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Old 01-30-2020, 09:37 AM   #781
PAdutch
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I'm not sure how you find these spectacular deals. In miataland it seems good deals are getting harder to find. I'm not sure if its because there are more people finding they can make a couple of bucks parting them out or what.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what it turns into.
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Old 01-30-2020, 10:26 AM   #782
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I'm not sure how you find these spectacular deals. In miataland it seems good deals are getting harder to find. I'm not sure if its because there are more people finding they can make a couple of bucks parting them out or what.

Anyway, I look forward to seeing what it turns into.
I asked empera years ago how he always finds supras and rx7s on the cheap in such a crazy overpriced and low-inventory market and he more or less said, you've gotta know people.

I have been in the E30 game for so long now that I was accepted into a colt of old school minded enthusiasts who aren't concerned about the money, but rather about the cars (most of whom are successful financially and thusly don't care about the value of the cars, unlike me haha). If you can magically get accepted into their world, great things happen. You have to return the favor, of course, but that's where my parts cars come in handy, in helping folks out.

My buddy just the other day gifted me $400 euro headlights, a brand new set of Bilsteins, and a huge box of NOS parts, all to help bring this new red car to life. It's a really weird/neat group of folks, that extends all over the country. I've got a buddy in Portland, an E30M3 guru in NYC, several on the east coast still, and many out here in the midwest.

Almost every single car you guys have seen in this thread has come from someone that I've met and established a relationship with outside of Heidi the gray iX ($3K eBay score) and Linda the red iS ($2500 forum score).

And then here I am as a mere mortal flipping them or parting them out

Last edited by blue91lx; 01-30-2020 at 11:54 AM.
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Old 01-30-2020, 11:35 AM   #783
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Yeah it seems you have gathered alot of respect from the community. That's a reflection of the work that you do.
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Old 01-31-2020, 08:25 PM   #784
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Yeah it seems you have gathered alot of respect from the community. That's a reflection of the work that you do.
There aren't too many local E30 folks here, but the ones we do have are really solid. A guy gifted me a set of late model air ducts today that are the color of the new pig, that was pretty cool.

We have liftoff, the engine build is in motion. Block is bored and on the stand. Kevin is cleaning the crank and has the bearings laid out. His is planning on assembling the bottom end within the next few weeks. He then has to touch up some pitting on the 731 and give it the proper RA finish for the cometic HG.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



Zionsville did a $100 for all you can carry to get rid of some of their used inventory..... I filled up a big box of goodies and carried it out on a tan drivers sport seat with a sport wheel on my finger. This seat is 100x better than the one currently in Linda. My brother gifted me some seat shocks, too, which I'm going to toss in these seats.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


And then with the red headed step child, I started to tackle the tedious repairs, first. The sunroof and the central locking were high on my list of annoying things to fix, among windows not working and a few other small details.

The more I dig into this car, the more I am finding that (to no surprise), someone had attempted to fix some of the glaring issues and failed.

The sunroof was stuck closed. After much convincing, I got it to tilt back to remove the torx bolts, which I later found were either loose or stripped. I found a way to drill out the stripped bolts (not fun), and diagnose why the sunroof wasn't working. The passenger side lift mechanism is broken. I haven't figured out how to remove this piece, but I have a good unit on the parts car that I will swap over once I figure out how to get it off. No sunroof rust.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


After finding what was wrong with the sunroof and reaching a stopping point, I moved onto the central locking. I pulled the module to check the fuse, as the central locking doesn't work at all. The fuse was good and the board was clean. So I decided to remove the redundant red/black loop through the door (door plug often gets corroded). Hooked it back up, heard the central locking click, and sure enough I've got perfect central locking! I also did a test polish on the corner of the hood. This paint is shot, but it'll look good from afar.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr


I had iX weaves refinished for the swiss iX before I knew I wouldn't be driving the car. Picked them up today and they didn't prep the wheels right whatsoever which was a huge bummer. I certainly can't sell them in this condition, so I guess I'm going to grab spacers and run them on this iS.

I also picked up a set of F/R Bilsteins for a steal with only 3K miles on them. The seller included the strut housings with the deal, and upon picking them up I was pretty stoked to see that they were mint. The car only traveled 120K miles and they're spotless. I ordered H&R sports, LCAs, solid rubber centered CABs, F/R USMs, and some other small stuff. Once I get all of that in I'll get her aligned, mitigate the existing rust, assemble the interior, and start to drive her.

The wiring is a bit jacked from the addition of VDO gauges, but I should be able to get that sorted with parts from the parts car.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

Last edited by blue91lx; 01-31-2020 at 08:36 PM.
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Old 01-31-2020, 11:58 PM   #785
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"So I decided to remove the redundant red/black loop through the door (door plug often gets corroded)."

Just summed up the German engineering excellence
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Old 02-01-2020, 11:21 PM   #786
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"So I decided to remove the redundant red/black loop through the door (door plug often gets corroded)."

Just summed up the German engineering excellence
Bahaha nail--->head

Some of the stuff they do that ends up failing is comical. Thankfully most of it is easy to fix!

----------

I spent today continuing to jack with the sunroof, what a headache.

I had to cut the end off of the sunroof cable to remove the clip and install the new clip piece on the rail. I tried to secure the cable back onto the new clip by putting a crimp connector on it, which failed, so I had to pull it all back apart and dipped the cable in flux, crimped another connector on, and then sent solder down in.

I then got it all back together with a new sunroof headliner (number 3 at this point), and the sunroof won't align, or go back. The motor apparently has broken gears, so it'll tilt forward, but it won't do anything else, so I can't clip the headliner in place. Not only that, but I think both sides of the sunroof cable are out of adjustment, so the sunroof won't close evenly no matter what the adjustment settings are. What a headache.

Oh, and while all of that was going on the drivers side rail snapped. I spent some time getting the duct tape residue off of the sunroof panel. I also peeled the failing off of the sunroof, so I did a quick test pass with some sonax and a microfiber pad to see how it'd come up. Not great, but not bad either.

I have a full, minty manual sunroof that I am terribly tempted to swap over, but I have no idea how to do that so I am hesitant- if you know of a guide, send it my way.

I pulled the valve cover to check the head, and found one rocker walking because the clip wasn't seated. Fixed that and put on a new VC gasket.

I also got a cheap 173 locally today with a Mark D chip and installed that. Car appears to run much smoother.

I took it for a drive to get some fresh gas and she's definitely a hoopty. The back end wheel hops like crazy under acceleration, found some super old poly trailing arm bushings to be the culprit. There is also some old school poly upper strut mounts that are not happy to be there. I have a spare subframe and trailing arms that I guess I'm going to load up with stock bushings and toss in.

This thing has great power, and runs great, but is a total hoopty. I have all new front suspension components that I'm going to install sometime next week, with the e46 steering rack, bilsteins and h&r sports. Hopefully the right suspension plus sound deadening plus full interior will help that.

Oh, and there aren't any cluster lights, but the VDO gauges illuminate lol.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
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Old 02-05-2020, 02:08 PM   #787
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Internals of the head look super clean, guess they weren't wrong about the fresh head work.

Poly bushings suck, almost always :/
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Old 02-07-2020, 12:26 PM   #788
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Internals of the head look super clean, guess they weren't wrong about the fresh head work.

Poly bushings suck, almost always :/
Yep, for hard mounted items I don't hate the softer poly as much, but ultimately, I just prefer HD rubber bushings for almost everything if I am going to upgrade.

Also, I fire sold the new red iS yesterday. These cars have been beating me up lately, I need a break..... for a long while. I am still wanting a simple, reliable, manual hatchback daily. Was considering a non-turbo '11+ Focus Hatchback. 40mpgs, reliable, and so uncool I won't even think about modifying it. They can be had for $5-6K with under 100K miles. Again, uncool.

I need some simplicity in my life so I can finish the iS and maybe someday get to the M3. Adding in a third or fourth unreliable E30 to the mix just wasn't doing anything for me. Having the looming fate of an engine or head gasket job on the Forester is also cramping my style. Again.....simplicity.
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Old 02-07-2020, 05:22 PM   #789
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Seems like a responsible thing to do. Boring, but responsible
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Old 02-08-2020, 01:16 PM   #790
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Seems like a responsible thing to do. Boring, but responsible
Cars always get the best of me for a while, and then I get extremely burnt out. I'm sure it's fun for the TST crew to watch me go through the cycles
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Old 02-08-2020, 07:31 PM   #791
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Cars always get the best of me for a while, and then I get extremely burnt out. I'm sure it's fun for the TST crew to watch me go through the cycles
I know I enjoy it

For a none turbo manual hatch I highly recommend the Honda Fit. Reliable and they can hold so much stuff. I had one, it was a great little car.
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Old 02-09-2020, 06:06 PM   #792
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I know I enjoy it

For a none turbo manual hatch I highly recommend the Honda Fit. Reliable and they can hold so much stuff. I had one, it was a great little car.
I have really been digging the new 6sp Corolla Hatch, but alas, the 2019s barely depreciate, are hard to find in manual, and are way too much new for the trim level I’m into. Someday I’ll spend real money on a car.
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Old 03-20-2020, 09:45 PM   #793
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I doubt anyone will be surprised at this point, but I've been in liquidation mode for a while, and am simplifying my setup immensely.

My 3.1L is almost done, but ended up costing WAY more cash than anticipated, so I'm going to sell that to recuperate some funds. Sad day, but cars are going down further and further on my list of priorities, so it is not worth the money to see that build through. I think it will be for someone else, because it's the "dream" M20 build, and everything was done to ideal spec. I sold my Megasquirt, gonna run a custom squid tune on stock ecu either with a MAF or speed density for simplicity since he can do that now.

Which brings me to the engine.... I ended up getting a bunch of engines and engine parts recently for cheap. I'm going to build a 2.7L stroker using ETA crank/rods and late model i pistons using all of the parts that I have here, and shaving the block down 2mm for ideal compression/quench. The i pistons/block only have 130k miles and came out of a well cared for car. I have like four 2.7l crank/rod combos here, so I'm going to pick the best set and use them. It'll be cheap, efficient, and I can add boost later on if i get the itch for more power instead of completely changing setups again.

Bottom end:

Lightly honing the cylinders, new rings, new bearings, ARP head studs, OEM rod bolts, stock HG.

Top end:

885 head with IE billet 272, INA rockers, stock springs.

I'm still using my IE long tubes to a stromung I have here, 618 pressure plate (still don't know what clutch disc), BBTB, rebuilt green tops, etc etc so it'll be tastefully modified.

My buddy Matt also gifted me a set of smilies that were gifted to him, so I'm in the process of sorting out that install. One of the high beams is busted pretty bad, was considering putting the low beams in my current housings.


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
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Old 03-21-2020, 11:33 PM   #794
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I have no idea what all of those words meant, but cool to see you still wrenching.
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Old 03-22-2020, 11:58 AM   #795
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I have no idea what all of those words meant, but cool to see you still wrenching.
I pulled that post from the Bimmer forum that I'm on and provided no background, my apologies. Given the circumstances I've got some extra time on my hands today, so let me explain!

What I am doing is yet another Frankenstein build, just quite a bit cheaper than my other route.

The 325e E30 came with a 2.7L despite being the eco model. It came with a crappy cylinder head ("200" head casting) and low compression flat top pistons.

That engine had an 81mm stroke crank with 130mm rods.

The 325i/iS variant used the same block casting (for the most part), but was a 2.5L. Despite having .2L less displacement, this engine still made more power due to a huge design improvement, which was a raised offset dome on the pistons, slightly higher compression, and a combustion chamber on a new head that matched the piston design (think hemi). This engine had 75mm stroke and 135mm rods.

This head ("885" casting) with the offset combustion chamber provided ideal quench area when used with the 325i pistons with the matching offset dome, and also had bigger valves and flowed quite a bit better than the 200 head found on the 325e.

You may read the above and think, "wow you can just put the 885 head on the 2.7L bottom end and make power", but in fact, this combination, despite what the internet says, makes less power than the regular 2.5 (m20b25) due to the mismatch of the flat top pistons in the 2.7L and the offset dome style combustion chamber in the 885 head.

SO, the solution is this: using the "E" 81mm crank, "E" 130mm rods, and then using the good pistons/head from the 325i to make yourself a proper 2.7L stroker that has been proven to make 180/180 to the tire.

However, this setup puts the pistons 2mm below deck, so the block needs to be decked 2mm to get the proper compression and quench area.

The change in deck height and this timing has been shown several times to not hurt performance, so I'm not going to degree things in for simplicity's sake.

So there you have it, using a bunch of BMW parts like legos to make yourself a super cheap stroker motor that'll get me 80% of the way there power-wise compared to the 3.1L I'm building, for less than half the cost!


M20b25 piston design:

m20b25 by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr




M20b27 piston design:

m20b27 by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
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Old 03-23-2020, 09:53 PM   #796
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2.7L stroker parts dropped off at the machine shop today! The 3.1 bottom end is fully assembled, and lookin mighty fine

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
​​​​​​​Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
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Old 03-24-2020, 02:37 PM   #797
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That looks amazing man. Definitely the best time to get on these.

Hope everyone is safe!
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Old 03-24-2020, 10:50 PM   #798
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Thanks for the explanation!

Looking great
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Old 04-03-2020, 12:50 PM   #799
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That looks amazing man. Definitely the best time to get on these.

Hope everyone is safe!
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Thanks for the explanation!

Looking great
Thanks gents! Now is the time, indeed. Sadly my line of work is for the most part business as usual so my life hasn't changed much.

I finally got around to installing my steering wheel! I love these wheels so much.

I found a used Momo hub on eBay- the hub got here and had been hammered off and had compressed splines. Fixed all that and it bolted up fine.

I hit the Italvolati with leather conditioner, it soaked up quite a bit and dang, she looks good! Don't mind the PO's radio wiring job. I still have yet to convert it over to the VDO TR7412UB-OR that's in the passenger seat.

This got some juices flowing, I can't wait to start driving this car again.

Before:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



After:

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

Last edited by blue91lx; 04-03-2020 at 07:40 PM.
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Old 04-03-2020, 08:45 PM   #800
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That leather cleaned/shined up REAL nice
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