Thoughts on swapped E30s and traveling back in time (long)

[Morrison]

I would recommend having the E30 in addition to a second newer car for daily driving and weekend outings with your possibly soon to be fiance. While E30's are fairly reliable, when they do break, they can sometimes be down for a while if you have to special order parts for them. This is more applicable especially for my ix which has been down for the past month while I order parts to rebuild the transfer case, all new exhaust, and sending off the rear driveshaft to be rebalanced.

It helps me to not get overly frustrated with it by having a second vehicle, 2003 X5 3.0i. It gets decent milage, is all-wheel drive, and has room in the back for bikes, etc., plus room for friends to sit comfortably with their legs still attached.

Trust me, there is nothing worse than having it be 10 below zero outside and you've only got one car which needs to be fixed by morning so you can get to work.....I've been there!

[Vince30]

geeze, some of you guys make the E30 sound like an unstable death trap. semi-trailing arms or not, these things aren't mid-engined turbo porsches. They're quite forgiving if you're not a total moron.

I always thought my e30 was very forgiving, but I only had the eta.
I vote e36, its like an e30 with 24v swap, 5 lug swap, traction control. I think the biggest problem with their chassis is the stupid rubber rear trailing arm bushings, but polyurethane bushings can be found for under $50.

[BrewCity11]

Make your wish list, get out your check book and do this: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=205157

He'll sort out something nice for you.

[nrubenstein]

nonsense. I've been doing it for years. Mechanically and electronically, the E30 is simple, and the things that do typically fail aren't the same sorts of things that leave you stranded in a parking lot somewhere. All a swap is doing is adding a more reliable motor, that also happens to have more power out of the box.

as for a PPI, it's up to the OP to find somebody qualified to inspect it. It wouldn't be that hard - I live in the ass end of nowhere and there's a local shop I could get it done at. It's not like these are custom swaps, most of the parts are original BMW.

While I will certainly agree that my E30s have never stranded me, there have been occasions where the rational thing to do was park them and come back later. Sometimes it was minor stuff, sometimes it was something worrying, but either way, life is much simpler when you can just swap out another car.

Not to mention that when you *are* working on the car, it's good to have a vehicle available for parts runs. That's why the brilliantrot car is tagged instead of stored.

[Marcos]

Ooh ooh ooh, get a clean, stock, ix. done

[Marcos]

Just realized you live in WINTER HELL, just something to consider. Maybe fwd while you are in school would be best.

A sti can be fun too?

[Marcos]

If your priority is shifting quickly then make sure you get one with a short shift kit. :p;)


Stock i motor or swap they are a blast.

That's all I'm sayin...

[A.J.]

OP, mechanically, E30's are like giant leggo sets. VERY simple and straightforward, and they were designed to be worked on. I can't think of a better car to develop wrenching skills with. As far as the handling goes, you have to be going WAY beyond what is legal and sensible on public roads before you get close to the handling limits. Once you get sliding, nothing crazy happens. Get an e30!!!! I find my '89 more fun to drive than my '08 135i with a Quaife diff and BMW performance suspension kit.

[deansbimmer]

A master mechanic doing a PPI is also going to be looking at things other than JUST the swap, so there is still value in having one done. But when it comes to the swap, any mechanic worth his salt will be able to spot a shoddy swap versus a clean one. Wire tape, zip ties, stripped threads and kinked hoses, Home Depot plumbing, Bent/hammered shit,. leaks....etc. It only takes a glance to tell whether or not the swapper cared to do things right.

[Cletonius]

I'm not new to forum life, but I know when someone is going out of their way to be a dick. Please elaborate on why you don't find me as worthy, I would love to hear how you've come up with this based on my handful of posts.

just maintaining the status quo.

As others have said, this car is a hoot to drive as long as you respect it. It brings a smile to my face every time I drive mine.

I've bought swap cars in the past and it has always ended poorly for me. If I were to do it again i would do the swap myself so I wouldn't have to undo any hackery. You may want to take this into consideration because as others have said, mechanics bills add up really fast.

[nando]

Finally, if it's going to be your only car, I really don't recommend it. Driving an old car, especially one that's been heavily reworked is really only practical if you can park it for a few days or weeks when you're too busy to fix it.

nonsense. I've been doing it for years. Mechanically and electronically, the E30 is simple, and the things that do typically fail aren't the same sorts of things that leave you stranded in a parking lot somewhere. All a swap is doing is adding a more reliable motor, that also happens to have more power out of the box.

as for a PPI, it's up to the OP to find somebody qualified to inspect it. It wouldn't be that hard - I live in the ass end of nowhere and there's a local shop I could get it done at. It's not like these are custom swaps, most of the parts are original BMW.

[nrubenstein]

I would be buying a car that's already been swapped. I'm not afraid to get dirty, as people keep seeming to think, I'm just no expert, hence why I want a well sorted car. There's not much that go wrong that would make this car more expensive than my E90, I'm paying almost $450 a month for my current car, and I'm willing to bet that I won't be spending that much each month on a car that checks out fine upon purchase (I will be getting a PPI).

It will be a little bit of work, I know, and everyone has to start working on their own car at some point...no?

First things first: PPI on a swapped car is even less useful than PPI on a stock one. The only people who can perform a useful PPI on a swap car are the ones who have built one themselves. Otherwise, they'll just be feeling around in the dark and won't be able to tell you about how the swap was done, whether it was done correctly and whether you need to change the way that something was done.

Another thing to remember is that a well sorted swap in a really good shell is very expensive. The cheaper swap cars usually come with a long (and incomplete) list of things that need to be done to finish the job.

Finally, if it's going to be your only car, I really don't recommend it. Driving an old car, especially one that's been heavily reworked is really only practical if you can park it for a few days or weeks when you're too busy to fix it.

That said, the folks who claim that you're automatically going to wreck it are probably overstating things. You will, however, need to understand how to deal with oversteer. The E30 is a very easy car to drive, but it requires a little bit of driving talent. Not much, but if you *don't* know how to catch and recover from oversteer, you *will* wreck it.

[deansbimmer]

geeze, some of you guys make the E30 sound like an unstable death trap. semi-trailing arms or not, these things aren't mid-engined turbo porsches. They're quite forgiving if you're not a total moron.

S50's aren't 500hp V8s either. Don't dump the clutch at every light and you won't have problems. There's this thing called the throttle, you know? it's 240hp. There's minivans that come with more than that..

Werd. These guys are making our cars out to sound like some uber-rod widowmaker... The OP already strikes me as being more intelligent that 70% of the forum membership. I don't think someone like that would be prone to driving around with an on/off derp derp right foot. If someone can't get used to enjoying an e30 with some power, then they don't have any business in the motorsports arena. All these naysayers are doing is trying to make themselves look like a badass because they can handle their s50 e30. Please...Its not that fast. Its just the right amount of FUN. OP: If you end up getting a swapped e30, you'll get it in it, attack an onramp, and probably say "That's it?".

lol @ "get a reliable daily driver first"... What is the e90? And what...is the OP some 16 year old ditsy chick? :down:

[nando]

geeze, some of you guys make the E30 sound like an unstable death trap. semi-trailing arms or not, these things aren't mid-engined turbo porsches. They're quite forgiving if you're not a total moron.

S50's aren't 500hp V8s either. Don't dump the clutch at every light and you won't have problems. There's this thing called the throttle, you know? it's 240hp. There's minivans that come with more than that..

[matthugie]

I'm with pretty much everyone else on this, it doesn't seem that a properly swapped e30 is the best option for you. Done right will include a lot of suspension work, which means low and rough. That isn't fun to DD, and doesn't fit with trying to act like a responsible adult. Also consider that most women do not like older cars, especially loud and somewhat uncomfortable ones. Add to that the difficulty of driving a high power e30 (especially in bad weather) and your lack of familiarity with how these cars drive, and we have a recipe for an r3v.

So my vote would be, as someone else said, an e46 330 ZHP. IMO the best balance of price, performance, comfort, and maintenance costs.