the one and only e30 s52 engine swap

[SteelBlue]

GunMetalGrey said:

I don't do drag racing, but this seems like a pretty solid time for something on street tires at WIR for your first event.
Time to get @suspenceful on the road with you and do some 59.99 rolls! 

[GunMetalGrey]

I now realize it's the wrong crowd for that joke. 
MTB jokes relating to SRAM switching from a 30mm axle to a 28.99mm 
Carry on

[suspenceful]

GunMetalGrey said:

I don't do drag racing, but this seems like a pretty solid time for something on street tires at WIR for your first event.
Time to get @suspenceful on the road with you and do some 59.99 rolls! 

I told him I'm down to swap keys!

PS: that's a nice fender roller 

[AsparagusMike]

suspenceful said:

I told him I'm down to swap keys! 

Absolutely!

suspenceful said:

PS: that's a nice fender roller 

Oops, my bad.

Shoutout to @suspenceful for hooking @GunMetalGrey up who hooked me up with that badass fender roller, much appreciated.

[AsparagusMike]

Update!

So last night I took the car over to a man by the name of Hunter Mulhollon (hunter tuned) who knows MS really well and messed around with my tune a bit to figure out why I was cutting out. Luckily he was able to get the car on the dyno the same night and got her dialed in really well.

First of all, before he did any tuning he went ahead and pulled a spark plug and checked the gap, it was .025. After informing him that I was running a 2 step colder plug and had gaped them all to .021 he pulled the other 5 and found that all of them were in the .025 to .027 range. It seems I was suffering from a bit of spark blowout. He brought them all down to .019 - .020 and popped em back in. After a few pulls he found that I was getting some pretty lean spots on the fuel table. Went through and cleaned that up making everything a bit more fat (rich) for safety and being that I'm running e85. After making some more adjustments else where he did one final pull and the car put down a whopping 400 hp! The crazy thing is the tune is still pretty conservative as I'm only at about 8 lbs (once in a while creeping to 10ish lbs) and running e85. There was actually room for even a little more power safely but unfortunately being that I only have the stage 2 clutch in there now she's about maxed out and he started to smell it slipping a little so he called her quits. The big thing is my cut out issue is now gone and she feels even more responsive! Driving it home I tried about every situation I could think of that would make the car cut out before and she just kept pulling. All in all amazing work from Hunter.

I also just wanna say that Shane at DB performance still did an awesome job on the car and I was very pleased with his work. I think that if my e85 ethanol content had been a little higher with the fuel that was in my tank some of my fuel map values may not have been as lean as they were and I may never had encountered any cut out issues. Overall, awesome job tuning from both Shane and hunter, this thing is a fuckin blast!

Pads and rotors should be here tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

[YoungCR]

Solid! Good to know there's a experienced Meqasquirt tuner around.

[GunMetalGrey]

Update
It's still very fast

It sounds very lovely without the muffler. I added that due to getting pulled over and the cop yelling at me lol.
If Mr. Mike gets pulled over it wont be because of the noise... Best of luck catching up to the E30 Mr. Policeman!

Patiently awaiting auto-x update!

[KaiserRolls]

GunMetalGrey said:

Patiently awaiting auto-x update!

I’ll let veggiemike tell you about his adventures lol

[GunMetalGrey]

KaiserRolls said:

I’ll let veggiemike tell you about his adventures lol

I was hoping you would be there! 
I suggested Mr. Veggimus speak with you / see if he could steal some of your knowledge.

[KaiserRolls]

GunMetalGrey said:

I was hoping you would be there! 
I suggested Mr. Veggimus speak with you / see if he could steal some of your knowledge. 

We had to scramble just to get him to run the afternoon heat lol

[Boris3]

Dyno'd at 400 hp!!!

[KaiserRolls]

@AsparagusMike

[AsparagusMike]

Update:

Brakes came in Friday!

After work I buckled down and spent a few hours tackling all 4 wheels.

Once the brakes were done and the car was back on the ground I took it for a little drive to get the pads properly burnished in, all ready to go for Sunday.

Well Sunday morning came and I had a bit of a late start from the night before. It was roughly 7:30 when I woke up and I was two hours away from the track. The two hours was not including the fact that I still had to get home to grab the car plus pick up two people, stop for fuel and make it there before ten. Well needless to say I made it to the track... at 10:20. I get inside to find out that my spot had been taken and I wasn't gonna be able to run. I was pretty bummed out at that point as I had been looking forward to driving this track for some time now. I decided to stick around anyways as once they started sending cars out I was able to hop in and ride with another fellow e30 driver who was also quite fast (turbo M20) and I learned quite a bit as well as had a blast. After they got midway through heat four I noticed a car at the starting line who had its hood popped open smoke going everywhere with coolant spilling all over the track, it was the same guy who had replaced me and his car had overheated. I wanna give a huge shout out to @KaiserRolls who approached Tom (the main man running the event) a few minutes later and asked him if I could drive in place of the guy with the crowd killer (found out later his name was Jake) if he would be willing to give up his spot so I could drive the last four laps of round two. Tom acknowledged the idea and so I approached Jake and after chatting with him for a few minutes and informing him that this was my first time doing auto-x he happily gave his spot to me for the last portion of the event! I was in! 

Once we got the numbers swapped over on to my car and tech inspection was passed I was in line ready to go for the fourth heat which was being combined into four laps one after another (hot lapping) in order to get everyone through more quickly and avoid the rain which was beginning to approach us. As a way of expressing my appreciation I offered to let Jake ride along with me on my first lap which he gladly accepted.

I never quite realized how crazy 400 hp in a light car such as the e30 was until I took it out on a proper track like US air raceway. It is quite a lot to handle and makes things really interesting when it comes time to stop to make a turn. I knew going out I wasn't gonna be setting any crazy times and more just wanted to enjoy the car on this incredibly fun track and get a feel for it. Unfortunately I didn't notice to much of an improvement with the hawk hps pads other then the fact that my wheels weren't smoking quite as much by the end of my fourth lap. During my second lap I found out just how little stopping power I had after I was unable to make the last turn to the finish line from the amount of speed I had built and continued straight into one of the a bails of hay which was being used as a wall around the corner. Luckily the car endured no damage other then the valance being slightly pushed in which I pulled back out with ease. For now though I will continue to run with the brake setup I have and just work on not going quite as fast, focusing more on the handling and technique of it.

Overall had an awesome time, car ran great and I am really looking forward to the events to come.

Now that the car is running properly there is only more thing to do...

(Potato phone quality video for your pleasure)

[Boris3]

My experience when I started the transition from parking lot autox to on track events at Blackhawk and Road America was that Hawk HPS were rotor friendly but overwhelmed by the speed of a stock m20, HP+ were better for a few laps and then dropped off quickly and also sounded like a dump truck when cold and chewed rotors. I switched to Performance Friction PFC-06s and then the PFC-08s still with stock calipers and rotors which has been great. When I was still driving the car to track events, the PFCs also worked well on the street. Chewed the rotors but no worse than the HP+ and at least you knew you could slow/stop the car...which is a comforting thought to have on the track.  Not sure what brake fluid you're running, but ATE or Motul are popular options. Basic auto parts store off the shelf stuff will boil with what you're putting it through.

All that said, with a 400 hp e30, maybe a big brake kit is in your future?

[GunMetalGrey]

I brought this car up today to Brian, and it made me wonder if anything has happened to it as of late.
Or are you just working on farming the 'sparagus?

[AsparagusMike]

GunMetalGrey said:

I brought this car up today to Brian, and it made me wonder if anything has happened to it as of late.
Or are you just working on farming the 'sparagus?

As of right now the car has been sitting in storage collecting dust. Have a few big things in the works for it to get done before spring time roles around. I've been accumulating parts over the last few months and hoping to get er in the shop within the next 2 weeks. Updates coming soon!

[AsparagusMike]

Last season was a blast! Car felt near bulletproof throughout the summer but there were a few issues that need tending to.

The transmission. G260 + Boost = Ticking time bomb. Also the gearing could be a little longer, So I'm switching it out for the zf trans.

Picked up a zf trans from a local junkyard. Overall condition is not to bad. Trans was pulled from an e39 528i.

Also snatched up a 2.93 lsd diff to sit behind the zf. Hoping it should make for decent gearing for the power level I'm at. Plan is to rebuild it. It will be getting a 3 clutch disc upgrade to hopefully reach a little more lock up. (40 - 50% I believe)

i d

 Unfortunately ever since this car ran with the turbo the oil drain line fittings leaked from the back side caking oil all over parts of the engine, skid plate and car. Should have replaced it sooner buuuuutttt I was lazy so i put it off and now I get to deal with it now.

Luckily we hit a patch of warm weather for one day and I ripped out the pressure washer, de-greaser and a scotch brite pad and went to town on all the oil and grease on the transmission casing.

After a good cleaning I got right down to it and replaced a few things.

Seal replacement went really well with no major issues along the way and is now all ready to be installed besides the throw out bearing which I had forgotten to order but is now on its way.

As I started disconnecting the driveshaft and shifter linkages I noticed some blue coolant dripping from the drain ports from the heater core box, great. I had noticed that my coolant level had dropped a good amount over the season but I made sure it never completely emptied itself. Nevertheless I have added to the list to replace the heater core.

After a few more disconnections...

A while back I noticed quite a bit of shaft play on the turbo and thought it might be nice to go ahead and rebuild it.

I must say It is quite nice having a turbo with a very reasonably priced rebuild kit. I am also quite impressed with everything that it comes with as well. Kit was from turbo labs of America.

Rebuild process went very well. I was a little nervous at first but quickly realized how easy rebuilding one of these actually is, as long as you take your time. Only challenging part was the removal of the smaller snap rings that hold in the small thrust bearings but otherwise everything else came apart and went together no problem.

After pulling the g260 off the motor and clutch/flywheel. clutch disc still looks pretty good with no unusual wear. Even though it worked out well most of the time there was a few times during hard pulls from 3rd to 4th gear I could feel it slipping and truly it was at its max if not over what the max for what it was rated for. Luckily when I picked up all the turbo goodies way back when, there was a brand new stage 3 clutch and pressure plate thrown in with everything else as part of the deal so I will be using that as well as switching over to a chromoly flywheel that I am getting resurfaced by a local machine shop this week.

Now that the DSSR was all nicely welded up at 10 degrees it was time to turn it back. There was a few options to do this but I found it easiest to just heat it up red hot and twist it. Called up my buddy who had an oxy acetylene torch and he made that happen. we did figure out that even at red hot we were gonna need better leverage then a screw driver through the holes. A pipe wrench was used instead which worked terrific!

Did my best to polish it up afterwards with a scotch brite pad.

Lastly I picked up some solid control arm mounts from condor back during their black Friday sale. I wanted to try and get a bit more caster for the front wheels and I have heard really good things about these in terms of handling. Install was easier then changing a battery.

And that's what I have done so far. Ordered quite a few parts last Friday night that should hopefully be arriving sometime later this week. If all goes well I should be able to get the engine back in the car this weekend. Besides getting the diff rebuilt that will be it for drvietrain stuff, at the moment.

There are Couple other things on the check off list.

1. I plan on installing a flex fuel sensor. Come spring time I hope to get the car tuned to run on 91 octane. For the most part I do plan to continue running the car on E85 cause mo power! Its more for when I find myself in an area where E85 is less prevalent.

2. Make some holes where the eccentric hardware are located. With the subframe raised in the rear to fix excessive negative camber there is no longer any room to fit wrenches to adjust them. More to add to this later.

3. Front brake duct cooling kit

4. Different pads and rotors set up

5. Different seats. Still looking around at what I'd like to get, all I know is the seats I have currently have to go. I originally wanted to rebuild/re-upholster the seats but at this point I would rather run something different completely. Still hunting around though.

Maintenance to-do's before returning to the streets...

1. Oil change

2. Clean intercooler

3. Flush brake fluid

4. Swap out spark plugs

5. Replace air filter

6. Drain fuel

[B C]

Thats a ton of progress for a single post. Great upgrades! The offset LCABs are a great mod.

Have you seen the bronze clutch fork pivot pins?

[AsparagusMike]

B C said:

Have you seen the bronze clutch fork pivot pins?

I have and honestly I don't think they're that much better or worth the extra money. Before I installed the g260 on the motor way back when, I had replaced and installed a fresh oem pivot pin. When I pulled the trans off this last weekend (10,000 miles or so later) the pin barely showed signs of any wear. After seeing this I thought I'd just stick with the oem one. I have also went out and read other threads of people having issues where the brass ones were not lasting all that long and prematurely wearing because of the brass being to soft.

[Jdesign]

Sounds like you have been super busy. Nice update!