My First E30 (Alpine White II Content Inside)

[E turd]

I bought this car on 28 Feb. Since then it's been a bit of a money pit, but that was expected and I love the car every minute I get the chance to drive it. Since purchased, I've done the following:

-new tires
-new wheels
-EBC sport rotors and green stuff up front
-H&R race/billy sport suspension
-euro analog clock
-e36 cd player/radio
-thule roof rack w/ velo vise and yakima basket case
-bunch of maintenance crap
-Momo steering wheel and shift knob
-aftermarket euro grilles
-black kidneys
-smoked front signals
-euro rear plate filler
-full exhaust from the cat to the rear muffler
-m3 cabs
-added a 2nd trunk light
-replaced hood
-new "i" bumper lip


I won't bore you with plans for the future. Instead, I'll just post more pics as they become a reality. For now, here are a few progress pics:













I need to take some more current pics, but these should do for now. I used to own a mk2 vw, so it's nice having this great forum to take the place of the vortex. So far, everyone's been very helpful and I've enjoyed seeing clean builds and other members' rides. See you guys around!

[Jand3rson]

That bitch need some sways and a strut brace! :D

Looks great, I like what you've done with it. What wheels are those?

[nespo_e30is]

I love it... looks a lot like my 91 318is, but with a few extra doors ;) keep us posted!!!

[Bishop]

Thats a lot of unnecessary weight on top of the vehicle for an autox lol. Cool car though

[Erik]

That AutoX picture is awesome! I love the rack with the basket and bike mount!

[E turd]

That bitch need some sways and a strut brace! :D

Looks great, I like what you've done with it. What wheels are those?

They're just some German knock offs made by Stratos of West Germany (no longer in business from what I could gather). I have seen a similar looking (read: better) wheel from RH and ATS, both discontinued. Here's what they looked like sandblasted when I won them on ebay:



I like the lip, but the design has proven to suck in general. When I first put them on my old mk2, I had to abandon the 11" big brake kit I had already bought because there was no way they were going to fit under these wheels and on this car I am running some 10mm spacers and lightly filed tie rod ends and calipers for just enough clearance. Down the road I'll look for something better, but for now they do the job.


Here are a few more pics I shot tonight:







The car is obviously a work in progress. E30 parts aren't anywhere as easy to source used as mk2 parts, nor are they usually very cheap. Again, though, I expected this and at the end of the day it's still cheaper than owning a corrado. I don't know what happened to it before I got the car, but it had what appeared to be Alpine White I fenders and hood. Now I just need to replace the fenders and I think the car will all be the same color.


In regard to the racks and autocross: You're right. I was too lazy to take them off and it was my first time out as a driver (been to a few as the camera guy since my car wasn't track ready yet). Even the announcer made a comment at my expense about the racks, something like "Maybe the racks are slowing him down." In reality, my noobness to autocross was killing me much more than the roof racks ever could, but on that same token I need all the help I can get so they'll come off.


In regard to the sways, I really want to put some on, but have some aversion since reading about the need to put reinforcements on unless I want the bars to tear away from the body and then need welding. I know it's more of a problem for the rear, but it seems like the right thing to do is to reinforce both while the install is being performed. Plus, after shelling out well over 2k in 3 months, I don't know if my wallet can handle much more until I can recoop for a little bit.


Thanks for all the comments and kind words. Well I'm not looking for any sort of approval, I genuinely appreciate all kinds of feedback, even if it's not kind or sugar coated. I may be a noob here, but 5 years on the vortex builds a pretty thick skin so don't be shy!

[E turd]

Took a few pics today with the right tire size and the rear suspension finally installed.

[E turd]

A few pics from the local autocross session we just had on Sunday. Took the racks off this time and changed the wheels. I wasn't sure about the blue at first after I got them coated, but I think it looks alright and a few others seemed to agree.








I ended up taking second in our small group, which I didn't mind. The red GTI parked next to the black honda civic (my old car) has 2 wins for the season already and we just wanted to keep him from winning. We succeeded. The black ti on the end took home the fastest with a time of 50.71x, nowhere near the fastest of the day which was a 42 and change pulled off by a race prepped Porsche GT2, iirc. Still, it was tons of fun and I can't wait until two more weekends when I can do it all again with the local BMWCCA chapter.

[wolfgangstbd]

thats a little extreme of a blue for me haha. still looks cool tho

[iamsam]

Looks good! i like the black wheels better. One thing i noticed though is a bit of positive camber on your front wheels. This is odd because i run H&R Race on my 318is and all four of my wheels are negatively cambered about the same amount. (see pic below). My friend's 325i has that same camber thing, but we haven't figured it out yet.

i like the rear plate filler, i need one of those, and i like those brakes. How is the stopping power compared to stock?

[///m3]

nice ride, I like it a lot

[namsayin]

needs MOAR camber and drop up front :)

good progress though!

[kamotors]

looks nice

[E turd]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I don't think I was clear about the wheels. They are for track days only. Originally I had my R comps mounted to the black wheels, but I didn't want to waste my race rubber and the tires were a bit too small compared to stock size. The black wheels are for daily driving and now have Falken 912's mounted to them. In regard to camber, I'll have to get it checked again. I have the Spec e30 GC plates and when it was last aligned, it as put within factory spec, but it might have changed. Also, while I wouldn't mind the front being a little lower, it's just not a possibility at the moment. I had to run spacers to get the black wheels to fit and with the larger tires, it already rubs pretty seriously up front and did rub in the rears until I rolled the fenders. Hopefully I can get some nice 16's for daily use down the road, but for now this is how it is.

[E turd]

Oh, and to answer about the brakes. There isn't a huge difference between these and stock that I've noticed. I'm not a good guy to ask, though. I didn't do any hard stops with the stock discs and pads, and only replaced them because when I was doing suspension I noticed some nasty random scoring/gouging on the rotors I had. In general and from past experience I am not terribly convinced that changing just rotors and pads makes all that much of a difference compared to doing things like stainless lines, flushing fluid, changing MC or brake booster, or running plus one or two discs, calipers, racing pads, etc. The one thing I did notice, however, is that the Green Stuff pads take a bit to warm up. Once warm, they stop very nicely and the dust output is super low compared to the Ferrodo DS2500 pads I had on my GTI.