Kobra's Project E30 Touring

[Kobra 180]

Sorry about the delay, I haven't had much of a chance to update the thread lately.

Here is what happened since the last update:

Painted the brake ducts

I located an Audi brake booster which should work

Started modifing it to fit. The 2 raised rings around the bolt holes needed to go.

Side by side with the original booster.

Modifying the E30 clevis, the Audi push rod is M12x1.5

All done, looking good.

Test fitting, so far so good.

I'll need to adapted the brake lines.

First time I've done hydraulic fittings, so I did lots of research and practice creating decent flares.
This is the result.

Testing fitment with the intake manifold and brake fluid reservoir.

I will replace the reservoir with something a bit smaller. And the Intake manifold clearance is tight, but I think it'll work. I'm happy with the result.

[Kobra 180]

Time to install the transmission, but first I need to fix the manual transmission cross member I was given. Looks like it had taken a hard hit at some point, and it quite badly bent.

Nothing so bad that I can't fix it in a vice...

Time for the transmission to go in.

Tidied up the clutch fork, and a new throwout bearing.

Went in without any trouble.

The shifter is offset to the right a bit, I didn't know this was a thing, but it doesn't seem too bad.

Rolling out of the shop, starting to look like a car again.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Kobra
a word

[Kobra 180]

Sorry about the crappy photos from here. (My phone's custom rom is still a bit buggy)

After another 3 week break, I finally got back to the garage. Also had an extra mate helping out. The plan is to hopefully get the engine started.

First up I installed my brake ducts, lip spoiler, and front bumper trim. At the same time, the power steering pump, alternator, starter motor, and engine belts were going in.

Time for the driveshaft to go in with it's new CSB.

Time to start the wiring. I've been researching this for a few weeks, so it should go well.

First up, lets remove the old/broken/hack job stereo radio power antenna, and also delete the automatic transmission harness.

Starting on the engine loom.

Coils in.

New radiator in. Not 100% on what expansion tank I'll use. The E36 "side tank" doesn't appear to fit.

After a few hours of sorting through the loom, the only thing left is to adapt it to the the C101 connector.

Thanks to the help of Christian (Autobahn), we were able to match up the required wires.

After this, we just assembled the rest of the engine. Intake manifold went in, exhaust manifolds chopped, and a battery was rigged up. Sorry, but didn't remember to take any more photos of this process.

Time for a first start!

[Kobra 180]

First start video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxD8lW_wjNo

Excuse my enthusiasm, I was just extremely excited to finally see everything come together after months of work.

But all is not perfect, the engine wont idle by itself. It runs great when we manually give it a bit of throttle. We swapped out both the ICV and MAF from other vehicles, but still no idle. I'm thinking the TPS may be water damaged. But we ran out of time, and had to head back to Christchurch for work the next day.

At this stage I've got a few problems to solve before the first drive.

• The steering column doesn't clear the already chopped rear exhaust manifold. I'll probably just get a Holden Astra or similar steering U-joint setup from pick-a-part.
• The intake manifold appears to be just resting on the brake booster ever so slightly. I think I'll just add some washers on the engine mounts to lift the engine a few millimetres.
• I need to make a bracket to support the clutch fluid reservoir.
• The audi brake fluid reservoir clears the throttle body and intake manifold, but doesn't leave any room for a vacuum line to run down to the booster. I'm going to order a smaller reservoir from a Mk2/Mk3 golf which should solve the problem.
• I need to grab a throttle cable that will work. (probably from an E36)

Fingers crossed, I'm hoping to take the car for a drive next weekend.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Kobra

[duvey 245]

Awesome work! All looks very tidy.

[Kobra 180]

Just tidied things up enough to get the car ready for a first test drive.

We worked out the ICV was actually still stuck, but the spare one we swapped in was also stuck. A friend loaned me one from his parts stash. and she started right up and idled nicely.

Sorted the steering out with a Holden Astra linkage.

Conditions for the first drive weren't great...

• No vacuum to the booster yet. I'm waiting on parts.
• No brake lights as my manual brake pedal doesn't actually contact the brake switch for some reason.
• Alignment is way out. (from the steering rack swap)
• Many critical items are just temporarily zip tied out of the way.

But she was ready enough.



 

FIrst drive went fantastically.

The 4.11 diff paired with the ZF box makes for some extremely short gearing. I learned the ECU is in limp mode, limiting the engine revs to 5200rpm or so (This is probably just due to the complete lack of both O2 sensors, so not worried.). 5th gear was at about 5200rpm at 145kph. In the rain we were doing one-wheeler-pealers all the way to 4th. Don't even get me started on the noise....one of the most horrific, yet magical sounds I've ever heard.

[Kobra 180]

A pull from the first drive. It was quite dark and raining, so sorry about the quality. 

https://youtu.be/SdCb3e91p7Y

[zero 1162]

She sounds awesome!

[Kobra 180]

It's been a while since my last update, but I haven't stopped working on the project.

I had to start tidying up the engine bay. The wiring was a mess, and I really needed to sort something out for the intake.

I found some rust under the fuse box. :/
I was quite surprised as this is the only rust I've found on the car.

I finally had time to look at the wiring. The plan is to do a rear battery conversion using an E36 power block.

Not perfect, but I'm happy with the result for now.


While pulling the carpet out, I decided to cut around the heater core instead of the removing the dash. Everything was going well until I realised I had accidentally cut through the body loom in two places. Damnit.

2 hours later, I had it sorted.

Edited June 14, 2017 by Kobra

[Kobra 180]

I initally wanted to do a Bily + H&R sport combo for the suspension, but after a reasonable amount of research, I decided I try some BC Gold coilovers.

I got some 51mm front struts shipped down from Auckland, and found a qualified welder to weld the front sleeves.

Time to install them.

I don't want to drop the car too much while I'm running without sump guard. But I would still like to lower it bit more than this. 

The sump is the lowest part of the car.

[Kobra 180]

I was hoping to find a nice bolt on solution for the exhaust system. I found some basic E36 headers locally and decided give them a shot. 

It was immediately clear they were going to need some modification to get them to clear the steering linkage. Out came the hacksaw, grinder, and hammer.

I managed to make a good 5mm or so of clearance to the linkage.

[Kobra 180]

The intake manifold was just touching the Audi brake booster, so I added some spacers to the engine mounts.

I made some minor mods to a few things that were bugging me. Remove the coolant hose pieces from the throttle body. And cut off the lower half of cable holder section to simplify it. 

Since I'm replacing the factory PCV system with a catch can, I cut off part of the bracket under the intake manifold. This gives me more room to access under the manifold. 

I also made a small bracket to hold the oil dipstick in place.

Both pieces have since been painted black.

[Kobra 180]

I've found an exhaust system locally for a good price. It's a custom made full twin system, originally made for a spec E30 race car. I'm sure with some modification it will fit nicely.

I'm also currently in the process of getting the parts together to make the differential I want. E30 Medium case LSD with a 2.93 gear set. This should give me a nice cruising engine speed of 2600rpm at a 100km/h.

I've always wanted an E30 touring, but it seems they're pretty hard to find these days. So when one popped up for sale, I had to go for it. I'll picking up the car from Auckland and driving it back down to Christchurch.

I haven't seen the car in person, but it's relatively clean NZ new 318i Manual.

I'm not 100% on the details at this stage, but I would like to swap everything I've done to the coupe into the touring. I'll then use the tourings engine and gearbox to return the coupe back to stock. But I'm open to ideas.

[Autobahn 22]

Daniel - update your threads. You have still been making progress so post it up with some pics man.

[richard 384]

interesting read nice project. more posts required.

[Kobra 180]

Well, I certainly haven't done a great job of posting regular updates... better late than never, I guess.

Late one cold evening in June, a humble little white car rolls into a parking spot. 
I had finally made it back home after 2 days of driving from Auckland to Christchurch.

(Sorry for the potato camera)

The car was an NZ new 1992 318i in manual. It ran well enough to get me back, but it certainly had a few issues.

A few days later, a new set of rims arrived. They were wrapped in some fresh rubber, and hastily fitted on.



TRM C1 15x8 ET20 Wheels with 205/55 RE003s Tyres.

I only really had the time and funds to support one project. So this was basically the point when I committed to moving the drivetrain and suspension from the Coupe into the Touring. The coupe would be reverted back to stock until I could figure out what I was going to do with it.
It was going to take a bit of effort, but I honestly couldn't wait to get started.

The first thing I decided to tackle was swapping the suspension between the cars.


During this process, we realised the fact that new wheels didn't clear the front struts. It seems the coilover sleeves were welded higher on the strut tube than the manufacturer intended (to comply with cert rules). This means the lower adjustment nut sits right where the inner edge of the rim wants to be. I was running out of daylight, so for now, the factory bottle caps will go back on.


The new wheels ended up on the Coupe.

Edited June 20, 2019 by Kobra
.

[Kobra 180]

For a couple months, I didn't get much done as I was moving house.

However, some shiny silver rings found there way into my gauge cluster, along with a new set of plastic odometer gears, and a couple of fresh lithium cells for the SI board.


I also scored a set of 16" Style 5 Wheels for dirt cheap. These may come in handy at some point...

Edited June 20, 2019 by Kobra
.

[Kobra 180]

Once I had moved, I was given access to a spot in an insulated garage. This enabled me to work on things in the evenings after work. Some good progress was made.

Picked up an engine crane


Lid off


Disconnecting all the things

Out she comes

Edited November 14, 2019 by Kobra

[Kobra 180]

With the touring tucked away awaiting it's new engine, it's time for the coupe to go under the knife. 

M52 out

Mission success. Now to insert the mighty M40B18.

All buttoned up. Almost ready to be road legal again.

[Kobra 180]

Time to get the touring back in the garage.

I decided to investigate rust situation a little further, this is what I found.

Not looking so great.

 

I decided to remove the worst of it, and then hit it with some rust kill paint in an attempt to mitigate damage until I can have it repaired. I forgot to take photos of most of this, but I did get a photo of the battery tray.

Painted black

I'm happy with the result.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Kobra
.

[Kobra 180]

While not shown in earlier posts, I did also swap the E36 steering rack and Audi brake booster from the coupe.

Engine bay ready to receive the M52

Engine ready to go

And just like that, it's in.

I slightly slotted the booster holes in the firewall to move the booster down and away from the engine. The intake to booster clearance is tight, but better than it was in the coupe. 

Now I'm almost back to the point I was at with the coupe.

[Kobra 180]

Sorted out an oil catch can. It's just a cheap unit from ebay which I stuffed with iron wool.

I made a bracket, and mounted it under the intake manifold.

Installing the driveshaft hoops was the next task. Marking and drilling holes from inside the tunnel turned out to be far more difficult than I anticipated. But I got there in the end.

I also had to replace the crank position sense as it had died somehow while sitting.

Things are slowing coming together. Intake on.

M20 coolant overflow tank mounted.

First time out of the garage under it's own power.

Front end back on.

[qube 3570]

re-read the whole thread. it seems like a crazy thing to change everything over to the touring when you've already done so much to the coupe!

but it is your decision and if the coupe is up for sale...

[Olaf 3317]

39 minutes ago, qube said:

re-read the whole thread. it seems like a crazy thing to change everything over to the touring when you've already done so much to the coupe!

Because Touring.  Or, to put it another way:

Because. Touring.  Love. ❤️

 

?

[Kobra 180]

6 hours ago, qube said:

re-read the whole thread. it seems like a crazy thing to change everything over to the touring when you've already done so much to the coupe!

but it is your decision and if the coupe is up for sale...

Yep, it did seem daunting at the time.
However, the prospect of having a practical car which was also a blast to drive was too good to let go.

Also yes, Because Touring. 

I'm afraid the coupe has already found it's new owner. 

More updates to come...