IDK what to do...

[devon.818]

Dude, you're not ready to drop 1300 dollars on your car right now.

I don't want to be a dick I just don't think you have enough knowledge to really know what you want to do. You should do a lot more reading, planning, and saving and then figure out what it is that you really want.

With 1300 dollars I can't think of anything that I would do for what you want. I would do suspension with that money, and replace a lot of bushings. Car will be that much more fun to drive.

To answer your question above it is final drive gear ratio. The larger the number (2.93, 3.73, 4.10 are the common e30 ones, there are more) then the shorter all of your gearing effectively comes. Essentially shorter gears are torquier and thus help your acceleration. (For a drastic comparison think about 1st gear vs 3rd gear, which one accelerates your car forward faster?)

That isn't a mechanical engineering response but it's the general idea of things, so a shorter gear just transfers more torque to the wheels and that allows the car to move forward more quickly, but your rpms will be higher at the same speed in all gears. So on the freeway your rpms will be up higher at 60rpms with a 4.10 than they would be with what you have now, because the manual transmission has shorter gears than the automatic (I think).

im not offended at all man!
whole reason im asking for opinions is because i dont really know any better. i appreciate the honesty, i was planning on doing the suspension little by little(springs, struts, then bushings and then try to find some mtech control arms.)
what you think of the miller MAF setup? good bang for buck?



yeah you explained the tune thing pretty well, thanks!



i'll crawl under the car tomorrow to check out the diff.

[Eecen]

OP You should look into a turbo encabulator.

[87e30]

im not offended at all man!
whole reason im asking for opinions is because i dont really know any better. i appreciate the honesty, i was planning on doing the suspension little by little(springs, struts, then bushings and then try to find some mtech control arms.)
what you think of the miller MAF setup? good bang for buck?



yeah you explained the tune thing pretty well, thanks!



i'll crawl under the car tomorrow to check out the diff.

Your diff should be a 4.10. I just assume that the auto transmission has taller gearing because the manual cars came with a 3.73 stock. You'll be fine to run the 4.10 still, its a preference on how people want their gear ratios, how much power the car has, etc.

Suspension little by little works, it's just always been the first thing I've addressed. I wish I would have known more about the e30 suspension at the time b/c those bushings are important and I still haven't gotten to the rear ones. The rubber really wears out on these cars (after so many years!) that it can be pretty crazy how much a small new OEM part will help the feel of the car.

I don't know anything about modding an m20, unless you want to do a full build and turbo, or leave it stock, then I don't see the point since most gains are minimal. Except I do love the sound.

[AbeSonic]

Dude, you're not ready to drop 1300 dollars on your car right now.

I don't want to be a dick I just don't think you have enough knowledge to really know what you want to do. You should do a lot more reading, planning, and saving and then figure out what it is that you really want.

With 1300 dollars I can't think of anything that I would do for what you want. I would do suspension with that money, and replace a lot of bushings. Car will be that much more fun to drive.

To answer your question above it is final drive gear ratio. The larger the number (2.93, 3.73, 4.10 are the common e30 ones, there are more) then the shorter all of your gearing effectively comes. Essentially shorter gears are torquier and thus help your acceleration. (For a drastic comparison think about 1st gear vs 3rd gear, which one accelerates your car forward faster?)

This too. There's no point in going faster if your car is flying all over the road. I did my suspension not to long ago and its a night and day difference now.

[devon.818]

wow thanks guys.
so i could do my suspension and get an m50 swap and possibly different diff and still be under my budget and happy?
wow...!!!!!
time to go have sex with my e30 to celebrate my exuberance.

[87e30]

wow thanks guys.
so i could do my suspension and get an m50 swap and possibly different diff and still be under my budget and happy?
wow...!!!!!
time to go have sex with my e30 to celebrate my exuberance.

hahaha nice joke.

You can do part of a moderate suspension rebuild with that.

Gotta love cars...

[Roysneon]

Refresh the suspension bushings, replace engine maintenance items to keep it running and running well, replace the struts, shocks, mounts, etc. as need be.

Save whatever you have left to buy a helmet and go to a track day/HPDE (High Performance Driving Experience). Trust me, as a younger guy I remember when all I wanted was to modify my car, but if your car is in good shape and you want to have fun with it, take it to the track or local auto-x.

A stock, well maintained car taken to the track will be 100% more fun than than a modified car that you get in trouble with on the street. You'll meet lots of experienced, knowledgeable guys and no chance of getting in trouble by fucking around on the street.