E30 Touring M52 Swap

[_BRS_ 209]

Haha loving the stump pulling. Glad the car is getting what it now deserves on its new lease of life after its previous owner(s).

[duvey 245]

Nice work. Love the stump-pulling.

[nick496 268]

And time for a quick update.

Replaced the fuse box.

Old:

New:

Jumble of wires:

Wasn't too bad, just labeled and de-pinned them, the popped the tabs back out and re-inserted them all. Did it over a weekend (but would be an all day type job)
Just a quick pro-tip, make sure the labels are firmly attached to the wires when you label them. I had a few fall off, so had to get the old wiring diagrams out.

Haven't blown a fuse so far, and now my windows work with the door open as designed.
 

Did a compression test on the M52, and it's down a bit on the rear 2 cylinders. As it's burning through probably 500ml of oil every 1000km, it's time to swap in another engine that I picked up reasonably cheap.
It's pretty much a year ago I started swapping in the current one, though this one looks to be in much better shape (no sludge built up in the head), and should be complete over the weekend. 

[nick496 268]

Engine swapped in without too many issues, aside from me putting one of the mounts upside down. But figured that out pretty quick, and didn't manage to break any parts this time

Old engine colour

New engine colour

The dinosaur that my mate hid in the engine mount when I put the old engine in.

Have given it a few drives, and have a few issues.

This engine is giving me error code 212: VANOS Jammed. Have tested the solenoid, seems to work fine, and swapped to my previous solenoid also with no difference. So sounds like the Vanos needs the seals replacing?

Had this weird sound coming from the intake when the car was cold, which I found was the CCV that I had replaced about 4000km ago.
-Removed the oil cap
-Put a glove over it
-Glove almost got fully sucked in :/
I take it that this is not normal and the CCV needs replacing? I performed the test with an old CCV I had, and the glove gets pulled in, but not like it's going to actually disappear into the valve cover.

While replacing the CCV, I noticed some milky sludge on the end of the tube leading into the dipstick return, and also at the end of the line connecting the valve cover to the CCV. Nothing under the oil cap, and the oil looked pretty clear in the sump.

And lastly, getting some smoke out the rear of the exhaust, but mostly when I'm at WoT
This was taken with the engine warmed up, reving and holding at about 5.5k rpm
https://goo.gl/photos/o2XkymTnD1LzoU3VA

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are before I start jumping to too many conclusions.

Edited April 15, 2017 by nick496

[nick496 268]

Gosh, it's been 2 years since I last updated this, so there will be a few updates coming in.

Since no one ever chimed in to my previous post, I ended up doing a lot of my own guesswork and have made some assumptions since, which will come through in updates over the rest of the year.

I finished swapping in the 2nd engine, and vanos was definitely not kicking in properly, as I felt I had lost low down torque, and when holding the accelerator steady, I could feel the car surging just while cruising at 50km/h

To celebrate the car being back together, I put some weaves on and took some photos.

[nick496 268]

Since I had the car back together, there was no better time to take it apart pretty much the following weekend.

I figured coming into winter (2017), I should probably have a heater again.
I pulled the dash, and swapped the HVAC system for an AC one in preparation for an AC retrofit, and replaced the heater core with a new unit.
I had a PFL and a FL AC HVAC cores. The PFL had a different connector loom, but I was able to use it for spares.

Old system looking pretty grotty

Took everything apart and gave it a clean

Found a few of the flaps had had their tabs broken off. Apparently this is rather common. But fortunately I had some spares

Used some draft stopper stuff to replace the old foam. This has actually held up very poorly, so if anyone has some recommendations that would be awesome.

Looking nice and clean

And back in the car with a new seal

 

[nick496 268]

At the same time as doing the heater core, I thought I might as well do an electric sunroof conversion.
I ended up cocking this up quite substantially. I drilled through the holes in not quite the right places, so the motor would only be held in with 2 bolts. 
I'll be doing this properly later on, but for now you can review my cock ups.

So you need the electric motor mount. These are riveted into the copper bracket that houses the wires.
I just drilled out the rivet heads.
Electric on left, manual on right.

I found pretty quickly that the electric motor needs a bit more space, so cut a section out of the copper to match. 

Now in theory, you are supposed to be able to just bolt the black mount back onto the copper plate, and then just screw in the motor.
For whatever reason, this didn't quite work for me.
But I thought I had done rather well considering I had the front of the touring headlining hanging down so far during all the work.
Ended up just dropping the headlining and removing it.

It now lives on my back wall

I continued to struggle with this. Ended up rounding out the electric motor gears as I didn't disengage them properly when manually winding it to test the sunroof opened and closed.

This is the unit mostly apart

And of course some classic sunroof rust.


After this I just left the sunroof in place, and there is nothing connected to move it currently.
Will come back to this hopefully later this year.

 

Edited May 3, 2019 by nick496

[Olaf 3317]

Jeez I'd love a garage.

Keep the posts coming, Nick!  Great journey!

[nick496 268]

Tidied things up enough, and went out for a track day at Hampton downs on the Club Circuit


Sadly no videos or photos of it in action as I went by myself.
Learnt a few things
-My 3-4 year old tyres aren't really up to the job
-You get thrown around a lot in the stock sports seats
-Power isn't everything on the small track. The little 1.8l MX5 fell behind me on the small straights, but was right up my behind every corner.
-Brakes weren't up to the challenge
Found that after a few runs by brake pedal was feeling a bit spongy, so called it a day.

So with that under my belt, I was keen for some more track time.
I went along to the E30 Race Series scholarship day to see what racing was all about.
Ended up starting the day in a hot lap in an E30, which within a few minutes of the track opening had managed to flip itself in the sand.
Fortunately everyone was alright. Cages are there for a reason.
After that lovely incident I hopped into an E46 M3 for a hot lap, and tried not to sh*t myself in a car with double the HP.
At the end of the day, had a new appreciation for racing, as the guys race very closely.

Then the rest of the year was pretty uneventful.
Wof guy noted that my exhaust was rubbing on my rear subframe.

Tried to tweak the angle a bit, but it's still an issue.

My central locking unit decided that it didn't want to talk to my remotes.
I found that during this, someone had replaced the drivers door lock with another one, and didn't swap over the tumblers.
So meant I had to lock/unlock passengers side until the lock rebuild kit arrived.

Had to take out the passengers lock to get the initial key combo (and I took the ignition barrel out for good measure)

 

So with the first 8? (I've forgotten) tumblers matched up to the passenger door lock, I just made up 3 remaining tumblers for the rest of the drivers door lock, as they are used for the deadlock function.
Got a key cut to the tumbler codes, and everything worked smoothly (including glovebox), so pretty happy with that.

[nick496 268]

Got a dog. We fit in the touring, and everyone is happy about it  

Got tailed one night by a random. Pull into a car park and he followed me. Had a good yarn. Turns out he only lives a few blocks away.


Decided to do the vanos seals at the start of last year, so ordered all the bits from Beisan Systems, and some cheap timing locking kit from Ebay.
Guides all say to set everything to top dead center and lock it in place.
Well... that's fine on a stock system, but turns out I couldn't use the crankshaft lock due to my different combo.
Having a look online on this, several people said it shouldn't move.
So pulled it all apart, couldn't undo the nut and rounded it off.

Got a unit from Kerry, and he kindly rattle gunned the nut off.
Replaced the seals, and then went to put it all back in.... and what do you know, the crank had moved while doing the work.

Not wanting to risk anything, I pulled the motor and did it on the stand.

Mmm delicious oil in my intake

Back on the stand


Cleaning up the parts of burnt on oil.
This was done while the wife was out.
Boil a pot of water. Place part inside. Add laundry power. When you stop seeing bubbles on the surface, add more.

As per the vanos unit above, it cleans parts up really well

While taking it apart, broke one of the guides

All back together.

Built a garden shed (No car parts allowed says the wife)

[nick496 268]

While doing the vanos, my valve cover which I'd painted in crinkle black hadn't held up.

Got it blasted

Casting is pretty crap

Ground back the worst bits

Got it powder coated.

You can see the imperfections, but its a lot better than what it was.

While doing that, figured I should get the front subframe done too.
Had that blasted, reinforcement plates welded in, and then powdercoated.

While doing all that, found that some moisture got around the rubber that holds the front sway bar.
Some interesting corrosion there


Sway bar was powder coated, and replacement mounts were ordered.

[Olaf 3317]

4 hours ago, nick496 said:

Cleaning up the parts of burnt on oil.
This was done while the wife was out.
Boil a pot of water. Place part inside. Add laundry power. When you stop seeing bubbles on the surface, add more.

As per the vanos unit above, it cleans parts up really well

 

Built a garden shed (No car parts allowed says the wife)

There's no coincidence, Nick.  You realise that you were instructed to build a shed, because next time you have an oily parts boil-up on the stove, you'll be sleeping in there?! ?

[nick496 268]

23 hours ago, Olaf said:

There's no coincidence, Nick.  You realise that you were instructed to build a shed, because next time you have an oily parts boil-up on the stove, you'll be sleeping in there?! ?

No, that's why she's requesting a dog kennel this year for "the dog to sleep in"

[BLACK DORIS 9]

On 5/4/2019 at 10:48 AM, nick496 said:

Tidied things up enough, and went out for a track day at Hampton downs on the Club Circuit


Sadly no videos or photos of it in action as I went by myself.
Learnt a few things
-My 3-4 year old tyres aren't really up to the job
-You get thrown around a lot in the stock sports seats
-Power isn't everything on the small track. The little 1.8l MX5 fell behind me on the small straights, but was right up my behind every corner.
-Brakes weren't up to the challenge
Found that after a few runs by brake pedal was feeling a bit spongy, so called it a day.

So with that under my belt, I was keen for some more track time.
I went along to the E30 Race Series scholarship day to see what racing was all about.
Ended up starting the day in a hot lap in an E30, which within a few minutes of the track opening had managed to flip itself in the sand.
Fortunately everyone was alright. Cages are there for a reason.
After that lovely incident I hopped into an E46 M3 for a hot lap, and tried not to sh*t myself in a car with double the HP.
At the end of the day, had a new appreciation for racing, as the guys race very closely.

Then the rest of the year was pretty uneventful.
Wof guy noted that my exhaust was rubbing on my rear subframe.

Tried to tweak the angle a bit, but it's still an issue.

My central locking unit decided that it didn't want to talk to my remotes.
I found that during this, someone had replaced the drivers door lock with another one, and didn't swap over the tumblers.
So meant I had to lock/unlock passengers side until the lock rebuild kit arrived.

Had to take out the passengers lock to get the initial key combo (and I took the ignition barrel out for good measure)

 

So with the first 8? (I've forgotten) tumblers matched up to the passenger door lock, I just made up 3 remaining tumblers for the rest of the drivers door lock, as they are used for the deadlock function.
Got a key cut to the tumbler codes, and everything worked smoothly (including glovebox), so pretty happy with that.

Firstly, awesome work on the project. Nice! Secondly, how crazy was the lock replacement/repair - for non mechanically minded owner with a busted drivers door lock (thanks long term parking guys at Akl airport...). Locking and unlocking from boot, central locking still functional. Thanks!

 

[Olaf 3317]

30 minutes ago, BLACK DORIS said:

Firstly, awesome work on the project. Nice! Secondly, how crazy was the lock replacement/repair - for non mechanically minded owner with a busted drivers door lock (thanks long term parking guys at Akl airport...). Locking and unlocking from boot, central locking still functional. Thanks!

 

@BLACK DORIS Rio, more lock detail here: http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/60593-grey-thunder-1990-e30-316i/?do=findComment&comment=651581  if that helps.  I had trouble getting the final function right.

 

[nick496 268]

11 hours ago, BLACK DORIS said:

Firstly, awesome work on the project. Nice! Secondly, how crazy was the lock replacement/repair - for non mechanically minded owner with a busted drivers door lock (thanks long term parking guys at Akl airport...). Locking and unlocking from boot, central locking still functional. Thanks!

 

 

11 hours ago, Olaf said:

@BLACK DORIS Rio, more lock detail here: http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/60593-grey-thunder-1990-e30-316i/?do=findComment&comment=651581  if that helps.  I had trouble getting the final function right.

 

I found the hardest part was putting the door lock back in. Once you have it out of the table, the only thing to go wrong is having the tumblers out of order, but you can swap them around pretty easily.
In your case, it will depend on if you can figure out the numbers from the drivers door alone, or if you have to pull the passengers side to figure it out.
Providing you are comfortable will pulling out the door lock, you shouldn't have too much trouble.

Olaf has all the details you'll need in that post. Very helpful.

[nick496 268]

On 5/4/2019 at 3:29 PM, Olaf said:

There's no coincidence, Nick.  You realise that you were instructed to build a shed, because next time you have an oily parts boil-up on the stove, you'll be sleeping in there?! ?

So funnily enough, I left my computer on the project page, and the wife saw the photo.
I now have a dedicated pot to boil my parts in.
Managed to avoid both the garden shed, the kennel, and the couch.

[nick496 268]

Gee I haven't posted in here for ages.

So yes, I pulled the motor out, and did the VANOS.
In pulling the motor, I managed to rip a chunk out of my sound deadening on the firewall, and also snap off one of the little rods that the sound deadening screws onto.


Figured that with megameet 2018 just around the corner, I'd get a mate to weld it back on, and I'd slap some decent deadening in, and away I would go. 

Oh sweet summer child.

Was not the right welder for the job, and was turned up too high. Blew straight through. Note to anyone else wanting to do this. Just use liquid metal.
For some reason I thought that after that ordeal, I should get him to weld up my front inner guard, as I'd made a bit of a mess pulling out the mounting for the airbox.
Again, a bit nope.

So with the damage done, I abandoned my hopes of going to mega meet in my car.
And it went to a panel shop.

[nick496 268]

Figured I'd not only get those lovely holes fixed up, but might as well attend to some of my other issues.

Tailgate rust (Not nearly as bad as some I'd seen)

Some rust in the door jab

Got that all quoted up for a reasonable price.
Now here is the real f**k up. Asked for some additional work to be done, but didn't get it quoted, and didn't get anything in writing.
About 5 months later, I got the car back along with a massive bill to pay. Not happy.

Some photos of the tailgate during the repair:


Looking a bit better

Don't have a decent after shot, but might add that later.

During those 5 odd months I:
Bought a TI to run about it:

Got a 3.64 LSD to be installed later.

Which brings us to end of April 2019.

Edited January 12, 2020 by nick496

[nick496 268]

So with the car back, need to piece it all back together.
This took a while, as I first needed to paint some spots that were missed in the engine bay. Mainly under the battery tray (Not rusty).
Sarge was good at supervising

Managed to get some not completely dried up sound deadening from Mike of Euro Turbo.

Then swapped in a purple tag rack while everything was out.
Some side by side comparisons, E36 rack with E30 ends bottom, Purple tag with E46 inners, e36 outers top (I think)

Got a new steering shaft put together by the local driveshaft shop (E30 end of steering column piece onto Barina shaft).
All in

Also did most of the front end rubber:
-Mondeo drop links for the front sway bar
-New front sway bar bushings
-New lower control arms
-New lollipop bushings (E36 M3 centered ones)

And then put in the motor and all the rest.
-Rebuilt brake master cylinder
-Swapped to the Cylinder shape E28 M5 motor mounts, as I was getting a lot of noise in the cabin.
-Swapped to a double cut front valance. More speed holes for the future AC retrofit, plus it looks better.

Then gave her the first clean in over 12 months

Edited January 13, 2020 by nick496

[nick496 268]

I think the push to get it back together was for an ex-collegue's 50th birthday. 
For this, he'd hired out the Taupo track and invited all the car enthusiasts he knew.

I think I said last track day I needed to improve
-Tyres - Swapped to a slightly newer set (compared to the MY02s) of Toyo T1R's in 225/45/R16
-Seat - Used a recaro bottom mount seat

-Brakes - Still running hawk HPS pads with fresh fluid

Sadly, not much footage again, but she went round beautifully. And was happy with all the changes since last track day.
-Tyres were much better to drive on, and had very little squeal pushing at the limit
-Less flopping around in the Recaro seat with the larger bolsters
-Brakes were better than last time, but still need improvement 

Best lap time was 2:05.62

A couple of issues, with the E28 rubber mounts, my exhaust headers rubbed on the steering shaft in hard corners , and then at the end of the day, when we did drags

I didn't realise where the 1/4 mile ended, slammed on my brakes, they locked up. And my fronts then were very sad.

All the way down below the wear line. The drive home was very bumpy, as the rest of the tyre was about 6-7mm tread.

This brings us to end of August 2019

Edited January 13, 2020 by nick496

[nick496 268]

Well, as I said, had issues with the headers rubbing on the steering shaft on the track.
But that wasn't my only issue with my exhaust system.
This is my rear driveshaft hoop in the trans tunnel

As you can see, a bit too much clearance. A 10mm socket can sit in there (10mm socket is 38mm high)
So needless to say, my exhaust sits reasonably low.
And it also rubs on my rear subframe.
And it drones in the cabin at 2000rpm.
So a new exhaust was on the cards. But the first step is to give it more clearance in the tunnel.

Went to Mike at Euro turbo to get something inbetween my existing hoops, and his ones.

Much better.
My recommendation is definitely to get E30 hoops from Mike, as they fit really well, and hard to get something cheaper.
I also recommend clarifying with your certifier how far back you need to have the hoops if you're unsure, as it turns out I'd put mine in less than ideal spots.
I left the front hoop as is (even though it was also massive), as an exhaust is never going to go under it.

I also installed the LSD unit.
Interestingly there are 2 different plugs you can have on the speed sensors. I'm going to assume one is PFL and the other is FL.

So swapped them over, and I was good to go.
Unfortunately one of the previous owners wasn't that clever, and decided to crimp onto the loom the different plug

Managed to disconnect this when pulling the diff, and had to crimp it back on.
Another way you can tell an LSD from a non. The LSD weighs a lot more.

The bug had well and truly bit.
I went down to Taupo for another track day
Managed to get a pair old R888's off @raewyn22, so chucked those on some weaves, and went down.
Also replaced those tyres I scrubbed all the way down with some Michelin Sport 4's

After a few laps, they were nice and dirty

Shared a garage with a swift, who was managing about 5 seconds faster than me round the track

Highlight of the day was a Porsche GT3 owner asking to borrow my Ryobi air compressor

My best lap was 1:58.70, which was 7 second improvement on my last day.
I'll put that mostly down to better driving, but having the better tyres might have made a small difference.

Only faults this time:
-I badly crimped the speed sensor back on, so it disconnected 2 laps in
-My radiator started weeping very slowly
-Exhaust still rubbing (but not a surprise this time)

Edited January 13, 2020 by nick496

[nick496 268]

So with the track day over, and Mega Meet just over a month away, better get that exhaust sorted.
Just for reference this is what I was running: M52 headers (front modified), into a merge, then 2.5in through 2 coby's into a magnaflow muffler

Went to TTT Auto Engineering off a recommendation from the forums to get a new exhaust made up.
I ended up taking them another set of M52 headers, a mid section off a 135i, and a custom muffler that I had done by Manawatu Muffler Centre, and said make it fit, and specified where I'd like the V-bands.
I think I've only got full photos while it was being tacked up:

And here it is on the ground

Back to the sump and the mid muffler being the lowest points on the car. 
Really impressed with the job on the exhaust.
It is quieter across the board. Don't have the popping noises as I decelerate anymore (though I know some of you love those)
But annoyingly, hasn't resolved my cabin resonance issue at 2000RPM.

Put a new genuine IS lip on, as I smashed the fibreglass one I had over a year earlier reversing out of a driveway (Not mine)


And sorted out my sunroof.
This was inside the 'rust free' sunroof I purchased

Mmm yummy.
I split it at all the pinch welds, took it to a panel shop (Not the one that did my tailgate, though I did actually take it to them to be done with the car originally)
Where it then got acid dipped, then rust protectent applied to the inside, and pinched back together and painted.

This is what my old sunroof left in my drains:

I then converted my sunroof to electric. There are a few ways to do this it turns out. But the easiest way is just to take the full electric system out of a working car, and swap it in. I tried the drill/cut method, but I just made a mess, and cross threaded the motor mounts.
Only really need the brass rails and everything inside the cabin.
You coupe/sedan people have it easy, as you don't have to pull your whole headlining out to do this.

Purchased a recovered Tech 2 wheel a while back, so put that on as well. It is a larger 385mm, but I prefer it to a 370mm for cruising as I can actually see the speedo.

Then went down to Megameet 2019.
Had a couple of issues
1. My car decided that it didn't want to start during the whole weekend, after driving and then being parked up for say 20 minutes. Suspect either heatsoaked starter, or dying battery.
This lead to me becoming a pro at push starting my own car.
2. The rear V-Band clamp fell off on the trip down after I gained some air. This was definitely on me, as I had removed the rear muffler to polish it up a little, and I didn't tighten it back up enough.

So still needed the earplugs I had in the car. And it made GREAT noises driving through the tunnels.
Fortunately managed to find a shop open on Saturday that had V-Band clamps in stock, so after that the earplugs were no longer required.

Was great catching up with a bunch of enthusiasts. Especially @_BRS_ and @Olaf

Compared my brakes with Olaf's as he reckoned the Hawk HPS pads were great for street use.
So both cars Hawk HPS pads. (Though drums in the rear of the little 316i)
Could lock Olaf's wheels up at 80km/h no worries when I slammed on the brakes.
Mine, I slowed down, but couldn't lock up even when smashing the pedal.
Suspect either cooked pads, or stuck caliper(s). So some progress there.

When home via Taupo via Okau road.
Google reckoned it was a faster route. What it didn't tell me, was that it was mostly gravel.
Still, there was no one else on the road, and it was reassuring to have the LSD.

 

Edited January 13, 2020 by nick496

[nick496 268]

Well with E30 Mega meet over, there was only 1 event left in the year.
Another track day down at Taupo.

Fitted a Z3M radiator to replace my weeping one

Made a paper gasket for the thermostat housing, as I was also weeping from there

Then out onto the track. I took a friend with me this time, and he drove the car for a few rounds, so I have some (bad) footage.
It's hard to see from my camera, but in person it was very weird to see so much body roll.

Out on the track against an RX8, an AE86, and a Turbo MX5

Interestingly, my friend was faster in the MX5 around the corners, but the MX5 pulled away on the straights.
That's the difference of being a more confident driver (as well as not having hot boi rims with no vents)

My friend is a better driver than me, and managed a 1:55 something from memory.
I did a bit worse than last time, and my best time was a 2:00.43

Brake wear sensor light went on after the 2nd to last session of the day. 
Figuring it might just be an old E30 thing, checked the pads, but they seemed ok, so did a final session.
Got home, took off the pads, and found the fronts were gone.

Swapped to some stock ATE pads, and now I can lock up my wheels on the street ? YAY!
So yeah, don't think the Hawk HPS pads are up to my track day use, and I must have cooked them.

Also, my friend left the doors open on the car during the day, and after 6 hours, the car didn't want to start.
Swapped to a 710CCA battery

After all this, figured that regular track days in an E30 touring might not be the best idea long term.
So purchased an E36 328i: http://bimmersport.co.nz/topic/62999-the-bimmersport-family-e36-328i

Probably will take the E30 out again a few more times until the E36 is ready though.

Edited January 13, 2020 by nick496

[Olaf 3317]

given your work rate, the e36'll be ready in time for Waitangi day!