E30 Racecar Engine Swap.. with a difference..

[Jibs05 86]

Cool build! I know what you mean about the exhaust. Need ear plugs to rev it.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

No idea how to post vids, only just got the hang of photos! I will try and capture the noise on my phone next time I start it up.

One of my favourite features on the engine are the gorgeous chromed dome head nuts that are used on the rocker cover, air box, inlet manifold, etc. Don't add anything in terms of performance but really finish off the engine bay. At some point in the past the whole of the top of the engine, including the nuts, had been sprayed matt black with a rattle can. Most of the paint had chipped off the nuts when the engine was stripped and rebuilt, but annoying little bits still stuck. So while I have been taking things off and on the engine I have been cleaning them all up with a soft brass wire brush, won't make it faster - but makes me feel better!

[eliongater 718]

Cool build. With a video why not upload one to YouTube, make it so only people with the link can view it and then post the link here

[mercenary 2]

Yeah come on Jon! im dying to hear this and see it!! i bet it will go awesome :-)

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

How about you show us what you've been upto as well Andrew, I hear on the grapevine your car has had a few improvements done to it...??

No secrets here, just a lack of ability on the videos front.

Managed to change the munted hose under the fuel rail as well, but it was a bit of a mission getting to the bottom hose clamp without having to take the air-box off again. Finally managed it with one of those flexible drive screwdriver extentions and a bit of twisting and pulling. Seems to run a little smoother now at idle, so might have had a small leak, but might just be my imagination!

Edited July 15, 2014 by E30 325i Rag-Top

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

When I went to put the front lower lip back on over the oil-cooler I realised that there would be no air flow through the cooler, checking on my 325i it has extra cut outs in the front lip to allow air into the cooler.

I don't want to use the lower lip off the 'vert, or buy another 325i front lip (as I will probably go to an E30 M3 front pretty soon) so needed another solution.

Decided on a little bit of DIY with the cordless drill, looks a little bit rangi but should work reasonably well and was a cheap solution...

[mercenary 2]

Im in the process of putting the engine back in after a few mods that hopefully will see a performance gain, but still plenty of work to do before its ready to run, im hoping to have it all done before the end of August, which isnt that far away.... hopefully we'll get to see your car in action at hampton on the same day Jon.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Fingers crossed Andrew, that's the same day I'm aiming for. Might be a few late nights before then..

[Nobimmer 694]

Good to see the holes are all evenly spaced, you feral guy!

[ashmill 68]

Looks like you were on the turps before you drilled that lot - looking forward to seeing it Jon.

[Driftit 2078]

You borrowed James drill didn't you. Haha. All that practice on Friday night.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Jeesh, all of a sudden everyone is a critic! The recess in the lip is not a perfect rectangle shape and that is the reason the holes aren't in lovely neat lines... that and the fact that I did them all by hand with a cordless drill, which was a sh!t load of holes to drill without holding in the vice, so some of them wandered off a bit.

Dan, I couldn't get the drill off of James, he was having far too much fun with it. The lip was really made from cheese and this is what the mouse in the bucket did to it....

[ashmill 68]

No offence intended Jon, just having a laugh at your expense -

Have you got a spare oil cooler hanging around?

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

No worries Bruce, it does look a bit rough, but it will do for now.

Sorry, no spare oil cooler, I had to source mine. The cooler is the same as the 325i E30s so not too hard to find, it's the hoses that are different and hard to find.

Has Shuey put a hole in yours whilst doing skids in your car while he was "looking after it" for you??

[ashmill 68]

No, the M3 is still in one piece. The cooler is for my road 320i which has just been upgraded in the engine department.

[Driftit 2078]

Hey Bruce. I have two Oil coolers from 325i's. You can have one if you like.

[ashmill 68]

Cheers Dan, appreciated. Heinekin or Pure -

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Had a real stroke of luck at the end of last week, thanks to Google and the fact that NZ is like a small village, found a set of RHD M3 headers for sale locally. It was a well expired TradeMe listing, but I recognised the name of the person and managed to find a number for them, and luckily they were still available.

Made contact, turned out to be someone I had met in the past, got a bit more info and they sounded just right, agreed a price and they turned up here today via Mainfreight. Very pleased with them, just waiting for some heat wrap to arrive tomorrow and on they will go! Just the back end of the exhaust to do now the tricky bit is out of the way.

[Silver Fox 43]

Jammy sod

[ashmill 68]

They look the business Jon. Don't forget the X pipe when you assemble the system.

Can I mention heat wrap? I wrapped the expensive header set on the first race car (Red 318) and the heat cooked the metal. I had to throw them away and start again. I would recommend HPC coating them if you can manage it.

Would be interested to get comment from others if that's ok with you!!

[turbolizard 38]

I also agree not to wrap the headers if you want them to last. They will get really hot inside the wrap.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Hmmm, interesting. The main reason I was thinking of wrapping them was to keep the heat away from the steering column, which is going to pass through the middle of the two pipes.

Maybe I could put the wrap around the column instead, to insulate that?

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Jeez, what a mission! Much harder to get into place than the other ones. Normal set just needed the sway bar loosening off to get into place, the new set are much wider (due to the gap for the steering column) and took a lot more to get in: sway bar completely off, engine mount and arm taken off and engine jacked up!!

Put a couple of new mounts in while I was there, don't want the motor moving around as there is not much clearance in there.

Hope to get the steering hooked up today, shall see how that goes...

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2956]

Got the steering column hooked up again, so was able to take it for a little drive. Only out of the garage and down the driveway, but it's a start! Good news is that the clutch and gear change work as they should.

Managed to make my first cock-up due to the dog-leg shift, hopefully get that out of the way quickly.

Slight problem with the sway bar clashing on the manifold... But should be able to work around that somehow.

[Nobimmer 694]

Cool do a skid. Do poms do skids even. Nice work!