Project: R3D3MPTION?

[davej]

This thing is awesome. I've thought about getting an e30 to swap an s50 or s52 in a lot over the last few years.

Trade you a drive in this thing for a drive in the M3 :wink:

Anytime you want to run it around, just let me know. And heck yeah if you wanna swap drives!

I finally got to drive it on Monday, I went back home at lunch to get it since it's not really conducive to taking 3 kids to school yet. (once one of them can sit in the front I'll be good)

First impressions: HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THINGS HOLY THIS CAR IS STUPID FUN TO DRIVE!!! I walked around with a stupid shiteating grin on my face the rest of the afternoon. I've had it out a few other times this week and to 2nd or 3rd previous comments, it truly is a hoot. That noise is addicting and the tach makes me laugh every time. I brought it up to a buddy that does a lot of restorations with classic bmw's to check out and he was thoroughly impressed by the quality of work DJ did on the swap, big kudos man! While there I picked up a few little things like odometer gears to fix that, and the lens cover for the right blinker that broke.

I also impulse bought


There's a funny little rattle coming from the front but I think I tracked it down to a loose cover by the diag port rubbing against the head. I'll button that down and see if it fixes it. Also there's a quality smell when you get on it, I think DJ had mentioned something about a gasket by the headers at the show, but I was a little distracted. Mind refreshing my memory? Maybe that's what you were talking about.

Brakes are on the list still, as is fighting the 5 lug swap bug. The more I read on what's needed, and how we'll basically null some of the previous goodies DJ already worked so hard to replace, it seems like the scale is tipping towards no, or at least not right now.

Still on the look out for 4x100 16" wheels that we can get a bit more rubber on in case anyone has/hears of anything.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Yup there is a cover on the passenger side for the wiring (and the middle one) that I didn't get to since we kind of rushed it out the door.

The gasket at the headers needs to be replaced, we only had used ones and I hoped they might be okay but they are clearly not and I could hear/smell it on the way down.

Wiring clean up/exhaust gaskets/front right caliper/rusty ebrake cables and shocks and springs can be done if you bring it up one weekend.


BTW- I am actually really happy how this car came out despite the timeframe/budget restrictions. For any current students wondering, all of this was done including cost of cars and parts (and my labor) well below the $9k mark. You don't need $$ to have something unique and fun.

[Senor_Taylor]

Yup there is a cover on the passenger side for the wiring (and the middle one) that I didn't get to since we kind of rushed it out the door.

The gasket at the headers needs to be replaced, we only had used ones and I hoped they might be okay but they are clearly not and I could hear/smell it on the way down.

Wiring clean up/exhaust gaskets/front right caliper/rusty ebrake cables and shocks and springs can be done if you bring it up one weekend.


BTW- I am actually really happy how this car came out despite the timeframe/budget restrictions. For any current students wondering, all of this was done including cost of cars and parts (and my labor) well below the $9k mark. You don't need $$ to have something unique and fun.

You just need to know the right people and have the right circumstances land you with the engine and then have 6 people all pitch in to move things around and also have you do the work.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[D_Eclipse9916]

Actually it would have been MUCH easier to have way less people involved and moving things around. That made it a nightmare for getting the right parts and extended the timeline on this thing 3x longer. The motor swap itself is a weekend affair, it's not having the parts and redoing all the brake and fuel hard lines on this car as well as refreshing the suspension.

I didn't see anything in this build that a current student couldn't eventually do save some welding. Time and experience is what made this happen so quickly. Without my labor it would be even cheaper too...

[*insertusernamehere*]

I mean its not like I'm actively trying to remind myself that saving for the future is more important or anything

[CaptainHenreh]

So I got to drive this.

Me, after power-oversteer:




Thing that's beautiful about this car isn't the power, although there's quite a bit of it. It's that it really kind of begs to be driven. Faster, harder, pull my hair. Good times, Rex Approves: :thumbup:

[RawrImAMonster]

I really shouldn't drive this. I've been wanting an s50/52 swapped e30 for a long time and I'll be looking for something to mess with now that I'm mostly finished modding the M3.

It doesn't help that there's a black e30 325is I see sitting in the driveway by my work parking lot every day.

[davej]

I really shouldn't drive this.

[*insertusernamehere*]

I really shouldn't drive this. I've been wanting an s50/52 swapped e30 for a long time and I'll be looking for something to mess with now that I'm mostly finished modding the M3.

It doesn't help that there's a black e30 325is I see sitting in the driveway by my work parking lot every day.

Where? Is it for sale?

[RawrImAMonster]

Where? Is it for sale?

Not that I know of or I would have already asked about it. It's been setting in the driveway by my working parking lot for at least 5 years. I don't see it move much though.

[davej]

I ran the car into the recycling place down the street and they happily let me weigh it. There's some fuzzy math involved here, so let me know if I messed something up.

Listed curb weight of a stock 318is = 2601 pounds
Curb weight is with a full tank of gas, right? Car was low on gas when I went over the scale and I put 11.5 gallons in afterwards, so depending on what website you're on, the car either had a half gallon, or 3 gallons in it at weigh in. (3-18lbs of fuel)

Car w/ me in it = 2800 pounds even.
Car alone would be 2620 pounds
Car alone with a full tank, using the 14.5 gallon = 2707

So it looks like the swap might have only added about 100 pounds. I'm sure not doing AC saved a fair amount.

On paper m42 hp rating = 134
P/W of 19.4 lbs to hp

On paper s50 hp rating = 240
P/W of 11.2

I'd love to catch FlimFlam on a quiet day (if he ever has one) to see what it actually puts out at the wheels, and maybe let him do a little of his black magic on it.

[*insertusernamehere*]

Noooiiiice

[SlimKlim]

No wonder the little sumbitch seemed so fast! It's got like a 600lbs advantage over an E36.

[davej]

Story of the day: Rex and I drop off the Flex at Ford, go in, Rex checks in and the first words out of the service guy's mouth is "how much for the e30?"

at least we made a new friend and the odds of them screwing with the Flex went down by a hair.

[Jake]

A/C weighs about 42 lbs, FYI.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Probably making about 220-230 to the wheels since it has full exhaust, m50 intake, pulleys, "hot air intake" and a tune.

[JPolen01]

Damn I bet that thing is a riot!

[ScottyB]

so cool to see this thing buttoned up and kicking ass. nice work DJ and its hilarious to hear all these stories from people who are now probably secretly trolling craigslist for busted E30's....again

[Senor_Taylor]

so cool to see this thing buttoned up and kicking ass. nice work DJ and its hilarious to hear all these stories from people who are now probably secretly trolling craigslist for busted E30's....again

Secretly? The MM chat has been nothing but busted BMWs for weeks.

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[*insertusernamehere*]

Before

And

After

It was all pretty straight forward e30's are awesome! I've never done a suspension swap before so learned something new! The only problems really was a sway bar bracket snapped in the back (suparusty), I'm not really sure how it was fixed but the bracket was drilled out and put back in, Jackson did it while Ryan G and I put the front back together. The front sway bar bracket on the driver side is missing so we didn't hookup back the sway bar so no whipping it until that goes back in. The bolt for it was there but the mount wasn't attached to it. Oh how nice it must be to just have a bunch of kids come by while you're out of town and do all your work hahaha