Slowly but Surely- 325iX, 325iS, and E30M3 resurrection

[mckpat03]

+1. Ride height looks great to me.

[PAdutch]

Ride height looks pretty good to me. It almost looks like there is some slight negative rake but that may just be the camera. I like to decide ride height by what handles best. Anything is better than slammed and ruining the car.

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Ride height looks spot on, IMO.

Originally Posted by mckpat03

+1. Ride height looks great to me.

Originally Posted by PAdutch

Ride height looks pretty good to me. It almost looks like there is some slight negative rake but that may just be the camera. I like to decide ride height by what handles best. Anything is better than slammed and ruining the car.

Thanks gents! I think I have it close enough to align it at least and then work from there if I need any small adjustments.

PAdutch, you're 100% correct. E30s have a lower rear arch than front arch, so they always appear to a have a negative rake, but the frame rails are even underneath. It's even worse on early model cars. Just a funny little E30 quirk that typically goes unnoticed.

And in regards to slamming it, I 100% agree. Any lower than this and I am jeopardizing suspension travel so it should be right around the perfect blend between looking classy and staying functional. It'll be interesting to fine tune the suspension when I start driving the car, as nearly every piece of it is adjustable.

[blue91lx]

I'm getting down to the small things now! I've got an alignment scheduled for next Thursday morning. After that I can drive it to my buddies shop for exhaust work!

My rad hose came in from Lativa. For anyone using an M42 rad on an M20, the correct p/n is 11531722217. It's a perfect fit!

I also found the rod for the my drivers seat rail so I can adjust driver position without a fiasco.

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr



I pulled a full uncut chassis harness out for chrisbike from one of the iXs. It wasn't all that terrible, just takes a lot of patience to separate each loom and pull them individually through the firewall. Oh and the fuel tank wiring wasn't fun either.

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


And here's a fun update. As if I needed another project....... this weekend I secured almost an entire M30b35 swap locally for a great price. Got two M30 bellhousing g260s- the one I'll be using only has 60K on it and has a short shifter already installed, got an M30b35 w/ several rebuild components, ECU, etc.

Engine needs the head gone through but is otherwise in good shape, comes with most of what I'll need to refresh it (thanks Vic!). I'm going to get the motor/trans good to go and sometime over winter I'll swap it in.

The plan:

IE 270 Billet Cam
New Febi Rockers (half the price of HD rockers)
IE Rocker Arm Guards
RHD M30 7# Flywheel
Reuse my new M20 Clutch
IE M30 Headers
Good n Tite Engine Mounts
179 ECU


I made a very thorough spreadsheet and all said and done after selling off my M20 setup my M30 swap will cost me all of $400 (probably less).

I would post a photo, but TST crashes when I do that haha.

[Big_Jim]

Originally Posted by blue91lx

I would post a photo, but TST crashes when I do that haha.

Its been doing that a lot lately. bad gateway or some ****, right? I told troll about it a few weeks ago, i think theres some type of server upgrades being done or something.

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Big_Jim

Its been doing that a lot lately. bad gateway or some ****, right? I told troll about it a few weeks ago, i think theres some type of server upgrades being done or something.

Yep, that's the one! For whatever reason it only did it with certain flickr embeds.

[Big_Jim]

Originally Posted by blue91lx

Yep, that's the one! For whatever reason it only did it with certain flickr embeds.

Its been doing it for me a lot. trying to visit the site, open threads, reply to threads. shoot me the code you're using to embed the images, i'll see if thats an issue.

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Big_Jim

Its been doing it for me a lot. trying to visit the site, open threads, reply to threads. shoot me the code you're using to embed the images, i'll see if thats an issue.

I use the 'BBCode' on flickr- it's functionally the same embed as the [IMG][/IMG] without having to highlight/copy your true image URL in their 'embed' link which gets to be a pain.

Edit: looks like my M30 transmissions photo worked on this post!

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[blue91lx]

I've reached a new max displacement cargo level for the back of the Subaru- 3.5 whole liters.

So....
I got two M30 g260 transmissions for $250 and sold one of them for $250 so transmisison cost is $0. The one I'm keeping has 60K og miles on it and is freshie fresh.
I got an M30b35 (the good 'late' M30, bigger intake valves, higher compression) for $200 with rebuild components and a $450 clutch. Selling the clutch, motor will also be free.

My hope for this car has always been for it to be an OEM+ cruiser. The M20 I built that's in there now is obviously to get me up and running/enjoying the car for a while. Instead of the $15K 24v swap I was working on before, I decided that I can do an M30 swap to achieve my goals. Fits like stock in the engine bay, still retains glorious single cam i6 sounds, motor is bulletproof, and most importantly, it doesn't require anything special to bolt into the car other than a set of swap mounts ($225).

With the light mod list above I won't spend any money (technically) after selling off my current setup, and the M30 will make 200-220whp but will make great torque. These things are meant to lug 5 and 7 series bimmers around so in an E30 they haul (relative) ass. It's got a full liter of displacement over my current engine with the same compression and head design. So instead of spending $4K building an M20 stroker this is a much more logical, affordable, and reliable route.

I'm going to toss this in the corner for a while until October or so, get it freshened up and ready to drop in over winter, and then do a weekend 'swap in swap out' type of deal so it doesn't turn into another fiasco.

But if we're being honest here, there's an 89% chance that I'll get the m20 running good, start focusing on the M3, and never touch the M30. For the sake of this post, though, lets pretend and get excited.

Next post you guys see from me will be exhaust building and burnouts.


Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[blue91lx]

Alignment day! Everything turned out well and the gentleman who did it was quite pleased with the car. The adjustability of everything allowed for achieving my desired specs. The thing drives like a dream now! The back end I think could come down a touch but I'm going to leave it alone for the time being.

Once my insurance and registration go through I can drop it off for exhaust work. I purchased two additional 12" 2.25" bullet resonators for the mid pipe so it's not too loud for long trips.

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

[DocWalt]

I like the stance it has. Drive it and shake it out and worry about playing with ride height later.

[PAdutch]

i too like the stance. ~9.5 deg of caster seems like alot.

[DocWalt]

^^ Agreed. Alignment sheet wasn't posted when I commented. is ~9.5 degrees of caster right? Wow... Not that I have an issue with that much caster, but it seems really high. Otherwise alignment looks great.

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

I like the stance it has. Drive it and shake it out and worry about playing with ride height later.

Exactly my plan! I put a linear 2.7 turn l2l rack in this thing and it feels pretty crazy compared to the stock 4 turn l2l post-alignment.

Originally Posted by PAdutch

i too like the stance. ~9.5 deg of caster seems like alot.

Originally Posted by DocWalt

^^ Agreed. Alignment sheet wasn't posted when I commented. is ~9.5 degrees of caster right? Wow... Not that I have an issue with that much caster, but it seems really high. Otherwise alignment looks great.

E30 stock norm caster is 8.5*, and stock E30M3 norm caster is 9.13* with the high range being 9.63*. Same wheelbase, strut length, strut housing angle, etc etc, so what I did was use the M3 offset control arm bushings on the back of the CAs to push my caster out to E30M3 spec.

*Supposedly* on E30s, this is the "cash money" territory for caster, since it's essentially the "M" division spec. Anything up to 10* is said to be perfect.

Some guys run up to 15* of caster when they swap E36 5 lug suspension onto their E30 (incorrect geometry). Most of those folks see a pretty harsh mid corner push (from high caster effectively adding camber to outside wheel in a turn as I understand it). I assume the mid corner push is caused by the increased camber added while turning, thus decreasing the contact patch of the tire and overloading it.

I'll pretty much always be running a radial so the added camber in corners *should* help. As far as I've read on the interwebs, slicks are a bit more sensitive to this and don't like the extra camber as much from the decreased contact patch midway through corners when the slip angle starts to get high. Small, accurate steering inputs are also said to be maintained up to a bit over 10* or so of caster.

Hopefully I'll be good, but thankfully all I have to do is swap that CAB to a regular E30 one and it'll bring me right back within spec if it ends up not helping out!

[blue91lx]

Happy fourth!

Vintage motorsport roundels....... I'm really not sure if I like them or not. We'll, I'm pretty sure I don't like them as much as the OEM roundel. Don't judge the filthy car, I still haven't been able to register it due to ridiculously frustrating issues so my motivation to scrub is low.

Thoughts?

IMG_2474 by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
IMG_2472 by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr
IMG_2475 by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr





Also, I've got the next 10 days off work to finish parting out two cars and finish doing a mini-resto on the white iX. I'm doing a black interior conversion and getting all of the small stuff working right which involves new door window regulators.

Does anyone know how to replace a late rear sedan window regulator/motor? I don't want to change the whole window mechanism if I don't have to, but I can't for the life of me seem to get the rear door window motor out, embarrassingly enough.

I've got new timing belt, water pump, etc going in, as well as my freshie iX manual swap with all new slave/master cyls, fresh delrin bushings, etc. I have a feeling I'm really going to keep this one once I'm finished with it......must sell to fund M3 parts....

IMG_2478 by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[Shipman]

I legit hate them.

[PAdutch]

I also am not a big fan of the classic roundels.

I dont know if you follow BAT but there is a 1990 M3 up for auction right now:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-bmw-m3-24/
35k with 5 days left...those things are pricey

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by Shipman

I legit hate them.

Originally Posted by PAdutch

I also am not a big fan of the classic roundels.

Yeah, I think you're both right. I gave it a few days but I still can't stand the way they look on the car compared to the stockers....my buddy in CO makes these and gave me a good deal on them, but they just don't feel right.

Originally Posted by PAdutch

I dont know if you follow BAT but there is a 1990 M3 up for auction right now:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1990-bmw-m3-24/
35k with 5 days left...those things are pricey

Yes I watch BAT! It really is crazy how much they're going for, even for a "meh" car. A schwarz E30M3 that needed paint, didn't run, trashed interior, and had been sitting outside for years and years sold for $28K

If you are curious about E30/BAT stuff, on the other site that I'm on we have a thread with every E30 sold on BAT since like January of 2017.

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...d.php?t=384251

When the M3 is finished, I really do think it's going to be hard to turn down the $$ (especially when I move back to PA and need a down payment for a house )

BUT there's another side to the value:

Even if I were wealthy, an E30 M3 isn't worth (to me) what they're selling for for me to ever buy one at full value. Thus, I'm one of the lucky few to get into one at an affordable price point, which makes me want to keep it and enjoy it how it was meant to be enjoyed.

[PAdutch]

Originally Posted by blue91lx

When the M3 is finished, I really do think it's going to be hard to turn down the $$ (especially when I move back to PA and need a down payment for a house )

BUT there's another side to the value:

Even if I were wealthy, an E30 M3 isn't worth (to me) what they're selling for for me to ever buy one at full value. Thus, I'm one of the lucky few to get into one at an affordable price point, which makes me want to keep it and enjoy it how it was meant to be enjoyed.

I've had the thought "if I owned a car that became valuable what would I do". For me cars are about driving and I think a valuable car would make me nervous to drive. I would keep an eye on the market, try and spot a peek, and sell it. Use that money to buy a car/cars I can drive and enjoy.

For your M3, if it were mine I think I would let it sit longer. Seems they are still on the upswing and will be for a while. Sell it when it seems right, buy a vette or something (equal or better performance than M3) and use the rest of the cash for whatever.

If you feel comfortable driving it, more power to ya. Just make sure its insured for the right value.

[blue91lx]

Originally Posted by PAdutch

I've had the thought "if I owned a car that became valuable what would I do". For me cars are about driving and I think a valuable car would make me nervous to drive. I would keep an eye on the market, try and spot a peek, and sell it. Use that money to buy a car/cars I can drive and enjoy.

For your M3, if it were mine I think I would let it sit longer. Seems they are still on the upswing and will be for a while. Sell it when it seems right, buy a vette or something (equal or better performance than M3) and use the rest of the cash for whatever.

If you feel comfortable driving it, more power to ya. Just make sure its insured for the right value.

It's certainly a lot different. The Evo was $$ (still not M3 money), but it was replaceable. The M3 adds a second dynamic of expensive and irreplaceable if something were to happen to it.

I have been preparing myself for the M3 acquisition in this regard, and I really think it'll be a hermit, but at the end of the day it's a drivers car and needs to be driven. I just wish 98% of the drivers on the road didn't stare at their phones so we didn't have to be in defense mode 24/7 with these cars that we all pour our time, money and a little bit of soul into.

I insure all of my classics by way of agreed-value policies through JC Taylor, so they carry proper coverage thankfully. It's the **** minimum coverage of other drivers that gives me anxiety. When my Subaru got hit I had to fight up and down to get them to cover an OEM body panel, and they never agreed on it so I had to take their **** check and fix it properly myself.

And I agree, the M3 will be a long winded project which I think will naturally allow me to sit on it for a while. I still don't know if the head/block are cracked, and if they are, I'm up creek with no paddle because a used 150K mile motor is $12K now.