Elias’ E30 project

[Eagle 1717]

Interesting. BMW sure created confusion making multiple different configurations, not sure why they switched they spline count etc for the 5 speeds.

Are you going for a 228mm or 240mm clutch? Appears you could have to use a 6 speed 22 spline clutch kit on a 5 speed flywheel to if you want a 240mm. 

[elias 319]

Made a start this weekend. Got the car inside and up on jackstands, started getting it ready to pull the engine and gearbox.
 

Removed the loom completely and any hoses, lines wires etc that join the engine to the car. Exhaust and drive shaft removed as well, as well as the auto shifter. Only thing holding it in now are engine mounts and the gearbox cross member, plan is to try and remove engine and gearbox in one go. 
 

i have unfortunately discovered a bit of rust under the cowl panel so not sure what to do about that just yet. Will see how much more I find once the engine is out and I can have a better look at the firewall. Any reccomendations for rust repair or even a panelbeater to do said rust repairs and repaint the engine pay for reasonable $ would be appreciated. 

the m52 has been stripped down partially, in order to give it a good clean. Parts have started showing up, have also ordered vanos rebuild kit, engine mounts (24v swap specific), 2002 brake reservoir for e90 booster swap and a whole bunch of other gaskets and bits for the m52. 

So next up is pull out the engine, rust repairs, figure out which brackets I can cut out of the engine bay, then get the engine bay painted and start reassembling the m52 in the meantime. 

 

Edited Saturday at 11:30 PM by elias

[elias 319]

On 3/7/2025 at 7:44 PM, Eagle said:

Interesting. BMW sure created confusion making multiple different configurations, not sure why they switched they spline count etc for the 5 speeds.

Are you going for a 228mm or 240mm clutch? Appears you could have to use a 6 speed 22 spline clutch kit on a 5 speed flywheel to if you want a 240mm. 

Not too sure yet, found a guy who may be able to sell me a complete z4 clutch kit to suit 22 spline 5 speed, with dmf, but not sure what size that clutch is. 

[Eagle 1717]

Likely the 228mm. The DMF flywheels are all 240mm so you can go bigger in the unlikely event you need to.

9 hours ago, elias said:

i have unfortunately discovered a bit of rust under the cowl panel so not sure what to do about that just yet.

Bit hard to tell from the photos but has gone right thru?

[elias 319]

12 minutes ago, Eagle said:

Likely the 228mm. The DMF flywheels are all 240mm so you can go bigger in the unlikely event you need to.

Bit hard to tell from the photos but has gone right thru?

No no holes yet, just in the lower left corner of the photo, a bit of lip has disappeared but no holes from what I can see, majority appears to be surface rust apart from where the lip has crumbled away. plan is to get the whole engine bay repainted once the engine is out, to adress any potential rust in the firewall as well which I’m sure I’ll find. 
also need to get the area around the boot seal repainted as rust has started to form there too, but again no holes yet. 

[e30ftw 425]

Pull the sound deadening off the firewall. Prefacelifts are notoriously rusty on the firewalls and down to the footwell on the inside. I can see a hint of it in your photo in the circle cut out next to where the steering column comes out. I'd lift the carpet at the front too.

[elias 319]

33 minutes ago, e30ftw said:

Pull the sound deadening off the firewall. Prefacelifts are notoriously rusty on the firewalls and down to the footwell on the inside. I can see a hint of it in your photo in the circle cut out next to where the steering column comes out. I'd lift the carpet at the front too.

Yeah will do, planning on removing all that sound deadening once the engine is out to have a proper look. Good to know about the footwells will lift the front half of the carpet and have a look. 

[Neil McCauley 418]

That's from a blocked elephant drain, water and leaves can pool up in the scuttle if it's blocked and create havoc - definitely pull both sides apart to expose the firewall on both sides to see what you're dealing with.

You can get a double whammy where the water seeps in from the blower motor area and pools around the accelerator pedal, and then if the car is jacked incorrectly (ie: all of them) it can crack the underseal away from the shell and water will work its way to the underside of the accelerator pedal mounting point.

[elias 319]

35 minutes ago, Neil McCauley said:

That's from a blocked elephant drain, water and leaves can pool up in the scuttle if it's blocked and create havoc - definitely pull both sides apart to expose the firewall on both sides to see what you're dealing with.

You can get a double whammy where the water seeps in from the blower motor area and pools around the accelerator pedal, and then if the car is jacked incorrectly (ie: all of them) it can crack the underseal away from the shell and water will work its way to the underside of the accelerator pedal mounting point.

Sounds lovely. Joys of old cars. I will take a closer look once I have the engine and gearbox out. Any recommendations on how to go about sorting out the rust?

[e30ftw 425]

To get the best repair done you will need to remove the carpet, dash, heaterbox etc to get to the backside of it make sure it hasn't gone all the way through. I'd wire wheel it all and treat it with rust converter or POR15 to seal it. If it's made holes you will need to cut and weld. 

Check behind the brake booster / fuse box harness grommet and from the inside, drop the glovebox out and look there too. 

[Eagle 1717]

7 hours ago, elias said:

Any recommendations on how to go about sorting out the rust?

If you can remove all the rust down to shiny clean metal then a 2k epoxy and top coat(brush on) is going to give the best long term results. You'd probably need a die grinder etc for those tight spots though.   

[elias 319]

All right thanks for the advice! Wasted no time and made a start on looking for rust this evening. Pulled seats, glovebox, under dash trims, carpet, sound reading out. Dash I still in, didn’t have that much time. Firewall looks perfect from the inside. Some minor spots in the floor, mostly around the accelerator pedal mount, there was some water in the sound deading foam so must have a leak somewhere which is mostly likely what caused the rust by the accelerator pedal. Only wet on drivers side and only on the door side, thinking maybe sunroof drain as it’s pretty near by.
 

passenger side:

drivers side:

 
not too bad overall from the inside. Will see what it’s like from the outside. Will most likely need to remove the dash to get the blower motor out to fix the rust near there. 

[e30ftw 425]

On the passenger side remove that globebox bracket, it's usually above that where the harness grommet passes through to the fusebox. The floor pan looks clean so that's good.

[Harper 588]

https://www.manheim.co.nz/damaged-vehicles/000000000007109464/1988-bmw-320i-sedan?referringPage=SearchResults

Anyone know the story with this? Looks kinda mint... Even the interior

Edited Monday at 09:21 PM by Harper

[elias 319]

9 hours ago, e30ftw said:

On the passenger side remove that globebox bracket, it's usually above that where the harness grommet passes through to the fusebox. The floor pan looks clean so that's good.

Yeah I was glad to find very minimal rust in the floor 

[elias 319]

6 hours ago, Harper said:

https://www.manheim.co.nz/damaged-vehicles/000000000007109464/1988-bmw-320i-sedan?referringPage=SearchResults

Anyone know the story with this? Looks kinda mint... Even the interior

That is extremely tidy 

[balancerider 805]

7 hours ago, Harper said:

https://www.manheim.co.nz/damaged-vehicles/000000000007109464/1988-bmw-320i-sedan?referringPage=SearchResults

Anyone know the story with this? Looks kinda mint... Even the interior

Someone needs to snaffle that for the recaros

[Harper 588]

1 hour ago, balancerider said:

Someone needs to snaffle that for the recaros

Hope it gets put back on the road. That looks 100% fixable.

[elias 319]

More progress tonight. Decided I may as well do it once and do it right so got straight back into it after work tonight. Pulled the dash out, as well as the entire AC/heater core unit. Bit of a tedious job with all the wires (not actually that many of them).

was stoked to find almost no rust, apart from a small amount on the lip that I showed in photos from the outside earlier, which was the main motivation for pulling it all out in order to be able to access it properly and fix it properly. 

most rusty part was the wiper motor mount, luckily no rust transferred from the mount bracket to the car itself so I’ve removed it and will be getting acid dipped sand blasted and repainted, before being reinstalled after the whole engine bay has been painted.

 

[elias 319]

Little bit more progress got more of the front end apart. Sold my getrag 220 to a mate, and will be going with a zf. Makes getting a correct driveshaft easier and is stronger, may as well do it right and use the gearbox bmw used with this engine. 

also pulled out the brake booster and brake master in preparation for paint. Will be getting replaced with e90 items and a 2002 reservoir. 

also drew up an adapter plate to mount an e36 ecu to the mounting bracket designed for the e30 ecu. will laser cutting it one night next week. 

 

plan is to remove the engine and gearbox this week. Also will remove/get some to remove the windscreen to check for rust and make sure it’s sealed properly as I believe some water has been getting past. 

[Sammo 2565]

[elias 319]

14 minutes ago, Sammo said:

Hahah yup it sure did, has gone well beyond what it was meant to but always seems to go that way. There’s nothing I hate more than having to do something twice so may as well do it now. 

[Southerner 150]

In terms of the ECU mounting location, I mounted mine in the passenger side as it seemed counterproductive to wire it all back across the engine. Maybe have a look into that as an option? Otherwise is looking good, you'll have yours on the road before mine!

[elias 319]

1 hour ago, Southerner said:

In terms of the ECU mounting location, I mounted mine in the passenger side as it seemed counterproductive to wire it all back across the engine. Maybe have a look into that as an option? Otherwise is looking good, you'll have yours on the road before mine!

that is a good point actually, maybe worth reconsidering 

[elias 319]

Unfortunately I have discovered quite a bad spot of rust in a very unfortunate place. Underneath the windscreen cowl, right in the corner and it’s bad. A significant hole. Definitely something I’ll need to get professionally fixed. Quite surprised to have found rust that bad with how relatively rust free the rest of the car is.