Hiya all! I though I’ll write a brief introduction about my cabriolet.
It all started way back in the beginning of 2005 when I bought BMW M30 engine with all the bits to swap it to E30 chassis. Obviously I didn’t have suitable E30 chassis around so I had to go and buy one from Germany. I ended up buying ~400 000 km driven “Germany’s cheapest” E30 325 cabriolet, year model 1987.
Well, everything didn’t go as planned so i stripped the whole car down;
During the next three years I built the cabrio and it looked like this in summer 2008;
As M30 swaps became more and more common in E30’s I decided to do something different. So I swapped BMW M60 V8 engine in the cabriolet during autumn 2008 – spring 2010, with light flywheel and BMW E39 M5 6-speed gearbox. At the same time I upgraded the brakes to 312 / 294mm the www.300mm.de – way.
I had to relocate everything in the engine bay, biggest problems being the exhaust manifolds and brake booster which originally sits on the way of lefthand-side cylinderhead. Also million other things had to be done, but in the end everything worked out fine. :) Actually the only original parts in the cabrio (which haven’t been painted, modified or renewed) are front side glasses and heater control panel.
Now in the beginning of June 2010, there’s 10 000km on the clock, out of which 2500km has been driven with the V8 – without problems!
... so is it ready now? Well, for this summer at least! Next winter I’m going to get new roof and drive shafts but otherwise the cabrio is READY!
It all started way back in the beginning of 2005 when I bought BMW M30 engine with all the bits to swap it to E30 chassis. Obviously I didn’t have suitable E30 chassis around so I had to go and buy one from Germany. I ended up buying ~400 000 km driven “Germany’s cheapest” E30 325 cabriolet, year model 1987.
Well, everything didn’t go as planned so i stripped the whole car down;
During the next three years I built the cabrio and it looked like this in summer 2008;
As M30 swaps became more and more common in E30’s I decided to do something different. So I swapped BMW M60 V8 engine in the cabriolet during autumn 2008 – spring 2010, with light flywheel and BMW E39 M5 6-speed gearbox. At the same time I upgraded the brakes to 312 / 294mm the www.300mm.de – way.
I had to relocate everything in the engine bay, biggest problems being the exhaust manifolds and brake booster which originally sits on the way of lefthand-side cylinderhead. Also million other things had to be done, but in the end everything worked out fine. :) Actually the only original parts in the cabrio (which haven’t been painted, modified or renewed) are front side glasses and heater control panel.
Now in the beginning of June 2010, there’s 10 000km on the clock, out of which 2500km has been driven with the V8 – without problems!
... so is it ready now? Well, for this summer at least! Next winter I’m going to get new roof and drive shafts but otherwise the cabrio is READY!
My LS1 swap thread:
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