mrferg wrote:Nice E30 kanecvr! Is that an M50 or M52? I had two E30's before my E39, a 1988 325iS and a 1991 318i. The 325iS was my easily my favorite, alas road salt did it in. 😢
The car's original engine was a meager 1.6L M40B16. My dad got the car second hand from germany in 1994 - no AC, no power windows, no power steering, cloth seats. I've inherited the car about 8-9 years ago. For 4-5 years I had just worked on it to keep it on the road, but a few year ago the old girl really started to show her age, plus I wanted some creature comforts like air conditioning, and power steering so I got me an E46 323cic to use as a daily driver (first car I ever bought yey!). Since then, the E30 has been thought many upgrades. Power steering, air conditioning, sports leather interior, cruise control and other creature comforts were fitted along the way.
A litle over 4 years ago, I bought another wrecked E30 from a guy in my home town - a very special car - a C2 2.7 alpina witch he had bought from bulgaria an a few months later wrapped around a tree. The chassis was completely compromised (the car looked like a bagel) but my interest lay under the hood. The 2.7L 210hp engine was still intact, so I swapped it into my black E30, along with the rear axle witch had large disk brakes (my car had drum brakes on the back), the power steering rack + pump, the brake pump and brake booster, and other miscellaneous parts. The alpina's interior was black with a wooden trim and a wooden finish (yuk) so I only kept the center console, front seats and carpets. The rest of the car was parted out and the bagel-shaped chassis scrapped. I found the alpina gearbox (1st and 2nd gears reversed) a pain in the ass to use, so I later swapped it for a 325i getrag 260.
I sold the alpina engine, gearbox and identification tags to an alpina enthusiast from Sweden. He came to inspect them and pick them up personally. Here's a little video I made to demo the engine for him before he came to pick it up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAFOxPnhqMo
The new engine is an M50B25 off a 1994 E34 525i. I've rebuilt it, and replaced the stock crank, rods and pistons with the ones used in the M54B30, stroking it to 2979cc (engines have same bore). The donor car only had 162.000 km on it. Right now I'm looking to source a smaller brake booster (new engine is kind of snug) after witch I'll have to get a new tranny brace machined and have the exhaust done. I also have to redo the AC compressor piping since the E30 pipes don't mate with the E34's AC compressor.
MMaximus wrote:Nice ride! Is it a 325i? What new engine are you replacing the original one with?
Thanks 😀 Initially it was a 316i, that had been previously swapped out for an M20, now I'm using a M50B25 stroked to 2979cc. I guess that would make it a 330?
If anyone is interested, here's a link to some photos of the car being cleared of what little rust it had, lowered, repainted, and the engine swap. https://www.facebook.com/ryan.cooper.391420/m … 79375151&type=3