the one and only e30 s52 engine swap

[m42b32]

I have a UUC 19mm rear sway bar, it doesn't fit very well. I had to modify multiple brackets, and the sway bar itself rubs the underside of the trunk floor above the diff. After all that, the rear end links are too long to actually use the softer adjustment holes so now I have to make new ones that are shorter. If I were to do it again, I'd probably get the Turner reinforcements and an ST 19mm rear bar.

[B C]

I have the ST 19mm rear bar. ANY rear sway bar install is going to be a pain in the dick but I dont have any issues with mine. The handling balance is right where I want it to be.

[KaiserRolls]

I have the turner reinforcements and ST bars & adjustable endlinks. 22F/19R

No complaints about install besides the typical lack of room

[AsparagusMike]

KaiserRolls said:

I have the turner reinforcements and ST bars & adjustable endlinks. 22F/19R

No complaints about install besides the typical lack of room

So it seems the st sway bars came with rear adjustable links but not front ones. Where did you resort to for the front ones?

[KaiserRolls]

AsparagusMike said:

So it seems the st sway bars came with rear adjustable links but not front ones. Where did you resort to for the front ones?

https://www.akgmotorsport.com/product/adjustable-front-swaybar-stabilizer-link-set-e30-e36-z3-non-m-m3/

[Boris3]

stealthbimmer said:

These guys work wonders for rounded bolts. If you dont have a set, you are welcome to borrow mine. 

Just wanted to add my thanks for pointing out that these kits exist. Went out and bought one the same day, and it was the answer for a half-destroyed rusted O2 sensor nut on the truck this evening.

[AsparagusMike]

stealthbimmer said:

Contact amazon and send em the damaged pic. They will likely give you some money back. I had a window a.c. come with a big dent in it. Damage didn't affect the function so I was ok with it, they refunded me like $60 if I remember correctly.

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
 

I'm gonna start out by thanking you for this info. I contacted amazon and they did end up refunding me 36 dollars back for the damage to the gas tank with no hassle at all. I threw the bent tab on tank in a vice and bent her straight with no issues.

Last Thursday night I finished up the under-body grinding down any rust, prepping it with por-15 metal prep, and then painting 2 coats of por-15 on it.

After letting it dry for a good 24 hours I started getting the under-body prepped for undercoat. Little did I know that all the black areas on the floor pans and pretty much everywhere in the rear end was actually 20 year old caked on dirt. I scrubbed for a few hours with heavy degreaser trying to get the shit off but there was little success. Only thing I found to take it off decently was lacquer thinner and even then it wasn't doing a whole lot better. The only thing that was gonna do the job effectively was a pressure washer. Luckily, Friday was a fairly nice day and it was in the middle 40's so I went to the store, bought two 1000 lb rated 4 wheel dolly's, stacked some wood on top of them to reach the height of the car and rolled her outside.

I knew the shell couldn't have been more then maybe 1200 pounds max so I wasn't worried about them braking even if they are cheap ones. My original plan was to just lay on the ground while pressure washing but trying to fit the gun underneath while trying to hit all the areas wasn't working out quite well, the car was gonna have to go higher.

I knew the forks would be to short so I dug around and found some old 2 by 10 thick ash type wood that is used for making headers above doors. Threw them on there, c clamped em down and threw a ratchet strap over it for extra per-caution. As you can see I didn't have the forks in the exact middle so the rear end was a tad heavier then the front causing it to slightly wobble, that's why the extra boards are there supporting the back, lol.

There was some spots where the pressure washer still couldn't remove (which I had turned up all the way which is just about 3500 psi of pressure) so I said screw it, If it ain't comin off with that it ain't comin off when the undercoat is on.

After rolling the shell back in the shop I  took a thorough look over the underneath of the car to check for any more rust that had been covered up by the dirt.

After taking a good look at the inside of the front fender I noticed some rust coming through. Grabbed the die grinder and started wire wheeling away the undercoat which just ended up coming off in large pieces to reveal some more uplifting surprises.

I'm gonna try to start cutting away all the rusted out areas tonight and then hopefully get to welding in new metal either tomorrow or Friday.

As you can see, the driver side rust pretty much ate right through.

I did end up taking off the fenders as well as they were in rough shape towards the bottom in the same area of course.

Although they are in rough shape I'm gonna see what they look like after a good wire wheeling. I really don't want to have to find another set of fenders for this car.

I did look lover the rest of the car and everything else seems to be solid and good shape. Hopefully if I can get these areas fixed up I will be shooting for Saturday to undercoat the car. Gonna just leave the fenders off until the undercoating is finished, then reinstall them.

[KaiserRolls]

I’m enjoying the amount of hatred for rust in this thread

[straight6pwr]

KaiserRolls said:

I’m enjoying the amount of hatred for rust in this thread

"fixing me is like a flat circle"

[suspenceful]

I love the level of OCD involved in this build.

[Jdesign]

Ohhh man. You are digging deep. I love it.

[m42b32]

AsparagusMike said:

OSHA would like to have a word with you

[GunMetalGrey]

I would like to certify you as a competent shop. Good job! 
This is a high level certification that @Ryan... and I rarely ever give out.

[Ryan...]

GunMetalGrey said:

I would like to certify you as a competent shop. Good job! 
This is a high level certification that @Ryan... and I rarely ever give out. 

If you're looking for a competent shop, we know competent shops when we see them.

That's for true.

[Jdesign]

I know a guy.......  

[jc43089]

Jdesign said:

I know a guy.......  

Oh Chad...  That guy actually lives not far from me.  I have not sought out meeting him though lol.

[Jdesign]

Obviously not looking for a competent shop worker at your side?

[AsparagusMike]

Welp, fenders are shit.

It seems I will now be on the lookout for a decent pair of fenders, so if you got any sitting around in decent shape ur looking to rid urself of, hit me up! I may be interested.

On the other hand I got a few things wacked off the list the last few weeks.

Finished up cutting out all the infection this car has been victim to all these years and replaced it with some fresh stuff.

Came up with a different design for these sections. The fact is, it was gonna be tough to remake exactly what was there so instead, I did a single bent up piece cut out to fit the hole and welded on the same size box underneath. Only thing that looks a bit different was the little indent where the box stopped and the shape kept going. Even though the passenger side did however have less rust then the driver side I cut out the same areas identically and replaced with the same shapes so they would be proportional.

After those areas were completed I found me another surprise on the rear wheel well.

After getting all three sections smoothed out I scuffed them up with some 80 grit and then applied por-15 metal prep to help the por-15 rust preventive coat adhere well. Once that was finished I moved on to masking off the car for the undercoat.

Skip ahead a few days, undercoating is complete!

I tried this product off amazon called raptor by U-pol. It's commonly used for truck bed-lining. I found out about the item from a buddy of mine that used it on his truck and had nothing but good things to say about it. Most of the time for a full size truck U will need 4 quarts of this stuff but I was able to get it done with only 2.

I got to admit, the stuff worked really well!

And with what I had left I was able to spray a sturdy coat over the bottom of the gas tank. I did scuff it up before doing so with a scotch brite pad to help with adhesion.

After letting that dry for a few days, was able to throw a few things back on the car.

Originally I was gonna use copper nickel for all my brake lines but after many trials and errors I could not get the line to bend a perfect 180 for the small brake lines that hook to the three way adapter under the rear subframe. So I went and purchased a stick of zinc coated steel line to see how it would do sense its harder and all, much better.

I still plan on using copper nickel everywhere else as I haven't had any issues with it kinking except this area.

Gas tank reinstalled... check

All new 5/16 fuel hose installed with fresh fuel clamps as well as a new fuel fill neck to gas tank hose I picked up from the stealership last week.

I did reuse the original fuel pump and and assembly as it was in good working condition before. I will probably be seeing myself replacing it down the road but for now it will do fine.

Only one issue I ran into when installing the tank was one of the holes was not lining up quite right. So I took a drill bit and widened the hole just slightly so the bolt would line up with the threads. Other then that it was a good fit. Still working on coming up with an idea for a tube to connect at the center.

Met up with a fellow WI bimmer member about a week back and I traded my 4.10 for his 3.73. A bit better ratio behind an s52, the future goal is a 3.25 or 3.23 but for now it should do just fine. Thx Merl!

Overall very pleased with the condition of it, clutch plates appear to still be in good shape as well as all the seals. Took a little time to clean her up a bit before bolting it into the subframe.

For the casing, I pretty much just cleaned the entire thing really well. Wire wheeled all the rust off and applied 2 coats of por-15.

For the cover, I blasted all the corrosion off it and to keep it from re corroding put two good coats of satin clear coat over the front. Was gonna blast the bracket that held the sensor on but it was too far gone so I got a friend working on cutting another out for me.

Ordered sway bars last Wednesday, hoping to see them here sometime this week. Working on designing up a reinforcement bracket for the rear sway similar to the one sold by turner. I will keep yall up to date on how that comes out.

Once the rear sway is installed the rear sub frame will be going in as well.

As I wait for that I'm gonna start getting the engine bay ready to go for paint. As I have not this week but the following week off of school my goal is to get the bay repainted during that week off.

Also I should throw out there that I am on the lookout for a z3 steering rack. I gave my best shot at redoing the e36 rack I got for cheap, After many attempts I still can't seem to get the center seal out of the rack and don't really know anyone that has any experience with rebuilding racks. Even if I did find someone willing to do it I don't think it would be worth the money spent in labor to do it anyways so it's time to put it behind me and move on.

[P_Roloff]

Holy crap, does that ever look nice. I'm loving how much you hate rust, and how clean everything is looking underneath.

I had the same thing happen to my fenders, they looked alright for the most part but when they were pulled off the bottom edge was just swiss cheese. I also had rust underneath the trim strip.

[B C]

G260 right?