1986 BMW E30 316 (2.8)

Cheers guys!

All being well I should have a bit of an update in the next week or so  

Looking forward to it Kedge. She's a realy beuaty. Got a soft spot for this

Update has ended up being a bit delayed, all my recent spare time has been spent playing around on my mountain bike or new motorbike so this and the Golf have taken a bit of a back burner so not much progress has been made recently.

Battery tray was welded up a while ago and I've since painted it up and the bulkhead trim fitted;




Most of the interior has now been thrown in as well. A lot of it needs cleaning and fitting properly but it's nice not having it taking up space in the house at long last.



I'd also got a battered and faded rear parcel shelf with a blind fitted that has had great big holes cut into it for some 6x9s so thought I'd have a quick go at tidying it up with some acoustic material I'd got knocking around. As the shelf is only made of a thin hardboard type material I just used a couple of layers of thick cardboard, one glued to the underside and then another cut into the shape of the 6x9 on top to give the level of the original board. Its by no means perfect and needs a bit more tidying up to finish it off but it's certainly a huge improvement and it doesn't even owe me a 1/3 of what these seem to sell for nowadays so all's good.  Now just got to grow the balls and fit the clips to the roof which means putting holes in my uber rare headlining.





Meanwhile steady progress is still being made with the engine as my mate is fitting it around all his other work. We've manage to get a custom vernier pulley made up using a CAD design I was sent and the ring gear from a standard pulley, much cheaper and probably better quality than buying one from someone like CatCams.


Pistons are also back from having 2mm taken out of the valve reliefs to allow more clearance for the Schrick cam once the block have been decked.


So now, in theory it should just be one more trial build to work out exactly how much the block can be decked by, have it decked then it'll hopefully all go back together with no issues.

Great work mate. Lots of attention to detail here. Keep the updates coming

Time for a little update, I've taken a step back from all things car related over the last few months, both spannering and forums. Here's where I am with the E30 build now………………

The engine build has been finished is now fitted with just a few finishing touches needed;
Hit a little snag as I bought a replacement wiring loom as my old one must have shorted a long time ago as I found a few badly corroded wires and it just wasn't worth the hassle if digging them out to replace when a good loom can be had for £30. Got the new loom fitted and came to connect it to the Throttle position switch and found there's a different plug on the new loom, must have been from an auto, they have a round 8 pin plug compared to the square 4 pin plug on a manual so I'm now having to source an auto TPS, luckily this will work fine even though the car is manual.
I need to get the airbox mount fitted and lash up a good solution for the return feed to the E36 rad as everything I've tried so far either fouls the PAS bracket or kinks too much for my liking.

Once that's all done and I've checked it fires up all be leaving the engine well alone until the winters done one and I can get it out on the road and run the engine it, hence why I've not done anything with it for so long.

Pistons with poke  

Rods got a bit of a trim and balance (as did the pistons);


Vernier pulley passivated;


Nearly there;


A bit closer;

looking smart mate

The engine looks really tidy  

Looks spot on dude.  

Looking good mate, nice work!

Cheers guys, all being well I'll be doing a few shows in it this year!

Liking them seats. I got my golf retrimed at b trim they are the best . They have the contract to do the revere range rovers .
Well done with the build . I bought a e30 last June and still haven't driven it .
Should be ready in three weeks

Cheers, the quality of the work B-Trim do is great, couldn't let the chance to buy them slip away once I knew the the guy who had them done was looking to sell.

Liking the M3 , wish I'd had to balls to go through with buying one 7 or 8 years ago when prices had bottomed out.

Now go this on the road, just a few finishing touches needed inside and out and a little snag to sort with the brakes, there's knocking under heavy braking. Will then be going for a mapping session to get the most from the engine in the spring  








Once upon a time;