BMW E30 SR20DET

[f0xy]

what sort of money goes into something liek this? i imagine without your handywork you could double the cost in labour!
wish i had the ability, wouldn't hesitate that's for sure!

Not that much if you know where to buy the stuff and don't rush into it... Like you say, the labour would be 3x the cost of the parts - a LOT of hours have gone into it already and its nowhere near there yet!


Picked the completed prop shaft up earlier today, S14-to-E30 retaining the original BMW center bearing. I have a new center bearing due to be delivered, so the rusty one isn't staying! From:

To:

Should do the job fine!

Also fitted the Walbro 255lph pump I got from an S14 into the BMW housing earlier, no pictures of that though. Modified the BMW frame that slots into the tank to accept the Nissan fit Walbro pump, secured it and re-fitted to the tank.

 

[M4D M4X]

Fair play that's pretty tight in there, good effort on the quick progress .
Looking forward to more updates.

When you say a S14 do you mean S14 M3 parts or a Nissan S14?
I always getting confused as the M3's running gear's called S14 my fault i'm a E30 M3 owner. Lol

 

[f0xy]

Sorry when I say S14 I mean Nissan S14/S14a, lol.

 

[Ian_182]

Still awsome.

So foxy does this mean you will have to fabricate everything when something breaks.?

 

[david hodson]

Great project like your last , i love reading them and also the work you do yourself

will this be a track car or drift car?

 

[f0xy]

Still awsome.

So foxy does this mean you will have to fabricate everything when something breaks.?

Pretty much - well, the only custom bits really are prop/engine mounts/few other bits for now. But in the future I'm hoping to go more custom with a few things so we'l see!

Great project like your last , i love reading them and also the work you do yourself

will this be a track car or drift car?

Predominantly a track car!

 

[chrispy.clio]

Nice update, when you get your bits and bobs powdercoated are you going to get the stuff done in a bright colour like you did on the little Clio?

 

[mas]

Awesome jord!

 

[not normal dan]

proper smart! looking forward to seeing this in action!

 

[david_]

Great project! What kind of suspension setup you intend to run on this car?

 

[maynard]

Did the parcel turn up okay?

 

[f0xy]

Great project! What kind of suspension setup you intend to run on this car?

Ive got H&R front (22mm) and rear (18mm) adjustable (3way) ARB's, and hoping to purchase KW V2's soon but still not 100% decided..

Did the parcel turn up okay?

Yeah mate spot on, came the other day! Will be cracking on fitting it all over the weekend

 

[f0xy]

Painted, dry and ready to be reassembled over the weekend with poly bushes. As much as I wanted it powder coating (Crispy - probably subtle black!) paint will have to do until its ripped apart in the future...

E36 M3 rack arrived also - will be swapping the E30 arms onto this and comparing them both at some point. The pinion is positioned differently which I hope will give me more room to work with for a linkage..

Also had a big delivery (Cheers to Maynard@GSF) - Rear discs, new drop links all round, new front wishbones, new rear bearings, new prop shaft center bearing, etc..

The intercooler turned up a couple of days ago also, and as I had hoped its perfect for what I imagined I would need..

Fits nicely butt up against the top of the slam panel, leaving the inlet/outlet sat just above the chassis legs, with enough room under the headlights to fit a 90deg bend...

Giving a nice short run from the turbo and to the inlet..

Lastly lifted the engine out before calling it a day giving me more room to sort the front sub frame and steering rack mounts out...

...not to mention lots more room to fit new turbo gaskets and braided oil/coolant lines once they arrive!

 

[JamesBryan]

Elliot@GSF is a sound guy!

Can't believe how quick this has come along!

 

[JackJack]

Coming together nicely great project.

 

[Mark One]

Nice work mate! coming along a treat. Does the ECU require any immobiliser work etc?

Have you got a new welder Jord? or is that what you had all along?

 

[f0xy]

No immob on it (thankfully), just needs fuel pump relay, ignition live and starter solenoid wire - should start and run with that!

Nooope not had it all along, about 3-4 months maybe, managed to blag a big argon mix bottle for cheap so kept it this time

 

[maynard]

Good to know..have fun fitting it all!

 

[Matt Cup]

Saw this and thought of your build.

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22387

 

[Djw John]

Its like reading PPC but free and with actual progress!

 

[nicknick]

Love this. Eagerly awaiting updates!

 

[f0xy]

Saw this and thought of your build.

http://www.stanceworks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22387

Yeah hes got a build thread on there too, really tidy. Its the older S13 engine but still done well. Spoke to him a while back about the steering column clearance but didnt get very far with information, not that it matters now anyways!

 

[f0xy]

Quite a few bits done over the past week. First off was refitting the rear beam and LSD with polybushes...

After a bit of effort/balancing act on a jack everything was bolted up in position..

Next thing was I wanted to grind all the brackets out of the engine bay that were no longer needed..

Now I had to crack on with a job I had been putting off for a while. I needed to move the servo over as far as possible (so its further away from the turbo/manifold). Its in the same place on all E30s, just the RHD models have a bar behind the dash that links the pedal to it.

I am using a (Clio) 182 master cylinder and servo with it having a good sized piston, so started by holding it in position to see how much room there was to play with..

There was a good 40-45mm available, so I removed the pedal box to see how that was set up..

The 'fork' on the servo usually goes around the piece that sticks out with a pin through it.

The furthest over I could go was around 40mm, so the fork of the servo would be inside the pedal like it is on a Clio. Out came the grinder..

..and then started measuring up. Its only possible to remove the back plate and not the side, as the clutch master cylinder bolts to the side of the pedal box so that had to remain where it was. I could just get 40mm out of it before the servo hit the metal on the side of the pedal box. Used some 3mm plate and marked it up so the servo would fit perfectly up against the side of the pedal box frame..

Then welded it back onto the pedal box itself in the correct position (as far over as it would go)..

Obviously this would not line up with the holes in the bulkhead on the car, so I got chopping. Before:

After:

..and roughly got the 'new' pedal box in the correct position..

From that I cut some 1.5mm plate slightly over sized with the holes in the right position for the new pedal box. After lots of trimming with a sanding disc I got it sat inside the hole pretty well and tacked it in..

Happy with the position it was welded solid from the engine bay side. Couldn't get a good picture so took one from inside..

Pedal box bolted up fully in the correct position and everything lined up really well..

The servo was then bolted on to check fitment, along with the master cylinder..

Much further over when compared with the original picture further up and should give me a lot more room to play with! The pedal just needed drilling through to accept a bolt for the servo fork to finish it off..

Lastly I sanded the engine bay down quickly and gave it a freshen up with some black spray. I will eventually get the whole car properly done once its caged (a lot of the body work is flat), but that's something for the future!

Another one of the 'big' jobs out of the way, so going to get the engine back in this weekend and go from there!

 

[Daz.]

Excellent

 

[Gaz.]

Brilliant work Jord. I'll dig that hose out, haven't got that deep into the endless boxes yet lol.

 

[chrispy.clio]

Nice one Jord, so as you've moved the peddle box i assume your going to be brinnging the seating position and steering wheel position over too so it's all straight and inline?

 

[FlansS14]

Love this Mate!! shoud be great fun.

you running the S15 ecu or a S14 or a S14a. also was that an auto flywheel at the start? different to my S14?

Flan

 

[Ian_R]

Mate you have talent, you sure dont do things by halves, good luck with this and will be keeping and eye on this thread. I reckon if there is interest on any beemer forums your on you could make a pretty penny from the engine mounts etc!

 

[f0xy]

Brilliant work Jord. I'll dig that hose out, haven't got that deep into the endless boxes yet lol.

Nice one, no major rush - hopefully going to get it running this week.

Nice one Jord, so as you've moved the peddle box i assume your going to be brinnging the seating position and steering wheel position over too so it's all straight and inline?

No need, the pedal box is in the same place, I've just moved the bulkhead hole and back plate to allow servo to be further over Ive managed to move the column two inches over too at the bottom and retain the same mounting place at the top so everything's still the same pretty much. Going to get the seat bars in over the next week or so - the column will eventually be mounted from the cage when I get round to that!

Love this Mate!! shoud be great fun.

you running the S15 ecu or a S14 or a S14a. also was that an auto flywheel at the start? different to my S14?

Flan

S15 engine loom and ECU at the moment - just want to get it running and do Oulton in it as a shakedown to check everythings mounted properly etc. I will be going aftermarket management from then onwards!

And I've no idea what flywheel it was - I'm still confused about it myself. As far as I read I thought S15's had a duel mass, but when I took it off it looks nothing like one - Just looks like a standard flywheel with a huge amount of depth, its all machined on the back (crank side) of it with nothing there! The car the engine came from was a 6spd manual. I had to get rid of it anyway to run the S14 box so its got an S14 item on there now, all bolted up with the box on ready to drop back into the shell

 

[FlansS14]

Oh ok, must be the 6 speed flywheel. My engine was from
An auto so had to change flywheel, bolts and the centre brass bush in the crank (for the nose of the input shaft)

Do S15 not have a Nats system meaning you need the box, the key and the halo? I know s14a's do?

Stock ecu is great with Horsham chips or get it mapped with mistune.
I was gonna run aftermarket on mine but stuck with oe. The Nissan doesn't run a crank sensor it does it off the cam.

Think Vems can run it?

 

[f0xy]

Unsure - from what I've read (and researched about the pins on the engine loom) it should just run after I've made up a fuel pump and ignition relay and connected 4-5 wires - thats how the other conversions have done it upto now. Will see this week when I get it going hopefully!

Yeah - well I was told I would have to change flywheel bolts too - so I had a right effort finding S14 flywheel bolts anywhere but Nissan, got them and then took the S15 flywheel off and they were exactly the same!! So maybe its just the auto flywheels that use the longer bolts? Everything bolted up fine though, box went on perfectly with the S14 flywheel etc.

Thought about Nistune yeah - but I want to fully rewire the engine/car from scratch ideally with the bare minimum (brake lights, one indicator, wipers etc). Noticed there wasn't a crank sensor but it dosent really stop me using any management as I could always knock up a trigger wheel to go on the crank pulley with a sensor and run any management

 

[Gaz.]

S15s don't have NATS, hence them needing a thatcham alarm fitted for insuring in the UK.

 

[Laura]

awesome work! know a couple of people that hae done this to any questions you have ill try and find some answers for you.

great fabrication skillz to boot!!

 

[chriscummins7]

Fantastic work as always mate.

I'm sure I saw your old e30 touring (the green one) over colne way the other week!

 

[Rob]

Bloody great read Jord, keep it up.

 

[f0xy]

Bit more of an update from the weekend. Made up two 14mm spacers for the E36 rack (as the mounting points aren't as tall as an E30)..

Then fitted the rack to the front subframe..

I decided to fit the new front wishbones before the engine as its easier to get to the bolts etc, so set about that. I have used PowerFlex (M3) eccentric wishbone bushes - this involved removing the old bush and sleeve from the housing and pressing the first part of the PowerFlex bush home in a vice..

Then fitted the alternator and other bits to the engine - also looped back the coolant pipes that go to the heater matrix as I am not running one. Didn't fancy doing that when the engine was in the car as the pipes are under the inlet manifold. Engine bay and complete engine/transmission assembly ready to lift in..

Put the new centre prop shaft bearing on and attached the rear section..

Then lifted the engine in and fitted the prop shaft. Really happy with the fit, its a perfect length and the center bearing bolts up with room to spare either side position wise. Gearstick fits well too..

Had a custom clutch line made up with banjos on either end for easy fitment, the other (s14 item) was a bit too short. Runs from the slave cylinder over the box and top of the bulkhead then down behind the servo as the clutch master cylinder comes out under the servo..

Got a lot more clearance (well, as much as I can get) on the servo/master cylinder now too. Need some heat shielding for sure.

Lastly I had moved the column over when the engine was out to see how much room it would give me - quite a bit of clearance now. Still need to make a custom plate to mount it to the bulkhead (to replace the original) and probably extend the shaft. Got a couple of linkages and bits to play with but I am confident I can get something to work past the space I now have...

I also realised there is quite a bit of room between the down pipe and bulkhead, and moving it closer (further backwards) would give me more room for a steering linkage too. I have a complete down pipe that links to the exhaust from an S14a too, in the same bore (3"), so I might chop the flange off the short down pipe, adjust the angle and use the S14a down pipe to make a single piece custom item thats closer to the bulkhead giving me more room. Going to have a look at that later!

 

[dalla]

Awesome, nice work

 

[Revels]

Brilliant! I still don't understand how the hell you know what you're doing all the time!

 

[JoeyD]

Brilliant! I still don't understand how the hell you know what you're doing all the time!

+1 f**king awesome work.

 

[Gaz.]

Brilliant! I still don't understand how the hell you know what you're doing all the time!

It's just engineering, you find a way to do it.