E30 M52-swapped Trackday Car
Discussion
Time for more updates.
As I said last time, next job was to adjust the handbrake and fit rear pads. This didn't prove quite as simple as fitting pads in the front as they were more of a tight fit, but I got there in the end. Also, one of the handbrake shoe hold-down pins had polled through some corrosion in the backplate - a common problem on E30/E36 models. This was remedied with the use of some Lockheed washers off Ebay. So the handbrake now works, but it still needs a touch of fine tuning before MOT time.
I also ordered parts for making my own drop links. 4 high-misalignment ball joints, some threaded bar, some nuts, nyloc nuts and washers. Got this all put together and bolted up to the struts, with a bit of grease on the bar to keep corrosion at bay. Also a handy hint for anyone strugggling to get the ARB into place with the bushes fitted - put the slot bit into the subframe first, put the bolt through the hole then use a bottle jack on the corner of the bush cup to lift it into place, just enough to get a few threads of the nut onto the bolt to hold everything in place. Then it can be tightened up normally.
Slightly odd thing I noted - the brackets on the struts for the drop link are not the same, offside/nearside. Nearside one has 3 holes, whereas the offside only has two and it I couldn't get a socket on the nearside one as it was too close to the strut. No such problem on the offside. I assume the 3 holes on the nearside is because the E36 compacts only have an ABS sensor on one front wheel, as per E30? I'm not sure. Anyway, all torqued up now.
I've made the hole for the exhaust in the rear valence bigger to suit the twin exhaust, but whilst doing so, noticed a) corrosion and b) the true state the rear arches have been left in. I scrubbed back all the rust with a wire wheel and sprayed it in primer and stonechip just to seal it until it gets to a bodyshop post-MOT. I don't see the corrosion causing an MOT issue. Gutted I need to throw more cash at the body but I guess I can only learn from this one.
Biggest hole is underneath the rear battery mount. Identified itself as bubbly underseal and I prodded it...
There's another about the size of a 5p piece on the other side.
Cut & finished valence:
Thanks to the help of a couple of mates (one of whom is alias 'renrut'), we got the brakes and clutch bled and operational. Bias bar on the brakes may need some fine tuning, but they DO stop the car! Only one leak in my lines too - just a union I'd not nipped up properly. Very pleased with that, well worth being anal when it comes to accepting/rejecting flares as anything I might have needed to replace would've been a major nut-ache with everything now in place.
So I'm now waiting for a few exhaust mounting bits and cable bits on back-order from BMW - once that's fitted, throttle cable is fitted and I've bodged up sume under-bonnet bracketry for a few bits and pieces, I just need to sort out all the switches in the interior, fix the passenger door latch, sort the wheel alignment and give it a good clean inside and out before MOT time
As I said last time, next job was to adjust the handbrake and fit rear pads. This didn't prove quite as simple as fitting pads in the front as they were more of a tight fit, but I got there in the end. Also, one of the handbrake shoe hold-down pins had polled through some corrosion in the backplate - a common problem on E30/E36 models. This was remedied with the use of some Lockheed washers off Ebay. So the handbrake now works, but it still needs a touch of fine tuning before MOT time.
I also ordered parts for making my own drop links. 4 high-misalignment ball joints, some threaded bar, some nuts, nyloc nuts and washers. Got this all put together and bolted up to the struts, with a bit of grease on the bar to keep corrosion at bay. Also a handy hint for anyone strugggling to get the ARB into place with the bushes fitted - put the slot bit into the subframe first, put the bolt through the hole then use a bottle jack on the corner of the bush cup to lift it into place, just enough to get a few threads of the nut onto the bolt to hold everything in place. Then it can be tightened up normally.
Slightly odd thing I noted - the brackets on the struts for the drop link are not the same, offside/nearside. Nearside one has 3 holes, whereas the offside only has two and it I couldn't get a socket on the nearside one as it was too close to the strut. No such problem on the offside. I assume the 3 holes on the nearside is because the E36 compacts only have an ABS sensor on one front wheel, as per E30? I'm not sure. Anyway, all torqued up now.
I've made the hole for the exhaust in the rear valence bigger to suit the twin exhaust, but whilst doing so, noticed a) corrosion and b) the true state the rear arches have been left in. I scrubbed back all the rust with a wire wheel and sprayed it in primer and stonechip just to seal it until it gets to a bodyshop post-MOT. I don't see the corrosion causing an MOT issue. Gutted I need to throw more cash at the body but I guess I can only learn from this one.
Biggest hole is underneath the rear battery mount. Identified itself as bubbly underseal and I prodded it...
There's another about the size of a 5p piece on the other side.
Cut & finished valence:
Thanks to the help of a couple of mates (one of whom is alias 'renrut'), we got the brakes and clutch bled and operational. Bias bar on the brakes may need some fine tuning, but they DO stop the car! Only one leak in my lines too - just a union I'd not nipped up properly. Very pleased with that, well worth being anal when it comes to accepting/rejecting flares as anything I might have needed to replace would've been a major nut-ache with everything now in place.
So I'm now waiting for a few exhaust mounting bits and cable bits on back-order from BMW - once that's fitted, throttle cable is fitted and I've bodged up sume under-bonnet bracketry for a few bits and pieces, I just need to sort out all the switches in the interior, fix the passenger door latch, sort the wheel alignment and give it a good clean inside and out before MOT time
motorhole said:
So I'm now waiting for a few exhaust mounting bits and cable bits on back-order from BMW - once that's fitted, throttle cable is fitted and I've bodged up sume under-bonnet bracketry for a few bits and pieces, I just need to sort out all the switches in the interior, fix the passenger door latch, sort the wheel alignment and give it a good clean inside and out before MOT time
This was what I said last time right? Well doing some of that has taken an age, due to being on holiday, visiting relatives and being kept busy at work for some of my weekends. Generally, being occupied by 'real life', but a very fine life that is too...Nevertheless, I've been abandoning the infinitely patient Mrs Motorhole whenever I can to make little bits of progress.
From the above scope of work then, I have tidied up 90% of the wiring and fitted dash switches etc. I cut a pair of holes in a stereo blanking plate for the window switches seeing as they were previously mounted in the now non-existent centre console. From the bits I ordered from BMW, I finally worked out how the heater control cable all does together, so now that all works. It didn't help that the old cable was seized virtually solid either!
Sadly, while I was on holiday, although all of my home made brake lines have proven themselves completely leakproof, the reservoirs had not. Brake fluid had dripped out the bottom of the reservoirs, onto the mounting bracket and then accumulated on the battery tray. So I've had to remove the reservoirs, clean up the mess and rub the paint back for an annoyingly non-matching respray. Problem was partially my fault though. The reservoirs have a brass nipple and clamping nut and washer in the bottom and I'd done the nut up, then just nipped it tight for fear of cracking the plastic. This wasn't tight enough though. A few more turns now has them tight and leakproof and the reservoirs have not cracked.
Then we come to the throttle cable. Because of the pedal box design, the arm on the throttle pedal is now near the floorpan rather than being halfway up the bulkhead. This meant that my E34 525i throttle cable wasn't long enough. I ordered a universal throttle cable kit from Venhill and made a hybrid cable from those bits and some bits removed from the BMW cable (like the nipple for the throttle body and the adjuster that mounts into the throttle body). A male and female brake union pair, drilled out to 7 mm, made a pretty good bulkhead fitting for the cable.
I then had all kinds of fun trying to get the cable to stay in place at the pedal end whilst still allowing the cable to move freely. I tell you, working in a footwell, through a rollcage is NOT a comfortable place at all. Certainly not for the couple of hours it took for me to come to an arrangement I was finally happy with. But now it seems okay and I'm just waiting for a solderless nipple to attach it to the pedal.
All I need, I think, is one good, interruption free weekend (not this weekend, sadly) and I think it'll be just about there. Apologies for this thread being picture light, but not much has gone on. Until next time...
More news - its nearly done!
Once the throttle cable was sorted, the only thing that was stopping me taking it for a quick spin around the compound was the anti-social lack of exhaust. So I remedied this by refitting the heat shield for the prop (which took much longer to figure out than it should've done) and fit my £40 exhaust. Fitting an exhaust on your own, on axle stands is not easy nor enjoyable. But I got there in the end and now the car really is starting to look presentable.
I then plumbed in the screenwash tubes for the fibreglass bonnet. An easy job requiring nothing more than some short self-tappers and some p-clips, but fitting the nozzles was another matter.
These are made of plastic and have a small stub with two tabs on it, so when you push them through the holes in the bonnet, the tabs stop it being pulled back out again. This is all well and good when you have a bonnet of 0.3 mm thick steel, but the skin of my fibreglass bonnet is somewhat thicker than that! So they didn't fit very well at all.
Enter Sugru. If you've not come across this stuff before, it's kinda like chemical metal, but the rubber version. And it bonds to stuff really well.
http://sugru.com/
One of my colleagues has made himself some custom ear buds for his headphones and I was really impressed. I thought it would be perfect for fitting my washer jets, and you know what? It was.
Then I addressed my issues with the standard steering wheel; namely it being too far away and being large enough to seriously impede my entry and exit from the car with my long ass legs. I got a dished 350 mm wheel and OMP boss from Rally Design, made a short wire to complete the earth circuit for the horn and all was good. The driving position is now infinitely better. And the horn works as it should.
It was at this point that I fired it up and took it for a quick spin, albeit not faster than walking pace. Unfortunately, the ECU is not secure yet and has a habit of dropping behind the clutch and/or brake pedal so until that was fixed, I wasn't going to give it any juice. Sounds well though. Very well. The non-assisted brakes felt weird at first but I quickly got the feel for them and the clutch is heavy, but smooth.
This afternoon, I skipped of work early, given the good weather and set about doing a little more work. First, I gave the inside of the rear windows, rear shelf & bench a good clean, cleaned up the passenger seat then fitted it properly, complete with harness and grip-tape in the floorpan.
I started tidying up the last of the wiring and found a place to mount the ECU securely. Albeit with a bungee cord, but a small luggage strap will do a more permanent job once I get a hold of one. Basically, it's suspended upside down underneath the dashboard and strapped solidly to the bulkhead by threading the strap through factory holes in the bulkhead.
Then I gave it the juice
I've also done a quick test of lights and electrics with a fairly good success rate, but currently I'm without electric windows and indicators, both which are a problem. Also, the fan doesn't kick in when it should so I need to figure out what's going on there.
Once I've resolved these, the only outstanding matters are figuring out what to do with the fuel tank breather, wheel alignment and (still) a few outstanding brackets I need to make for the power terminal under the bonnet, the PAS fluid reservoir and the bias bar adjuster. Then it's MOT time baby!
Once the throttle cable was sorted, the only thing that was stopping me taking it for a quick spin around the compound was the anti-social lack of exhaust. So I remedied this by refitting the heat shield for the prop (which took much longer to figure out than it should've done) and fit my £40 exhaust. Fitting an exhaust on your own, on axle stands is not easy nor enjoyable. But I got there in the end and now the car really is starting to look presentable.
I then plumbed in the screenwash tubes for the fibreglass bonnet. An easy job requiring nothing more than some short self-tappers and some p-clips, but fitting the nozzles was another matter.
These are made of plastic and have a small stub with two tabs on it, so when you push them through the holes in the bonnet, the tabs stop it being pulled back out again. This is all well and good when you have a bonnet of 0.3 mm thick steel, but the skin of my fibreglass bonnet is somewhat thicker than that! So they didn't fit very well at all.
Enter Sugru. If you've not come across this stuff before, it's kinda like chemical metal, but the rubber version. And it bonds to stuff really well.
http://sugru.com/
One of my colleagues has made himself some custom ear buds for his headphones and I was really impressed. I thought it would be perfect for fitting my washer jets, and you know what? It was.
Then I addressed my issues with the standard steering wheel; namely it being too far away and being large enough to seriously impede my entry and exit from the car with my long ass legs. I got a dished 350 mm wheel and OMP boss from Rally Design, made a short wire to complete the earth circuit for the horn and all was good. The driving position is now infinitely better. And the horn works as it should.
It was at this point that I fired it up and took it for a quick spin, albeit not faster than walking pace. Unfortunately, the ECU is not secure yet and has a habit of dropping behind the clutch and/or brake pedal so until that was fixed, I wasn't going to give it any juice. Sounds well though. Very well. The non-assisted brakes felt weird at first but I quickly got the feel for them and the clutch is heavy, but smooth.
This afternoon, I skipped of work early, given the good weather and set about doing a little more work. First, I gave the inside of the rear windows, rear shelf & bench a good clean, cleaned up the passenger seat then fitted it properly, complete with harness and grip-tape in the floorpan.
I started tidying up the last of the wiring and found a place to mount the ECU securely. Albeit with a bungee cord, but a small luggage strap will do a more permanent job once I get a hold of one. Basically, it's suspended upside down underneath the dashboard and strapped solidly to the bulkhead by threading the strap through factory holes in the bulkhead.
Then I gave it the juice
I've also done a quick test of lights and electrics with a fairly good success rate, but currently I'm without electric windows and indicators, both which are a problem. Also, the fan doesn't kick in when it should so I need to figure out what's going on there.
Once I've resolved these, the only outstanding matters are figuring out what to do with the fuel tank breather, wheel alignment and (still) a few outstanding brackets I need to make for the power terminal under the bonnet, the PAS fluid reservoir and the bias bar adjuster. Then it's MOT time baby!
So, stepping back a fortnight or so, here was my ECU suspended underneath the dashboard by a bungee cord:
This is now secured properly with some slip straps. It's not going anywhere. Under the bonnet, I had some brackets to make for the dipstick tube, the airbox and the power block.
And I also had to fit and mount my brake bias knob. I'd left the driver's side air vent free precisely for this purpose:
With regards to potential issues with the immenent MOT; I've had an ongoing problem with weeping brake fluid since I'd done the bleed of the braking system. It only weeped under pressure and it was coming from a union between a hard line and flexi pipe at the top of the offside rear trailing arm. The hardest b*stard union to get access to on the whole car. I was putting this off as I had a suspicion I might need to replace the hardline which may well have been a 'drop the heat shield & exhaust' job. As it turns out, it was just a matter of getting the right angle on it with a pair of spanners. It wasn't tight - it just felt tight because I'd assembled it dry about 14 months ago. It clicked then I got an easy half turn out of it and the weeping has stopped. I now have a fluid-tight braking system.
I also had no working indicators. At all. I had power to the hazard light switch as when that was pushed, it lit up, but there was no flashing and there were no signal lights.
On the E30, the hazard light switch is a junction box. So I started my troubleshooting by jumping various ports on the hazard light switch socket to see what reactions I got. I could get the indicators to light up, I could get them to flash, I could get them to flash via the indicator stalk, albeit only on the offside...and then the socket began to fall apart in my hands. Wires started falling out of the crimps and there was a dodgy looking connection on the power feed. I sourced a second hand socket with plenty wire attached, along with another hazard light switch for good measure, then cut out the old one and soldered in the new one. Problem solved, indicators then worked perfectly - save for the ones in the front bumper. Some testing with a multimeter narrowed this down to a poor connection between the bulb and bulb holder, so some adjustments to the spring in the holder saw these working too.
I was struggling with ideas with what to do about the fuel tank breather too, another job I'd been putting off. Pre-facelift (i.e. pre-1987) E30s just had the breather open above the fuel tank, whereas facelifted (post 1987) E30s had a pipe running from the tank to a carbon cannister under the bonnet and then into the intake manifold via a valve. I didn't particularly like either of these ideas - one being that I found it difficult to thread a pipe up and over the fuel tank due to clearances. I ended up with a sort of half-way measure using an idea I swiped from a kit car forum. I used a small universal fuel filter, opened it up and filled it with activated carbon pellets - the stuff used for fish tank filters. I closed it and attached the breather pipe to this, then left the top open up at the top of the fuel tank. This meant I had an open breather but without the stink of fuel typically associated with old cars.
Moving onto some mundane tasks; there was fitting the bonnet, fitting roll-cage padding, cleaning the car out and doing front wheel alignment (which I've slightly c*cked up, but I'll talk about that in my next post once I've remedied it). I had a bracket to make for the exhaust centre box and managed to source a front strut brace (Ultra Racing) cheap as an ex-display item.
Then, just when I thought I was about done, my engine started sounding like a sewing machine.
Poking around using a large screwdriver as a stethoscope, I sourced the noise down to the injectors - all 6 of them. Batch firing? perhaps. Nevertheless, I checked electrical connections for the cam sensor, crank sensor, lambda sensors, VANOS and fuel rail. I made sure the inlet manifold was properly torqued down and checked all breather connections. I also pulled the cam sensor, cleaned it up with a bit of fuel and replaced it. I then had a nice quiet M52, but a broken bracket on the cam sensor due to my having hands like feet. Nearly £80 for a new one! Nevertheless, problem resolved.
So tomorrow, it goes for the MOT. Fingers are crossed, hoping for the best. In the meantime, here's some photos of the (hopefully) road-worthy car. I'm not going to say it's finished as, well it's not. Quite. And probably never will be. But for now...
This is now secured properly with some slip straps. It's not going anywhere. Under the bonnet, I had some brackets to make for the dipstick tube, the airbox and the power block.
And I also had to fit and mount my brake bias knob. I'd left the driver's side air vent free precisely for this purpose:
With regards to potential issues with the immenent MOT; I've had an ongoing problem with weeping brake fluid since I'd done the bleed of the braking system. It only weeped under pressure and it was coming from a union between a hard line and flexi pipe at the top of the offside rear trailing arm. The hardest b*stard union to get access to on the whole car. I was putting this off as I had a suspicion I might need to replace the hardline which may well have been a 'drop the heat shield & exhaust' job. As it turns out, it was just a matter of getting the right angle on it with a pair of spanners. It wasn't tight - it just felt tight because I'd assembled it dry about 14 months ago. It clicked then I got an easy half turn out of it and the weeping has stopped. I now have a fluid-tight braking system.
I also had no working indicators. At all. I had power to the hazard light switch as when that was pushed, it lit up, but there was no flashing and there were no signal lights.
On the E30, the hazard light switch is a junction box. So I started my troubleshooting by jumping various ports on the hazard light switch socket to see what reactions I got. I could get the indicators to light up, I could get them to flash, I could get them to flash via the indicator stalk, albeit only on the offside...and then the socket began to fall apart in my hands. Wires started falling out of the crimps and there was a dodgy looking connection on the power feed. I sourced a second hand socket with plenty wire attached, along with another hazard light switch for good measure, then cut out the old one and soldered in the new one. Problem solved, indicators then worked perfectly - save for the ones in the front bumper. Some testing with a multimeter narrowed this down to a poor connection between the bulb and bulb holder, so some adjustments to the spring in the holder saw these working too.
I was struggling with ideas with what to do about the fuel tank breather too, another job I'd been putting off. Pre-facelift (i.e. pre-1987) E30s just had the breather open above the fuel tank, whereas facelifted (post 1987) E30s had a pipe running from the tank to a carbon cannister under the bonnet and then into the intake manifold via a valve. I didn't particularly like either of these ideas - one being that I found it difficult to thread a pipe up and over the fuel tank due to clearances. I ended up with a sort of half-way measure using an idea I swiped from a kit car forum. I used a small universal fuel filter, opened it up and filled it with activated carbon pellets - the stuff used for fish tank filters. I closed it and attached the breather pipe to this, then left the top open up at the top of the fuel tank. This meant I had an open breather but without the stink of fuel typically associated with old cars.
Moving onto some mundane tasks; there was fitting the bonnet, fitting roll-cage padding, cleaning the car out and doing front wheel alignment (which I've slightly c*cked up, but I'll talk about that in my next post once I've remedied it). I had a bracket to make for the exhaust centre box and managed to source a front strut brace (Ultra Racing) cheap as an ex-display item.
Then, just when I thought I was about done, my engine started sounding like a sewing machine.
Poking around using a large screwdriver as a stethoscope, I sourced the noise down to the injectors - all 6 of them. Batch firing? perhaps. Nevertheless, I checked electrical connections for the cam sensor, crank sensor, lambda sensors, VANOS and fuel rail. I made sure the inlet manifold was properly torqued down and checked all breather connections. I also pulled the cam sensor, cleaned it up with a bit of fuel and replaced it. I then had a nice quiet M52, but a broken bracket on the cam sensor due to my having hands like feet. Nearly £80 for a new one! Nevertheless, problem resolved.
So tomorrow, it goes for the MOT. Fingers are crossed, hoping for the best. In the meantime, here's some photos of the (hopefully) road-worthy car. I'm not going to say it's finished as, well it's not. Quite. And probably never will be. But for now...
Top work Motorhole
Glad to see the car finally coming to the end of a very very long rebuild, ok there is a few bits to tidy (Not that a weekend with a welder won't sort) but overall it should be quite a weapon, loving the fact you left the 318i badge on the back
Now it's a case of when you're down for a track day this way, I'm calling dibs on a ride / drive
One thing it does need though is the 318iS front lip, I know the clips and lip are still avaliable from BMW, but not cheap, but once the suspension's had time to settle, with a new iS lip, it'll look rather agressive, even more so if you go with a de-chrome grill.
Glad to see the car finally coming to the end of a very very long rebuild, ok there is a few bits to tidy (Not that a weekend with a welder won't sort) but overall it should be quite a weapon, loving the fact you left the 318i badge on the back
Now it's a case of when you're down for a track day this way, I'm calling dibs on a ride / drive
One thing it does need though is the 318iS front lip, I know the clips and lip are still avaliable from BMW, but not cheap, but once the suspension's had time to settle, with a new iS lip, it'll look rather agressive, even more so if you go with a de-chrome grill.
So, it's now all road legal and above board 
failed the MOT first time round on headlamp misalignment and the adjusters needed freeing up. But 2nd time pass with no advisories. I'm a happy man!
The drive to/from the garage did highlight a couple of issues though. Firstly, I have the rear dampers set way too soft. The exhaust hits the valence when turning/over bumps. The rear tyres scrub the arches from time to time. So first stop is the bodyshop to sort out the arches and amend the previous bodge job. Then I'll address the issues with the dampers and I should be able to give it some stick and see how it goes.
I'm also not entirely happy with my top hose arrangement, it looks a little restrictive so I'm going to sort this out. Then I have 6 litres of 5w40 fully synthetic Valvoline to go in and replace the 5w30 diesel oil that's in there now cleaning things out.
Very pleased with the way it sounds and can't wait to give it some death!
failed the MOT first time round on headlamp misalignment and the adjusters needed freeing up. But 2nd time pass with no advisories. I'm a happy man!The drive to/from the garage did highlight a couple of issues though. Firstly, I have the rear dampers set way too soft. The exhaust hits the valence when turning/over bumps. The rear tyres scrub the arches from time to time. So first stop is the bodyshop to sort out the arches and amend the previous bodge job. Then I'll address the issues with the dampers and I should be able to give it some stick and see how it goes.
I'm also not entirely happy with my top hose arrangement, it looks a little restrictive so I'm going to sort this out. Then I have 6 litres of 5w40 fully synthetic Valvoline to go in and replace the 5w30 diesel oil that's in there now cleaning things out.
Very pleased with the way it sounds and can't wait to give it some death!
Just read from the start (we're going to a wedding today and my mrs is safely locked away in the bathroom trying on dresses and stuff, so leaving me alone! ) I had an S50 powered e30 myself, but went back to my preferred e21. Anyway, top work there fella. You should be rightfully proud of what you've achieved. There's a lot of work involved in building a proper track car, as you found out, but now the fun begins! I'm close to dropping the engine and box into my own and hoping I get some track time before the end of the year.
) I had an S50 powered e30 myself, but went back to my preferred e21. Anyway, top work there fella. You should be rightfully proud of what you've achieved. There's a lot of work involved in building a proper track car, as you found out, but now the fun begins! I'm close to dropping the engine and box into my own and hoping I get some track time before the end of the year. Thanks guys
Yeah, every other weekend just doesn't cut it if you're tight for time. Takes lots of hours, only this year have I been working most weekends and occasional evenings.
e21mark - bet the E21 goes very well indeed with the M52. Out of interest, what did you feel were the shortcomings of the S50'd E30?
So, today I stiffened up the rear dampers. This is a little more involved than I would like at the moment as the Koni shocks require removal from the car to adjust. Still, it can be done on the ground and aside from being a bit fiddly for one man to do, its possible. I also made sure that the few road miles it has havn't 'unsettled' the rear subframe, diff etc so I torqued everything up again. Rear subframe nuts were surprisingly slack...but not anymore.
The front shocks were a little high too, so I dropped those by 15 mm and made sure damping pressure was even across the fronts. Then I took it for a short drive and it felt a hell of a lot better. Rear tyres still catch the arches, but a lot less severe than it was and the crashiness is gone. I changed the oil when I got back so now mechanically its almost there. I'm going to drop it off at the bodyshop tomorrow and see about getting the arches sorted and getting the rear wheel alignment done.
Yeah, every other weekend just doesn't cut it if you're tight for time. Takes lots of hours, only this year have I been working most weekends and occasional evenings.
e21mark - bet the E21 goes very well indeed with the M52. Out of interest, what did you feel were the shortcomings of the S50'd E30?
So, today I stiffened up the rear dampers. This is a little more involved than I would like at the moment as the Koni shocks require removal from the car to adjust. Still, it can be done on the ground and aside from being a bit fiddly for one man to do, its possible. I also made sure that the few road miles it has havn't 'unsettled' the rear subframe, diff etc so I torqued everything up again. Rear subframe nuts were surprisingly slack...but not anymore.
The front shocks were a little high too, so I dropped those by 15 mm and made sure damping pressure was even across the fronts. Then I took it for a short drive and it felt a hell of a lot better. Rear tyres still catch the arches, but a lot less severe than it was and the crashiness is gone. I changed the oil when I got back so now mechanically its almost there. I'm going to drop it off at the bodyshop tomorrow and see about getting the arches sorted and getting the rear wheel alignment done.
Edited by motorhole on Sunday 8th September 16:01
motorhole said:
e21mark - bet the E21 goes very well indeed with the M52. Out of interest, what did you feel were the shortcomings of the S50'd E30?
None really, so long as you're happy to use plenty of revs. Traction can be an issue I guess? Especially if you're only running 195's as I was. I went to 215's on 16'' rims in the end. The main issue is that s50's are getting a little long in the tooth now and rebuilds aren't cheap. S54's are easy to find at sensible money now so make more sense financially. The s50 is a cracking engine though and either works well in an e30.Mind you, when you can get 240+ from a £250 m52, it can be hard to justify the extra cost for a weekend toy. I really like the m52 and think they're great value for money. If it lets go, just drop in another. Spin a shell in an s54 and it's a different matter.
My e21
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Well, the E30 was due for its first trackday on Friday 20th at Blyton Park, but...sadly...it didn't make it.
I got the car back from the bodyshop on Tuesday, where they had been tidying up some previously bodged arch work and trying to get extra clearance for the wheels. When I got back from the short drive through traffic, coolant was pissing out of the expansion cap and dripping from a hose that I knew was weeping and needed fixing anyway (although temperature was fine). Not good at all. I could only presume that my regular but small coolant top ups due to the weeping hose had somehow worked an airlock into the troublesome M52 coolant circuit. I hoped it wasn't a head gasket problem...
I took a long lunch hour on Wednesday to re-bleed the system from scratch but didn't manage to bleed it properly. I ended up with an airlocked system that wouldn't blow hot air from the heaters. I then decided that Thursday night was the night and I would do it properly, no rushing...and fix that damn weeping hose while I was at it.
So I drained the system, took the hose apart at the join where it was weeping, fitted slightly smaller t-bolts for a tighter fit (before the t-bolts were at their min diameter and still weren't gripping the hose correctly) and replaced it. I then took my time to refill the system correctly and replaced the expansion cap with another spare I had lying around for good measure. Done, fired up, warmed up, hot air through heaters, fan kicks in, tiny spot of air on slackening the bleed screw and nothing more, job done. Sadly, I didn't have time for the test drive and I wasn't willing to risk a 250 mile round trip and trackday on Friday in a car with questionable durability...so track duties were left to the ever reliable Fabia.
Fabias arn't built for racetracks. Too heavy and too much body roll. It was all too easy to cook the brakes, but I still had a laugh!
Nevertheless, this morning I went back to the BMW. After warming it up, I took it for a proper spin. Town driving, dual carriageway, some redline action, about 15 miles in all - and it took it with no problems. When I'd finished, I checked for air at the bleed screw and there was none. So, it appears, it's now ready for action, just one day late.
I am still suffering from rear tyre scrub though, particularly in harder left handers and under hard acceleration. I think I'm going to have to go the hard route and find some 16" wheels that'll clear the E36 M3 front brakes, in a slightly higher offset. Sad to loose money on nearly new wheels and tyres, but it will make for a better drive in the long run I think. Still, pleased to finally have it on the road and running properly
I got the car back from the bodyshop on Tuesday, where they had been tidying up some previously bodged arch work and trying to get extra clearance for the wheels. When I got back from the short drive through traffic, coolant was pissing out of the expansion cap and dripping from a hose that I knew was weeping and needed fixing anyway (although temperature was fine). Not good at all. I could only presume that my regular but small coolant top ups due to the weeping hose had somehow worked an airlock into the troublesome M52 coolant circuit. I hoped it wasn't a head gasket problem...
I took a long lunch hour on Wednesday to re-bleed the system from scratch but didn't manage to bleed it properly. I ended up with an airlocked system that wouldn't blow hot air from the heaters. I then decided that Thursday night was the night and I would do it properly, no rushing...and fix that damn weeping hose while I was at it.
So I drained the system, took the hose apart at the join where it was weeping, fitted slightly smaller t-bolts for a tighter fit (before the t-bolts were at their min diameter and still weren't gripping the hose correctly) and replaced it. I then took my time to refill the system correctly and replaced the expansion cap with another spare I had lying around for good measure. Done, fired up, warmed up, hot air through heaters, fan kicks in, tiny spot of air on slackening the bleed screw and nothing more, job done. Sadly, I didn't have time for the test drive and I wasn't willing to risk a 250 mile round trip and trackday on Friday in a car with questionable durability...so track duties were left to the ever reliable Fabia.
Fabias arn't built for racetracks. Too heavy and too much body roll. It was all too easy to cook the brakes, but I still had a laugh!
Nevertheless, this morning I went back to the BMW. After warming it up, I took it for a proper spin. Town driving, dual carriageway, some redline action, about 15 miles in all - and it took it with no problems. When I'd finished, I checked for air at the bleed screw and there was none. So, it appears, it's now ready for action, just one day late.
I am still suffering from rear tyre scrub though, particularly in harder left handers and under hard acceleration. I think I'm going to have to go the hard route and find some 16" wheels that'll clear the E36 M3 front brakes, in a slightly higher offset. Sad to loose money on nearly new wheels and tyres, but it will make for a better drive in the long run I think. Still, pleased to finally have it on the road and running properly
Good news!
These are excellent rims and despite being a copy, are light and strong. I had them on my s50 powered e30 and they were great. Cheap too!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16-LM-STYLE-BMW-E30-4X10...
These are excellent rims and despite being a copy, are light and strong. I had them on my s50 powered e30 and they were great. Cheap too!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16-LM-STYLE-BMW-E30-4X10...
That's a nice looking E30! My first was an E in black too.
The wheels do look like good value but I need 5x120 fitment. My main concern with 16" wheels too is I know that not many of them will clear the E36 M3 front brakes! I THINK most of the stock BMW ones do though - the E46 wheels I had for rolling the shell around on in the early days were very tight, perhaps only a mm or so clearance, but they fit.
The wheels do look like good value but I need 5x120 fitment. My main concern with 16" wheels too is I know that not many of them will clear the E36 M3 front brakes! I THINK most of the stock BMW ones do though - the E46 wheels I had for rolling the shell around on in the early days were very tight, perhaps only a mm or so clearance, but they fit.
Footage from Blyton Park. In the absence of the BMW, I present you with some disappointingly quiet and unspectacular footage from the Fabia vRS instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDDjqUZ_MnU&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDDjqUZ_MnU&fea...
So since the E30 ducked out of Blyton, I've taken a bit of a break, had a lovely week in Budapest with the missus then returned refreshed and determined to solve my problem! Starting with a new set of 16" wheels.
I got these BMW style 42s (16"x7J ET47) from Ebay for a bargain price - I was the only bidder and there was no reserve - taking a gamble that they would fit over the front brakes. Sold as professionally refurbished in a black powdercoat, style wise they were bang on.
When I tried to bolt them up to the car though, the caliper fouled the lip that runs around the inside of the wheel behind the spokes. Inner diameter clearance was fine though, so I ordered 4 x 15mm hubcentric spacers and a stud conversion kit for good measure.
Bolting up the wheels again, clearance looked tight. Very tight, I could just about get a credit card between the caliper and the inside of the lip. But it was true, no fouling etc.
I went ahead and got tyres fitted and valved and the wheels balanced. They balanced up just fine, but I couldn't afford another set of track-day tyres this time round. I got a set of GT Radial UHPs on the basis that they hold up to high temps well. And they were cheap. Once these are worn, I will get another set of RSRs, but until then, off with the old and on with the new:
Car drives a lot better on the 16s. Miles of clearance - I can even lower it another 10-15mm easy. No fouling anywhere. Feels a little livelier too, must be some 3kg difference per corner at least! I prefer the looks too, suit the car better. I just need a set of centre caps to finish them off.
Of course an added benefit to this setup now is that most standard E36/E46 16" wheels should fit! This opens loads of options for cheap second-hand sets of wheels if I ever want a spare set for just track use or whatever.
I've not fitted the studs yet, I've just used the longer wheel bolts that came with the spacers to test everything out. I'll fit the studs properly another weekend. Until then I'm going to enjoy the car a little bit whilst we still get the odd dry day, ironing out niggles and what not!
On a different note, this is what was left of the rear pads on the Fabia after Blyton park...
...I thought there might have been 1000 miles left in them before the trackday...or about 30 track miles it seems!
I got these BMW style 42s (16"x7J ET47) from Ebay for a bargain price - I was the only bidder and there was no reserve - taking a gamble that they would fit over the front brakes. Sold as professionally refurbished in a black powdercoat, style wise they were bang on.
When I tried to bolt them up to the car though, the caliper fouled the lip that runs around the inside of the wheel behind the spokes. Inner diameter clearance was fine though, so I ordered 4 x 15mm hubcentric spacers and a stud conversion kit for good measure.
Bolting up the wheels again, clearance looked tight. Very tight, I could just about get a credit card between the caliper and the inside of the lip. But it was true, no fouling etc.
I went ahead and got tyres fitted and valved and the wheels balanced. They balanced up just fine, but I couldn't afford another set of track-day tyres this time round. I got a set of GT Radial UHPs on the basis that they hold up to high temps well. And they were cheap. Once these are worn, I will get another set of RSRs, but until then, off with the old and on with the new:
Car drives a lot better on the 16s. Miles of clearance - I can even lower it another 10-15mm easy. No fouling anywhere. Feels a little livelier too, must be some 3kg difference per corner at least! I prefer the looks too, suit the car better. I just need a set of centre caps to finish them off.
Of course an added benefit to this setup now is that most standard E36/E46 16" wheels should fit! This opens loads of options for cheap second-hand sets of wheels if I ever want a spare set for just track use or whatever.
I've not fitted the studs yet, I've just used the longer wheel bolts that came with the spacers to test everything out. I'll fit the studs properly another weekend. Until then I'm going to enjoy the car a little bit whilst we still get the odd dry day, ironing out niggles and what not!
On a different note, this is what was left of the rear pads on the Fabia after Blyton park...
...I thought there might have been 1000 miles left in them before the trackday...or about 30 track miles it seems!
Edited by motorhole on Sunday 20th October 11:05
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