Alpine e30 progress/build thread

[Earl]

Yeah they're one of my favorite classic wheels=) 

[m42b32]

So something awesome happened over the last day or two. I came across my dream set of wheels for the car (and they're 5-lug!) for a great price and they were local! I couldn't be more excited:

They are 5x120 Weds Bavaria's in a staggered 16x7 et11 and 16x8 et25 in immaculate original condition. There isn't a single mark on them and the lips just need a light polish to be perfect again. I picked them up from the original owner who bought them back in the 80's for his 1982 633csi (That he still has, and its in equally perfect condition). That's not even the end of it though, I even got the original Weds lug nuts and wheel locks as well as a bunch of catalogs from the time when he was shopping for the wheels!

There are two TireRack catalogs, a Weds catalog (the one that sold him on the Weds), the Weds fitment guide with all the part numbers and stuff, and an 80's BBS catalog with all the things BBS sold at the time! I was so excited about this all day I got absolutely nothing done at work, this is like the best thing ever.

[wasnt m3]

Phenomenal score, congratulations!

[straight6pwr]

oooo pretty.

i don't know whats more awesome, the new wheels, or the strange 80s women in her nighties sitting on a box.

[Earl]

Yes, yes, and yes=)

[m42b32]

straight6pwr said:

i don't know whats more awesome, the new wheels, or the strange 80s women in her nighties sitting on a box.

It's definitely a toss-up. The inside of the catalog has a number of similar photos, I'll have to scan it in and post it up somewhere, it's pretty funny

[Jdesign]

That's an Epic find!!! Congrats dude. I love finding stuff like that.

[Earl]

Do you mind hinting towards the price you paid so we can all be even more jealous? =P

[YoungCR]

This is rad!

[Jdesign]

Earl said:

Do you mind hinting towards the price you paid so we can all be even more jealous? =P

I prefer not to know this, Im sure it was a good deal if they have all that nice reading material.

[m42b32]

Earl said:

Do you mind hinting towards the price you paid so we can all be even more jealous? =P

It was a 3 digit number, but both myself and the seller were happy with the deal!

[Earl]

For 3 digits, you sir got a great deal=P

[m42b32]

Everything is pulled from the front end except the AC condenser and a few odds and ends. Anyone who has cut the core support out, do you think it would be wise to put in some additional bracing to keep things square before I start cutting it out? or is it still pretty sturdy with it removed? I am keeping the engine/subframe in so it ties the bottom frame rails together, and I'm thinking about buying a strut brace to secure the strut towers.

[GunMetalGrey]

Do you have any reason to believe that the front end had ever been hit before? If so, do not brace it.
It is not a weak area without the core support in, so you should be fine without. 

You can measure from bumper shock to bumper shock before removing the core support and after to see if they do move.
The new core support fits very tightly, and will kind of be a guide for the frame horn spacing as well.

[m42b32]

GunMetalGrey said:

Do you have any reason to believe that the front end had ever been hit before? If so, do not brace it.
It is not a weak area without the core support in, so you should be fine without. 

You can measure from bumper shock to bumper shock before removing the core support and after to see if they do move.
The new core support fits very tightly, and will kind of be a guide for the frame horn spacing as well. 

I don't believe it has been hit in the front before this, glad to hear it is pretty sturdy without it. That is a good point against bracing, it could hold things in the wrong place and not let them spring back to where they should be when the damaged metal is removed. Thanks!

[KaiserRolls]

I cut my old twisted one out and junked it. Ordered a new one and it basically slid into place, the old areas that you'll have to cut and grind away can almost be used as a template.

The only part that may be less sturdy than the others is the front fender area, there's not much bracing

[straight6pwr]

i would say its probably good to make sure the car is sitting level as possible and if you have it on stands,  have it supported at identical points on each side so you don't have twisting of the entire chassis before you begin. 

e30s don't have the most rigid chassis. the doors tend to be hard to open/close if you jack just one corner up and we've all heard about how lifting the front end of an e30 can widen or narrow the strut towers to help fit a strut bar in some instances.

[m42b32]

KaiserRolls said:

The only part that may be less sturdy than the others is the front fender area, there's not much bracing

Unfortunately I have to cut that area out too, I figure I can use the new core support and a lot of measuring to get it all back to square.

I'll definitely be taking measurements of the shock tower separation and squareness of the bay before and after I cut. It should be interesting to see how things move around. Thanks for input everyone!

[m42b32]

So when I pulled everything out the other night I got a better look at my radiator and it's pretty much junk. The end with the integral expansion tank is bent and it looks like the majority of the bend was taken by the core right where it joins the end tank. This sucks because this radiator had only a few thousand miles on it. It holds coolant and has held pressure when I've run the car since the accident, but I just don't trust it because, with a few heat cycles, the stressed areas of the aluminum will probably start cracking. its not too expensive for me to buy a new OEM radiator but then I'm still left with the plastic parts and not-so-great design of the integral expansion tank. The only available quality aluminum m42 radiator option I am aware of is almost 1k from zionsville and since I'm sadly not Mr. Moneybags that's not an option.

So... here is what I am thinking. I started looking at the m20/m50 mishimoto radiators, and they can be found for a fairly good deal and have the inlet and outlet on the correct sides. The inlet/lower side is in the correct place and I can use the stock radiator hose, but I will need to swap my passenger side radiator mount for an m20 mount, this is cheap so no big deal. On the driver's side, the stock radiator hose is too short and will need to be either lengthened (opportunity to install a coolant temp sensor to feed a gauge) or a different hose used. Since I would be deleting the expansion tank I would either need to modify my system to accommodate an m20 expansion tank or use an e36 6-cyl style tank. There isn't much available for m20 aluminum expansion tanks as the OEM late model design is pretty durable, but I want to get away from plastic parts if I can. Also, the m42 has a crap load of room between it and the radiator so if I can put something there instead of elsewhere that is a bonus. 

E30 m42 bay for reference, with the fan/shroud/radiator removed there's like a foot of space:

I got a deal on a zionsville aluminum expansion tank/fan shroud so that helps with this idea. I would be able to use the stock e36 bleeding system and since the other line to the expansion tank runs through the same side I can potentially use the e36 hose or do some frankensteining where they run along the frame rail. For the coolant level sensor, they are the same style so I can most likely just wire in the e36 one. An added bonus is that I will be able to run a properly ducted electric fan. 

Overall this will be a bit more expensive than just dropping in a new radiator, but since the long term plan is s52 swap power with m42 balance, the additional cooling capacity would be welcome as I'd rather be concerning myself with air/fuel ratio's than coolant temps.

[Earl]

Whatcha doing with the bent radiator?