The E30 Honesty Thread

[MonkeyMan]

Alright guys, I think it's time we all get it out on the table:
I think everyone on this forum has wondered, at one time or another, what the next guy spent on his E30 and what it can really do..

This might make ya'll either love or hate yourself for doing / not doing certain things to your cars, and if there's other cars that could've provided a better bang for the buck than our beloved E30's (all things considered: performance, character, driving experience, etc.)

I think there's 4 main things we should get out there:

What kind of shape was your E30 when you first picked it up?

How much did you spend on going faster (engine, suspension, weight reduction, etc.)?

What's it got? aka: what kind of power (seriously) did you put down on a dyno / how fast are you in the 1/4 mile / what are you passing in the corners on the track?

Are you satisfied? aka: have you ever wished you should've got into a different car and spent the same kind of money for more?

I know not everyone is into going fast, cornering hard blah blah, so this is mainly for the guys like me who think the E30 is probably the best-balanced car you can drive as far as performance, cost, and overall driving experience.

[tfritz]

My current e30 was purchased as a rolling chassis, only missing the drivetrain. It had H&R race springs and billy sports among purchase. Then it went through a couple phases. First phase was getting the shell moving: swapped in a stock m20. Phase two: all poly bushings, front and rear camber adjustment, and ss brake lines. Phase three: m30b35 swap with fully built head and m5 clutch/flywheel.
Cost:
complete car minus drivetrain plus MANY other parts, wheels, etc.: $1250
m20: free (already had it)
suspension/m30 and wheels/tires: roughly 3-4k and the motor and head were free


Have ran the car in a few local auto-x's and I couldn't be happier. A local cop drives a newer vette and usually finishes in the top few. In the few races I have attended I have been nipping at his heals, all runs I made were also on very crappy tires or in my dads stock 318ic or our stock 2002.

Am I satisfied? HELL yeah!! Will always own an e30!

[DEV0 E30]

[MonkeyMan]

Mine:

- My 1985 325e was in 8/10 shape when I first got it. The previous owner spent good money on it, having the engine rebuilt (2.6 stroker w/ 323i crank & cam, refreshing the chassis & interior, and just making sure the whole car was in tip-top shape. I got way lucky to find an '85 in this good of shape, with a flawlessly straight body (never crashed, etc), and a fresh engine rebuild.

- I paid $5000 for the car, and since then I've put approximately $2000 into go-fast parts (Miller PSIK, WAR chip, dyno tuning, H&R suspension, etc). This will soon be a lot more, as I'm having a proper 2.8 stroker motor built with a goal in mind of 200whp/200wtq.

- I put down 160whp/166wtq after the dyno tune, but I have yet to take it to the dragstrip or put it through the paces on a roadcourse.

- I love my car. I've had 16 other cars (including a '91 318is), and I think my E30 (although not the fastest) has more character than any car I've ever owned. Every drive is more fun than the last, and the things this car can do gets a giggle out of me everytime. I'd have to say the only other car I'd rather have (again) for this kind of bang for the buck is my '93 Mustang 5.0.. That thing used to make me laugh like a crazy man almost everyday.

[88SuperETABD]

You didn't start it off...

I've had my car since 2006, and I've spent about $7k total on my e30, (including purchase for $2.5k) It's probably more that because I only added up the major things and rounded up. Theres little things here in there that add up and probably make me closer to $10k, but those are maintenance type things which any car would need.

Ground Control Full Coil Over Kit
327i with Miller MAF/WAR
Swapped interior from tan to black with era correct Recaro's
Car came with wheels and really good paint
Auto --> manual swap
3.73 lsd
Dyno'd at 163whp/156wtq but had a bad air leak. (18:1 at idle)
Need to go back for some more tuning. Probably closer to 170whp/160wtq with the air leak fixed, ignition tuning, since it wasnt touched from the base map, and a heat shield.

Car handles like a dream, need to tackle rear bushings/camber/toe kit and all suspension will be NEW.

Also saving for a forged 2.8L m20 stroker for turbo, thats probably gonna cost about another 7k$ when all said and done....will be my first motor build, and first turbo build....so let's hope I'm succesfull with my goal of 250-300whp.

[kamakaasneal]

I got mine from a BMW enthusiast...89 325i cabrio which he was making an M3 clone. Ive kept on working on cloning it. Most of my work so far has been cosmetic other than the transmission swap to a 5spd and replacement of a few parts in the engine and drivetrain. Ive also lowered it eibach springs and bilstein shocks and braces, and 17 in aplina wheels. I'm working on either switching to a pure M3 engine, or keeping the 6 cyl and making it stroker/ turbo. But thats far into the future right now. Also planning on highly upgrading the brakes. I also currently have a quicker ratio diff i plan on putting in at some point when i get off my lazy butt :P

Currently trying to get up neck and neck with my dad's Z4 3.0si...he's running around 275hp and almost 300 ft/lbs torque. I wanna get around 300hp and torques. Wish me luck!

[pilotskillse30]

I got mine from a guy in Connecticut..93 325icabrio October 92 build date. Soon as I got it I did the full tune up. I then lowered the car on Tokico springs and Bilstein Sports. Then I did the stroker thing to 2.8 and the clutch, Dinan intake mani and Dinan chip,powder coated valve cover and shock tower brace, head rest in the rear, and all suspension bushings, then smilies. In 2011, I redid a reset to most major components, got style 5's custom drilled and powder coated and a hardtop to go with it with new tires again...price of car and mods and maintenance till October of 2011 around 18k. I dyno'd the car in 2010 and I was putting down 179 to the wheel can't remember the torque but it was not to far off from the horse power number

Currently with the new project going on for it Since January this year, I have a total of 8k and growing in receipts for restoration parts and other items, some of the vendors and members on here will vouch for that. The finally will hopefully come in August 2013 and I will list on here or email the haters the final tally and hopefully a decent build thread. Unfortunately this is going to be a check book car since I am deployed overseas.

[turboaddiction]

I picked.up my 90 sedan 325i for 700$ with a running issues and a used motor for 400$ then probably another 300$ in getting it running and driving. After the car is running and driving the sky is the limit.
Plans are with tax return to turbo the car and get some new wheels and have the hood fixed or replaced.
I want to make the car low and fast but its just going to be my weekend toy planned budget is 6k total but I doubt it will stop there.

Edit: my car was picked up with a really clean body and a knocking engine

[Gooneric]

Picked mine up here for for $1200 , needed work on the flooring on both sides..arches and scuttle panel areas.Interior was absolutely destroyed.. previous owner had it out in the heat uncovered for over a year ( idiot ) Motor and everything else ran fine. All i have done with it so far is make the shell and body right , given it a fresh paint job and i am now dealing with refreshing the interior. Spent another $1200 or therabouts so far. I expect to have the interior and trims finished by early Feb next year..when thats all done i reckon it will take me close to $5000 . Next step after that is engine conversion.. probably a Euro M52B28 late next year.
Forgot to add it already had a lowered suspension and disc-brake conversion

[willworkfore30s]

I picked my 318is up September 30 2011 with no title, not running, for free.

The bottom end made some loud noises so I bought a new motor and trans for with 150k for $300 and pulled the old one out and sold it for $230.

I spent some small money on a few gaskets, fuel filter, mess under the intake, new battery and stuff like that to get it running.

I got it running well enough to pass DMV inspection and jumped through the DMV's numerous hoops to title a car without help from the previous owner. This cost about $200.

So I guess at that point i had around $400 in the car. I got it registered and tagged and then it started running like crap. I eventually solved the problem with a used $40 AFM.

Since then I have done 1 front and one rear wheel bearing ($120).
New rotors all the way around $(120).
New pads up front ($60).
OEM Reman front caliper ($37)
Replaced a trailing arm/axel (pull a part=super cheap)
1 tire ($30)
Second hand door interior panels ($60)
Sunroof crank ($20)
RTAB ($20)
CAB ($20)
Control Arms (Don't remember)
Tie rods (Don't remember)
Alignment ($45)
Oil Changes and such
Some brake fluid
Clean up and dyed the carpet ($20)


Stuff I've bought for the car but haven't installed
H&R race springs with a couple 1000 miles on em ($120)
Some 16" M contour reps to refresh ($150)
Some kick panel covers ($10)

So i'd say I've got a little over $1500 in my completely rust free 318is that I drive pretty much every day.

It needs body work and a paint job. I'll continue to freshen up the suspension. Interior is on the norm. Sports seats are cracked and ripped but function properly and the dash is cracked. I haven't decided yet what I would like to do motor wise.

Its a stock m42 so its probably got around 100 hp.

As far as satisfaction is concerned...I can tell this car has a lot of potential. I wouldn't say that I am satisfied with it until I have finished all the things I want to do suspension wise and got it looking respectable and making moderate power.

I don't have crazy expectations for it.
I'd like

H&R Race with billy sports
Replace every bushing with OEM stuff
Horse power in the 180-280 range

[oliver.r]

i had to buy a fucking parts car to put mine together..... thats how bad it was

%50 of my car has been replaced

[2mAn]

not too many people will want to think about what they've put into their cars...

I paid $2450 for mine, add a $50 one way Amtrak ticket to pick it up. Since then, I sold the stock sport vinyl sports for enough to get one Recaro SE with slider and rail. Already had a pair of Recaro SE seats so I paid another $100 for a rail. Also gave a buddy another $140 to cut off the late model rear valence and trunklid off his Alpine parts car. Swapped my SSR wheels and my stock "I" exhaust with Magnaflow dual in & out muffler. Paid $50 to get proper hangers welded up. Its still got a long way to go, but its already got a 2.7i, 19# injectors, 3.5psi FPR, Mark D chip and being an 84 318 car it weighs in at 2400lbs. Tons of fun, probably going to do a MAF conversion with a Miller setup so I can fine tune it. not bad for ~$2800

[noE30]

July of 2009 I drove 800 miles to Denver, Co to buy my e30, it was on H&R sports, stokc weaves with snow tires, 5speed swapped and rust free for 4k$
Tons of maintenance, all new suspension components/bushings, new clutch, short shifter/linkage, new axles, new windshield, crack free dash, coils, wheels, skid plate, new seats, nardi wheel, new front valence, is lip, is skirts (to be installed), new fogs, depo lights, euro grills, euro trim, lots of misc. stuff.
So far I know I have over twice the purchase price invested in the car.. over 8k$..
Am I satisfied? no, wheels setups are ever changing, need a paint job next summer, engine swap is also in the future.
I plan on keeping it as long as possible.

[irish44j]

I got mine for $1k (including 10 bottlecaps and a nice set of Euroweaves). Probably dropped another $4k into it at most (including a full set of new Star Specs for the Euroweaves, full set of used rally tires, and a pair of good M42 engines and transmissions, some Porsche Recaros, Kirk rollbar, etc) and probably have sold off $1k worth of spares/parts since I got it as well. So (guesstimate) I'm about $4k total in the hole on this car, not including event fees, insurance, etc.

Power: Conforti M42, so not a huge number, but a lot more than the original M10. 3.91 LSD.
Weight: Estimated 2300lbs in rally trim (heavy tires/wheels, skidplates, rollbar, etc) - will get on the scales soon..

I'm pretty satisfied with it. Let's me save my 2009 WRX for daily driving and trackday duties rather than beating it up on the rally course :)

build thread in my sig if anyone wants extensive details....

What can it do? This:

[Komzorz]

My e30 was completely inoperable when I picked it up; it hadn't moved from its position behind a shed in twelve years. Paid $2700 for it as it had low miles from the original owner, and the condition of the car checked out that he did maintain it while he was driving it.

Haven't spent a dime on going faster, it's all been restoration stuff (mostly electrical, corrosion killed the DME, entire instrument cluster, lights, switches, etc) and fluids and tires. Probably slightly south of $5k right now in terms of total cost and it's essentially 100% operational.

It's stock, and in pretty good shape. What the owner said was true and it pretty much drives like a new e30. The LSD is fun and the power, while there could be more, isn't lacking.

I'm totally satisfied because I know my car could be flipped for $5k in pretty short order. Not really interested in selling though, the whole point of the build was to get the car nice and reliable so I can enjoy putting some miles on it.

Future plans involve some alpina lowering springs in my shed and some yet to be determined shocks. Other than that, I pretty much like it for what it is, and I'm just going to continue fixing the little things until it's in showroom condition.