Things are moving nicely on the swap. Need to find an oil pan from an older 530I, need an oil pickup fabricated, need a set of headers, and a 3" exhaust fabricated... its a long term project though, and I think budget constraints will show soon, because I need to replace the entire suspension, fabricate a 6 point cage, and replace every rubber part I possibly can...
Stopping is good, my car has 205 tyres and 315mm brake discs... The brakes don't do much before 100 km/h. Just don't go full ericthecarguy. The dude bought a Fairmont, planning to swap a V8 into it and call it a day, but now it's a full turbo build with a manual tranny swap. 1 year later, still not done. He is filming the shit out of it, but still.
It's either horrendous tuning, sloppy controls, or inadequate driver. Drivers should be the first thing to be upgraded, really. There's no such thing as too much power, as long as the car has traction to make it usable.
This fall if I can help it :lol: I still have at least another $500 to a grand to spend, but I'm at a point where I have enough to put the drivetrain in the car.
This one runs and drives though, it's the new swap candidate. It's an 88, has the plastic bumpers. This one is an auto with a 4.10 limited slip diff. Pics from the CL ad:
For $750, I couldn't pass it up. I'll part out the drivetrain when I'm ready, until then I'll drive it.
The fact that you can but anything, let alone a BMW, for 750 bux and drive it on the road is fucking crazy. Buy life insurance so someone can get rich...that thing looks sketchy as fuck:lol:
It has a vacuum leak that I'm working through. I want to get it running properly, get it inspected and registered, and drive it for a while. I've never driven an E30, so I want to get a feel for the car. Here's one vacuum leak I found:
The nipple on the left side was disconnected. I've ordered a new intake manifold gasket, fuel injector gaskets, throttle body gasket, etc. Also need to check the brake booster, make sure it's not split or anything.
You're saying you're getting vacuum leaks because they're audible or because it's behaving accordingly...?
I'm stuck with a 4x4 because I've got a boat and trailers and bullshit to tow around but if I can work out something (second vehicle, getting one of my relatives to take over towing responsibilities, etc.) I'd dig an E30 or older bimmer wagon of some sort.
Getting started in earnest now, after being distracted by getting the red E30 running. I've gotten it running well enough I can put the engine in the blue E30 and be certain I'll get it running proper, good enough for me. The camshaft kit for the 302 gets here tomorrow, so tonight I'll start stripping down the top end in preparation. I also started grinding angle steel for my welding table, will probably work on that a bit more too.
edit: This is the *** kit: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/cca-k31-254-4/overview/
Probably going to waste while I still have the stock GT40P heads, but it'll be amazing when I get the Trick Flow heads. 7000rpm redline would be pretty damned awesome.
Found both head gaskets were blown. Camshaft, rockers, valves, etc look great. Was smelling the smell of blown head gasket in the oil, so decided to pull the heads.
Cylinders still have cross-hatching in them, but I'm not sure what exactly I'm doing now. Going to have to get the heads and block inspected now I suppose.
edit: Got the heads all stripped down to take to the machine shop tomorrow for inspection.
While the heads are at the machine shop I figured I should start on the suspension. One quarter of the 5 lug swap is done... A little too much poke though.
Wide body is in the plans, but I'm honestly not even sure if these will clear the firewall, much less the fender.
Picked up the block and crank after work. They cleaned everything, honed the cylinders (still stock bore), polished the crank (still stock bearings), and installed new *** bearings, new freeze plugs, and painted the block. Not bad for just over $300.
Block:
Crank:
Really happy with the work they put into it. It did take them 6 business days where usually they turn work around in 1-2, but still.
The camshaft kit was supposed to be here Thursday, FedEx marked it delivered, said it was left at the front door... I was home within 30 minutes of them supposedly delivering it, and there was no package. Really pissed about that. It was either misdelivered or stolen, and I'm leaning towards stolen... Hope Comp Cams insured the shipment...
Some people bore them to get some extra displacement, the bores on mine were near perfect, they only needed a light hone, and can use stock rings and pistons still. If I bored it I would need all new pistons. I don't want to monkey with that until I'm ready to go 347 stroker.
Camshaft kit showed up mysteriously this morning. Wasn't there when I got home last night, but leaving at 7am it was leaned up against my door... Must have been misdelivered, but lame they waited so long to drop it off.
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