Sourced an engine:
Now I just need to remove it from the car it is in and put it into the cab.
Now I just need to remove it from the car it is in and put it into the cab.
My Retro Resto - E30 325i Cab
- Thread starter InvaderGIR
- Start date
Lack of upgrade to M50B25TU is disturbing, they are cheap!
No, they were cheap. To get a worth while one they are expensive now, even trying to find/buy a whole E36 325i they are not cheap and are few and far between these days.
This has cost me less than an E36 and I can make most of my money back on selling parts as well as having the option to take various parts from this car.
The total M50B25TU conversion on an E30 is a pain and has a huge cost attached. You need to change the master cylinder, diff, gearbox, steering rack, exhaust manifold / system, ECU, wiring and some more. Some of the changes aren't too bad but others would end up costing a crazy amount.
Going for a straight swap now means I've got a fairly bomb proof engine for the car and can get it back on the road nice and standard. I can then look into changing things later on should I wish, but as it is not for all out power I doubt I will.
From some searching they were £500+ for the engine, £1000+ for the car. Both were hard to find worth while examples of as well, ebay etc. mostly have M50B20 or B23 engines. The donor I've bought was less than the engine and close to the price of an M20B25.
I'm running (have run) out of space for cars to be quite honest. I guess that'd be a 2 door or 4 door? Get it listed on E30Zone, ebay etc. it'll be worth a K or two even if it isn't completed (provided it isn't a rotbox).
The only problem with E30Zone.net is they are mostly a bunch of morons, if you think GD on here is bad you've got another thing coming with that place. Geez.
There are many knowledgeable and helpful people though and they should be able to value it much better than I can. I'd certainly say if it is in a decent condition (shell, interior etc.) then it is worth a lot more than I paid for the cab especially as it has a 24v and runs. If it doesn't run then provided the bits needed to make it run come with it it shouldn't lose much value.
If all else fails, I'll take it for £50.
You bought an E36 M3 iirc?
The only place I rate for (e36) knowledge and help is e36coupe.com after going on various UK and US forums it appears to be the only one not full of complete idiots. That isn't to say it doesn't have them mind.
There is usually quite a few threads on bushes in the E36 section although I don't really go in there much any more, I mostly just post in journals.
Day Five - 31/05/2012
Ok so I've been a bit lax with updates...and with working on the car if I'm honest. The main reason for this is because I found out that there was a 325i locally going cheap. This meant I have spent the last couple of weeks getting my second E30 and sorting out some problems on it and ensuring that I removed a few choice parts I needed for the cab.
The engine on the new one runs brilliantly as can bea heard in the below video:
The issue with the car is that the rear drive gear was in the boot and not attached to the underside, as I was after the engine and some other parts this really didn't phase me in the slightest. I have spent the last couple of weekends sorting out all the parts/bolts etc. and worked on getting the beam, hubs and wheels back on.
I found out that one of the bolts I needed was missing a nut and also that a rear spring was missing. The spring didn't bother me as I figured I could work something out for that, the nut though was for the rear beam mounting bolt and without it meant I couldn't do much at all. Instead of finding a replacement nut I ended up going to my local building suppliers and found a bolt of approximately the right length and some nuts and washers. If the car was going back on the road I would NOT be bodging it back together, but as I only need the car to be rolling it doesn't matter so long as it is held somehow for the moment.
I got back from work tonight and fitted my shiney new bolt and tested the strength of it...it seemed fairly stable so I reattached the wishbones, with hubs still on...one has a half shaft still attached because it is rusted in place by the nut and the air powered impact gun wouldn't shift it.
Driver's side hub & beam on.
Driver's side beam bolt.
Passenger side hub & beam on.
Passenger side beam replacement bolt/bodge.
Put the wheels back on (no discs on the hubs and handbrake lines are cut anyway) and began to lower it.
Driver's side wheel on.
Passenger side wheel on.
Remember I said I only had one spring...well...without a spring it makes the car look kind of cool and slammed...but this isn't much use when I need to be able to move the car about.
Driver's side.
Passenger side.
Stance y0!
SLAMMED!
I rummaged in the garage, couldn't find anything useful, rummaged in the storage and found a bin of tubular steel...
Driver's spring.
Passenger..."spring".
I fitted my new...spring...and the car is not sat at pretty much the correct height on both sides.
Driver's side sitting well.
Passenger side sitting well.
I now need to turn the car around and haul he engine out, wheel it down the hill into the garage and put it into the cab. Those will be jobs for the bank holiday weekend I think. I also need to do loads of work on other parts of the cab and want to clean the engine bay before I drop the replacement engine in.
Ok so I've been a bit lax with updates...and with working on the car if I'm honest. The main reason for this is because I found out that there was a 325i locally going cheap. This meant I have spent the last couple of weeks getting my second E30 and sorting out some problems on it and ensuring that I removed a few choice parts I needed for the cab.
The engine on the new one runs brilliantly as can bea heard in the below video:
The issue with the car is that the rear drive gear was in the boot and not attached to the underside, as I was after the engine and some other parts this really didn't phase me in the slightest. I have spent the last couple of weekends sorting out all the parts/bolts etc. and worked on getting the beam, hubs and wheels back on.
I found out that one of the bolts I needed was missing a nut and also that a rear spring was missing. The spring didn't bother me as I figured I could work something out for that, the nut though was for the rear beam mounting bolt and without it meant I couldn't do much at all. Instead of finding a replacement nut I ended up going to my local building suppliers and found a bolt of approximately the right length and some nuts and washers. If the car was going back on the road I would NOT be bodging it back together, but as I only need the car to be rolling it doesn't matter so long as it is held somehow for the moment.
I got back from work tonight and fitted my shiney new bolt and tested the strength of it...it seemed fairly stable so I reattached the wishbones, with hubs still on...one has a half shaft still attached because it is rusted in place by the nut and the air powered impact gun wouldn't shift it.
Driver's side hub & beam on.
Driver's side beam bolt.
Passenger side hub & beam on.
Passenger side beam replacement bolt/bodge.
Put the wheels back on (no discs on the hubs and handbrake lines are cut anyway) and began to lower it.
Driver's side wheel on.
Passenger side wheel on.
Remember I said I only had one spring...well...without a spring it makes the car look kind of cool and slammed...but this isn't much use when I need to be able to move the car about.
Driver's side.
Passenger side.
Stance y0!
SLAMMED!
I rummaged in the garage, couldn't find anything useful, rummaged in the storage and found a bin of tubular steel...
Driver's spring.
Passenger..."spring".
I fitted my new...spring...and the car is not sat at pretty much the correct height on both sides.
Driver's side sitting well.
Passenger side sitting well.
I now need to turn the car around and haul he engine out, wheel it down the hill into the garage and put it into the cab. Those will be jobs for the bank holiday weekend I think. I also need to do loads of work on other parts of the cab and want to clean the engine bay before I drop the replacement engine in.
Hahahaha good work on that engine there. 
What was that off? and did you do it?
What was that off? and did you do it?
Days Six, Seven & Eight - 04/06/2012 - 06/06/2012
Interior!
After getting the wheels back on the touring I decided I should go back to removing the interior of the cab to check the heater core for mayo and under the carpet for rust. I also decided that the instrument cluster needed to come out (due to blown bulbs) and that the whole dash could potentially do with coming out due to cracks.
First up I needed a coaster for my cup of tea, so I mocked one up:
M20B25 coffee table / coaster.
After that genius idea and being fuled with tea I cracked on and started to remove the passenger side door card because the window refused to go down on electric and I didn't want to wipe it out when removing the dash. I then struggled loads with removing the window regulator due to it being in the 'up' position but I got it out and it appears that it gets stuck on the final tooth it you're not careful. Lubed it up with some spray grease and it ran much better but still gets stuck on the final tooth every now and then. I'll have to test it once refitted to see if it happens insitu as it is hard to tell with it in my hands flexing about.
Empty door.
Window regulator.
I then decided to remove, well, the entire dash. To do this I methodically removed random parts. Steering wheel, under dash covers, centre console, glove box. All of these are held on via various small nuts and bolts and come off really easily so there are no pictures of those coming out.
Once I'd stripped everything I needed from the dash I then wondered how to get the damn thing out, wiggled it about a few times, didn't get anywhere. Checked online...not a simple task, you need to unhook it from the A pilars and from the centre of the windscreen area. Centre area and passenger side were nice and easy but due to the steering column being a big ol' bulky thing it was hard to unhook it on that side. I managed to get it out though with much frustration and was left with this.
Dashlesss dash area.
Many, many wires.
Heater vents.
Passneger side wiring.
Driver side wiring.
Next up for removal was the heater core as I wanted to check for mayo. This is not a fun removal on this car! I read a couple of guides on removing it they even had pictures, I then stuck my head under the wiring to look at my heater core...different. From doing some research it appears that the AC and non-AC cars have different heater cores with the former having a well thought out design that can be removed easily and the latter having a poor design that is a pain to remove. I have no AC.
Eventually I managed to get the feed and return pipes off, this involved removing the brake servo-pedal connection behind the glove box area, undoing some easy 8mm bolts on one pipe from there and then going into the enginebay to undo the other set of bolts on a pipe (long extension bar through the rubber seal in the bulkhead and onto the bolt head).
Heater core fouling on brake servo connection.
That brake servo bar proved to be a complete and utter ball ache but I got the heater core out in the end and flushed it through, some dirty water came out but no mayo thankfully.
Heater core side.
Heater core feed & return.
I then refitted the heater core once it was clean and dry, no point leaving it out of the car and having to worry about it at a later date really.
Carpet was then the next thing to be tackled. This is probably the most annoying thing I've removed so far in all honesty, but I did it. First I removed the trim that runs the length of the doors and pins the carpet in place, these are held on by some plastic push pegs, nice and simple. Then I pulled up the carpet at the driver and passenger rear foot wells to check the car's floor.
Passenger rear footwell.
Passenger sound proofing - damp.
Driver rear footwell.
Driver sound proofing - dry.
The sound proofing being damp on the passenger side worried me somewhat but the floor appears to be sound (bar the couple of specs of rust you can see in the pic). Over all this seemed good though so next I needed to remove the carpet itself. I had to remove a reinforcing bar from around the steering wheel as well as the throttle pedal from it's base. With these out some (read: loads) of wiggling each side about and tugging on it gave me some slight movement and progress from the front end. At this point I remembered that there are a few cables running through the hand brake hole from the rear of the car. These are the arial wire, speaker cables and *something*.
I disconnected the speaker wires and put that cable with the mess at the dash. I then pulled the arial wire through and put that in the rear bench area. Now for the *something* wire...I went into the boot, found the wire, found the end of it and it was a plug that appears to not have been used, ripped the plug off, pulled the wire back through the car and looked at the dash end of the wire. It appears to have been used for something like a sub due to the way it's been badly spliced into the stereo wiring.
With all the wires out of the way I was then able to pull the carpet out from under the heater box (no easy feat, most people cut the thing!) and throw it free from the car. What aided in the removing of the carpet was the fact I have no roof on the car (folded away at the moment) so could stand in it and pull it about.
Carpet out!
Passenger side footwell.
Driver side footwell.
Prop tunnel to dash mess.
The red and white cable in the above pictures is the one I believe to have been used for a sub or something in the boot, not very high grade so I'm unsure and the plug on the end made it seem like it should have been on something. But the plug was knackered and I'd not unplugged it from anything so I don't care for this wire.
As you've also spotted in the above pics, there is some rust on the driver side foot well. This is the connection for the base of the throttle pedal, it appears to be totally eaten by rust so I'm a bit worried as to how far it spreads under the thin sound proofing stuff (I'll have to pull that up soon).
Driver side rust.
Throttle connection rust.
Carpet underside.
Carpet top.
The carpet itself appears to be in a decent condition although the padding/sound proofing stuff appears to be a little damp on the passenger side rear foot well area but fine on the driver side. It is currently in the house to dry off and when I can I'll wet vac the whole thing (top side) and store it out of the way somewhere until I want to put it back in. I *may* dye it although I'm unsure on this, black carpet + black sport leather should look better than blue carpet with black sport leather is my thinking.
That pretty much wraps up the bank holiday weekend update from me. I'd have done more to the car but, well, long weekend...had to enjoy it too.
Interior!
After getting the wheels back on the touring I decided I should go back to removing the interior of the cab to check the heater core for mayo and under the carpet for rust. I also decided that the instrument cluster needed to come out (due to blown bulbs) and that the whole dash could potentially do with coming out due to cracks.
First up I needed a coaster for my cup of tea, so I mocked one up:
M20B25 coffee table / coaster.
After that genius idea and being fuled with tea I cracked on and started to remove the passenger side door card because the window refused to go down on electric and I didn't want to wipe it out when removing the dash. I then struggled loads with removing the window regulator due to it being in the 'up' position but I got it out and it appears that it gets stuck on the final tooth it you're not careful. Lubed it up with some spray grease and it ran much better but still gets stuck on the final tooth every now and then. I'll have to test it once refitted to see if it happens insitu as it is hard to tell with it in my hands flexing about.
Empty door.
Window regulator.
I then decided to remove, well, the entire dash. To do this I methodically removed random parts. Steering wheel, under dash covers, centre console, glove box. All of these are held on via various small nuts and bolts and come off really easily so there are no pictures of those coming out.
Once I'd stripped everything I needed from the dash I then wondered how to get the damn thing out, wiggled it about a few times, didn't get anywhere. Checked online...not a simple task, you need to unhook it from the A pilars and from the centre of the windscreen area. Centre area and passenger side were nice and easy but due to the steering column being a big ol' bulky thing it was hard to unhook it on that side. I managed to get it out though with much frustration and was left with this.
Dashlesss dash area.
Many, many wires.
Heater vents.
Passneger side wiring.
Driver side wiring.
Next up for removal was the heater core as I wanted to check for mayo. This is not a fun removal on this car! I read a couple of guides on removing it they even had pictures, I then stuck my head under the wiring to look at my heater core...different. From doing some research it appears that the AC and non-AC cars have different heater cores with the former having a well thought out design that can be removed easily and the latter having a poor design that is a pain to remove. I have no AC.
Eventually I managed to get the feed and return pipes off, this involved removing the brake servo-pedal connection behind the glove box area, undoing some easy 8mm bolts on one pipe from there and then going into the enginebay to undo the other set of bolts on a pipe (long extension bar through the rubber seal in the bulkhead and onto the bolt head).
Heater core fouling on brake servo connection.
That brake servo bar proved to be a complete and utter ball ache but I got the heater core out in the end and flushed it through, some dirty water came out but no mayo thankfully.
Heater core side.
Heater core feed & return.
I then refitted the heater core once it was clean and dry, no point leaving it out of the car and having to worry about it at a later date really.
Carpet was then the next thing to be tackled. This is probably the most annoying thing I've removed so far in all honesty, but I did it. First I removed the trim that runs the length of the doors and pins the carpet in place, these are held on by some plastic push pegs, nice and simple. Then I pulled up the carpet at the driver and passenger rear foot wells to check the car's floor.
Passenger rear footwell.
Passenger sound proofing - damp.
Driver rear footwell.
Driver sound proofing - dry.
The sound proofing being damp on the passenger side worried me somewhat but the floor appears to be sound (bar the couple of specs of rust you can see in the pic). Over all this seemed good though so next I needed to remove the carpet itself. I had to remove a reinforcing bar from around the steering wheel as well as the throttle pedal from it's base. With these out some (read: loads) of wiggling each side about and tugging on it gave me some slight movement and progress from the front end. At this point I remembered that there are a few cables running through the hand brake hole from the rear of the car. These are the arial wire, speaker cables and *something*.
I disconnected the speaker wires and put that cable with the mess at the dash. I then pulled the arial wire through and put that in the rear bench area. Now for the *something* wire...I went into the boot, found the wire, found the end of it and it was a plug that appears to not have been used, ripped the plug off, pulled the wire back through the car and looked at the dash end of the wire. It appears to have been used for something like a sub due to the way it's been badly spliced into the stereo wiring.
With all the wires out of the way I was then able to pull the carpet out from under the heater box (no easy feat, most people cut the thing!) and throw it free from the car. What aided in the removing of the carpet was the fact I have no roof on the car (folded away at the moment) so could stand in it and pull it about.
Carpet out!
Passenger side footwell.
Driver side footwell.
Prop tunnel to dash mess.
The red and white cable in the above pictures is the one I believe to have been used for a sub or something in the boot, not very high grade so I'm unsure and the plug on the end made it seem like it should have been on something. But the plug was knackered and I'd not unplugged it from anything so I don't care for this wire.
As you've also spotted in the above pics, there is some rust on the driver side foot well. This is the connection for the base of the throttle pedal, it appears to be totally eaten by rust so I'm a bit worried as to how far it spreads under the thin sound proofing stuff (I'll have to pull that up soon).
Driver side rust.
Throttle connection rust.
Carpet underside.
Carpet top.
The carpet itself appears to be in a decent condition although the padding/sound proofing stuff appears to be a little damp on the passenger side rear foot well area but fine on the driver side. It is currently in the house to dry off and when I can I'll wet vac the whole thing (top side) and store it out of the way somewhere until I want to put it back in. I *may* dye it although I'm unsure on this, black carpet + black sport leather should look better than blue carpet with black sport leather is my thinking.
That pretty much wraps up the bank holiday weekend update from me. I'd have done more to the car but, well, long weekend...had to enjoy it too.
Last edited:
Day Nine - 09/06/2012
Touring it apart!
After the touring was dump here by the seller it was facing the wrong way to easily remove the engine and get it to the garage. Last night my brother came round and we turned the car around which meant I could get on with removing the engine to make it ready for the convertible.
I started work on the car around 11:30 and finished around 19:00, this included lunch of 30-40 mins and some fannying around when the clouds decided to empty on me. In total I think I can cut down an engine removal to just a few hours, provided I have all the tools I need with me (kept leaving some in the garage today), anyway, on with the update.
Why so sad?
First up, bonnet off, nice and simple, couple of bolts on the hinge, one by the gas spring and a spring clip on the gas spring.
No bonnet.
Radiator. Again very simple, couple of screws and of course the water pipes.
No radiator.
Side view.
Air box & throttle body. Couple of bolts, couple of jubilee clips, done.
No airbox.
No throttle body.
Viscous fan. This is simple enough to remove although only if you have the right tool. Luckily for me when I first had a BMW 4 years ago I bought the right tool, a 32mm open ended spanner.
No fan.
The water pump, alternator and power steering pump pulleys all look a bit worse for wear really on this engine so I'll be using the parts from the convertible.
Rusty pulleys.
Pipework & dissy cap. Pipework is simple enough to remove and so is the dissy cap, unless of course one of the bolts is rusted so much that not even Irwin bolt removers will do anything for it. I needed to get the dissy off so ended up having to snap the dissy casing at one of the bolts. I will drill/cut the bolt out later now the engine is out and I have space to do so. You can see the stub of the dissy cap that is left in the below pics.
No dissy.
No dissy, no air.
Alternator. Rust...everywhere. Right this was more than a little irritating, went to undo one of the bolts that holds the tensioner bar on and the head snapped off the bolt. I should be able to do some cutting and get the damn thing out though which isn't too much of a worry. It does go through the cam belt casing and into the block though which means it'll be a major arse if I can't get it out as I need the alternator to be tensioned. Too late now though it's happened.
No alt.
Power steering pump. Once again, nice and simple. As I'm only removing it from the engine and not the car I just needed to undo a couple of bolts and hang it out of the way.
No pas.
Wiring loom. Various different wires go all over the place and are all attached to one big metal bar just below the inlet plenum. Not too much of an annoyance to remove really but a bit of faff working out how/where to move things around to get them all out of the way.
No loom.
Exhaust, prop and gearbox mounts. With the nose in the air I could then remove the exhaust down pipe from the manifold and then the gearbox mounting bolts too. The exhaust is not great to remove as access is awkward (especially on this Touring as it has been lowered a little) but once the four bolts are undone it comes away nice and easily. There is also a bracket on the gearbox that holds the exhaust, again, couple bolts and it is off. Make sure to do this after the downpipe/manifold bolts.
The prop is simple to undo, three 17mm bolts hold the prop to the 'box, undo them, no need to try and shift the prop back, once the engine is moved forwards a little it'll come off easily.
The gearbox mounts are very simple to remove, few bolts and the mounts are off, few more and the mount frame is off too.
Gearbox without mounts.
Engine mounts/removal. When I removed the convertible's engine I removed the inlet, this was due to the fact I wanted to know what had gone on with the engine, I did not need to remove it though to get the engine out, so on the touring I've left it on.
The rear engine hoist point is right down the back of the engine by the gearbox, not easy to see but it is there, big fat ring. The front one is nice and obvious above the cam shaft pulley.
I connected up the crane, took off the slack (lifted the front of the car slightly with the use of the crane) and then removed the engine mounts at the car side. Once the nut on each mount was off I then removed the four bolts on each mount that secure it to the engine. I was aiming to do it without removing the mounts but it didn't want to come free and in all honesty isn't an issue really.
Engine was free floating now so it was a case of using the load leveller to get the front of the engine in the air and the gearbox pointing down then to get the sump up and over the front of the car then levelling it off and getting the gearbox past the front and down onto the floor.
Engine gone.
Empty bay - driver side.
Empty bay - passenger side..
Engine & gearbox out.
Engine & gearbox.
As I needed to get the engine to the garage I split the gearbox (don't want to use the one from the touring, I expect it has had a hard life) from the engine and loaded the engine onto a garden trolley. I proceeded to take it down the gravel slope into the garage...nearly had it run away from me due to it's weight and momentum it built up. Got it in there though and loaded it onto a dolly so I can move it about and work on it.
i6 powered garden trolley.
Engine about to escape.
Old vs "new".
"new" engine and the car it is going in.
That's all for today, ran out of energy once I'd done all that. Did it all on my own again and to be honest it really isn't a difficult task at all, provided you have the tools which I realise a lot of people don't have an engine crane in their garage.
Tomorrow I plan on checking on some rust on the convertible and cleaning up the engine bay as well as the replacement engine ready for putting them in sometime next week.
As I like to share and use my multiple cameras for things I set up my DSLR so I could take pictures at regular intervals to create a time lapse video. Unfortunately I don't have the gear to make a true time lapse video but I took a fair few shots through the process of removing the engine and compiled them into a video for your enjoyment.
Touring it apart!
After the touring was dump here by the seller it was facing the wrong way to easily remove the engine and get it to the garage. Last night my brother came round and we turned the car around which meant I could get on with removing the engine to make it ready for the convertible.
I started work on the car around 11:30 and finished around 19:00, this included lunch of 30-40 mins and some fannying around when the clouds decided to empty on me. In total I think I can cut down an engine removal to just a few hours, provided I have all the tools I need with me (kept leaving some in the garage today), anyway, on with the update.
Why so sad?
First up, bonnet off, nice and simple, couple of bolts on the hinge, one by the gas spring and a spring clip on the gas spring.
No bonnet.
Radiator. Again very simple, couple of screws and of course the water pipes.
No radiator.
Side view.
Air box & throttle body. Couple of bolts, couple of jubilee clips, done.
No airbox.
No throttle body.
Viscous fan. This is simple enough to remove although only if you have the right tool. Luckily for me when I first had a BMW 4 years ago I bought the right tool, a 32mm open ended spanner.
No fan.
The water pump, alternator and power steering pump pulleys all look a bit worse for wear really on this engine so I'll be using the parts from the convertible.
Rusty pulleys.
Pipework & dissy cap. Pipework is simple enough to remove and so is the dissy cap, unless of course one of the bolts is rusted so much that not even Irwin bolt removers will do anything for it. I needed to get the dissy off so ended up having to snap the dissy casing at one of the bolts. I will drill/cut the bolt out later now the engine is out and I have space to do so. You can see the stub of the dissy cap that is left in the below pics.
No dissy.
No dissy, no air.
Alternator. Rust...everywhere. Right this was more than a little irritating, went to undo one of the bolts that holds the tensioner bar on and the head snapped off the bolt. I should be able to do some cutting and get the damn thing out though which isn't too much of a worry. It does go through the cam belt casing and into the block though which means it'll be a major arse if I can't get it out as I need the alternator to be tensioned. Too late now though it's happened.
No alt.
Power steering pump. Once again, nice and simple. As I'm only removing it from the engine and not the car I just needed to undo a couple of bolts and hang it out of the way.
No pas.
Wiring loom. Various different wires go all over the place and are all attached to one big metal bar just below the inlet plenum. Not too much of an annoyance to remove really but a bit of faff working out how/where to move things around to get them all out of the way.
No loom.
Exhaust, prop and gearbox mounts. With the nose in the air I could then remove the exhaust down pipe from the manifold and then the gearbox mounting bolts too. The exhaust is not great to remove as access is awkward (especially on this Touring as it has been lowered a little) but once the four bolts are undone it comes away nice and easily. There is also a bracket on the gearbox that holds the exhaust, again, couple bolts and it is off. Make sure to do this after the downpipe/manifold bolts.
The prop is simple to undo, three 17mm bolts hold the prop to the 'box, undo them, no need to try and shift the prop back, once the engine is moved forwards a little it'll come off easily.
The gearbox mounts are very simple to remove, few bolts and the mounts are off, few more and the mount frame is off too.
Gearbox without mounts.
Engine mounts/removal. When I removed the convertible's engine I removed the inlet, this was due to the fact I wanted to know what had gone on with the engine, I did not need to remove it though to get the engine out, so on the touring I've left it on.
The rear engine hoist point is right down the back of the engine by the gearbox, not easy to see but it is there, big fat ring. The front one is nice and obvious above the cam shaft pulley.
I connected up the crane, took off the slack (lifted the front of the car slightly with the use of the crane) and then removed the engine mounts at the car side. Once the nut on each mount was off I then removed the four bolts on each mount that secure it to the engine. I was aiming to do it without removing the mounts but it didn't want to come free and in all honesty isn't an issue really.
Engine was free floating now so it was a case of using the load leveller to get the front of the engine in the air and the gearbox pointing down then to get the sump up and over the front of the car then levelling it off and getting the gearbox past the front and down onto the floor.
Engine gone.
Empty bay - driver side.
Empty bay - passenger side..
Engine & gearbox out.
Engine & gearbox.
As I needed to get the engine to the garage I split the gearbox (don't want to use the one from the touring, I expect it has had a hard life) from the engine and loaded the engine onto a garden trolley. I proceeded to take it down the gravel slope into the garage...nearly had it run away from me due to it's weight and momentum it built up. Got it in there though and loaded it onto a dolly so I can move it about and work on it.
i6 powered garden trolley.
Engine about to escape.
Old vs "new".
"new" engine and the car it is going in.
That's all for today, ran out of energy once I'd done all that. Did it all on my own again and to be honest it really isn't a difficult task at all, provided you have the tools which I realise a lot of people don't have an engine crane in their garage.
Tomorrow I plan on checking on some rust on the convertible and cleaning up the engine bay as well as the replacement engine ready for putting them in sometime next week.
As I like to share and use my multiple cameras for things I set up my DSLR so I could take pictures at regular intervals to create a time lapse video. Unfortunately I don't have the gear to make a true time lapse video but I took a fair few shots through the process of removing the engine and compiled them into a video for your enjoyment.
Day Ten - 09/06/2012
Minor rust.
Today I decided that I'd do some cleaning as well as sort the rust in the front foot wells, battery tray and front frame area.
As I'd shown to some extent in a previous update there is some rust in the driver and passenger foot wells. I spotted some where the bracket for the glove box mounts to the car at the firewall and thought I’d got some infamous firewall rust damage, attacked it with the wire brush and it turned out to just be surface rust from the glove box mount so not actually the car. This made me feel better, I then decided to check the extent of the rust on the floor level under the sound proofing stuff so got out a big screwdriver and a hammer, chiselled it away. I found that the rust was a fairly minor patch of surface rust, wire brush, wire wool and Jenolite treatment and all is sound.
Passenger floor rust.
Cleaning up.
After I'd cleaned up the passenger side I went on to the driver side. This I assumed would need a new floor panel due to the state of the throttle pedal attachment location. Oddly though I cleaned this up and beat it up with a big screw driver and it is actually solid, I guess the front carpet was sodden at some point or something.
I then also spotted a minor rust patch....prodded it with the screw driver and....it went through. Nuts! I actually wasn't too phased by this really, I'd expected to be punching multiple holes through the floor on the passenger side and around the throttle pedal location. I cleaned up the rust in the foot well and then climbed under the car to inspect the rust underneath. Removed a heat shield, found where the screwdriver went through and cleaned the under seal off from the rust area and around it. This revealed that the rust wasn't too bad, the small hole and a line of rust running about 3inches along a beam. Again, I cleaned it up and treated it. Due to the hole I'll need to weld a plate on underneath and reapply under seal.
Throttle pedal rust.
Cleaned up ready for treatment.
Treated.
Ready for protection.
Converted rust.
Minor rust.
Not so minor, cleaned up.
Rust hole.
Closer with removed under seal.
Cleaned up.
Battery tray was the next object to tackle, easy enough really, wire brush the surface areas that looked bad, poke about with the screwdriver, still solid. Again then out with the wire wool and Jenolite to convert the rust.
Battery tray.
Main rust area treated.
I then went on to the front cross members, between the front wings at the top where the bonnet bolts on and the radiator sit etc. Small patches of rust on bolt holes, cleaned them up and treated them. I also too the opportunity to clean up the oil, grime etc. from the front area of the car. I cleaned up the main H section of the front structure and shall do the wings and then the subframe later in the week. Once it is all tidied up I should have a nice fresh looking engine bay for the engine to drop into (I'll clean up the engine too).
Driver side top dirty.
Passenger side top dirty.
Top cross member top dirty.
Driver side top cleaned up.
Passenger side top cleaned up.
Top cross member top cleaned up.
Passenger side upright dirty.
Passenger side upright cleaned up.
Passenger side upright underneath cleaned up.
Passenger side upright cleaned up angle.
Passenger side upright cleaned.
Driver side upright cleaned up.
Front end cleaned up.
With all the rust cleaned up and treated it was time to protect the bare and treated metal. I cracked out the masking tape and newspaper (well, supplement magazine as I couldn't find a newspaper), masked off the areas I wanted to spray so I wouldn't cover everything in paint. To paint/prime those areas I picked up a Zinc based grey primer, for the foot wells I'll be firing on quite a few layers to protect it, I may throw on some solver top but it doesn't seem worthwhile when the carpet will cover the painted areas.
For the battery tray and the front cross member though I gave them a few blow overs with the primer but I will need to buy some Lachs Silber Metallic 203 paint which I'll hen do a few blow overs from that to make it tie in at least slightly with the current paint. As these aren't external areas like wings, bonnet etc. I don't mind if it doesn't tie in fully. They will mostly be covered by parts anyway but some will be visible so I don't want to have primer visible.
With regards to painting using the rattle can I decided to do gentle blow overs to build up a layer rather than holding down and spraying. I put down a few layers on all the areas that I was working on and they appear to be covered well and hopefully that will stop the car from falling to pieces when it is back on the road.
Passenger side foot well blown over and masking removed.
Passenger side rust blown over.
Throttle pedal masked up.
Throttle pedal blown over.
Throttle pedal blown over again.
Battery tray masked up.
Battery tray from above.
Battery tray blown over.
Battery tray blown over close up.
Front end blown over.
Driver side upright blown over.
Passenger side upright blown over.
Minor rust.
Today I decided that I'd do some cleaning as well as sort the rust in the front foot wells, battery tray and front frame area.
As I'd shown to some extent in a previous update there is some rust in the driver and passenger foot wells. I spotted some where the bracket for the glove box mounts to the car at the firewall and thought I’d got some infamous firewall rust damage, attacked it with the wire brush and it turned out to just be surface rust from the glove box mount so not actually the car. This made me feel better, I then decided to check the extent of the rust on the floor level under the sound proofing stuff so got out a big screwdriver and a hammer, chiselled it away. I found that the rust was a fairly minor patch of surface rust, wire brush, wire wool and Jenolite treatment and all is sound.
Passenger floor rust.
Cleaning up.
After I'd cleaned up the passenger side I went on to the driver side. This I assumed would need a new floor panel due to the state of the throttle pedal attachment location. Oddly though I cleaned this up and beat it up with a big screw driver and it is actually solid, I guess the front carpet was sodden at some point or something.
I then also spotted a minor rust patch....prodded it with the screw driver and....it went through. Nuts! I actually wasn't too phased by this really, I'd expected to be punching multiple holes through the floor on the passenger side and around the throttle pedal location. I cleaned up the rust in the foot well and then climbed under the car to inspect the rust underneath. Removed a heat shield, found where the screwdriver went through and cleaned the under seal off from the rust area and around it. This revealed that the rust wasn't too bad, the small hole and a line of rust running about 3inches along a beam. Again, I cleaned it up and treated it. Due to the hole I'll need to weld a plate on underneath and reapply under seal.
Throttle pedal rust.
Cleaned up ready for treatment.
Treated.
Ready for protection.
Converted rust.
Minor rust.
Not so minor, cleaned up.
Rust hole.
Closer with removed under seal.
Cleaned up.
Battery tray was the next object to tackle, easy enough really, wire brush the surface areas that looked bad, poke about with the screwdriver, still solid. Again then out with the wire wool and Jenolite to convert the rust.
Battery tray.
Main rust area treated.
I then went on to the front cross members, between the front wings at the top where the bonnet bolts on and the radiator sit etc. Small patches of rust on bolt holes, cleaned them up and treated them. I also too the opportunity to clean up the oil, grime etc. from the front area of the car. I cleaned up the main H section of the front structure and shall do the wings and then the subframe later in the week. Once it is all tidied up I should have a nice fresh looking engine bay for the engine to drop into (I'll clean up the engine too).
Driver side top dirty.
Passenger side top dirty.
Top cross member top dirty.
Driver side top cleaned up.
Passenger side top cleaned up.
Top cross member top cleaned up.
Passenger side upright dirty.
Passenger side upright cleaned up.
Passenger side upright underneath cleaned up.
Passenger side upright cleaned up angle.
Passenger side upright cleaned.
Driver side upright cleaned up.
Front end cleaned up.
With all the rust cleaned up and treated it was time to protect the bare and treated metal. I cracked out the masking tape and newspaper (well, supplement magazine as I couldn't find a newspaper), masked off the areas I wanted to spray so I wouldn't cover everything in paint. To paint/prime those areas I picked up a Zinc based grey primer, for the foot wells I'll be firing on quite a few layers to protect it, I may throw on some solver top but it doesn't seem worthwhile when the carpet will cover the painted areas.
For the battery tray and the front cross member though I gave them a few blow overs with the primer but I will need to buy some Lachs Silber Metallic 203 paint which I'll hen do a few blow overs from that to make it tie in at least slightly with the current paint. As these aren't external areas like wings, bonnet etc. I don't mind if it doesn't tie in fully. They will mostly be covered by parts anyway but some will be visible so I don't want to have primer visible.
With regards to painting using the rattle can I decided to do gentle blow overs to build up a layer rather than holding down and spraying. I put down a few layers on all the areas that I was working on and they appear to be covered well and hopefully that will stop the car from falling to pieces when it is back on the road.
Passenger side foot well blown over and masking removed.
Passenger side rust blown over.
Throttle pedal masked up.
Throttle pedal blown over.
Throttle pedal blown over again.
Battery tray masked up.
Battery tray from above.
Battery tray blown over.
Battery tray blown over close up.
Front end blown over.
Driver side upright blown over.
Passenger side upright blown over.
Awesome
Loving the time lapse vid
Cheers...and the video was posted on there too.
How much did you acquire the touring for, and what was wrong with it? Sorry if it's been mentioned
I got it for a little bit less than the convertible, £400. About £100 more than I'd wanted to spend on the car (it was on ebay) but I can recoupe a fair bit of the cost just by selling off parts from it so it isn't too bad (4xwheels = £150 as a start).
The previous owner had taken the diff, rear beam and hubs off to replace the bushes in them all, then didn't and left the car for a few years. It was local to me which was a big plus and why I wasn't so concerned about spending the money on it, the seller even kindly dropped it off at mine for a couple beer tokens.
Day Ten point five - 16-21/06/2012
Ten point five as it isn't a real update or a large one, that comes this weekend, but I have done some work on the car/engine.
I had hoped to get the engine and gearbox in at the weekend (16th) but one of the two engine mounts I'd ordered was duff, in that the locating pin required to bolt it to the subframe was embedded in the mount. This meant I had to request a replacement part (online) which took a couple of days to do and arrive bringing me into the next week.
I did however get to do some work on the car, I cleaned and tidied up the subframe from all the muck that was on it (still need to do the wings and bay in general though) and fitted the new cambelt and tensioner to the engine.
The rear quarter windows came out at the weekend (although they didn't want to) so I could check the condition of the inner wings. If you remember (or go back to the first post) the rear arches look rather bubbly, a bit like a 15 year old McD worker's face. This usually means that the inner wings are shot. To view the inner wings on a convertible it isn't too easy. The rear quarter windows are in the way and they are between an outer wing and an inner cabin wing.
I unbolted them, man handled them out and checked on the inner wings which, have a slight rust colour tinge to them but don't look like they will collapse if I breath on them. I'll find out more when I have done the front end and shall tackle the rear with grinders etc.
I don't have many pics, I dropped the engine on my foot at one point and so was more interested in picking the damn thing up (surprisingly heavy...) and fannying around doing stuff.
I ordered some carpet dye, which is in fact just dye for various things (Autoglym Black Dye) and tested a section of carpet today (hidden under the HVAC unit) to see how it comes out. After a couple of blow overs of the test area I realised that a) the dye is more like a paint b) the nozzle has a wide spray and c) the wooden floor in the kitchen dyes quite easily.
Having let it dry for a little while, it would appear that it is pretty effective in changing my blue carpet to black. My only concern is that it has turned the soft feel of the carpet into a slightly rough feeling one. Having said that, I don't know about you but personally I don't tend to rub the carpet with my hands/face so this shouldn't be a problem.
I need to wait until the dye has fully taken to really see how well it works which means I'll leave it to dry over night and then if it has worked well I'll do the whole thing (in the garage though I think instead of turning the kitchen floor black).
Pictures.
Front dirty subframe.
Front clean subframe.
Front subframe, clean.
Steering knuckle and engine mount, clean.
Passenger side engine mount area, dry and dusty but clean of oil/grease.
Rear quarter window - driver side.
Rear driver side arch.
Rear driver side arch rust.
Rear quarter window - passenger side.
Rear passenger side arch.
Carpet, front section, pre-dye.
Carpet, front section, post-dye.
Ten point five as it isn't a real update or a large one, that comes this weekend, but I have done some work on the car/engine.
I had hoped to get the engine and gearbox in at the weekend (16th) but one of the two engine mounts I'd ordered was duff, in that the locating pin required to bolt it to the subframe was embedded in the mount. This meant I had to request a replacement part (online) which took a couple of days to do and arrive bringing me into the next week.
I did however get to do some work on the car, I cleaned and tidied up the subframe from all the muck that was on it (still need to do the wings and bay in general though) and fitted the new cambelt and tensioner to the engine.
The rear quarter windows came out at the weekend (although they didn't want to) so I could check the condition of the inner wings. If you remember (or go back to the first post) the rear arches look rather bubbly, a bit like a 15 year old McD worker's face. This usually means that the inner wings are shot. To view the inner wings on a convertible it isn't too easy. The rear quarter windows are in the way and they are between an outer wing and an inner cabin wing.
I unbolted them, man handled them out and checked on the inner wings which, have a slight rust colour tinge to them but don't look like they will collapse if I breath on them. I'll find out more when I have done the front end and shall tackle the rear with grinders etc.
I don't have many pics, I dropped the engine on my foot at one point and so was more interested in picking the damn thing up (surprisingly heavy...) and fannying around doing stuff.
I ordered some carpet dye, which is in fact just dye for various things (Autoglym Black Dye) and tested a section of carpet today (hidden under the HVAC unit) to see how it comes out. After a couple of blow overs of the test area I realised that a) the dye is more like a paint b) the nozzle has a wide spray and c) the wooden floor in the kitchen dyes quite easily.
Having let it dry for a little while, it would appear that it is pretty effective in changing my blue carpet to black. My only concern is that it has turned the soft feel of the carpet into a slightly rough feeling one. Having said that, I don't know about you but personally I don't tend to rub the carpet with my hands/face so this shouldn't be a problem.
I need to wait until the dye has fully taken to really see how well it works which means I'll leave it to dry over night and then if it has worked well I'll do the whole thing (in the garage though I think instead of turning the kitchen floor black).
Pictures.
Front dirty subframe.
Front clean subframe.
Front subframe, clean.
Steering knuckle and engine mount, clean.
Passenger side engine mount area, dry and dusty but clean of oil/grease.
Rear quarter window - driver side.
Rear driver side arch.
Rear driver side arch rust.
Rear quarter window - passenger side.
Rear passenger side arch.
Carpet, front section, pre-dye.
Carpet, front section, post-dye.
Day Ten point seven five - 23/06/2012
Ten point seven five as it isn't a big update, as with ten point five.
First things first, that damn blue carpet looks so aweful in the car, so, this had to be rectified! I'd bought two cans of AutoGlym Black Dye spray stuff, as it was £5 a tin I didn't really mind if it was poor. Having tested it on the carpet at the front under where the heater matrix sits (ie, out of sight if it was rubbish) I decided to do the whole thing.
I've previously read others saying that they had dyed their carpet with one can (don't know what dye) so I figured that I'd be fine with two...I was wrong.
I made sure the whole carpet was clean and then started with can one, got half way, ran out, got can two and finished, just. There are still some blue bits (seat vent holes being one bit), but the colour is a huge improvement. I've ordered a few more cans as I think it will need a couple of coats to get it properly black and looking mint. I also need to dye the rear carpets (including the boot liners) because I want the car to look as good as possible, and black is better than blue for carpets.
The photos I've taken really don't do it justice unfortunately which is a shame, in person it does look black all over, in the pics it looks bluey grey. The dye seems to have taken well to the vinyl heel plate though which is good.
Blue carpet.
Black(mostly) carpet.
Black heel plate.
Next up I decided I needed some metal for the hole in my driver foot well...now, I *could* have gone and bought some from the local steal merchant...but I have a big lump of steal on wheels outside...
Hi wing!
Bye wing!
Wing.
Before this could be used I needed to clean up a large enough area to cut out and weld into the cab, so, grinder with wire attachment and...
External bare metal.
Inside bare metal.
Since those pictures I've actually cleaned up more down to bare metal and cut it out too. To some this is quite probably sacralige and I shouldn't have done it, but I bought the touring for parts and so this is what I am using it for.
The area I'm patching has now been cleaned up more both inside the car and underneath it too.
Blurry Footwell (awesome camera skills I have at times).
Underside clear.
I got all this sorted and ready for when my brother came round so he could lend a hand with welding, he came by, said I needed to grind more off and cut my plate too before I could weld...then left. Helpful of him, I'm not too sure on which welder to use and what settings to use etc. so need his help with it. Annoying really as I was aiming to get the floor done today and then the engine in tomorrow, floor is now delayed but I think I'll rock on with the engine tomorrow.
As my brother was not very helpful I figured I should apply the service parts I bought for the engine as it has been layed up for about 6 years (still started first turn of the key when I bought it a month ago mind) so belts etc. won't be that healthy.
Today I put on the new water pump, thermostat and rotor arm. I had done the cambelt and tensioner earlier in the week so didn't need to do them.
I also took the upper belt cover off and went over it with a wirebrush cleaning it up and bringing it back to life, I also cleaned up the thermostat outer housing. Now I've done this I realise I want to do it for the lower belt cover, rocker cover, head, block, sump... basically I want to clean up everything on the engine (I won't though, at least not yet). I will most certainly be doing the rocker cover and inlet at some point, but rather than clean up the ones on the car I'm going to use the spares from the other M20, clean them up and the high temp paint them which should freshen up the engine nicely. I think I'll also try to high temp paint the spare belt covers etc. too. The pulleys etc. also need a good clean up and painting/powdercoating too.
New parts.
Engine front.
Thermostat area.
With those minor jobs done I fitted the second engine mount which wasn't faulty and also changed the fuel filter. Surprisingly easy job that actually, I was expecting it to be loads and loads of hassle but in fact it took me about 20mins, half of which was fannying with a rusted jubilee clip, and about 5 was covering myself, the floor and loads of blue roll in fuel.
New fuel filter.
As there was a bit miffed about not getting the floor welded in I then decided to be destructive! I checked the state of the dash in the cab (well, in storage from the cab) and then checked the one in the touring. The cab's dash is cracked at the tray area above the glove box which is obviously not ideal btu I could have lived with if I had to, but, I don't! The touring's dash is pristine which I found surprising considering the state of the rest of the car, so, I pulled it out and have put it into my storage area next to the cab's dash ready for me to cut the small section out for the dash bar.
I don't have any pics of the process or it out from the touring but it was nice and simple to do now that I've done one already. This time I removed the A pillar trim (didn't when I took the cab's out) which made things even easier.
One thing I'm not sure on, is the dash leather, I know it looks like an elephant's ass but that doesn't mean much.
I also pilfered the throttle pedal as the one from the cab was a bit worn and the one in the touring was in fairly good condition.
This evening I decided to relax a bit so got the sterring wheel from the cab out and cleaned it up a bit with leather cleaner (same as I used on the seats previously). It has come up nice and black and looks a lot better, it does look used but that is to be expected and I don't think I'd want it looking brand new anyway.
Whole wheel before.
Top of wheel before
Whole wheel after.
Right horn after.
Lower horn / M stripe after.
That's all for today, tomorrow is hopefully going to be cleaning the engine bay a bit more then getting the M20 back in and start plumbing things in. I really want to get the floor welded asap though and the carpet finished so I can put all the dash etc. back in and fire the engine up (want to wait until the dash is back in really).
Ten point seven five as it isn't a big update, as with ten point five.
First things first, that damn blue carpet looks so aweful in the car, so, this had to be rectified! I'd bought two cans of AutoGlym Black Dye spray stuff, as it was £5 a tin I didn't really mind if it was poor. Having tested it on the carpet at the front under where the heater matrix sits (ie, out of sight if it was rubbish) I decided to do the whole thing.
I've previously read others saying that they had dyed their carpet with one can (don't know what dye) so I figured that I'd be fine with two...I was wrong.
I made sure the whole carpet was clean and then started with can one, got half way, ran out, got can two and finished, just. There are still some blue bits (seat vent holes being one bit), but the colour is a huge improvement. I've ordered a few more cans as I think it will need a couple of coats to get it properly black and looking mint. I also need to dye the rear carpets (including the boot liners) because I want the car to look as good as possible, and black is better than blue for carpets.
The photos I've taken really don't do it justice unfortunately which is a shame, in person it does look black all over, in the pics it looks bluey grey. The dye seems to have taken well to the vinyl heel plate though which is good.
Blue carpet.
Black(mostly) carpet.
Black heel plate.
Next up I decided I needed some metal for the hole in my driver foot well...now, I *could* have gone and bought some from the local steal merchant...but I have a big lump of steal on wheels outside...
Hi wing!
Bye wing!
Wing.
Before this could be used I needed to clean up a large enough area to cut out and weld into the cab, so, grinder with wire attachment and...
External bare metal.
Inside bare metal.
Since those pictures I've actually cleaned up more down to bare metal and cut it out too. To some this is quite probably sacralige and I shouldn't have done it, but I bought the touring for parts and so this is what I am using it for.
The area I'm patching has now been cleaned up more both inside the car and underneath it too.
Blurry Footwell (awesome camera skills I have at times).
Underside clear.
I got all this sorted and ready for when my brother came round so he could lend a hand with welding, he came by, said I needed to grind more off and cut my plate too before I could weld...then left. Helpful of him, I'm not too sure on which welder to use and what settings to use etc. so need his help with it. Annoying really as I was aiming to get the floor done today and then the engine in tomorrow, floor is now delayed but I think I'll rock on with the engine tomorrow.
As my brother was not very helpful I figured I should apply the service parts I bought for the engine as it has been layed up for about 6 years (still started first turn of the key when I bought it a month ago mind) so belts etc. won't be that healthy.
Today I put on the new water pump, thermostat and rotor arm. I had done the cambelt and tensioner earlier in the week so didn't need to do them.
I also took the upper belt cover off and went over it with a wirebrush cleaning it up and bringing it back to life, I also cleaned up the thermostat outer housing. Now I've done this I realise I want to do it for the lower belt cover, rocker cover, head, block, sump... basically I want to clean up everything on the engine (I won't though, at least not yet). I will most certainly be doing the rocker cover and inlet at some point, but rather than clean up the ones on the car I'm going to use the spares from the other M20, clean them up and the high temp paint them which should freshen up the engine nicely. I think I'll also try to high temp paint the spare belt covers etc. too. The pulleys etc. also need a good clean up and painting/powdercoating too.
New parts.
Engine front.
Thermostat area.
With those minor jobs done I fitted the second engine mount which wasn't faulty and also changed the fuel filter. Surprisingly easy job that actually, I was expecting it to be loads and loads of hassle but in fact it took me about 20mins, half of which was fannying with a rusted jubilee clip, and about 5 was covering myself, the floor and loads of blue roll in fuel.
New fuel filter.
As there was a bit miffed about not getting the floor welded in I then decided to be destructive! I checked the state of the dash in the cab (well, in storage from the cab) and then checked the one in the touring. The cab's dash is cracked at the tray area above the glove box which is obviously not ideal btu I could have lived with if I had to, but, I don't! The touring's dash is pristine which I found surprising considering the state of the rest of the car, so, I pulled it out and have put it into my storage area next to the cab's dash ready for me to cut the small section out for the dash bar.
I don't have any pics of the process or it out from the touring but it was nice and simple to do now that I've done one already. This time I removed the A pillar trim (didn't when I took the cab's out) which made things even easier.
One thing I'm not sure on, is the dash leather, I know it looks like an elephant's ass but that doesn't mean much.
I also pilfered the throttle pedal as the one from the cab was a bit worn and the one in the touring was in fairly good condition.
This evening I decided to relax a bit so got the sterring wheel from the cab out and cleaned it up a bit with leather cleaner (same as I used on the seats previously). It has come up nice and black and looks a lot better, it does look used but that is to be expected and I don't think I'd want it looking brand new anyway.
Whole wheel before.
Top of wheel before
Whole wheel after.
Right horn after.
Lower horn / M stripe after.
That's all for today, tomorrow is hopefully going to be cleaning the engine bay a bit more then getting the M20 back in and start plumbing things in. I really want to get the floor welded asap though and the carpet finished so I can put all the dash etc. back in and fire the engine up (want to wait until the dash is back in really).
Day Eleven - 24/06/2012
Ok, so now I have my days and posts in order/alignment...
I had been hoping to get the engine in today but with the F1 being on and some other discoveries that has been pushed back a while now. Not a big deal really but a shame none the less, I did get some stuff done that I wanted doing though.
As I had been planning on putting the engine back in today I figured I should freshen up the engine mount arms as they were a bit covered in gunk. It is amazing what a wirebrush and some effort can do to grimey old looking items.
Clean top.
Clean bottom.
As the engine is out I decided it'd be easiest to change the ARB bushes now rather than later as there is loads of access should I have needed it. When removing the ARB I noticed that the drop links were well past it and so went to remove them...one nut was rather stuck which meant I had to remove the ARB with them on. Removed the two small bolts in the drop link and then went on to the ARB bush bolts, passenger side was fine, driver side...oh that was fun. Doing it by hand was more than a little annoying. Didn't manage to move it very far, so cracked out the air powered impact gun...and even that struggled but it did undo the bolt.
With the ARB off I could inspect the bushes and the drop links properly.
ARB Bushes
A little egg shaped holing there, certainly past it's best, the bush carriers took a lot of force to come off.
Bush carrier.
Bush carrier.
Rusty bushes.
I think I'll polybush the ARB and the rest of the car as/when I replace bushes as I understand the cab is a bit wallowy as standard and I'd like to dial out as much wallowyness as possible.
I had a spare E36 328i ARB with drop links which appear to be the same and are pretty fresh, so I did the logical thing, removed them and put them onto the E30's ARB. Whilst I *should* replace them for brand spangly new items, I do have these and they may as well be used.
E30 325i ARB vs E36 328i ARB
As my brother was round again today he helped with the welding of the driver footwell. Unfortuantely by helped I mean he did it and I waited with the fire extinguisher. I was hoping I'd get to actually do the welding myself because I need to learn and would like to have done all the work on my car. Plus side to him doing it...the welding is actually pretty good and there are no burns through the metal which I suspect I would have ended up doing.
With this now done I can start to put the interior back in the front of the car which is great as I'm really not liking the fact the car is empty...I want to sit in it and go "brrrummmmmm" and then put the engine in and have it go "waaadadadadada" down the lanes.
Plate welded into place.
Seam of welds run the seam of the hole and beyond.
When I was doing the ARB my brother pointed out something which greatly annoyed me...my brake line on the driver side is corroding right by the hub, and I do not mean the flexi pipe. This is a ball ache as it means either replacing the whole line from the hub through to the ABS unit on the passenger wing by the head lamp, or alternatively, patching in a small section to replace the corroded line. Both options are doable myself and obviously replacing the whole line is the best way to do it, but patching in ~6inches is a whole load less hassle.
I guess I have to work out which I'd rather do, either should last a long, long while anyway as it is only bend in the wheel arch that get the elements really.
Corroded brake line.
I'm thinking I'll also replace all of the flexi lines to the calipers with braded metal pipes so as I plan on upgrading those I suppose it is best to just replace the whole line across the engine bay.
That's it for today, not a lot done but when my brother is round he is often a pain so I just dislike working on the car so get less done.
Ok, so now I have my days and posts in order/alignment...
I had been hoping to get the engine in today but with the F1 being on and some other discoveries that has been pushed back a while now. Not a big deal really but a shame none the less, I did get some stuff done that I wanted doing though.
As I had been planning on putting the engine back in today I figured I should freshen up the engine mount arms as they were a bit covered in gunk. It is amazing what a wirebrush and some effort can do to grimey old looking items.
Clean top.
Clean bottom.
As the engine is out I decided it'd be easiest to change the ARB bushes now rather than later as there is loads of access should I have needed it. When removing the ARB I noticed that the drop links were well past it and so went to remove them...one nut was rather stuck which meant I had to remove the ARB with them on. Removed the two small bolts in the drop link and then went on to the ARB bush bolts, passenger side was fine, driver side...oh that was fun. Doing it by hand was more than a little annoying. Didn't manage to move it very far, so cracked out the air powered impact gun...and even that struggled but it did undo the bolt.
With the ARB off I could inspect the bushes and the drop links properly.
ARB Bushes
A little egg shaped holing there, certainly past it's best, the bush carriers took a lot of force to come off.
Bush carrier.
Bush carrier.
Rusty bushes.
I think I'll polybush the ARB and the rest of the car as/when I replace bushes as I understand the cab is a bit wallowy as standard and I'd like to dial out as much wallowyness as possible.
I had a spare E36 328i ARB with drop links which appear to be the same and are pretty fresh, so I did the logical thing, removed them and put them onto the E30's ARB. Whilst I *should* replace them for brand spangly new items, I do have these and they may as well be used.
E30 325i ARB vs E36 328i ARB
As my brother was round again today he helped with the welding of the driver footwell. Unfortuantely by helped I mean he did it and I waited with the fire extinguisher. I was hoping I'd get to actually do the welding myself because I need to learn and would like to have done all the work on my car. Plus side to him doing it...the welding is actually pretty good and there are no burns through the metal which I suspect I would have ended up doing.
With this now done I can start to put the interior back in the front of the car which is great as I'm really not liking the fact the car is empty...I want to sit in it and go "brrrummmmmm" and then put the engine in and have it go "waaadadadadada" down the lanes.
Plate welded into place.
Seam of welds run the seam of the hole and beyond.
When I was doing the ARB my brother pointed out something which greatly annoyed me...my brake line on the driver side is corroding right by the hub, and I do not mean the flexi pipe. This is a ball ache as it means either replacing the whole line from the hub through to the ABS unit on the passenger wing by the head lamp, or alternatively, patching in a small section to replace the corroded line. Both options are doable myself and obviously replacing the whole line is the best way to do it, but patching in ~6inches is a whole load less hassle.
I guess I have to work out which I'd rather do, either should last a long, long while anyway as it is only bend in the wheel arch that get the elements really.
Corroded brake line.
I'm thinking I'll also replace all of the flexi lines to the calipers with braded metal pipes so as I plan on upgrading those I suppose it is best to just replace the whole line across the engine bay.
That's it for today, not a lot done but when my brother is round he is often a pain so I just dislike working on the car so get less done.
Didn't see the fact my thread was back on page 1.
Nothing major just yet, I've had other commitments in the evenings and at weekends that have paused work on the car. Really itching to get back to working on it, should have more updates in a couple of weeks.
Small update I suppose is that I've dyed the carpet black (much better than the blue it was), refitted it...but that's about it. I need to strip off the front offside brake line and fit a fresh one, fit the new ARB bushes and refit the ARB, then it'll be engine back in. I also need to refit various interior parts (dash etc.).
My E30 is now scrapped. :-/
Got a nice blue leather interior for sale tho, should fit a cab.
I was up your way a few weeks ago, but for a funeral and so wasn't free so couldn't have picked apart bits from yours even if I'd wanted to.
I had a E36 325 Sport you could have had for anything over scrap value (I span it into the crash barrier on the motorway) , shame I didn't see this thread as I presume that's the engine you were on about before?
Oh well!
You're making good progress
The E36 325's engine is the one I was initially after, until I fully read up on how involved the conversion is. I want to get this car back on the road and running well as a standard car really, it's not the sort of car I'd want to put a different engine in. If I were to do an engine change on a car I'd want to do it to a solid roof car (more strength in the chassis) and also with a fun engine rather than a side-step, if you're going to do something, do it properly.
When I get time to work on the car I make progress as best I can. I should have my evenings and weekends freeing up again soon so will be able to crack on with the car.
It'd better! I'm hoping to have it MOTable before the winter comes in and have it replace the Mondeo a short time after that. I'd be much further along to getting it on the road by now if I'd had the spare time, but things keep coming up that take priority (unfortunately).
As I say, my evenings and weekends should be freeing up over the coming weeks so will be able to get on with working on the car.
Day Twelve - 08/09/2012
It's been a while since I've done an update on this, mostly as I just haven't had the time. Got time this weekend though so here we go.
I decided before I started any work this weekend that I needed to have a plan on what I was going to do. Usually my plans would be a big long list and I'd never get even half way. The plan was simple, get the dash etc. back in, fit the ARB and replace the brake line.
I got the dash in over the course of the day, lots of faffing around involved locating trim etc. all sorted in the end. ARB was next, lined it up, about to put it back on and...can't find the bolts. I recall they were knackered or close to it when I removed the ARB so I'll need to order in some new bolts for it. Not a bit deal really, doesn't delay any other work. Brake line is for tomorrow (and watching the F1).
I'm not sure I took any pictures/did an update when I refitted the (now black) carpet but I did that a good few weeks ago.
To fit it (as I had not cut it to remove, best to remove as one piece) I had to end up removing the heater blower unit which was not a nice job, but I'm glad the dash wasn't in as that would have been even worse.
Fitting the carpet was a pain, it didn't want to sit properly no matter how I moved it about. I think in hindsight it'd have been better to dye it in the car with everything masked off. Still, the carpet looks a huge amount better now (aside from some disty foot prints due to a dusty garage...I'll hover it before I refit the interior).
Some photos:
It looks grey there but it looks black in person.
About then is when I realised I needed to remove the heater blower unit.
On to today's work!
The car started somewhat like this...
I ******* love wires me!
B'reet.
Getting there.
Relocated the buttons for maximum driver enjoyment/use.
Who said digital clocks were good? Not me! (I hate the clock, I want something else there!)
Ooooh seeeedeeeee
Glovebox? Getin!
Still looks wrong.
Centre in place.
All done!
That'll do.
The keen-eyed of you will have noticed I've not refitted the instrument cluster. The reason for this is that a/some bulb(s) have gone and so I'm waiting for some replacements to arrive, once they do the IC will go back in and it really will be complete.
You'll also have spotted that the ashtray, the cassette storage device, gear gaitor (and stick...not engine or box duhh) and handbrake gators are missing.
Ashtray isn't there because, well, I couldn't find it easily and it isn't important.
Cassette storage device...this I have a cunning plan for...you'll find out when I complete it.
Gear gator is not in place as a) the gearbox isn't on the car and b) the old one was worn. I'll buy a new one at some point.
Handbrake gator isn't there because I detest the concertina thing so will find a decent leather one...same with the handbrake handle too.
That's it for today folks. Another update tomorrow hopefully.
It's been a while since I've done an update on this, mostly as I just haven't had the time. Got time this weekend though so here we go.
I decided before I started any work this weekend that I needed to have a plan on what I was going to do. Usually my plans would be a big long list and I'd never get even half way. The plan was simple, get the dash etc. back in, fit the ARB and replace the brake line.
I got the dash in over the course of the day, lots of faffing around involved locating trim etc. all sorted in the end. ARB was next, lined it up, about to put it back on and...can't find the bolts. I recall they were knackered or close to it when I removed the ARB so I'll need to order in some new bolts for it. Not a bit deal really, doesn't delay any other work. Brake line is for tomorrow (and watching the F1).
I'm not sure I took any pictures/did an update when I refitted the (now black) carpet but I did that a good few weeks ago.
To fit it (as I had not cut it to remove, best to remove as one piece) I had to end up removing the heater blower unit which was not a nice job, but I'm glad the dash wasn't in as that would have been even worse.
Fitting the carpet was a pain, it didn't want to sit properly no matter how I moved it about. I think in hindsight it'd have been better to dye it in the car with everything masked off. Still, the carpet looks a huge amount better now (aside from some disty foot prints due to a dusty garage...I'll hover it before I refit the interior).
Some photos:
It looks grey there but it looks black in person.
About then is when I realised I needed to remove the heater blower unit.
On to today's work!
The car started somewhat like this...
I ******* love wires me!
B'reet.
Getting there.
Relocated the buttons for maximum driver enjoyment/use.
Who said digital clocks were good? Not me! (I hate the clock, I want something else there!)
Ooooh seeeedeeeee
Glovebox? Getin!
Still looks wrong.
Centre in place.
All done!
That'll do.
The keen-eyed of you will have noticed I've not refitted the instrument cluster. The reason for this is that a/some bulb(s) have gone and so I'm waiting for some replacements to arrive, once they do the IC will go back in and it really will be complete.
You'll also have spotted that the ashtray, the cassette storage device, gear gaitor (and stick...not engine or box duhh) and handbrake gators are missing.
Ashtray isn't there because, well, I couldn't find it easily and it isn't important.
Cassette storage device...this I have a cunning plan for...you'll find out when I complete it.
Gear gator is not in place as a) the gearbox isn't on the car and b) the old one was worn. I'll buy a new one at some point.
Handbrake gator isn't there because I detest the concertina thing so will find a decent leather one...same with the handbrake handle too.
That's it for today folks. Another update tomorrow hopefully.
Day Thirteen - 16/09/2012
Nothing to see here, no work done...
So last weekend I thought I'd get the brake line and ARB done at least once I'd done the interior...that didn't happen. So this weekend I was determined to get the brake line run and the ARB installed. Sat I didn't get much done in the end, only got the brake line done and couldn't get the ARB to fit. Gave up for the day.
Sunday being a nice fresh day I got working on the car, couldn't get the ARB on initially but then after posting a question on E30Zone I had an answer as to how I could tackle the problem. Sorted that in a matter of mins then, typical. I then proceeded to get a bit more work done...
Sat: The day started off late for work on the car but that wasn't an issue, until I broke the pipe cutter and had to drive for ~2hrs to go get a new one. Oops.
Once back with the new cutter I was able to start work on the new brake line. I didn't do this the most logical of ways but it worked so that's all that matters. I ran the new line and then put the connections on once I'd got the pipe at the right length and in place. This made the task a little difficult when doing the wheel end of the line as there was a suspension strut in the way when flaring the line.
Cutting off spare (should have measured this up so I didn't waste any really).
Flaring the end.
New line run.
Perfect bends...
Into the ABS unit.
That was all for sat basically, very simple job actually. I'd expected it to be a pain to do but it really wasn't bad at all. One thing I must say though is that without the engine it is easy, with the engine I imagine it would be a very painful task to complete.
Sun: Started the day much earlier than sat and had the aim not to break tools this time...I succeeded, which is nice.
The first problem was the ARB mounting, this is something I thought would have been simple but it turned out to be a right pain to do. I wasn't sure of the best way to get the bolts to reach the nuts as the bush appeared to be too big. This made me think I'd got the wrong parts from BMW. I posted up on E30Zone asking for any ideas why I had this issue and daimlerman was helpful and told me how he fits them.
Rather than using swearing (which I'd tried and it didn't work), he said that he puts a bolt that is too long into the mount, does it up so that the mount is close to the subframe and then uses mole grips to keep it in place, removes the long bolt and puts the correct bolt in place. Such a simple idea that completely escaped me. I tried this and had then fitted the ARB in a matter of mins. With it all fitted I then spotted that the wishbone lollipop bushes are knackered, more spending!
Y U NO FIT?!
Long bolt brining the mount closer to the subframe.
HUZZAHHH
As this didn't take too long I then thought about the next little thing that needed doing...
Oh herro.
I've been wanting to get the engine in for ages but due to the brake line and the ARB I didn't really want to put it back in just yet. Now they were sorted I could put it back in and so that is what I have been doing for most of the day. There aren't many pics, in fact, there are no pics of the progress of getting the engine from the floor into the bay as, well, it was a complete farse. Initially I didn't have the arm out far enough so that the engine was never going to get far enough into the bay. I then set the load leveller up badly so I couldn't change the angle of the engine properly. Both of these I realised once I had the engine halfway into the engine bay. Fun times.
I got it sorted in the end though, connected up the prop, all mounts, aux units and their belts, ignition system and some wiring. I didn't get to put it all back today as there is a lot to put back. I also need to rob some more parts from the touring as I'm not sure I trust the state of some of the oil filled nonoil way parts from the cab.
I had a slight issue with one of the HT leads, well, not the lead itself but the sensor connected to it. When removing the HT leads from the old distributor cap and putting them onto the new one I managed to snap the timing (?) sensor on lead No.6. This was quite gutting as the sensor is manufactured onto the lead, which you can't buy individually, a set of leads is at around £100. I remembered though, I have a spares car. Went over to the touring, took lead No.6 and the sensor and put it into the one for the cab. Problem solved.
Something else I noticed when doing the HT leads is that they don't seem to clip onto the spark plugs? I'm used to providing a bit of force and them clipping onto the end of the plug but these ones don't seem to. I don't know if it is the spark plugs are slightly wrong (ordered the correct ones) or if the leads are meant to basically sit on them, they certainly don't seem secure. I'll have to look into this more.
Pics!
It's in! (that's what I said!)
Bugger.
Resolved.
PAS, Alt., belts and starter on.
Various wires.
Belts, woooo.
Not sure if that black wire wants to join the red one or not...
And that's all for today. Not sure when I'll get to next make proper progress on the car really. I'll try to get more engine stuff in over the next few evenings as I'm eager to fire it up.
Nothing to see here, no work done...
So last weekend I thought I'd get the brake line and ARB done at least once I'd done the interior...that didn't happen. So this weekend I was determined to get the brake line run and the ARB installed. Sat I didn't get much done in the end, only got the brake line done and couldn't get the ARB to fit. Gave up for the day.
Sunday being a nice fresh day I got working on the car, couldn't get the ARB on initially but then after posting a question on E30Zone I had an answer as to how I could tackle the problem. Sorted that in a matter of mins then, typical. I then proceeded to get a bit more work done...
Sat: The day started off late for work on the car but that wasn't an issue, until I broke the pipe cutter and had to drive for ~2hrs to go get a new one. Oops.
Once back with the new cutter I was able to start work on the new brake line. I didn't do this the most logical of ways but it worked so that's all that matters. I ran the new line and then put the connections on once I'd got the pipe at the right length and in place. This made the task a little difficult when doing the wheel end of the line as there was a suspension strut in the way when flaring the line.
Cutting off spare (should have measured this up so I didn't waste any really).
Flaring the end.
New line run.
Perfect bends...
Into the ABS unit.
That was all for sat basically, very simple job actually. I'd expected it to be a pain to do but it really wasn't bad at all. One thing I must say though is that without the engine it is easy, with the engine I imagine it would be a very painful task to complete.
Sun: Started the day much earlier than sat and had the aim not to break tools this time...I succeeded, which is nice.
The first problem was the ARB mounting, this is something I thought would have been simple but it turned out to be a right pain to do. I wasn't sure of the best way to get the bolts to reach the nuts as the bush appeared to be too big. This made me think I'd got the wrong parts from BMW. I posted up on E30Zone asking for any ideas why I had this issue and daimlerman was helpful and told me how he fits them.
Rather than using swearing (which I'd tried and it didn't work), he said that he puts a bolt that is too long into the mount, does it up so that the mount is close to the subframe and then uses mole grips to keep it in place, removes the long bolt and puts the correct bolt in place. Such a simple idea that completely escaped me. I tried this and had then fitted the ARB in a matter of mins. With it all fitted I then spotted that the wishbone lollipop bushes are knackered, more spending!
Y U NO FIT?!
Long bolt brining the mount closer to the subframe.
HUZZAHHH
As this didn't take too long I then thought about the next little thing that needed doing...
Oh herro.
I've been wanting to get the engine in for ages but due to the brake line and the ARB I didn't really want to put it back in just yet. Now they were sorted I could put it back in and so that is what I have been doing for most of the day. There aren't many pics, in fact, there are no pics of the progress of getting the engine from the floor into the bay as, well, it was a complete farse. Initially I didn't have the arm out far enough so that the engine was never going to get far enough into the bay. I then set the load leveller up badly so I couldn't change the angle of the engine properly. Both of these I realised once I had the engine halfway into the engine bay. Fun times.
I got it sorted in the end though, connected up the prop, all mounts, aux units and their belts, ignition system and some wiring. I didn't get to put it all back today as there is a lot to put back. I also need to rob some more parts from the touring as I'm not sure I trust the state of some of the oil filled nonoil way parts from the cab.
I had a slight issue with one of the HT leads, well, not the lead itself but the sensor connected to it. When removing the HT leads from the old distributor cap and putting them onto the new one I managed to snap the timing (?) sensor on lead No.6. This was quite gutting as the sensor is manufactured onto the lead, which you can't buy individually, a set of leads is at around £100. I remembered though, I have a spares car. Went over to the touring, took lead No.6 and the sensor and put it into the one for the cab. Problem solved.
Something else I noticed when doing the HT leads is that they don't seem to clip onto the spark plugs? I'm used to providing a bit of force and them clipping onto the end of the plug but these ones don't seem to. I don't know if it is the spark plugs are slightly wrong (ordered the correct ones) or if the leads are meant to basically sit on them, they certainly don't seem secure. I'll have to look into this more.
Pics!
It's in! (that's what I said!)
Bugger.
Resolved.
PAS, Alt., belts and starter on.
Various wires.
Belts, woooo.
Not sure if that black wire wants to join the red one or not...
And that's all for today. Not sure when I'll get to next make proper progress on the car really. I'll try to get more engine stuff in over the next few evenings as I'm eager to fire it up.
Ahem...nothing to see here.