1983 BMW E30 V8 Build

[Smythy411]

This is a project I have been dying to get stuck into for some time, and Friday last I finally got the VRT paid and got my reg, so all systems were go!


So the obvious place to start on car that won't see road for a while was....





Anyways a little about the car... I came across a comment on a facebook post of a young lad saying he had an e30 coupe and may sell. Naturally, I inquired not expecting much. I asked what year, and when he replied 1983, I was intrigued. I then asked for a few pics




















It looked rusty, but the i've been around e30s long enough to not let that scare me. The asking price was reasonable and i'd always been looking for an 83 e30. So I took a spin down to Laois, made a good deal, and picked it up a few weeks later then




Its a 1983 320i Automatic, non-sunroof, in delphin metalic (Sort of greeny grey). Interior was mint. Brown tint glass. 75k miles with lots of UK history and old MOT certs to prove the mileage. Had rust, but nothing that cant be replaced. Rear arches and sills were the only real bad bits... floors, pockets, scuttles, bulkhead and most other e30 probelm areas all seemed solid. Started and drove, and would suit my needs just fine. Gave it a quick wash and look over before parking it the shed


























And an odd steering wheel i'd never came across in an e30 before










Had fully functioning remote central lock, and an electric aerial. Both aftermarket of course. Also had power steering which I found odd for the year, but showed up on the VIN decoder. Also had an almost perfect condition rear chrome bumper!












The car then sat for another while while I worked on other projects, traveled with work, and until I had a few of the key components i needed to get me going. I'm now back living in cork so I brought the car down to my new shed down this way




This might be the point where the purists among you may want to turn away.

Over that time of it sitting there I started picking up a few bits for the build.
First thing I got was wheels. These were wheels I had been looking to get for a long time and after they swapped hands to a close friend of mine, I snapped at the chance to have them. They are a staggered 16x8 mesh wheel off an old Pontiac Trans Am. Widths on front and rear are the same, but the offset is staggered to give a bigger dish on one pair. The more eagle eyed will notice these are not 4x100... But more on that later










Next I got some Recaro LSs which will be retrimmed along with the rest of the interior






A bit more stopping power will be required






But then my suspension plans changed, so the wilwoods got replaced with some chunkier Brembos (Really hoping I can fit these under the 16s with a bit of jiggery pokery)








And to stiffen up that suspension and chassis




Some BC Racing coilovers that are not for an e30





Some very rare, no longer made, RPM strut braces front and rear.




And some Ireland Engineering uprated anti-roll bars from the US




And of course the reason I need a lot of these mods...




A 4.0 v8 m60b40 engine and manual gearbox from an e34 540i.... Well a choice of two 4.0s actually, and a 4.4 in the blue e30






So here's where it all stood on Friday afternoon after it got home from VRT. Ready to be stripped down and treated to new metal




Got a few hours in the shed Saturday and Sunday so lots of work done over the weekend. I'll post more later when I've all photos are uploaded to Photobucket. Stay tuned




****

[e30mclow]

That's funny, I've been looking for a set of those for when I go 5 stud. The offsets look good depending on what setup you go with.
What do they go for at home?

I've found a set of 4 for $500 here, which is the cheapest I've seen.

[davemx-5]

Great project! Whats the story on the Silvia? Looks stunning.

[-MICK-]

registering interest....

[Kaiser]

Jeez, thats early. Nice one

[Smythy411]

That's funny, I've been looking for a set of those for when I go 5 stud. The offsets look good depending on what setup you go with.
What do they go for at home?

I've found a set of 4 for $500 here, which is the cheapest I've seen.

They are kinda non existent over here... Buddy of mine bought these on ebay years ago and I haven't seen a set since for sale. They weren't dear though. Maybe 400 or 450 euro I think.

Great project! Whats the story on the Silvia? Looks stunning.

Thanks lad. Don't know the owner of the PS... he's friends with the lad I'm sharing the shed with and hes just storing it while its off the road. Beautiful car though!

registering interest....

Registered

Jeez, thats early. Nice one

Yeah you don't often see '83 e30s. I know of maybe 3 or 4 others in the country



Got another hour or 2 at the car last night. Stripping is going well

[Guest]

A mate in the UK did a 4.4 conversion into an E30....some soundtrack!!

[gavfitz]

Deadly.

So whats the story with ECU and wiring (I've not had much BMW stuff to know) Is it tricky or not so bad?

Cool project and a bit different.

[Smythy411]

A mate in the UK did a 4.4 conversion into an E30....some soundtrack!!

I have a 4.4 engine there too I was contemplating, but 4.0 suits my needs for the minute. There isnt much in the difference anyways. And both have the same power output from factory, albeit more torque on the 4.4

Deadly.

So whats the story with ECU and wiring (I've not had much BMW stuff to know) Is it tricky or not so bad?

Cool project and a bit different.

I miraculously picked up a full running gear that had been in an e30 track car, and all wired for an e30 C101 plug... Now I've since figured out the very early e30s done have this plug so I may have to do some fiddling. Its not a big wiring job. But it was one of the reasons I went for a 4.0, rather than the 4.4... simpler wiring! That and no rattly timing chains and possible future... expansions

[Smythy411]

Right so on Saturday I had a half day in work and the second I was finished, I hit straight for the shed to get dug in.








Shed is a bit of a mess at the minute as we are moving around a lot of stuff and waiting the shed next door to become free. We aren't long in this shed yet and there is a couple jobs it needs. One of the buddies that i'm sharing with is doing body work and spraying, so some of these cars are just in for work. Couple of the cars are just in for storage temporarily, and there are 2 other guys in with us down the back. And I have my e30 drift car and trailer here too. All in all, the e30 has good company!









Anyways, the e30... the aim is to get it stripped back completely and placed on a spit for rust repairs




I started at the back and removed bumper and taillights. Lights had a few cracks and the rubbers were very perished










A new set will need to be sourced and new rubbers bought from BMW. Number plate next, and a pleasant surprise to see the original holes and plastics were used! A rare sight








Small bit of rust around one hole




Pulled the rubber seal on the boot lip. Clean at the corners, just a little surface rust, which is nice sight as e30s love to rust here





A little rust along the lip above the boot lock




Boot carpet and all trims out of the boot. Boot floor and wheel well looks very clean




Driver side pocket looks solid, passenger side looks like its had a mesh and filler patch... but solid otherwise






With the trims out of the boot, I could take a look at the rust around the passenger tail light






And that bit of filler on the drivers side






That will need some attention as it looks like a dent was just filled with isopon




Bumper came off fairly easy too. For a 36 year old car, nothing seems to be siezed or rusted shut yet




I pulled out the boot pocket vents. Found some rust on the drivers side










Car went up on jack stands then and the wheels came off






Working my way forward, I took off a few of the easy to get at trims




Bonnet off then to get at the engine




Front number plate off and great to see the original holes being used here too. So many e30s I've had were riddled with screw holes




Front bumper off. This required me to take out the arch liners too






Passenger wing off. Fairly clean for an e30 wing. Definately a replacement wing as the seam sealer was gone at the top of the wing.










All clean underneath








Then over to the drivers side... and came across my first rounded bolt.




It was getting to that time of the evening where the girlfriend was wondering why I wasn't spending a Saturday eveing with her so after a productive enough 3 or 4 hours, I headed home for the night.


Up bright and not so early Sunday and back out at it! And straight out with the grinder




Thing wing was the original. The factory seam sealer hadn't been broken here before. Something I always hated doing, but the wing was rsuty and had to come off!




Not quite as clean but very good considering 34 years, and a lot of which on English roads








It was then when I had my 2 wings side by side that I noticed an issue... The replacement wing was for a later model where the indicator is on the wing. But the original has no hole beacuse back in 1983, there was not a requirement to have them.








Not sure if ill keep the clean holed wing, cut the hole and repair on the drivers side, or weld up the passenger side hole, or get new wings altogether... Anyways onto the front valance. The car had different fog lights either side. The drivers side was the correct light, but the passenger side was... not Looks like an e36 foglight






The odd light wasnt even held in properly




Just tied up with some wire... first botch job found on the car






So off with these perfect condition light covers in the engine bay














Other side wasn't actually hooked up. It may be a case where the foglights were put in at some point for show. The front lip is missing too, but the valance didn't look like it had ever been off the car.






Front lower panel is a bit crusty



Bumper mounts came off fairly handy. I'm noticing a lot of differences between this early e30 and the dozen others I've had whcih have been all '89 and '90 cars. Later cars have a shock absorber in the mount that goes into the chassis leg






Chassis legs don't look too bad inside




Got the headlights out and the radiator shroud was next. The clips were very brittle and most broke when being pulled out








Rad needed to be pulled to get at the last 2 clips, so out comes the coolant/Rusy brown water






Just one upper bolt holding on the rad, and the bottom just slots into two locators. The Auto gearbox fluid cooling lines ran into the bottom of the rad. These fittings were very rusty and took some work to get off. I took out the last of the arch liners to loosen the lines back along the inside of the chassis leg. I got my fist sheared bolt here... one of the captive bolts on the body holding on the liners














Better look at the front panel after the shroud was out... Will have to see how deep this rust is




Expansion bottle and washer bottle came out next which cleared most of the drivers side of the bay




Just a ball of wires and tubes left. So pulled these back to the fuse box








Horns got un-bolted with this










Bonnet latch un-bolted too






The loom ties seem a lot less fragile than the ones on later cars. None broke! All opened perfect. hopefully they pull from the body easy..




Airbox and air-flow meter un-plugged and taken out along with the ignition coil








Un-plugged the brake wear sensors... yes sensors on an 83 car! Funny it had an earth to the brake shield








That done the full loom body loom was pulled back to the fuse box. There was the connection to the engine loom too. A plug I'd never looked at before. Later e30s have whats known as a C101 plug, just like e34s and e32s. This may casue hassle for my v8 engine loom which is currently wired for an e30 C101 plug




Another difference on this early e30 is this ignition control module on the bulkhead






Them 2 plugs seperated and then unbolted the live wire which runs from the starter to the battery terminal




Into the kick panel inside the car




Now this is the definition of a hens tooth in the e30 world... an un-broken kick panel!




Then un-bolted the ecu, and un-plugged it. I had to cut a couple cable ties that had been added with some alarm/ central locking system.... Something that you see in nearly every e30 since they were the one of the most robbed car in the late 80s and 90s! This was one of the neater ones i've seen





Snipped the ties around the engine loom, pulled off the rubber sound deadening and out it came.










That was all wiring from the body loom to the engine disconnected. Battery tray is very crusty... this will probably need replacing or removing if i relocate the battery to the boot

I then dissconnected the fuel lines and there was this little 90s nick nack on the return line








Then i cracked the banjo bolts on the power steering and drained that... I was struggling to find another container for the fluid




Pulled of them lines and then moved onto the exhaust... first 2 bolts i tried were seized and rusted so just rounded when I went near them... Angle grinder opened the bolts much better!






This looks like an e36 320i back box welded to the e30 system






While I was under the car, I bolted off the prop from the gearbox, disconnected the gear selector, and un-bolted the engine and box mounts. Didnt get any pictures of this as I in a bit of a rush... but the results can be seen easily below;













That was my work on Sunday, day 2. Got an hour at it Monday night and I'll post that when I upload the photos. I hope to get out one more evening this week because I'm head home for the weekend, and it will be next week otherwise. Lots to do over the next few week! Finish tripping it, put on spit, build said spit, fix rust!
Stay tuned!

[Bazg2]

Great work, but you're probabaly spending more time taking photographs…. sheesh, it's taken a while to load them all

[gavfitz]

There's all sorts in that shed!

Nice, In fairness it could have been a lot worse, you've a bit to do but nothing horrendous (yet, fingers crossed).

Is the plan to do the welding yourself and get someone else to paint or whats your thoughts?

[Smythy411]

Great work, but you're probabaly spending more time taking photographs…. sheesh, it's taken a while to load them all

Haha, my post are not suitable for people with dial-up internet! Was a little trigger happy this weekend after the long wait, but that was still only 8 or 9 hours work over 2 days and taking my time not to break anything. Imagine the photos after two 12hour days in the shed

There's all sorts in that shed!

Nice, In fairness it could have been a lot worse, you've a bit to do but nothing horrendous (yet, fingers crossed).

Is the plan to do the welding yourself and get someone else to paint or whats your thoughts?

Its a mad shed... different cars come in and out every week! Ah e30 rust doesn't scare me ever since I had a look at a few AE86s

I'll do most of the welding myself, but might get my buddy to do the quarters... I'll see yet. I'll be getting him to paint it since the spray booth is in the shed and he owes me money ha

[Smythy411]

On Monday I got out to the shed for about an hour. First measured up the front chassis legs for plates to mount on a spit




Then went about dropping the front subframe and suspension. Unbolted the top mounts, and the steering linkage, and then disconnected the brake lines. Was just gonna cut the hoses but said I’d try a spanner on them first. And to my surprise both cracked with no issue! A rarity on most old cars








I undid bolts on the wishbone lollipops, put a jack under the subframe, and went at the subframe bolts… Never came across subframe bolts that opened so easily. Last ones I did I had to swing off the breaker bar on them and and drive them out with tan impact wrench. These ones however, once cracked, came out with the battery ratchet! Bolts were spotless!








Then dropped the jack










Had a few mins to spare so I removed the rear exhaust hangers and heat shield. A couple of the studs holding the shield sheared off




And removed the rear bumper mounts. These bolts were very stiff but eventually came off without shearing




That’s as far as I’ve gotten to date… Running out of space for parts until the shed gets cleared a bit. Want to tackle the interior soon, remove the glass and doors, and drop the rear subframe. Didn't get out again for the rest of week, and I'm heading back to Clare for the weekend, but should have updates next week!

Also there are a few parts I need to source, if anyone can help;
- E36 m3 3.0 hubs
- E36 m3 evo 3.2 wishbones
- E30 pre-facelift inner/outer arches and sills (before I buy new ones)
- E30 jimmy hill bumper lip
- E30 sport interior in houndstooth (before I send an interior for re-trimming)
- E36 m3 Eisenman,Remus, or similar back box

[Guest]

Excellent work so far! Keep the pictures coming, its worth it to look back and see how far you've come!