Which E30 to choose? Year and Model besides an M3

[mgold]

A local CCA club racer here in Sacramento has raced a 325is for many years (as well as an E30 M3 and an E36 M3). Several years ago he purchased a '91 318is to race in stock class (as he put it, he threw in the required safety equipment and went racing). He told me that his lap times were almost identical to the 325is. While he did state that the 318is had less power for the straightaways and hills, he said that because the balance of the car was superior, he made up for it in the corners. Sadly that car was destroyed at Sears Point raceway when a sway bar link broke and the car ended up in a wall :(

[jht3]

The second guy, jht3, should get a 318is. Nice plastic bumpered, nice and light already.....and he wants no sunroof. (They came standard on 325i's right?) And the engine swap could take care of any desire for more power. http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...highlight=swap
Questions about E30 Project Car Starting Point? - long discussion on what E30 model to start with when swapping engine, etc.
Of course, the swap needs a few let more parts with the 89+ M20 instead of M42, but oh well. Small pros and cons......

318is is only '91 right? do these cars have ABS? what year did cars receive the plastic bumpers?

[Erick]

In the US it was only in '91.... in Europe and Asia they were also available in '90. All 318iS have plastic bumpers and all e30s after 89 had plastic bumpers ( exc. the convertibles ). The 318iS has ABS.

[mgold]

318is's were only available in the US for the '91 model year. US models all have ABS, power steering, AC, and leatherette interior(I believe). Some of the few options were the 4.10lsd, sunroof, fog lamps. They only came with a 5-speed tranny (as did the 318i sedan and cabrio).

[nando]

don't all E30s have ABS since '86?

in any case, all late models do.

[GaryE30]

Good Thread.
Great Thread.

'89 325is Lachssilber gets my vote. :up:

[jweb]

'89 325is Lachssilber gets my vote. :up:

It gets mine too.

[MattM20]

imo if you werent on a tight budget, 87 325is is the way to go. i 'think' its the lightest of the 2.5i's, plus the early tail lights look alot better. however you would instantly be in the hole another 300-1000, depending on how much youre willing to spend on paint/body work, for the plastic bumpers. another plus is that the factory iS spoiler should offset a good chunk of the bumper swap.

[jht3]

ok. an 89+ 325i or is or a 91 318is. all good except more $$$$ than an older 325. you have all mentioned the plastic bumpers. wouldn't an aftermarket bumper be better than a stock plastic bumper? or can the stock plastic bumpers be modified enough for brake ducting, etc to serve well on a track?

also what years got the rear pop-out windows?

an older 325es looks like a much cheaper base to start with. replacing the subframe of an old 318 to get disk brakes sounds like a huge pain. but say i would do a 5-lug swap (which i don't know much about). would the 318 subframe be tossed anyways?

no one has mentioned anything about the rear diff. how much hp and torque can the 4cyl and 6cyl models take?

[///M42 sport]

The 318is came with a small case 4.10 LSD. I wouldn't put too much hp to the small case, not that the m42 has that much potential anyways.

The e30m3 came with the big case 4.10 which you can swap.
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F92A

[GaryE30]

'89 325is Lachssilber gets my vote. :up:

It gets mine too.

Haha, oh yes! Mines lach too. Can I have your car? ;)

[jweb]

'89 325is Lachssilber gets my vote. :up:

It gets mine too.

Haha, oh yes! Mines lach too. Can I have your car? ;)

You can't have it, but I would sell it. Of course I'd have to make a nice profit :D