First off I want to thank my friend Nikko for finding these cars and passing along the good deal to me. Even though a cheap swap turned into a very expensive build.
Little background: I have been building cars/crawlers/trucks for quite a few years now, mostly in the VW Audi community. I previously built an E30 with the intent of going SpecE30, but with my distain for rules I quickly realized I wasn’t going to fit in well there. I decided I needed a new project that released a bit more power and allowed me to play with the suspension a bit more than Spec allows.
One of my best friends found this little gem of an E30 sitting in Utah.
1991 318is Slicktop: Not running.
I replaced the fuel pump and she was off zipping around with massive oil and vacuum leaks.
I drove it a total of the 10 miles to a friend’s shop to yank the motor.
The Donner: 1992 325is M50NV 5speed- Needed a new battery
I initially was going to go the route of just tossing that motor in and having an ultra cheap swapped E30 slicktop. I quickly decided that was not going to make me happy in the power department.
The pulling of the motors!
The girlfriend wondering why I always take on the random last minute projects.
The Motor and E30 chassis were graciously transported half way to me out here in California. I picked it all up in Las Vegas and got it back to CA to get the build started.
I initially was trying to find ways to releasing more power from the M50NV and as many of you have found out the biggest problem with modifying those is the lack of tuning availability.
As I slowly progressed and made decisions on what to do and what I was going to do, I kept stumbling upon good deals on the parts I wanted.
The Build turned out something like this….
The Motor:
• M50NV block Bored over to 86mm and honed
• JE 11.5:1 Pistons, rings and pins
• S50 Connecting Rods
• New Bearings
• S50 crankshaft
• S50 camshafts
• Ported exhaust
• Vanos was added to the head
• Vanos was rebuilt with the rattle shim and the S52 spring plates
• Bosh 24lb injectors
• 3.5in. Throttle body from a 540i with adaptor plate and custom linkage
• 3.5 Custom Intake
• 3.5 MAF 800p/n
• Turner chip for injectors and HFM
• Headers back to a 3in. back exhaust
o Ebay long tube replica headers (very surprised by the nicer quality for the cost)
o Vibrant 2 to 1 accumulator
o Vibrant Ultra Quiet Resonator
o Vibrant Muffler
• F1 Stage 2 Clutch
• F1 Chromoly Solid Flywheel
• All new sensors and lines (coolant, fuel and re routed p/s lines)
Chassis:
While the motor was out I decided I needed to clean up the engine bay a bit.
This was accomplished by:
• Deleting the ABS created new hard lines
• Installed a new 25mm E30 M3 master cylinder
• Relocated the Brake Booster .5in. to the right
• Relocated the wire harness through the fender well and ran it through the frame rail
• Deleting the SRS airbag system
• Engine sub-frame was reinforced with motor mount and sway-bar brackets
• E34 motor mounts
• AKG Poly Trans Mounts
• Cut and welded 318 shift support arm (to center the shifter)
• All Derlin mounts for shifter
• UUC DSSR
Steering:
• E36 rack from donor car new outer tie rod ends
• Steering rack spacers (this thing will see the drift track every once in a while)
• AKG E36 rack adaptor spacers
• AKG Polyurethane steering disk
• Slotted the fire wall so the steering shaft would not wear on it
Suspension:
Undecided at the moment a few things to start
• IE Springs
• Treehouse CAB
• Billy Sport Front shocks
• ??? Not sure how much to spend at the moment.
Well this is where I am at now… Motor is in and Running. Engine bay shots to come shortly.
Little background: I have been building cars/crawlers/trucks for quite a few years now, mostly in the VW Audi community. I previously built an E30 with the intent of going SpecE30, but with my distain for rules I quickly realized I wasn’t going to fit in well there. I decided I needed a new project that released a bit more power and allowed me to play with the suspension a bit more than Spec allows.
One of my best friends found this little gem of an E30 sitting in Utah.
1991 318is Slicktop: Not running.
I replaced the fuel pump and she was off zipping around with massive oil and vacuum leaks.
I drove it a total of the 10 miles to a friend’s shop to yank the motor.
The Donner: 1992 325is M50NV 5speed- Needed a new battery
I initially was going to go the route of just tossing that motor in and having an ultra cheap swapped E30 slicktop. I quickly decided that was not going to make me happy in the power department.
The pulling of the motors!
The girlfriend wondering why I always take on the random last minute projects.
The Motor and E30 chassis were graciously transported half way to me out here in California. I picked it all up in Las Vegas and got it back to CA to get the build started.
I initially was trying to find ways to releasing more power from the M50NV and as many of you have found out the biggest problem with modifying those is the lack of tuning availability.
As I slowly progressed and made decisions on what to do and what I was going to do, I kept stumbling upon good deals on the parts I wanted.
The Build turned out something like this….
The Motor:
• M50NV block Bored over to 86mm and honed
• JE 11.5:1 Pistons, rings and pins
• S50 Connecting Rods
• New Bearings
• S50 crankshaft
• S50 camshafts
• Ported exhaust
• Vanos was added to the head
• Vanos was rebuilt with the rattle shim and the S52 spring plates
• Bosh 24lb injectors
• 3.5in. Throttle body from a 540i with adaptor plate and custom linkage
• 3.5 Custom Intake
• 3.5 MAF 800p/n
• Turner chip for injectors and HFM
• Headers back to a 3in. back exhaust
o Ebay long tube replica headers (very surprised by the nicer quality for the cost)
o Vibrant 2 to 1 accumulator
o Vibrant Ultra Quiet Resonator
o Vibrant Muffler
• F1 Stage 2 Clutch
• F1 Chromoly Solid Flywheel
• All new sensors and lines (coolant, fuel and re routed p/s lines)
Chassis:
While the motor was out I decided I needed to clean up the engine bay a bit.
This was accomplished by:
• Deleting the ABS created new hard lines
• Installed a new 25mm E30 M3 master cylinder
• Relocated the Brake Booster .5in. to the right
• Relocated the wire harness through the fender well and ran it through the frame rail
• Deleting the SRS airbag system
• Engine sub-frame was reinforced with motor mount and sway-bar brackets
• E34 motor mounts
• AKG Poly Trans Mounts
• Cut and welded 318 shift support arm (to center the shifter)
• All Derlin mounts for shifter
• UUC DSSR
Steering:
• E36 rack from donor car new outer tie rod ends
• Steering rack spacers (this thing will see the drift track every once in a while)
• AKG E36 rack adaptor spacers
• AKG Polyurethane steering disk
• Slotted the fire wall so the steering shaft would not wear on it
Suspension:
Undecided at the moment a few things to start
• IE Springs
• Treehouse CAB
• Billy Sport Front shocks
• ??? Not sure how much to spend at the moment.
Well this is where I am at now… Motor is in and Running. Engine bay shots to come shortly.
Comment