Lifted E30 V2
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Well I suppose I should attempt an actual build thread instead of just mixing random pictures into my other thread!
I'm sure most of you have seen my lifted e30, and either loved or hated it. If you hated it you should probably turn away now because it isn't going to get any better from here on out.
Prior car
Well upon many other issues I have found some that are starting to make that shell very inconvenient. Most notably rust, which is lame when you are trying to seal it up! That and scary looking cracks/rips
The car was getting sketchy, and it was starting to tear itself apart. I wasn't ready to give up on the whole lifted e30 because of one car (and because of the money I now have sunk into it lol) so it was time to explore some options. Timing just so happened to work out correctly and the price became what I was comfortable with, so I decided to pick up another car to piss people off with!
I know what you are wondering, and the answer is yes. It is.
In all honesty I'm a little sad that it isn't red, as all three of my current cars are!
I am excited to have a fresh start on this project, as I learned a thing or two with the last shell and I am excited to have a better starting point!Current Plans:
Pull drive line out of old car and put it in the new one, retaining the E motor just feels right!
Remove the front valance and most of the surrounding sheet metal to make a new (stronger) front bumper and make skid plate v2.
Take all of the suspension parts I bought for the other car and install them on this one. (e46 control arms, strut top spacers, vert suspension, new wheel bearings, longer tie rods, new shocks) This should result in a more level vehicle with a touch more lift.
Remove spare tire well again, this is a pain but proved to be worth it when we took the last e30 up north on the trails.As for now, I should get back to work, but I look forward to getting started on this and look forward to more confused stares, laughing people, and amusing days at the shop doing things to a car that you never feel is appropriate. The last/other lifted car was by far my favorite car to work on, especially with other people due to the "I don't care" attitude. That trend will be carried on with this car!
More random pictures of the other one, as I don't know if I posted them anywhere!
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I didn't know the rust splitting was that bad in the old car!
I'm glad you bought the black car from me so I can see it back at the house this winter, in running condition
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i to e swap #ubertroll. I still support the M21 swap idea down the road!
I suppose I may be one of a few people to swap from an I to and E motor!
I would love to throw some silly motor in there, but for the time being I need to get the drive line swapped and get it up and running!I plan on getting a lot taken care of this Saturday!
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sweet baby jesus more ultimate winter machines. i approve 100%
Dan
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Good progress was made this weekend! Most of the work ended up being on Friday afternoon actually, as a friend came to town and ended up helping out on things!
I pulled the front end off the new car, as it won't be needed. I initially felt kind of bad using this shell for the lifted e30 as it has pretty darn good paint and has no rust. These thoughts were soothed by the fact that the back quarter was hit, and clearly so was the front.
The lower corner of the core support is messed up too, but that's not an issue for me.
Step one was to pull the motor out of the IS, and that happened quite quickly because there were not too many things connected to it.
The next item of business was to pull the E motor, which I had prepped for removal last weekend, but had to pull the drive shaft and a few other things and that one took a touch longer.
I did find some interesting things during removal though! I found a large stick lodged up between the driveshaft/CSB and the trans tunnel!
I also noticed that when I was wiggling the driveshaft to take it off the diff that the fuel tank was moving a bit with it. Turns out I broke a couple of the rearward mounting points on the fuel tank and it was resting against the driveshaft for awhile. This was very concerning to find knowing that the fuel tank leaks and it could have sparked and sent the car into flames. Luckily this didn't happen!
The shiniest part is where the tank was resting.
The motor came out without too much drama.
That was about all that happened on Friday! Other than the removal of the fuel system on the black car. I converted the E to a single pump setup so that there was no chance of smashing the external fuel pump on something, and then ran the fuel lines through the trans tunnel. This same setup will be moved to E V2, and will be switched over to a fuel cell in spring most likely.
I put one of the wheel/tire setups from the E onto E V2 just to kick the project off!
On Saturday I worked on refreshing the E motor, and putting a new pan/gasket on.
I did the timing belt, belt tensioner, water pump, oil pan, pan gasket, spark plugs, some general cleaning, and will be doing the rear main seal before bolting the flywheel back up.
I'm hoping to get the motor in and potentially running on Friday, and then I will need to kick the suspension work into high gear!One thing I learned when disassembling the old car, locktite EVERYTHING. I found too many bolts that I had torqued down properly that were loose. Most notably the driveshaft bolts!
This has been another exciting update in the world of lifted e30's! -
Nice progress=) Cant wait to see v2 up and running. Ever thought of an exo-skeleton?
I have, and it isn't something that I would be interested in doing.
If anyone has a fender roller that I could borrow that would be most excellent! I am actually going to attempt being a little bit nicer to this shell, so I won't just be pulling the fenders out by hand!
I have been half tempted to cut the fenders up and weld in steel to actually widen the fenders by 1.5" or so, but that seems like a lot of work the more I looked at it. I may try with one of the old fenders... -
I have, and it isn't something that I would be interested in doing.
If anyone has a fender roller that I could borrow that would be most excellent! I am actually going to attempt being a little bit nicer to this shell, so I won't just be pulling the fenders out by hand!
I have been half tempted to cut the fenders up and weld in steel to actually widen the fenders by 1.5" or so, but that seems like a lot of work the more I looked at it. I may try with one of the old fenders...You might rub with those big tires in the rear on the side it got smacked.
Might as well get some cheap universal eBay flares and install them. Good practice for when you'll be doing it to the red E30 next year to fit 275s out back.
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that's a lot of work for one weekend. fender flares would fit the look of the mud tires, thats for sure.
Dan
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I went to do the rear main seal on the E motor and realized I messed up. I needed to do the RMS first before doing the pan gasket as I had used gasket maker. I pulled the rear main seal and the pan gasket ripped so I had to redo that quick. Luckily I had a spare pan gasket on standby!
I dislike cork gaskets, but that's what I had so I used it!Put a different clutch disk on it because the old one was near the end of it's life and I happened to have another disc with plenty more life laying around.
I chose to use the existing E sheet metal shifter carrier in the new chassis due to needing bushings for the late model stuff.The vague shifter is kind of funny in the lifted one anyway, so I rolled with it.
I was going to transfer the fuel system from the other car (lines running down trans tunnel) but I think I am going to leave the stock lines on the car for awhile until I grab a fuel cell and just put it in the trunk. This eliminates the concern of punching a hole in the gas tank or smashing it into the fuel pump. Te fuel lines running underneath the car doesn't bother me too much for winter anyway.
At any rate, I got the motor in the car and sitting on it's mounts.
I hope to get it fired up this week/weekend and also remove the current differential in the car and replace it with the welded 4.10.
I need to use studs in the new diff, as it makes putting the diff up so much easier!
I should really pull the subframe down and weld some reinforcements to it, and potentially use a dual ear diff cover. I think I was twisting the last subframe because I had one hell of a time getting the diff into position the more I drove the car.Things have been going smoothly, which is always nice!
Stayed tuned for more! Don't worry, we will get to the amusing stuff soon! -
that's a lot of work for one weekend**. fender flares would fit the look of the mud tires, thats for sure**.
The only concern that I have with cheap ebay flares that they would probably blow up as soon as they touch a tree or rock or something of that nature.
Though I may sketch something up and see if I can find something to make it happen with! -
garagistic carries an add-on second diff ear. pretty cool piece of hardware.
https://store.garagistic.com/bmw-performance-parts/bmw-motor-swap
Dan
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garagistic carries an add-on second diff ear. pretty cool piece of hardware.
https://store.garagistic.com/bmw-performance-parts/bmw-motor-swap
There is a diff mount from an Evo(?) that does the same thing actually, pretty neat. I would have to double check with the guy who did it, but he is local and it looked perfect! The additional plates that needed to be made would be easy and quick as well.
I would have a hard time justifying $200 for that kit for this car!If it wasn't obvious the cost on this is attempted to be kept low, but sometimes that doesn't happen lol.
That does look like a nice bolt on solution though!
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I am interested in this Evo diff hanger idea you speak of for when install my e30 rear end on the e21. Also, I have a bunch of random m20 parts BNIB if you want them. Radiator rubber mounts, shifter parts, misc seals, etc.
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I know this sounds sort of weird but could you make flairs out of Rubbermade garbage can lids? Those would be flexible enough to take abuse.
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I know this sounds sort of weird but could you make flairs out of Rubbermade garbage can lids? Those would be flexible enough to take abuse.
Go big or go home, kiddie pool flares
Actually though, not a bad idea for something super durable, and only a few bucks to replace if you do trash it
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