maker sticking it to the block)

-jiggle it. Realise it won't come out that easy. swear

-undo steering rack to subframe bolts and steering rack to column bolt, pull rack forward and let it dangle from the tie rods.

-undo passenger side motor mount arm

-sump comes out

-wash yourself with morning fresh. Best human degreaser evar.

Max.

[tire 10]

Finished the sump off today. Was harder getting it on than off, cause when your wrangling it into position the gasket and sealant goes all over the place. Actually did what looked like a fairly sh*t job but it hasn't leaked yet. Went down the road and got a wheel going to celebrate. Engine mounts look knackered.

Looks like the car will be for sale soon as I will most likely be pissing off back to nz to study at Auckland school of Biz. Also got some fines to run away from lol.

So from here on I'll just be tidying up the paint, putting the interior back together, and generally cleaning it up for sale.

Toodles.

Edited October 4, 2009 by tastic

[tire 10]

bought a lower shift boot, cluster, parcel tray, tail lights, rear seats, front door cards and a freebie head unit.

Old parcel tray: New parcel tray:

Tail lights:

Blue armrests and rear door cards resprayed to match the front door cards. (The rears didn't come out perfect because my can was running out and I didn't want to buy another one. But one hardly sees them anyway):

And the front door cards.. pretty stoked with these:

I didn't get a pic of the rear seats but they are awesome so I will.

The bumper and arch flare are at the paint shop to have my holidays cleaned up and a lick of paint, should be done after next weekend (cashy).

Exhaust has more holes than cheese grater (sounds badass)

Sump hasn't leaked yet

I freed up and greased the mechanisms on the better of the two leather seats and installed that in the passenger side, so I'l just buy one nice recaro or something for the drivers.

Still haven't cleaned it lol.

Max

ps. someone post a comment

Edited November 14, 2009 by tastic

[e30ftw 396]

Good work with the sump lol. I did mine the same way you did and the gasket moved and it pissed out oil on one side.. Oh well.

[e30plz 1]

Wooh factory tails, looks sweet. M20s with holey exhausts ftw.

Saw you're moving back in December, are you going to sell it?

[tire 10]

Wooh factory tails, looks sweet. M20s with holey exhausts ftw.

Saw you're moving back in December, are you going to sell it?

Looks like the car will be for sale soon as I will most likely be pissing off back to nz to study at Auckland school of Biz. Also got some fines to run away from lol.

So from here on I'll just be tidying up the paint, putting the interior back together, and generally cleaning it up for sale.

Yea selling, it sucks.

[tire 10]

Does anyone know what brand orange lowering springs are?

Ta

billies.bmp