Introducing the Eco30 build

[cruizin01]

Since the C10 is pretty well sorta and I dont find myself needing to tinker with it every 8 seconds my mind started to wonder about another project. My wife was disgusted by the thought of it but eventually she came around. haha.

 

I don't have any manuals at my house at the moment so that was a necessity. My mind wondered around between Conquests to 944's to E30's. My wife's wallet preferred a cheap starting price which as you've all seen the prices for most anything decent and even slightly desirable is hard to find right now.

 

A coworker heard me talking about cars and said a friend has an E30 roller for sale. It was in Orient so I ran down and took a look. 91 318is. Pretty clean shell. No rust that I could find. Needs 2 fenders and the clearcoat is rough. Interior is pretty complete aside from carpet. The exterior needs a rear spoiler installed and a radiator, etc. It does have all new suspension, Z3 rack, decent wheels and tires. So we made a deal and the dude even delivered it to me.

 

 

So then I ran through the ideals of what engine and trans. I was completely bored by the idea of putting another BMW engine in the car. That would make the most sense financially but I just wasn't interested in it. I did some math between LS swaps, K20 swaps and even some 5 cylinder VW stuff. It was all gonna be +$8k plus for the basic stuff needed.

 

I was digging around Marketplace and ran across this Pontiac Solstice GXP engine, trans and ecu in Tiffin. After looking at some details on the 2L turbo and 5 speed I decided to give it a try. For $1200 it was going to be a cheap, great start for a powerplant. Was it my dream engine? No of course not, but it should be cool and make plenty of power. Controlling the engine seems to be somewhat problematic and may(WILL) require some special wiring and different ECU. I think Ill need a different oil pan and obviously some mounts, etc but I think everything is feasible. Should keep the car nice and light and double the stock horsepower.

 

 

Another Chevy powered BMW never hurt anyone right? If anyone has anyone they know that is REALLY good with standalone Ecotech harness stuff get at me!

 

This project might be a little slow going but Ill post up the progress and failures.

[2 Sweet]

That is cool as fuck :thumbup:

[Tinman]

Excellent!

[Rally Pat]

Neato!

[RyM3rC]

No manuals? UNACCEPTABLE!

 

Looks like a solid foundation. Seats look good, no rust and some decent parts on there already.

[Otis Nice]

This is gonna be another cool build. Looking forward to it.

[Crossle]

This is cool!

[iwashmycar]

AWESOME!

[Geeto67]

awesome project.

 

Keep an eye on the front/rear weight bias. One of the many things that makes the 1991 318is special is that it has 50/50 front/rear weight balance, just like the E30 M3. The other cars don't (but are close). I am sure that aluminum gxp mill won't be any heavier than the M42 it is replacing, but I just thought I would mention it.

[Aaron]

I’ll say it, ghey. Edited December 15, 2020 by Aaron

[10phone2]

great pick up. the trans you grabbed are upgraged r154's that shift wayyy better and just as strong.

[zeitgeist57]

Congratulations and awesome winter project! You don't have kids, do you?

 

From my YT watching, it seems everyone is jumping on the K24 Honda swap bandwagon, but for the price you paid to get a turbo'd engine and trans to go with it is a great deal. Hope you can get it all to work well enough!

[cruizin01]

I’ll say it, ghey.

 

Come on, you can do better than that.

 

great pick up. the trans you grabbed are upgraged r154's that shift wayyy better and just as strong.

 

I know in its natural form the shifter is gonna be too far back but it looks like there's a drift company that sells a forward mounted shifter bracket.

 

Congratulations and awesome winter project! You don't have kids, do you?

 

From my YT watching, it seems everyone is jumping on the K24 Honda swap bandwagon, but for the price you paid to get a turbo'd engine and trans to go with it is a great deal. Hope you can get it all to work well enough!

 

Haha, we do not.

 

Yeah, K power has a really nice kit but its $5k to start and that's no engine or trans.

[Mace1647545504]

Very cool..can't wait to follow it

[10phone2]

drift motion by chance? I looked around today and didn't see too much out there.

[cruizin01]

drift motion by chance? I looked around today and didn't see too much out there.

 

Yeah, that was it. Stinks I can buy a Colorado trans cheaper than that adapter. Which I may do as it uses a more ideal slip yoke as well as a better trans mount position. But I read you have to cut the input shaft which isn't ideal. There's also something with the 3rd gear being different. So yeah I figure Ill wait and see where the shifter is at once its in the car.

[10phone2]

cutting the input shaft isnt a dead end and has worked with the sc300/is300/mkIII world. honestly no different than cutting the a340 auto bellhousing with a cut off wheel to work with the cd009 adapter for the nissan route.

 

another option is to take the gear set of the solstice trans and drop that into the colorado trans housing for a better shifter location or swap the input shafts. please keep in mind i havent personally done a gear swap with the r-series trans, but have seen it done with r154 and other r series trans on the pirate 4x4 boards.

 

it's a worm hole researching the r-series/ar5 transmissions and the toyota forums are a circle jerk when it comes to finding reliable 1st hand info.

[cruizin01]

cutting the input shaft isnt a dead end and has worked with the sc300/is300/mkIII world. honestly no different than cutting the a340 auto bellhousing with a cut off wheel to work with the cd009 adapter for the nissan route.

 

another option is to take the gear set of the solstice trans and drop that into the colorado trans housing for a better shifter location or swap the input shafts. please keep in mind i havent personally done a gear swap with the r-series trans, but have seen it done with r154 and other r series trans on the pirate 4x4 boards.

 

it's a worm hole researching the r-series/ar5 transmissions and the toyota forums are a circle jerk when it comes to finding reliable 1st hand info.

 

Thanks for your input. Ill see where I end up once I get the engine positioned in the car and go from there.

[coltboostin]

Very cool!

[cruizin01]

Finally got a little time put in on the E30 this weekend.

 

I ordered the miata ecotec oil pan from a guy in Canada. I was hoping to have it Friday but it seems to be hanging out in NY in Customs. I hope it shows itself soon. I decided to go ahead and test fit the engine by removing the pan and taking my best guess as to how tall it is. The only thing that makes it weird is the engine is designed to be at a tilt of around 11* so you end up with a tighter clearance on the passenger size near the subframe. I suppose I could have stood it straight up but then the trans sits at a weird angle.

 

I pulled the PS pump and the A/C compressor off since I dont plan to run either. The rack was already setup for manual. If I keep this car and drive it a lot I might consider plumbing back in the A/C but all the plumbing in the engine bay is gone.

 

I was able to get the engine shoved in the car with the trans attached by only removing the shifter extension. Pretty straight forward for one person. I did have to detach the lower steering shaft. Thats going to require some tighter components. Probably a universal joint instead of that rubber guibo joint.

 

I pushed the engine as far reward as I could to keep the front nose of the engine down. I was worried about hood clearance, this seems to be a pretty tall engine for what it is. The brake booster doesn't clear so Ill probably be going to a manual setup. Not ideal but shouldn't be too bad for a car this light. One of the heater hose fittings is tight and is gonna need reworked. The shifter doesn't line up. Driftmotion makes a nice one but its $500!!! for what I need. Going to try and cobble/cut down the extension that came on the solstice trans. I was hoping maybe there was a chance I could use the Colorado trans but its too short!

 

Ill post more pictures of all that stuff once I actually do something with it.

 

 

 

I started by building the engine mount on the LH side. I didn't get any material ahead of time which was a mistake as all I could get at the box store was some 1/4" flat stock. I made do but its not pretty and took FOREVER to cut, fit, tack, test, finish weld, grind, etc. But its done. Currently about half way done with the RH side. It sucks because the mounts and heights are completely different side to side.

 

 

Im attempting to use the solstice mounts as they were taller and angled slightly better for what I was attempting to do. Im a little worried now they are too soft but Ill deal with that when the time comes.

 

Today I went ahead and ordered the ECU and Engine harness so I can send it out to be reworked. I also ordered a bunch of other stuff thats gonna be needed. Trying not to get ahead of myself and break the bank all at once but as you can expect there is quite a list of necessary items.

 

 

Just a glimps of my work space. It was a disaster when I quite last night. Ill wait until I finish the other mount before cleaning up.

 

 

Thanks for following along.

[cruizin01]

Put some more work in over the past couple of weeks. I was able to finish up all the engine/trans mounts, sans paint. I know they dont look too pretty but man it takes a lot of work to build something from scratch when all you have is flat steel, a grinder and cut off wheels. Oh and a mediocre amount of talent.

 

Anyhow, they are done and installed. The engine is sitting in the engine bay self supported. It'll have to come back out so I can paint the mounts, and install a few other things including the engine pan. It finally passed through customs and should be here in a day or two.

 

Passenger Mount

 

 

Trans Mount. This mount sucked as the trans was designed for a track bar so it requires 2 long bolts to mount it. This was the best I could come up with using the room I had.

 

 

 

 

Next up I started piddling with the shifter relocation. It was gonna be $500 for the driftmotion unit. I decided I wasn't out anything to hack mine apart and see if I could make the OE setup function.

 

I cut down the shift shaft and the housing. Shortened up the J shaped arm along with the bracket that holds everything. Again not pretty but I think everything is gonna work. I ordered a new seal to press into the end of the housing but other than that I think its done. Took a couple versions but it sits mostly center in the trans tunnel hole. Overall I think I was able to move the shifter forward maybe 2.5 inches. I forget the measurements now. Its about 1/2" rearward from center but with a little grinding of the tunnel hole everything works. I'll forgot to take a picture from in the car but I will at a later date once I get the shifter adapter and knob mounted. I splurged and ordered a RaceSeng shifter knob for the car.

 

 

I decided to try out a factory Solstice radiator in the car due to the BMW radiator (which I didn't have) having the inlet & outlet backwards. RockAuto had one for $55. It looks dinky but if it worked in the car originally it should work ok in this car. The new rad came with some damage so I was able to get $20 back so I have nothing to lose with a $35 radiator. Im gonna try and use a factory solstice fan as well but I just need to make sure I can control it through the ECU since it PWM. Just have to confirm with the guy that's building my harness.

 

To mount it I just crimped in some rivet nuts in the sheet metal and tacked them in place. You can see the original hoses fit just about right. I did shorten the lower hose. I have a BMW coolant tank coming that should work for the overflow hoses, etc.

 

More updates soon. I got an intake that Im working on fitting up. I have an intercooler and some piping en route, along with some parts for a fuel system. I ordered a master cylinder and hoses, etc from Chase Bays. More to come.

[Geeto67]

This is awesome, keep up the good work.

[cruizin01]

Started and semi-finished some more work on the car the week before last.

 

I got the intercooler mounted and the charge pipes made. I still have to finish weld and paint the intercooler bracket, weld some lips on the charge pipes and paint and clamp them, etc.

 

Ill probably paint the intercooler black even though most of it will be hidden. #stealth

 

 

I decided to cut holes in the lower support to keep the charge pipes short. This lower area doesnt really hold/support anything anymore anyway. I didnt realize how much trouble I would have welding plates to the areas I cut out. I think the material was around 16 gauge and boy does my welder like to burn holes with the quickness on that stuff.

 

 

I bought the cheapest solstice intake I could find on the internet and was able to trim it to fit on the bmw. It actually ended up working pretty well.

 

 

The charge pipes are pretty basic in nature. The cold side just needed map sensor pad and a nipple for a boost line.

 

 

 

Little baby belt installed. I managed to guess the right size the first time!

 

 

Finally got my oil pan from dude in canada. Decided to test fit it and it works just fine as expected. Its got some surface rust inside and out so its gonna need a thorough cleaning.

 

 

Decided in a solstice fan assy as it fits the radiator perfect. Its 2 speed which the engine harness should run without issue. Im using a late model e30 coolant tank and the solstice hoses which all fit and work ok. I have to adapt just one hose.

 

 

Got my shifter temporarily installed. I cant row the gears until I get the trans back out and the mechanism fulling installed but I think itll work ok.

 

 

Next step is to work out the steering linkage and the fuel system in the engine bay. Then the brake master cylinder, etc.

[cruizin01]

Oh and I forgot to mention I got two "matching" fenders installed on the car. The drivers was rolled very badly and the passenger side was missing all together. These should hopefully buff out and match the rest of the pink on the car..

[zeitgeist57]

Derek, impressive progress! I love how you’re able to incorporate a lot of Solstice parts onto the E30. Keep going with the updates!