Alpine e30 progress/build thread

[m42b32]

After a few very busy months this summer, I was able to get a few nights of working on this after work over the last two or three weeks. Things are finally moving again!

I removed the m42 coil pack mounting brackets from the strut tower and inner fender. I also cleaned up some surface rust on the washer tank mount and primed all the bare metal. Had a bit of a mishap on the inner fender and ended up popping two holes where the welds were. 

I plugged the holes with some flat steel plugs. Because I deleted ABS I also plugged the holes where the wheel speed sensors passed through on both sides. I like these metal plugs because you can fold the ears flat on the back and lock them into place, they sit flush, and can be removed any time you want the hole back. 

I also sprayed a coat of undercoating on the backs to seal everything up. 

With the engine bay ready to go, I got to work on prepping the engine. Pilot bearing installed, Gripforce chromoly flywheel cleaned, installed with loctite and torqued to spec:

There was a lot of conflicting information on which way to install the Gripforce stage 2 (sprung hub) clutch disk, but this orientation seemed to be the majority of responses. Hopefully that's correct...

Pressure plate installed with loctite and torqued.

Got everything sorted on the transmission side as well with a new clutch fork, quality throwout bearing, and a steel pivot pin from an e39 540i. 

I didn't have a furniture dolly to roll the engine under the car with the transmission attached, and didn't have enough room to hoist the engine into the car with the garage door open, so I had to take a bit of a convoluted route... Here is a bit of a DIY if you're in this exact scenario with the same tools:

Step one: Hoist engine into the bay from the side with the garage door closed

Step two: Lower the engine as low as it can go without sitting on the arms of the hoist, support weight with engine support bar

Step three: Open garage door, rotate hoist to front of car and lower engine all the way through the bay onto the floor:

Step four: Move transmission underneath the car and struggle to mate it up with the engine, succeeding eventually:

Step five: Realize you're an idiot and forgot to grease the clutch splines, pull it apart and apply light coat of moly grease. I have never done a clutch on my own (last time I helped with one was at least 5 or 6 years ago at my old job)... everything I read said use a very light coat to avoid having grease flung into the clutch. Hopefully this is enough.

Step six: Reinstall transmission, install starter, realize it's after midnight, leave it at that and go to bed. 

Step seven: Return about a week later, full of energy, and lift engine into place and reinstall front subframe underneath engine. 

I had to remove one of the plastic clips holding the passenger front brake line to the firewall as well as a wire harness mount from the back of the head to get the engine to sit back far enough. I also had a bit of a fight with the condor swap mounts to get things to line up properly. They didn't seem to sit flat despite putting them in various different orientations. I ended up finding a note on a forum post somewhere from them stating to leave everything loose, and tighten down the bottom nuts on the engine mounts one turn at a time (alternating sides) to center the engine, then trans mounts, and then top nuts on the engine mounts. I got the trans mount installed loosely to keep everything straight, and then went through and tightened everything down per their instructions. I did have one of the engine mount bolts start to spin, but it's tight and not going anywhere so it should be fine. If I do need to get it off, there is more than enough resistance for an impact to zip it off. 

And with that, it's in!! 

Supported by it's own mounts for the first time:

[jc43089]

Excellent!

[YoungCR]

Sittin' pretty! Engine install method seams easier than jacking the front end high enough to clear the motor and dolly.

[P_Roloff]

Looks great! Getting close now...

[SteelBlue]

m42b32 said:

I also had a bit of a fight with the condor swap mounts to get things to line up properly. They didn't seem to sit flat despite putting them in various different orientations. I ended up finding a note on a forum post somewhere from them stating to leave everything loose, and tighten down the bottom nuts on the engine mounts one turn at a time (alternating sides) to center the engine, then trans mounts, and then top nuts on the engine mounts. I got the trans mount installed loosely to keep everything straight, and then went through and tightened everything down per their instructions. I did have one of the engine mount bolts start to spin, but it's tight and not going anywhere so it should be fine. If I do need to get it off, there is more than enough resistance for an impact to zip it off. 

Seems like I am facing the exact same issue as you with these mounts.

Did you have the passenger side slide in fine but the driver side wouldn't sit even? I got the stud through on the driver side but didn't try tightening from the bottom. Maybe I will have to try that. It always felt like the motor mount arm was too long on the driver side. 

Any other notes on this process would be greatly appreciated.

[m42b32]

SteelBlue said:

Seems like I am facing the exact same issue as you with these mounts.

Did you have the passenger side slide in fine but the driver side wouldn't sit even? I got the stud through on the driver side but didn't try tightening from the bottom. Maybe I will have to try that. It always felt like the motor mount arm was too long on the driver side. 

Any other notes on this process would be greatly appreciated.

That's the exact issue I had, except it was the passenger not sitting right. I swapped the mounts left to right and it didn't seem to change anything. I think their mounts are slightly off and they put the top studs too close together. What I did to get it to pinch down and sit correctly was to get everything attached but loose (including the trans mounts), and then tighten the bottom engine mount bolts first (Alternating 1 turn per side until tight), then the trans mount, then the top engine mount bolts. I think there is enough give in the plastic that they deformed into place. I'm not super happy with having to do that because they should just bolt right in and I don't know if I damaged them or something, but they seem to be alright now that they're snugged down.

[m42b32]

I figured I would share because I found this pretty interesting info on my car! Over on Maxbimmer.com, a user named "SickFinga" has access to BMW's production data for all US market models from 1983 onwards. If you provide the last 7 of your VIN he can apparently find out how many were produced in that color combo, rarity of options, etc. He can also find where your car lands in the production of that model.

I asked about my car (EE74776) as I have known that it was fairly late in the production of the US market 318is. What I didn't realize is just how close to the end it was! Apparently, the last one by VIN is EE74778, and the last by actual build date is EE74774. That puts my car as the 3rd to last of 9,779 US spec 318is's ever made, and the 5th to last to roll off the production line! It would be interesting to run the carfax's on the other VINs to see if they are still around.

[jc43089]

Interesting!  I worked on an e36 sedan that was made in the last month of production, 4/98, according to selections available on realoem.

[YoungCR]

Thats really cool! Glad you saved the car

[Jdesign]

@m42b32

You think you could ask him to run mine? I tried joining Maxbimmers.com 4 times now and just keep getting errors.

1984 633CSI;

6728547

[m42b32]

Jdesign said:

@m42b32

You think you could ask him to run mine? I tried joining Maxbimmers.com 4 times now and just keep getting errors.

1984 633CSI;

6728547

http://www.maxbimmer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157862&page=148

Here you go!

[straight6pwr]

that motor looks good in there.

[Jdesign]

m42b32 said:

http://www.maxbimmer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157862&page=148

Here you go!

[m42b32]

@Jdesign looks like he can't get the info since the e24 started production before 1983, bummer... you don't see many in that color combo!

[Jdesign]

m42b32 said:

@Jdesign looks like he can't get the info since the e24 started production before 1983, bummer... you don't see many in that color combo!

I see and I replied. I have yet to see another online ANYWHERE with the same color combo and options 

[m42b32]

Did some things!

I got the adapter harness ready to install by covering all the sections that were bare wire with braided sleeve to keep it tidy, and cut the heater hose ends out of the old hoses so I can start messing around with those. E36 M3 clutch lines fit perfectly, ready to bleed the clutch/brakes. I'd like to get them bled before I can't reach everything to check for leaks, so that's next on the agenda. 

Got the front suspension all bolted back together. Finally installed the 1/2" roll center spacers I've had sitting around for a while. Unfortunately, Garagistic is the only one who still sold 1/2" spacers and big surprise, they didn't fit at all. Had to drill out all 4 holes from 5/16" to 3/8" so I could get the bolts in, and also file down the ridge they keys into the strut housing as it was too tall. These had to have been made by hand by a blind dude on a crappy mill, no CNC machine has tolerances that bad...

Test fit the front wheel and I'm glad I didn't go any larger, I have about 1/4" of clearance so that's perfect (hard to see in the pic, you get the idea). 

Then I got bored so I did a test fit of these wheels for fun. No they aren't real, they're some Barbarossa AC Schnitzer style wheels I traded some DS2's for a few years ago. Some people say they were an early run for ACS, but I'm pretty sure they're reps like Alutecs/etc. though they appear to be pretty high quality and are real 3 piece. They are 17x7.5, with an offset probably around 35,  they fit really well with a 10mm spacer. I'm thinking I might refinish these as trial run before I do the BBS's. Only problem is two barrels are slightly bent and new ones would have to be custom made, any recommendations in the greater Milwaukee area for having wheels straightened? 

[Jdesign]

Hmmm. If they are real 3pc wheels I would do some deep digging.

Are they 40 hole? How much do they weigh?

[m42b32]

Jdesign said:

Hmmm. If they are real 3pc wheels I would do some deep digging.

Are they 40 hole? How much do they weigh? 

Yup 40 hole, there isn't much info about them online, nobody has really documented any re-sizing, just comments about 'probably custom'. Any idea where I could find a list or something with common lip dimensions like the bore size for the face, hole pattern diameter, etc? Not sure how much they weigh, they don't feel heavy though

[Jdesign]

m42b32 said:

Yup 40 hole, there isn't much info about them online, nobody has really documented any re-sizing, just comments about 'probably custom'. Any idea where I could find a list or something with common lip dimensions like the bore size for the face, hole pattern diameter, etc? Not sure how much they weigh, they don't feel heavy though

Wheelwhores or stanceworks is a good start. not sure. I will say that from what I read, the 40holes are reps, but extremely high quality to the point of them not being "reps"

[m42b32]

Jdesign said:

Wheelwhores or stanceworks is a good start. not sure. I will say that from what I read, the 40holes are reps, but extremely high quality to the point of them not being "reps"

You're definitely right. I did some more looking last night and found one or two instances where someone was selling some Barbarossa ACS wheels that were 16" or even 4x100, neither of which ACS ever produced (in 3 piece) as far as I am aware. I think its a pretty safe bet that they're technically reps, just an oddly high quality 3 piece rep haha