jibbajabbas E30 M3 S38

[inastrangeland]

I see you are using Suzuki COPs but did you have the other parts machined to fit them? Are the parts available?

[jibbajabba]

It's a custom set up with Denso pencil coils, stainless extensions and a different set of valve cover inserts.

[e30m3justis]

Josh,

Any updates?

Mike

[e30polak]

Josh,

Any updates?

Mike

This!

[ord22]

this is an awesome restoration you did. Very clean and planned out greatly. this is one i will use when i do my restoration. keep it up and don't leave us in the dark in the future, Thanks!!

[mshii]

Beautiful! I can't wait to see that baby run.

[vmwerks]

OMG srsly this is jewelry, it's magnificent!

Well I was able to drop the engine in. Some fine tuning of the engine mounts and I will be able to get it right where I want it. It's nice to see it actually in the car for the first time!

[Evo3m3]

Sweet!

[jibbajabba]

Not much of an update but it's something.

New aluminum radiator w/ correct inlet & outlet orientation. I use to have a Behr 535i radiator but they were reversed. Plus it had plastic end takes that are known to crack prematurely).



The fuel injectors themselves were able to creep down the port to where the lower injector o-ring almost sticks out a bit. Glad I checked that!



I figured it was a potential vacuum leak so an order to McMaster was made. I fitted some square o-rings to raise it up a bit and it all fits perfect now.






Injector Dynamics Bosch EV14 725cc injectors and a new Bosch 5.0 bar FPR installed.



C.O.P conversion is done and ready to be wired up.




and as always, a current engine bay shot.





Whats left to do:
1. Install driveshaft.
2. Shorten and install shift linkage
3. Build the exhaust system.
4. Make wiring harness
5. Have Neel tune this thing
6. Figure out how I'm going to legally drive it in California

Soo close! Im pushing to get it all done for this summer.

[fronton]

It is coming along beautifully. Your ABS isn't there, did you relocate it or delete? Wouldn't you want the rad outlet at the bottom, not 2/3 up?

One tip on the linkage shortening - make sure in second gear the selector rod doesn't rub against the guibo. Mine did and it was a hassle to correct... on my second set of shortened linkages!

[LeeVuong]

Mike Morris was using a secondary radiator behind the passengerside headlamps to help keep things cool in heavy traffic.

[jibbajabba]

It is coming along beautifully. Your ABS isn't there, did you relocate it or delete? Wouldn't you want the rad outlet at the bottom, not 2/3 up?

One tip on the linkage shortening - make sure in second gear the selector rod doesn't rub against the guibo. Mine did and it was a hassle to correct... on my second set of shortened linkages!

The radiator is the same dimensions as a stock e28 M5. Once the car is up and running im going to sell this one and have another one made that has slightly larger end tanks and the mounting tabs in a different spot so it fits the way i want it to.

I did remove the ABS for now. Once the rest of the car is sorted, im going to install a 4 channel ABS system.

I still have an email saved in my drafts i need to finish and send you! lol

[jibbajabba]

Mike Morris was using a secondary radiator behind the passengerside headlamps to help keep things cool in heavy traffic.

I belive Mike used a smaller radiator fitted into the rad support. If i have cooling issues, i'll come up with something else. Shouldn't be to difficult.

[vmwerks]

Ok the site is back... updates?

[jibbajabba]

Ok the site is back... updates?

Like yourself, just finishing up the exhaust and doing some preventative maintenance.

As these cars get older, there are certain items that like to go bad. The heater core cracks, the wiper motors go bad and the blower motors fail. So i replaced those with new ones so I don't have to deal with them in the future.

Wiper Motor installed:


Windshield wiper motor installed:


When doing the heater core, i decided to shorten the aluminum coolant tubes so I can run hoses to them. This would eliminate any potential intake manifold clearance issues in the future. I also put in a new firewall grommet for the hoses.





Started putting in the smoked Hellas.



Nice and clean!




Had to shorten the shifter carrier and shifter rod about 16mm each.



Got it all installed along with the shortened and rebuilt drive shaft. Yeah, I can shift gears! A little notchy, but hopefully once run it will clear up. If not, I might have to revisit this one.


Supposed stronger and replaceable u-joints.




For the exhaust, I wanted to build my own. So I order a bunch of stainless components and went to town.


The exhaust manifolds are from the Euro E28 M5. I chopped off the secondary pipes and put in larger 2.5" pipes. That allowed me to position the downpipes in a better position. Here they are tacked up.



I ordered a y pipe from Columbia River ($75) and one from Vibrant ($95). The Columbia River one had some rough insides that overlapped and looked like crap frankly. The vibrant on the other hand was very well made. Equal to any Burns y-pipe I've seen for half the cost.

Vibrant on the left, Columbia River on the right


Inside of Vibrant was pretty much perfect. That is a small weld bead, done from the inside, there in the middle. Pretty amazing quality for the price!


I used 2 Vibrant v-bands to piece it together. The cat will be easy to swap with a track-pipe or resonator this way.
I really liked the Vibrant V-bands because they have interlocking male and female flanges. This keeps them in the correct position when clamping.



They also have a recessed lip that fits perfectly on the 3" pipe.



Here is the y-pipe and cat sections done. I put an extra 02 bung just in case it's needed.


The rear muffler and pipe section. I used a couple of oval to round transitions to get it up as close to the rear subframe as possible.


Rear muffler is a 22" Magnaflow. You can see a couple hangers I whipped up with some stainless bar stock and square tube. There are 3 hangers of similar design.


Hangers tacked up.

Front main hanger.


Rear Main hanger.


Rear stability hanger.


Today with the beautiful Sacramento weather we had, I hung the exhaust and finished bolting in the front sway bar and setting the sway bar links.

Here it is all hung after welding. I still have to make the track pipe/resonator section and put in a 4" stainless flex pipe since it's pretty rigid now. I also need to make a nice tip for it. Not sure what to do on that.

I was happy the way it turned out. Fits nice and tight against the body. The lowest part on the car is the front sway bar.




Main rear hanger. They all were sanded and painted with some exhaust paint since the rubber hangers were mild steel.

This side hanger has almost no load on it. Just there to help keep straight.



So...flex pipe and some y-pipe retaining springs and the exhaust will be done.

Next step is wrap up the heater core hoses, run lines for the oil cooler and start wiring up the EMS.

Stay tuned.