Two 17 year olds put a v8 in an e30

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: There were bumper dumpers, open downpipes, exhausts out of hoods at the base of windshields, and not one person died!

Bumper Dumpers ahahahaha

GameboyRMH wrote:

dculberson wrote: a poorly running Samurai (is there any other kind?)

Mine has run well at times...

Actually mine was a very reliable vehicle, just being "funny," for various loose definitions of funny.

Great build. Welcome to the board.

Thanks!

I'm about to post the first part of my suggestions/ help guide. There's a lot more I don't have on here, so I'll revise it as I ad to it.

Engine/ Driveline:

1. Buy engine/ bellhousing/ trans together, this cuts down on the chance you may accidently(or be lied to) buy the wrong trans or bell housing.
2. Don’t be scared of the wiring, it’s really not as difficult as it seems.
3. Trim down or cut off the CSB mounts, that will provide much more room for the driveshaft, even if it’s just piece of mind for an emergency.
4. 3.73 is a perfect street/ track gear. However, if you’re looking at a lot of highway miles, it may be a bit too low of gearing, so look into alternatives.
5. If at all possible, use Explorer accessories. If you’ve read my thread, you realize the issues I’ve run into with clearance from the rad to the water pump pulley.
6. If you’re running a skidplate, it must be meant for an M42 and you must remember to notch a hole so you can change your oil. Also know that the top power steering bolts will be inaccessible once the engine is in, so install it before hand.
7. An early model, m20 rad is you best (stock) bet. I then used an inline filler cap from Morroso. I ran a random, universal overflow from Summit Racing.
8. Make the core support removable BEFORE you start putting the engine in. There are a number of ways to do this, just search google. This allows you to much more easily install the engine/ trans combo(albeit, we were able to do it multiple times, but it takes about an hour and involves lots of anger and swearing).
9. Ideal driveshaft diameter is 3”.

-Wiring:

1. Again, it’s not as difficult as it seems. Just go over the diagram a few times, and go for it!
2. Don’t be surprised if you need to buy 2 or 3 engine side c101 connectors. Not all cars had the correct pins that I needed to do FI wiring. Alternatively, you can simply order new pins from BMW.
3. Cheapest way to wire the tach is to cut the control wire straight off the connecter, then run it back in the loom to the distributor and tap into the ground wire.

4. As with any swap, wiring can be a bit messy, even after clean up. Tuck all the light/ horn wires before you start to keep clutter down.

5. Brakes:

6. I recommend keeping away from Remote Mount Booster setups for a number of reasons(go boosterless if you can find the kit), but if you must go the remote mount route, junkyards will have the full setup for much cheaper. Also make sure to grab the ENTIRE assembly.

7. Pedal assembly:

8. The ideal setup is to skip the entire Wilwood kit, and simply order a full pedal box, and separately order the Wilwood slave cylinder. If you go that route, ignore the rest of this section’s suggestions.

9. Instead of ordering the whole Wilwood kit, you can get away with ordering just the slave cylinder and modding the attachment point on the stock clutch pedal to have enough throw to fully actuate the slave cylinder.
10. If you do use the whole Wilwood kit, make sure to reinforce the mounting points and the sheet metal surrounding it.

Shifter/ Clutch:

1. While the shifter lines up fairly well in the stock shifter cut out, it’s not perfect and will most likely not allow full access of all the gears. To fix this, I cut a square chunk out of the trans tunnel in front of it, and then riveted and sealed a new piece with circular notch in front of it. Follow this up with a spare grommet to keep water/ noise/ exhaust out.
2. Make sure to cut down the corner of the clutch fork to prevent binding on the trans tunnel. This may even void the need to hammer that section of the tunnel out, providing much more room for the new gas pedal.
3. The stock t5 shifter is 2 piece. The top piece sits at an angle towards the driver. Because of how high the shifter sits, this can become annoying and also get a little too close to the steering wheel. To solve this, simply cut and weld to your desire!

Good looking out! Looking forward to seeing the rest

Thanks, Josh

I'll also mention that stuart here co-drives another e30 in rallycross...

I want to see the V8 car on course. He can't even keep the M42-powered one straight:

or on the course

I almost bought this car when I was looking for my first car as well. Wound up with an e36 instead. It's leading a much more powerful life than it would have if I bought it lol. I'm pretty sure my girlfriend and I watched you guys jump it at MPact while we were getting food lol

Ty_Lo95 wrote: I almost bought this car when I was looking for my first car as well. Wound up with an e36 instead. It's leading a much more powerful life than it would have if I bought it lol. I'm pretty sure my girlfriend and I watched you guys jump it at MPact while we were getting food lol

Haha! Yeah, my friends took it to MPact and the alternator wiring hadn't yet been fixed.

irish44j wrote: I'll also mention that stuart here co-drives another e30 in rallycross... I want to see the V8 car on course. He can't even keep the M42-powered one straight:

-_- That's Spencer, not me. I'm the fast one

CLNSC3 wrote: Good looking out! Looking forward to seeing the rest Thanks, Josh

No problem! I'll add when I have the time.