school me.... full m3 car ready to donate parts to an e30

[Jean]

Where do you keep this donor car? I KID I KID j/k! :p

Good luck, get the motor/tranny/shifter parts/exhaust/steering rack/tranny and diff and then read the long 5lug swap thread on this forum to figure out what parts you can re-use and what you'll need to buy ;)

Good luck with the build, I am local btw too!

[e30s52]

i would go with the 3.46lsd alot of people say that the 3.73 lsd makes 1st gear useless

[sanya]

Where do you keep this donor car? I KID I KID j/k! :p

Good luck, get the motor/tranny/shifter parts/exhaust/steering rack/tranny and diff and then read the long 5lug swap thread on this forum to figure out what parts you can re-use and what you'll need to buy ;)

Good luck with the build, I am local btw too!

thanks. i'll check that thread out. i recognize your name from the sacwater forum too. i'm on there sometimes.

[sanya]

are the chassis completely different on the e30 and e36?

can i use the sway bars and x brace from the e36?

also, is this header any good? i know its hard to tell from the pics, but maybe someone will recognize it.

also is this xbrace oem or aftermarket?

same question for the sway bars.

[WillisE30]

The chasis is different, so the sways and stuff like that are no good to you. The x-brace is a stock part on convertibles that people stick on the coupes. It works well but it no good for an E30.
If you plan on highway driving the car with an E36 tranny go with a 3.25 LSD. That combination is pretty close to the stock gearing in a 325 although it may be a tad bit lower.

As for brakes you can't easily use the E36 M3 brakes on an E30, although anything is possible. You're probably better off selling some of it. I'd be interested in some of the parts as I have an E36 myself.

[FredK]

It's actually easy to run E36 M3 front brakes on an E30 if you use the complete E36 strut assembly (minus top hat), control arms, kingpin assembly, and brakes. However, you'd have to get creative in order to run M3 brakes out back. You don't want to run those HUGE brakes up front and run tiny brakes out back. You'd run into brake balance issues.

[sanya]

i am actually swapping the full m3 suspension.

i am most likely going to sell the bbk and run drilled stock sized rotors all around. i shouldn't have any problems with that, right?

and why am i going to run into problems with the rear brakes? what exactly will be the problem?

[FredK]

You can't transplant the E36 M3 rear suspension to the E30, nor can you bolt up the rear brakes to the E30 trailing arms. The design is totally different. You'd need an E36 Ti rear suspension, or to match the M3 brakes up front, Z3M rear suspension.

[etxxz]

^^ and that's what i'm planning on

Sanya, you should use those rims, and BBK on your e30 man = badass x5000
or if you sell it well, pm me i'm still waiting on my spindles

[sanya]

i really don't think i'll use those brakes to their full potential and i really don't want to run 18s. besides, covering the cost of the car AND making a profit with the sale of just the brakes, is very attractive to me right now.

so NOTHING is usuable from the rear? not even the brakes and 5 lug?


got the trunk open today and hooked up a good battery and found out that the car car 58k miles on it

[WillisE30]

Brakes and 5 lug will not easily fit on an E30. The suspension is way too different to make it a worthwhile swap.

[mattdk318i]

must have the Brakes and wheels.
PM me with price if you wish to part from them.
Too bad the body panels on the front are fucked....

[e30s52]

wow much for the wheels?

[sanya]

wheels are not ready for sale yet. the paint is peeling for some reason. maybe they were painted by the previous owner and weren't prepped right. i am going to sandblast them, primer and paint them. i own a body shop so these will be done right and will be perfect.

will be asking 1600

[m4tt]

I had a 3:46 in my e30 with the m3 5spd, it was a little tall on the hwy. if you want to use a 3:25 i have a large case from a 86 535. you will need a cover from a large case e30, your car you buy will most likely have 1 as long as it is not a 318i. they had small case diffs. as for the brakes the m3 brakes will be an upgrade compared to your e30 brakes. you can use the coil overs on your car with camber plates from bmw2002.com. use the whole m3 front. control arm, coil over, brakes, bushings. get a 97-99 z3 2.8/2.9 rear sub frame, trailing arms, brakes. use the m3 shocks and find a set of h&r rear sport springs. with that setup you can run an 18'' wheel or any e36 17'' wheel. thats what is on my car.
I'm not telling you what to do just letting you know what i found that works.

And the 5lug swap is pretty easy compared to the motor swap, and that not that hard just time consuming. Everything bolts right up, if you do it right. its deff Worth it. you could do the rest of the swap for couple hundred using what you already have. i got all my susp. parts from a z3 for 625.00 front and rear. Pm me if you have any questions, Ill be glad to help.