BMW E30 Removable Core Support Guide | How To Convert To Bolt-On Front End With Rivnuts | 036

BMW E30 Removable Core Support Guide | How To Convert To Bolt-On Front End With Rivnuts | 036

In this video I share a comprehensive guide to converting the front end of your BMW E30 to be removable – a removable core support modification.

Here’s what I used in this video:
Rivnut Kit: https://ebay.us/CCyBDw
US Pro Spot Weld Cutter: https://ebay.us/gVjZuK
Right angle drive adapter (with the wrong hex size): https://ebay.us/9UriVX
Stepper drill bit: https://ebay.us/NJWMdt
Dewalt Angle Grinder: https://ebay.us/CmsNuW
Punch & Chisel Set: https://ebay.us/eXRYXe
Clarke Weld MIG 150 TE Turbo: https://ebay.us/jbdfE8 (this is the newer version)
0.8 Welding Wire: https://ebay.us/eQWqWx
Argon/CO2 Welding Gas & Regulator: https://ebay.us/7BOngD

The idea behind making the front radiator support removable is to make removing and installing the engine in an engine swapped E30 much easier.

Initially, I was a bit reluctant to embark on this removable front-end process having seen many instances where someone has started on the job only to quit and leave a half-finished mess for any future E30 owner to deal with. All indications pointed to it being harder than it first appears.
Nevertheless, knowing how much of a hard time I had removing the small M40 engine up and over that front crash bar, and knowing I’d soon be trying to lift a larger M52 6-pot motor over it for my engine swap, I decided that the opportunity while the entire front end of the car was stripped was too good to pass up.

The first and one of the most intimidating tasks to get on with was figuring out how to remove front core support from the BMW E30, knowing I’d very quickly pass the point of no return.

In total there are 32 thin sheet spot welds to deal with, plus 6 areas where there are seam welds, and an additional two connections out of thicker sheet below each chassis rail (I later decided to cut these and use them as a way to align it correctly).

The new spot weld cutter I got turned out to be a real game changer when it comes to drilling spot welds. It’s a very quick and neat way to do it, unlike any other method I’ve tried.

Once you have a very well-defined punch mark to prevent the cutter blade from walking across your panel, it's simply a case of patience. I used the 8mm spot weld cutter in the kit and only used one of the blades to do the entire job. One of the teeth snapped off the blade at some point but I’m confident it’d do more even now so I can wholeheartedly recommend that tool.

One of the obstacles to using this spot weld cutter is that at least 6 of the spot welds you need to drill are very awkwardly positioned on the car, preventing you from getting your drill onto it. As a solution to this I picked up a right-angle adapter in hex drive.

With all the spot welds drilled and the seam welds cut, your front core support is no longer connected to the car, although if its like mine, it won’t have quite got the memo yet.

I started by chopping off the lower tabs from the support and replacing them with some hefty 1.5mm plates, larger than the original tabs to accommodate the hefty M10 bolts I planned to use.

The plate ended up being 11x5.7cm in size, and I rounded the edges nicely too. With them welded on and my ugly welds ground back to look more presentable. I then drilled my pilot holes into the plates and test fitted it back on the car (something I did about 20 times throughout this job).


Knowing I was going to be drilling quite a few particularly large holes for M10 rivnuts I’d picked up a very handy stepper drill, this too turned out to be a smart move as it made cutting holes to size quite a lot easier and with neater results than I would have achieved with standard drill bits, so that’s another tool I’d strongly recommend.

With the M8 rivnuts installed, I could then mount my front core support up with all 8 bolts, and the job was finally complete, the result very satisfying.
I’m confident this custom removable front core support will be a huge plus in the future for whenever I’m doing any major engine maintenance, or even a full engine installation or removal. To make it even more useful I’m planning to modify a connector onto the headlight wiring to make it even easier to remove the front core support whenever I need to in the future.

I’m pretty confident this is the best way to do this bolt-on front core support job, and the most detailed how-to guide for how to do it. Hopefully this is helpful for those of you working on your own E30 builds!

For more helpful how-to guides and restorations: https://www.spannerrash.com/

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#bmwe30 #e30build #e30 #modified