Neverdone

This is a Q45 diff in an S30. I just measured the one in my garage and from flange to flange it's approximatly 13". So I really don't think the diff is going to be too wide. I'm gonna go to a picknpull tomorrow and yank the front diff mount and maybe just the whole damn subframe out of a 325 or 328 or something, then go find me an M3 diff off Craigslist or something (3.38 would be FANTASTIC!). Considering that I was gonna have to get custom cv shafts from Dutchman or something anyway, I'm 100% going to be going the Bimmer route... ...especially now that Ron is and I might be able to get some help....

Can't you yank different gear sets out of 5 series and 7 series BMW's? I thought they almost all used the 205mm gear sets.

No joke, if you're not running a 6 speed it almost seems required. The back mount would be pretty easy to mount up (might actually be able to attach something off of the normal mustache bar, or just make a custom on out of aluminum or something) The front is really the part I'm hesitant about. You could probably hack up the rear subframe of an E36 to make some sort of front mount that attaches to the Z though. I'll look into more and see how much of a pain it might be.

350z with an automatic transmission came with 3.36 gears

Hell at this point it almost seems cheaper and easier to install an E36 diff. Does the vss and dash sensor? Have to come from the original car, or will any e36 do?

Coulda swore the Ford Explorer was 5 lug. Are you also going to be doing a stub axle swap as well?

Is this for the stock radiator, or an aftermarket one? If it's different than stock, what are the dimensions?

I'm definitly no expert on welding, but I can gaurentee you, you are going too fast, and the gun is too far away from the metal. Watch some videos that actually explain what to do. Check a welding chart for your welder if it has one to see if you have the wire speed and voltage in the right ballpark, then just keep practicing.

Can you open the throttle up all the way at the throttle body itself?

You should sit in the car and have someone measure the gaps. I know in some BMW's they'd intentionally make the driverside higher at rest to account for the extra weight on one side when someone is driving. Then again I have no idea if it is supposed to be this way on Z cars, and it may be because of an error.

Is that a good thing? I understand ya like it. But if it were me, I'd paint it.

Not painting it always looked "unfinished" to me. But to each his own, if you're worried about paint chipping, and you actually like the black look, than spray paint it black. I never liked the look of bare plastic. Paint has a shinier look to it, and if it chips or cracks, just remove the paint if it's bothering you and re-paint it yourself.

BMW N54! You could easily get one of those 20 grand. Sure it'll be insanely more complicated and expensive than a 1jz/2jz, but it'll be neat, and you'll have a really nice torque curve. Mainly I just wanna see it done, and I think you're the man for the job!

This thread is almost 4 years old... Just thought I'd throw that one out there.

I agree with this 100% I dunno about hating on guys who put a lot of time into their cars. Function over form is nice I guess, but good looking cars will always be better in my book. There is a reason why most people think Ferrari's road cars look better than their F1 cars. Blending form and function is what makes for fantastic cars. In the end, you're always gonna have people all over the board that fit this "automotive lifestyle" category. Some like to be showy about it and think they are better than everyone because they bought a car and then had a shop install a buncha crap...while other won't do that. Also, what's wrong with Vtec? It gives you better fuel economy and let's you run a more agressive cam when you really get on it.

It's the last of the V8's Max! Look at the Blowah!" That thing reminds me of Max Rockatanskies Falcoln to no end. You need a big ass blower sticking through the hood though. NEED! ...and an angry dog and a shot gun.

There is a place up here in Portland that uses a large scale version of electrolosis to remove all the paint and rust and crap from your car. You might wanna see if you have anything like that near you as it'll get rid of everything and won't remove any metal at all. Other than that, non-abrasive media blasting is your best bet. Sand blasting scares me, I've seen WAY to many people bone that up on metal thicker than an S30.

Is your real question, how can I reduce understeer?

If you have a welder/plan on getting a welder, then all rust issues can be solved, and you should definitly take the car and enter it into LeMons or Chump Car. If you don't have a welder/don't want one, then take it and part it out. There are parts on it that are worth money for sure.

So is there a sign up list now for rides/drives, or do I have to know the super secret handshake?

Other than the seats...not really.

I would imagine you've been following RTz's build, but if you havn't there's a few main issues with doing this swap, all are solvable however. 1) Engine ems: BMW didn't want anyone stealing their cars, so there's a transmitter in the key that syncs up with the ignition and ems to make sure a specific key is starting it. No key and sender ring, means no starting. To get around this you can A)Do an OBD1 manifold+wireharness swap Talk to Bimmerworld and get your ems modified or C)Standalone! 2) The final gear on the normal M3 5 speed is 1:1, so you have no overdrive. If you plan on running a diff of anything higher than the stock 3.23 that came in the Bimmer, you'll be running kinda high rpm's down the highway. If you're ok with that, cool, if not, the 6 speed out of the modern E90 3 series, the E46 M3, and the Z4 all bolt up to the S52. They aren't as smooth as the 5 speed, but it's not a tractor transmission, and you get a 15-17% overdrive. 3) The speedo on the Bimmer runs off the diff in those cars, so unless you have it, you'll have to do something else. You could use a hall sensor on the driveshaft or whatever diff you're using and wire that up, or just spend the money on a GPS Speedo and not worry about it. Oh and if it hasn't been done already, I'd change the thermostat housing to a metal one. The stock plastic ones suck and are famous for breaking. Good luck!

Well I wouldn't go for the rear brakes unless you're already planning on doing a 5 lug swap.

I can't imagine it would be much more work than putting any other engine that doesn't already have a pre-made kit for it into these cars. I think the transmission from a Starion or Mighty Max pickup bolts onto the thing. After that you make engine mounts and transmission mounts which any decent fabricator can do. There are standalone ecu's availible for that engine all over the damn place so you shouldn't have to worry about that either. Really the only thing that is an unknown on this one to me is the transmission, because with that engine you can make a "bit" of power. Oh yeah, and the Evo uses 13" rotors out back. You'd have to proportion the rears down so much to avoid locking them up all you'd be doing is adding useless unsprung weight for basically no reason.

Calipers are one thing. In the end you'll just have to make a custom braket to get the correct verticle and horizontal offset for whatever rotors your using. Rotors are a different story. For one thing the Evolution is 5 lug, this can be remedied by doing a 5 lug conversion, but it's not cheap. Then you need to make sure the inner diameter of the hole will fit over the hub. You can machine them if you want to. Overall there's probably a lot easier/cheaper/better solutions out there. Not only that but don't most Evolution guys upgrade their brakes if they are tracking their car? I know our cars weigh less, but something to think about. In the end, I'd be more focused on getting that engine and figuring out how guys convert them to rwd. I know you can do some bell house swapping with some transmissions out there or something to make that 4G63t engine rwd.