E30 M52

[Jdesign]

What do you need for exhaust work?

[B C]

mainly to fab a section under the rear subframe, some hangers, and to mate up the mid section with my new y-pipe that comes off the headers.

I am going to spread good vibes to the world and push the car out into the driveway to give myself more room and light to work on the last few things. That way we will suddenly have the biggest blizzard ever, or more of this awesome weather like we are having today. Cant say for sure until I move it. The only trouble is with the slope of the driveway i wont be able to move it back into the garage unless its under its own power so that means I need to get the hydraulic situation resolved soon.

[B C]

Huge progress!!!!

Just kidding.

Plates.

Plate frames.

Blue screw covers because I saw them at the hardware store while getting new screws.

Neat.

[B C]

Another bite-sized update. Spent an hour under the dash and repaired the brake pedal connector that broke, thanks Chris!

I was able to get the new clutch feed hose through the firewall! I routed it through an existing firewall plug just behind the strut tower. Its a much better angle for the whole thing and I think BMW should have routed it this way from the factory. In case you missed it, The e21 booster sits closer to the firewall and pinched the clutch feed hose in its original location.
I am still fighting to get the feed hose back onto the clutch master but im sure I just need to give it 5 more minutes of wrestling.

Once the clutch master is back in place I will work on the booster mounting stud that is spinning.

The goal is to have this booster debacle behind me and the hydraulics bled by Saturday, and be able to focus next week on the exhaust.

The brake booster has been the biggest hassle of this swap (im trying not to think about the M3 cam swap and all the helicoils
involved)

[GunMetalGrey]

El Snapo said:

I was able to get the new clutch feed hose through the firewall! I routed it through an existing firewall plug just behind the strut tower. Its a much better angle for the whole thing and I think BMW should have routed it this way from the factory. In case you missed it, The e21 booster sits closer to the firewall and pinched the clutch feed hose in its original location.
I am still fighting to get the feed hose back onto the clutch master but im sure I just need to give it 5 more minutes of wrestling.

People complain about all kinds of jobs on these cars, but I think I can say that hands down this is one of my least favorite things to do. With a new master cylinder and barb it takes quite a bit of force to seat, and it is in such a bad spot for your hands. 
May the force be with you.

[B C]

Master cylinder feed line is in!
Brake booster stud is taken care of and the booster is snugged down!

So if you have done a z3/e36 rack swap in an airbag equipped e30 you may know about how the steering shaft rubs on the firewall and the firewall opening needs to be clearanced a bit.

I did that many years ago and all was well but i realized a couple months back that the rubber firewall boot isnt fitting and i need to clearance the firewall a bit more. So I did that but the way the boot fits isnt quite as air tight as it is supposed to be and that bothers me. I need to come up with a solution for this boot. Maybe not this year, but sometime.

I disassembled the pedal area quite a bit but once its back together under there I can bleed the brakes and clutch!!!

[m42b32]

Nice!!

How did you fix the booster stud?

For the Z3 rack on my car, I notched the firewall and then made a new plate similar to the stock one that holds the boot, but with the hole offset downwards to accommodate the new angle of the shaft. The boot seals up pretty well with the new plate

[B C]

m42b32 said:

Nice!!

How did you fix the booster stud?

For the Z3 rack on my car, I notched the firewall and then made a new plate similar to the stock one that holds the boot, but with the hole offset downwards to accommodate the new angle of the shaft. The boot seals up pretty well with the new plate

I used a long screwdriver levered up against the bottom left nut to give the top left stud more friction to resist turning then replaced the oval locknut with a thin hex nut/jam nut

so there is less friction when tightening it down and its holding just fine.

Would you be able to get a measurement of the original hole size on the firewall plate sometime? I will have to make a plate like you did as a future project

[Jdesign]

snap said:

So if you have done a z3/e36 rack swap in an airbag equipped e30 you may know about how the steering shaft rubs on the firewall and the firewall opening needs to be clearanced a bit.

I did that many years ago and all was well but i realized a couple months back that the rubber firewall boot isnt fitting and i need to clearance the firewall a bit more. So I did that but the way the boot fits isnt quite as air tight as it is supposed to be and that bothers me. I need to come up with a solution for this boot. Maybe not this year, but sometime.

I had this same problem and was just able to move everything over. BUT now I am also revisiting the area and will need to change the boot for the Z4 rack and non-airbag column. I might mold some extra Boots or look for alternatives if you are interested.

Then again there is always one of these too...

[B C]

Thanks for posting that. I may have to try one of those if i dont have success with a new firewall plate

[m42b32]

snap said:

Would you be able to get a measurement of the original hole size on the firewall plate sometime? I will have to make a plate like you did as a future project

I originally tried modifying the existing plate, but then the hole was too big and the boot wouldn't stay so I traced the pattern, cut the new one, and then threw the old one out. I might have the one from the sedan I took apart though, I will try and find it!

[B C]

Pedal assemblies are all back together and while I was at it I removed the cruise control clutch switch and used the bracket for a clutch pedal return spring.

The brakes are all bled. I usually bleed them again after driving for a bit so I will probably do it again after my first shakedown run. I couldn’t find my 7mm wrench in order to bleed the clutch so I still need to do that in order to drive the car.

The hood is installed.

The list is now:

-finish exhaust

-make oil dipstick mounting bracket

-mount ecu/make bracket

-bleed clutch

-change trans oil for good luck

-bleed coolant

-top off fluids

-install hvac panel

[KaiserRolls]

I’ve got ecu brackets, I’m assuming the MS3 won’t fit in them so I probs have no use for them. I can double check fitment tomorrow

[B C]

I bled the clutch and drove the car out of the garage under its own power for the first time. The clutch engagement is not normal. It grabs right off the floor and so I must have some more bleeding to do.

[B C]

Spent more time bleeding it and it feels great. I only drove it in reverse but the pedal definitely feels normal.

[P_Roloff]

snap said:

Spent more time bleeding it and it feels great. I only drove it in reverse but the pedal definitely feels normal.

 

Love it man, looks great!

[Jdesign]

DANG!! That's shiny. 

Successful completion burnout video?

[B C]

Nothing special to report on. I formed up an ECU mounting bracket. The length of wiring harness. Dashboard support brackets, and lack of any decent mounting points on the ECU makes this rather difficult to concoct but I have something that should work.

I finally got around to sawing the header tubes down and installing the y-pipe. This involved lengthening the stock O2 sensor wiring as well as the purchase of some adult diapers for all the brown pants days that lie ahead of me as I scrape the flex pipe all over town [emoji58]

I have about 3” of clearance between the skid plate and mother earth and about 2-1/4” on the flex pipe.

I had a 3” exhaust with the turbo setup too and scraped the flex pipe on some driveway entrances.

I really dont like it but I will run it, hope my exhaust doesn’t get torn off while driving an unfamiliar road, and start working on a new Y-pipe design with two smaller individual flex pipes that are staggered to allow them to fit side by side (doubtful this will fit).

According to something Cassell Performance wrote about S54 swaps and exhaust design you dont want to merge the headers right after the collectors like im doing or else you will lose significant low end power.

So apparently Im doing all sorts of things wrong by having 3” single exhaust with crap ground clearance, and merging it right after the collectors.

This Thursday I am supposed to be dropping the car off with a shop to get the last bits of the system fit and welded, so as long as no problems reveal themselves on the shakedown run, and the weather cooperates, I MAY be able to start driving this thing starting next week

[KaiserRolls]

You can have my brackets, I finally got the car home yesterday

let me know if you still want them

[B C]

KaiserRolls said:

You can have my brackets, I finally got the car home yesterday

let me know if you still want them

I think it would still sit too tall and pinch the harness a bit on the steel brackets under the dashboard so im going to play it safe and avoid that.

Thanks though.