New to R3V: '91 325iC project in process

[Mtriple]

I think 3.25 is a nice mid ground. I want a little more traction and just a hair longer gears. Erick is using a 2.93 for drifting and likes it I believe. You would definitely have enough torque to run with a 2.93 and not have a problem.

Cool, I think I will give that a try first...

Thanks!

[fporro]

Wow !

Vetty vetty nice project Dave, chu goit goin on mang.

[Ray Smoodiver]

Wow, very very cool build.

[Dave McLaren]

It's been a month or so since I posted an update. Things were moving slow, but they've really picked up speed now. The motor is in the car, but there's lots more to do. Lots of new stuff in there. All the hoses are new, there's a new E36 M3 radiator going in, even the expansion tank is new just so it looks nice and fresh. I just updated my project site and I'm so tired from doing that I'll just keep this short and get to the pics.

To follow the project in a more organized and complete way, you can check my web page: http://www.bbesound.com/bmw/e30/

























Now to the underside. The E30 M3 rack is installed. That part is used, so if it doesn't work out, I'll just put the stock rack back in. The stock one is almost new anyway, as we replaced it about a year ago.







Check out that TCD downpipe. Looks serious.





And here's the new E36 M3 radiator. Well, I think it is. It was next to all the other parts, so I think this is the one. If it's not, let me know so I can get rid of this pic.



And more new stuff...







That's all for the motor part of the project. I'll post about the E30 5-lug conversion, brakes and stuff next.

[Dave McLaren]

A few months ago I drove from SoCal to San Antonio, Texas, to buy used E30 M3 suspension and brake parts. The guy also had an E30 M3 steering rack, so that was installed in the car while the motor was out.

The M3 suspension parts are being cleaned up and new bushings will be installed. One of the strut uprights had a torn swaybar mounting point, so a new strut is on the way from Germany as I write this. The wheel bearings will also be replaced, and the brake calipers have been stripped, painted black and rebuilt. Stainless steel brake lines will be installed. The guys at CMW already had new rubber lines, but I wanted the stainless ones for a little extra cool factor. The stock E30 control arms are in fine shape, but I'll probably get some new aluminum M3 ones later. Zimmermann cross-drilled rotors will be installed. Honestly, this car will just be a street cruiser, though with lots of power, so this basic M3 setup should be good enough.

The guys at CMW asked me what springs, struts/shocks and sway bars I want to use. This project has gotten so crazy that I had not even thought of this! Last year new H&R springs and Bilstein Sports were installed, so I'm just going to use them again. Sway bars? Definitely had not thought of that, so I called Turner Motorsport and explained about this project. I ordered a set of Suspension Techniques bars (22mm front and 19mm rear). The kit comes with polyurethane bushings, adjustable rear links and mounting hardware. They were out of stock at the time, but more were expected in a week.

Below: Unrestored E30 M3 rear hardware:



Below: Cleaned, painted and rebuilt E30 M3 brake calipers:





Below: Stainless steel braided brake lines:



Below: Zimmermann rotors. Well, the box, anyway:



Below: E31-spec Style 5 wheels. 17x8" fronts and 17x9" rears. I've posted these enough that I guess I'm whoring them now, but I friggin' love these things!



I should have another update sometime next week.

Dave

[backtrail69]

Looks like a HIGH quality build. Everything is CLEAN I love it.

[Mtriple]

Looking good Dave, good choice on the ST sways. Make sure you get the reinforcements for the tabs and mounts.

Its amazing how similar our projects are...

[Dave McLaren]

You set the bar pretty high. Hmm.. there's a pun or two in there. ;- )

Yeah, there's a bunch of stuff with those sways. I'm pretty sure it comes with "everything you see here."

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=52010

Am I missing anything?

Looking good Dave, good choice on the ST sways. Make sure you get the reinforcements for the tabs and mounts.

Its amazing how similar our projects are...

[Mtriple]

I would recommend the reinforcements just in case you make it out to the track.

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=T30REINF

What you see on the left is the upper rear mount reinforcement in blue and then the lower rear trailing arm reinforcements directly below which are the new updated design. If you havent done the front sway reinforcements for the strut tubes, that would be a good idea as well.

[Dave McLaren]

I didn't see that reinforcement kit, Bob, but I like the idea of adding some durability. Seeing as the one of my used M3 strut uprights had a trashed mounting point, this may be a safe bet even for the street.

Thanks for turning me on to it.

Dave

I would recommend the reinforcements just in case you make it out to the track.

http://www.turnermotorsport.com/html/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=T30REINF

What you see on the left is the upper rear mount reinforcement in blue and then the lower rear trailing arm reinforcements directly below which are the new updated design. If you havent done the front sway reinforcements for the strut tubes, that would be a good idea as well.

[Hick]

that rad looks like an e30 325i unit.

[z31maniac]

Wow! Super quality build as I said before, you are setting an example for how an E30 should be done.

Congrats to you on a hellacious build.

If may be in the thread but I missed it, what kind of HP/TQ numbers are you expecting?

[Dave McLaren]

Thanks for noting that. I've no idea how exactly an E36 M3 radiator differs from the stock one.

It just occurred to me that I should see if Zionsville Autosport has one of their bitchin' all-alloy radiators for the E30. I know next time I replace a V8 one, I'm going with that.

I just went to their site and saw they have one. I'll look into using this instead of the E36 M3 one.

http://www.zionsvilleautosport.com/store/shop.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=6134&Product_Code=NP-ALLOYRAD&Category_Code=CCSE30

It's $497, but maybe that's not much more, if any, than the E36 M3 unit. These ZA units seem pretty badass to me, but I'm just a hack. What do you think?

that rad looks like an e30 325i unit.

[Dave McLaren]

Thanks again. The scope and expense of the project seems to be spiraling upward. I've never thrown so much so quickly at one car, but this is a keeper. Damn well better be.

I expect the power to be around 300rwhp/300rwtq as it says on the TCD site. Ron Inchausti said we could go to MS later and get some more, but for now, this is pretty straightforward. Anway, this is just a street toy and I figure this should be plenty of power for grins.

Wow! Super quality build as I said before, you are setting an example for how an E30 should be done.

Congrats to you on a hellacious build.

If may be in the thread but I missed it, what kind of HP/TQ numbers are you expecting?

[Dave McLaren]

Some new E30 M3 parts arrived. The front suspension upright (strut tube) to replace the one with the trashed sway bar mounting point, and new backing plates for all four corners. The old backing plates were kinda bent up and generally beat, so rather than just bend them half-ass we're replacing them with fresh pieces.

Here's one of the backing plates, the rest of them are in the box underneath and the bottom box is the new suspension upright.





Thought I'd also take a couple of pics up on the rack. Here's one toward the output flange of the trans. The new bushings and cleaned up support are looking fresh.



Here's the stock rear end prior to coming out. As I said earlier, we're using the H&Rs and Bilsteins again because they're only about a year old.



The E30 M3 halfshafts have decent CV boots, but we may as well replace them as the halfshafts are cleaned up and repacked.



That's it for the moment.