So long e30 M3s...

[J.Rizo]

side bar - I've seen an M3 lately (in my area) being winter driven. Such a shame.

opposite of a shame to me.
if you buy a car love it, drive it, maintain it.

[blunttech]

Life is short. Do what makes you happy. If an LSX in an m3 is what you want then stuff it in there. I dont think twice about modifying anything I own. I want to build as many cool cars and drive the shit out of them while I still can and I want to do them the way I want them. If a bone stock e30m3 is what turns you on , I totally get and respect that too. but in 20 years a well built modified e30m3 will be desirable as well.

[mrcheezle19]

Buy two m3's

1. Race e30 m3 #1
2. Preserve e30 m3 #2
3.
4. Profit

[/QUOTE]

this right here.

the first one gets a s54 swap and the second becomes an oem+ masterpiece.

[Northern]

If my M3 came with its motor, it would not get swapped. Sadly, it is just a damaged shell, so it will get something else.

If I ever had the money/space/time for a "real" m3, I would probably be too scared to drive it.

[B Randon]

I will trade any one my 2.3 m20 for a s14. Who is ready for that trade?

[reelizmpro]

Um.. They are race cars. That's kind of the point. Someone who "guts and hacks" a m3 to track it is using the vehicle for the purpose it was created. It was not created to drive around to car shows and be pampered.

True but today it is a historic race car and as such should be preserved. It doesn't have to be bone stock but should be "all there." There's a reason why race cars get retired. Even the original DTM car's do more sitting than track racing these days as it's just too risky.

They were race cars 20 years ago, purpose built with fresh shells for a professional career on racetracks; they had their time of dominance, and now those days are long gone. The legacy of those days are the beautiful homologations that graced the showroom floors. Ignoring what it took to make these cars what they were and throwing away such craftsmanship for the sake of returning it to its "roots" kind of vitiates what these cars represent to BMW enthusiasts in general, especially with a chevy pushrod under the hood.

Well said. They had their time and now those days are gone...never to return. Owner's have a piece of BMW motorsport history in these cars whether they care or not. It's cool if they do, a shame if they don't.

If I ever get my hands on one, trust it will be hacked and swapped with something amazing. s14 will be parted or sold to some honda kid ;D

This x100000. The S14 will make its way into a 2002, and an S38B38 (the motor that fucking car should have come with originally) will magically shoe horn itself in there while I sleep.

I said the same thing 20 years ago in the Roundel. Boy, was I naive. It's an expensive 4 cylinder...OK but it was also making 100HP per liter back in the mid 80's! It was absolutely the right engine for the car...that's not even a question lol. I've said this many times...318i guys will make the transition to the M3 with ease while the 325 guys will need a while to adjust to the M3. It looks familiar but it's a different car. It's interesting how a group of people dislike the S14 (despite BMW designing and winning with it) yet there's another group of people who realize it's significance. I guess it's a win-win for both parties. If you guys pick up an original S14 powered M3 ...which is getting harder everyday. I'll take those worthless S14's off your hands. By then, I may even trade you S54's for them.

To the OP: There are a few M3's floating around out there and many have had rough lives. Of the 5 on ebay recently, 4 of them were swapped. I don't think you'll have trouble finding them if you search but finding them "all there" with original S14's is becoming a challenge.

[M-technik-3]

Parts are far too expensive for racing one these days. Far cheaper to race an E36 M and build a faster car for roughly half the cost. E36's are at the bottom of depreciation scale at this point.

Our team just acquired a nice clean 318Ti that we plan on making a nice m52/5spd as a chump/lemon car.

My red E30 M could have been made into a track car when I purchased it but still gets more use as a street car. Had it been a track car it would not see nearly as much use.

[the imitator]

My opinion is, "there are 2 sides of the coin."

THIS: The only reason the M3 was made was to race; It was only put out to public because in MOST race leagues you must use a "production vehicle", not to mention a certain amount being sold in order to participate, I believe the Lemans was 1,000 units in order for any given Race car to qualify as a "production based race car"

Shelby had to do the same thing when he brought the Cobra over seas to face Ferrari, Thats why there are only so many Real Cobra units left, Ford only had to sell so many in order to meet requirements for the lemans series.

For this reason I consider the e30 m3 in most cases a thoroughbred race car, which deserves to be where race cars belong.

AND


THAT: Just like the Cobra, now that they're gone everyone is freaked out like we started off with 100,000 units and now we have xxx units left. The M3 will reach that point, and everyone is going to bummed. That is why preserving the history as we have been doing for thousands of years is important.

Buy two m3's

1. Race e30 m3 #1
2. Preserve e30 m3 #2
3.
4. Profit

[BlackbirdM3]

I dunno - I can see it both ways. Personally - I wouldn't gut any M3 that's in decent original form. Part of the beauty of these cars, is that they were a racecar you could drive on the street everyday. That's one of the reasons they are special. Should that car enjoy track days? Absolutely, but I wouldn't convert one to a racecar, if I had one.
Now - if the car has a racing history, then I'm with you. Embrace its racing heritage. Let that S14 sing.
The hard thing to decide is what to do with an original M3 whose interior is in tatters. Restore it or turn into a track car? Hard to say...
The only thing I know for sure, is that I wouldn't swap an S14 out. Save the stuff that came special straight from the factory, and put your swaps in the regular E30s.

I love the fact that my M3 was built as a race car and got an interior put in it. That is the biggest reason I bought it. I thought long and hard about finding a car that drives like a race car and can be driven on the street, because I like race cars. You know what? I can't come up with a single thing against the M3 as a daily driver. Its comfortable, gets reasonably good mileage, and its fun to drive. What can I say. Its a brilliant car. Do I race it? I autoX it a few times a year (more if it happens to rain or if I break the race car.)

That said, would I like a stripped out track prepared one? Hell yeah, but I wouldn't take a good one and gut it. (I might be tempted to gut a MB 190E Cossie for track use though) I even thought about buying one with a 2.5L and bolt in cage, but thought a cage might scare people off (not that anyone rides in it anyway.)

Will

[e30austin]

If I ever get my hands on one, trust it will be hacked and swapped with something amazing. s14 will be parted or sold to some honda kid ;D

This x100000. The S14 will make its way into a 2002, and an S38B38 (the motor that fucking car should have come with originally) will magically shoe horn itself in there while I sleep.

[word is bond]

I dunno - I can see it both ways. Personally - I wouldn't gut any M3 that's in decent original form. Part of the beauty of these cars, is that they were a racecar you could drive on the street everyday. That's one of the reasons they are special. Should that car enjoy track days? Absolutely, but I wouldn't convert one to a racecar, if I had one.
Now - if the car has a racing history, then I'm with you. Embrace its racing heritage. Let that S14 sing.
The hard thing to decide is what to do with an original M3 whose interior is in tatters. Restore it or turn into a track car? Hard to say...
The only thing I know for sure, is that I wouldn't swap an S14 out. Save the stuff that came special straight from the factory, and put your swaps in the regular E30s.

[F34R]

If I ever get my hands on one, trust it will be hacked and swapped with something amazing. s14 will be parted or sold to some honda kid ;D

[kingston]

You want to cage the non-M cars...instead of the cars that M Division..."M' standing for MOTORSPORT...built.

I'm sorry, but that doesn't compute to me. I think the true way to enjoy M3s is to drive them, maybe not exclusively, but at least partially on the track. I'd kill for an Alpine M3 that was caged & set up for the track

[einhander]

I really dislike mine since it was a trackish car when I bought it.

I hate driving it and over the past few years I've been OEM buying parts so that one day when I have the time and inclination I can return it to a stockish configuration.

It's like a girlfriend you can't get rid of. I'd love to ditch it, but I'd want another one, and couldn't be assed to pay for it.

[oliver.r]

Just FYI only 4500 were imported to the us