the one and only e30 s52 engine swap

[AsparagusMike]

Chassis pieces finished... finally

The fact I had to paint one side at a time on each piece was probably the biggest time killer, as well as the fact that I put three coats on each side. I'm really happy how it turned out though, originally the plan was to get them powder coated but the cost wasn't worth it IMO and after looking at how well por-15 turned out on other people's vehicles and the fact that it prevents the pieces from anymore rust, I had to give it a try.

Painted the rear dust shields and push rods in por-15 while I was at it...

Got around to putting in the new bearings tonight as well as the dust shields.

Probably put the hubs in on Wednesday, forgot got to blast the small brackets for the e brake cables at the same time as the calipers and its much easier installing them before the hubs are on. Gonna try to get around to doing that tomorrow and then throw a bit of por-15 on em to keep them in good shape. Spent a little time tonight cleaning up the hubs...

Finished up repairing the last few rust holes on the passenger side floor panel/drive line tunnel. The two circle holes were locations where there were stud screws originally, It had gotten to the point where there were all these small little holes around them from the rust eating through so the only real fix was to cut it out and weld in new. Still gotta spend some time smoothing everything out better before paint.

While letting the subframes dry I killed some time by pulling apart the flex disc from the swivel joint. Rivets were kind of a pain in the ass as they took a little force to punch out after cutting the top off. Once removed spent a little time cleaning up the corrosion and making it shiny with a Roloc disc and some brake clean. Thinking I might go with the poly flex disc from IE. The price is cheaper then the oem rubber one and it comes with all the hardware needed for installation.

Rear calipers are dissembled and blasted. Will be putting the new seals in tomorrow.

So went back to messing with the car and noticed that I will be unable to reuse the floor pan plug. After doing a little research it doesn't seem those are replaceable so It looks like the only fix is to weld the hole shut.

Will have to wire wheel the por-15 I just put on it back off now...

Besides that everything seems to be coming along alright. Haven't started on the gas tank at all yet. Got all excited cause I saw a new e30 gas tank for sale near me on Facebook. The dude originally payed over 300 for it and only wanted 90 bucks, immediately sent him a message for availability and sure enough, he sold it. On another note, look at the beautiful flocked dash!

[Earl]

I think a coat of black paint before flocking may have helped eliminate that but otherwise it looks nice Good progress on everything

[B C]

You do nice work

[Jdesign]

POR15.  I haven't used that stuff in a long time but its awesome. Looking good man!

[YoungCR]

Great work!

[KaiserRolls]

Jdesign said:

POR15.  I haven't used that stuff in a long time but its awesome. Looking good man!

It’s awesome

[GunMetalGrey]

Jdesign said:

PEN15.  I haven't used that stuff in a long time but its awesome.

Fixed that for ya

[Bassboy3313]

KBS FTW!!!!!!!

[AsparagusMike]

Earl said:

I think a coat of black paint before flocking may have helped eliminate that but otherwise it looks nice Good progress on everything

I suppose but its a little late for that now and honestly I think it looks like shit. So I'm down to three options now, get another kit and redo the dash (try Earl's paint first method), try something different like a vinyl wrap, or forget about it all and just go find a crack free dash and pay out the ass (which could also take sometime to source). Right now the plan is giving "just flock it" a call Friday to figure things out. According to their website they state and I quote, "Flock IT! ensures a quick turnaround of orders, quality products, and 100% satisfaction."

As for further progress on other tings. Tuesday got the calipers reassembled with all new oem seals as well as getting the e-brake brackets blasted and painted...

Was able to make it over to the shop later today and get the painted brackets installed and the hubs pressed in. Once that was completed I started on pressing in the subframe bushings. Took time to make sure there was plenty of lube on them so that they function quietly, I know it only lasts for maybe a year before they become dry and start squeaking but I read somewhere that sil-glyde (which I use a lot on caliper guide pins and works awesome!) seems to keep them quiet the longest, so that's what I used.

Here's my sloppy mess...

Used a c-clamp with a socket on the end to press them in

And for the trailing arms

Voilà..

Had to do a little modifying of the subframe bushings in order to clear the eccentric hardware nuts and so that a wrench can fit up in there to loosen and adjust during alignment.

Up next... fuel lines, brake lines, gas tank.

[stealthbimmer]

AsparagusMike said:

 go find a crack free dash and pay out the ass (which could also take sometime to source)

There is a  crack free one for sale on FB up in Minocqua.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/183905868629577/permalink/565800997106727/?sale_post_id=565800997106727

[AsparagusMike]

Ugh... that looks like a good one too. The only problem is the fact that it's in woodruff and the only time I could make a drive like that would be next weekend Saturday, doubt it'll still be available by then.

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[Jdesign]

Ask him if you can paypal him to hold it or meet you closer.

[GunMetalGrey]

Yeah no kidding, woodruff is quite far away! 
Sucks that the white shows through the flocking. Looks nice other than that!

[AsparagusMike]

So just got off the phone with "just flock it". According to the lady I talked to its not uncommon for people to flock their dash twice in order to cover everything completely. They said to simply paint right over what i have on there. I do have enough paint glue from them to cover the dash again but not enough fibers, I would have to order more fibers which will run me another 42 dollars. I should also add that she can't confirm this will work to solve the bondo seeing through issue, its just what other people swear by doing. So now I'm down to two choices... Possibly keep digging myself a grave flocking the dash again not knowing if its gonna work or see if I can get my hands on this crack free one in wood ruff.

[B C]

Crack free dash will just crack a month after install

[YoungCR]

agreed, crack free original dashes are a scam. The problem is it will still crack because it's the same materials. I had a dash crack on a e30 while in heated storage! I'd spend another $42 to either repaint and reflock, or add to your existing work. To have a properly OEM refinished dash from justdashes.com is around $1200.

[AsparagusMike]

So last weekend I started cracking down on getting the gas tank cleaned up, prepped, and repainted. Was going along just fine and dandy until I noticed this on one of the lines welded to the top of the tank...

After assessing the other parts of the tank like the edges and dents underneath I decided its time for her to retire

So I started searching around and found my self on amazon looking at this aftermarket gas tank made by spectra premium. After reading the 6 positive reviews it had on it I was convinced to give it a try. Tank should be arriving today sometime hopefully.

So while I wait for the tank I turned my attention to the other things needed to get done

new fuel lines bent up...

I also want to throw out there that this copper nickel line is so nice to work with and bends very nicely. Took me about a hour to get the feed and return line all fab'd up.

Sense I don't have the tool to make the special looking flare on the end of the factory fuel lines I just threw a shallow bubble flare on both ends, I suppose its better then leaving it straight...

Pulled the fuel filter housing apart plus some heat shield brackets off the gas tank, very rusty indeed.

I can fix that

Two problems I ran into now... First off the new tank does not come with a new connection pipe on the gas tank and while attempting to remove mine I ended up kinking it. Was just gonna order a new one until I looked it up by part number on the intranet and found that they want close to $170 for a new one (that's almost what I payed for the tank!), and there's no aftermarket options for it.

If anyone has a parts car that still has this pipe on it and can be removed without destroying like I did to mine and is not in need of it please let me know as now I am on the hunt for a replacement without paying an arm and a leg for it..

Also, when removing my axle to diff bolts I rounded the inside Allen head part of two of them. For some reason they changed up the design of the bolt so that now its a socket type bolt instead of allen head and I am unable to find new versions of the Allen type. Does anyone else have these type of bolts laying around or on a parts car that they aren't using anymore? I could just get 2 of the other kind of bolts but then they wouldn't be all the same and I just can't have that, lol. Thanks!

[AsparagusMike]

Sorry, one correction I need to make... the diff bolts were torx head not socket type or "hex head"

[stealthbimmer]

Just get all the new type of bolts...they are better and you wont have that problem again if you have to remove them again

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[B C]

I have a couple spare socket head axle screws (laymans terms: bolts that use an allen wrench)

Whatever you do, make sure the axle bolt holes dont grease up the threads when installing them, and do use blue loctite. It is common for axle bolts to back themselves out due to greasy threads