*** Editors Note: Ive loved Ben's car before I knew about it. Always been a huge fan of higher compression M20 builds, throw it in a rare-er color early model add euro bumpers and other goodies and you have an awesome car and a definite Car of the Month. Ben's a great guy and I swear he is one step ahead of me even in so many things, so he probably already knew that I was going to pick this car... who knows. Join me in congratulating Ben aka betz for his lovely E30 and our March Car of the Month***
Factory options:
Standard US car for the most part
Pop out windows and crank sunroof
Color:
Burgundrot Metallic (214)
Interior color:
Originally beige
Engine modifications:
2.8L M20 stroker using all BMW parts
9.8:1 compression
885 head with 3 angle valve job, new rockers, eccentrics, and valves
Bimmerheads 274 cam
84 mm forged M52B28 crankshaft
Eta 130mm rods
Late 325i domed pistons
Decked block by 0.020”
S52 pink top injectors
Adjustable FPR
Innovate LC-2 WB
Bavrest M30 AFM and K&N cone filter
Sssquid 91 octane tune on Motronic 1.3
Exhaust:
Ireland Engineering long tube headers, ceramic coated
Dual exhaust into dual-in dual-out magnaflow cat (crossover)
Ireland engineering stainless cat back from eBay
Transmission:
Original Getrag 260
Redline MTL trans fluid
UUC evo3 short shifter with DSSR and all new bushings
Differential:
Torsen 3.46 LSD from Z3 3.0
Suspension:
Ground Control pre assembled setup w/ cut strut housings
450lb / 650lb fr/rr springs
Ground Control street camber plates
Garagistic front strut bar, color matched to burgundrot
Corner balanced (but for the 323i)
M3 offset FCABs in OE rubber
Z3 1.9 rack w/ power steering
Wheels:
Melber Mahle E21 weaves, powder coated and refinished
15x7 4x100 et12
5mm rear spacers
Hawk HPS pads, SS brake lines, E32 MC
Exterior modifications:
Euro bumpers
Hella Smileys
Polished the heck out of it
Interior modifications:
E30 M3 sport seats w/ Stitchedwheels upholstery kit, tweed & leather
Matching shift & e-brake boot
Crack-free dash
E36 e-brake handle
Mtech-1 steering wheel
Black door cards & rear seats
323i cassette holder center console
323i euro gauge cluster and euro clock
Pioneer head unit and speakers
ZHP weighted shift knob
Story behind the car:
April 2016 me and my buddy are drunk browsing craigslist late at night. He’s a huge BMW guy; me, I just like cars and have settled with a 6MT G35 coupe as my only car.
I knew very little about E30s, but he was getting all worked up over this euro E30 323i sedan listed at $1000. Now, I knew E30s were light weight, fun and engaging cars, and ever since I drove my friends miata, it made me resent my portly G35 because it couldn’t make me grin ear to ear like that miata could. I figured this E30 could be a perfect project car!
Went all the way to Santa Rosa to see it, and it was clear why the car was listed so cheap. Oil leaks, completely missing sunroof, seats were just plain broken, shook violently at highway speeds. But, it looked like everything was something that I could fix myself, given time. Not to mention, this thing friggin ripped. That 2.3L M20 would chirp tires into second. I fell in love with the car as soon as I drove it, even in its current state. Offered the guy $500, with the promise it would be gone that night and that I would handle smog, and it was mine.
May 2017. I had spent the last year working on my 323i at my mom’s garage all the way in Stockton. It had gotten a number of modifications, but the engine was still completely stock, and burned quite a bit of oil so I knew I eventually wanted to do a stroker build with it.
I already had purchased a good eta block with the intention of doing a budget 323i head / eta block stroker build to trade up for more power and torque and a better ECU. But, it was feeling so great with my fancy ground controls, I put it on the back burner.
Unfortunately, less than a week later coming back from Alice’s, I overcooked it into a blind downward hairpin, and in a split second, my car was totaled. I was completely devastated.
I quickly began the hunt for an early model shell I could swap all my parts to. I figured that I could get on with that motor build I always wanted to do, and could come out pretty good seeing as I was trying to buy a non-running car and using a bunch of parts from my 323i.
My options were looking pretty bleak in a sea of bronzit, until one car came up locally in an burgundy color. It had like, two pictures that looked like crap, and there was no price on the car. Said it didn’t run because of a “blown head”. But I figured it’s down the street, so, what the hell.
Looked at it, liked the pop out windows and crank sunroof. Also, the paint was covered in dirt but I couldn’t see any clear coat failure or rust, but it did have a pretty substantial dent on the fender.
I was humming and hawing until the owner, a lanky skater kid, blurted out, “Dude look.. I just want some money to go to the beach with my friends, if you take it right now you can have it for $200”.
Uhhhhhhh...
Okay!
Fast Forward to November '17, I had the motor running and the car driving! But, it took a lot of fine tuning to get it where it is now, and I must say. It is 10x better than the 323i ever was.
I absolutely love this car. The rest is outlined in my build thread thats right here. :)
Factory options:
Standard US car for the most part
Pop out windows and crank sunroof
Color:
Burgundrot Metallic (214)
Interior color:
Originally beige
Engine modifications:
2.8L M20 stroker using all BMW parts
9.8:1 compression
885 head with 3 angle valve job, new rockers, eccentrics, and valves
Bimmerheads 274 cam
84 mm forged M52B28 crankshaft
Eta 130mm rods
Late 325i domed pistons
Decked block by 0.020”
S52 pink top injectors
Adjustable FPR
Innovate LC-2 WB
Bavrest M30 AFM and K&N cone filter
Sssquid 91 octane tune on Motronic 1.3
Exhaust:
Ireland Engineering long tube headers, ceramic coated
Dual exhaust into dual-in dual-out magnaflow cat (crossover)
Ireland engineering stainless cat back from eBay
Transmission:
Original Getrag 260
Redline MTL trans fluid
UUC evo3 short shifter with DSSR and all new bushings
Differential:
Torsen 3.46 LSD from Z3 3.0
Suspension:
Ground Control pre assembled setup w/ cut strut housings
450lb / 650lb fr/rr springs
Ground Control street camber plates
Garagistic front strut bar, color matched to burgundrot
Corner balanced (but for the 323i)
M3 offset FCABs in OE rubber
Z3 1.9 rack w/ power steering
Wheels:
Melber Mahle E21 weaves, powder coated and refinished
15x7 4x100 et12
5mm rear spacers
Hawk HPS pads, SS brake lines, E32 MC
Exterior modifications:
Euro bumpers
Hella Smileys
Polished the heck out of it
Interior modifications:
E30 M3 sport seats w/ Stitchedwheels upholstery kit, tweed & leather
Matching shift & e-brake boot
Crack-free dash
E36 e-brake handle
Mtech-1 steering wheel
Black door cards & rear seats
323i cassette holder center console
323i euro gauge cluster and euro clock
Pioneer head unit and speakers
ZHP weighted shift knob
Story behind the car:
April 2016 me and my buddy are drunk browsing craigslist late at night. He’s a huge BMW guy; me, I just like cars and have settled with a 6MT G35 coupe as my only car.
I knew very little about E30s, but he was getting all worked up over this euro E30 323i sedan listed at $1000. Now, I knew E30s were light weight, fun and engaging cars, and ever since I drove my friends miata, it made me resent my portly G35 because it couldn’t make me grin ear to ear like that miata could. I figured this E30 could be a perfect project car!
Went all the way to Santa Rosa to see it, and it was clear why the car was listed so cheap. Oil leaks, completely missing sunroof, seats were just plain broken, shook violently at highway speeds. But, it looked like everything was something that I could fix myself, given time. Not to mention, this thing friggin ripped. That 2.3L M20 would chirp tires into second. I fell in love with the car as soon as I drove it, even in its current state. Offered the guy $500, with the promise it would be gone that night and that I would handle smog, and it was mine.
May 2017. I had spent the last year working on my 323i at my mom’s garage all the way in Stockton. It had gotten a number of modifications, but the engine was still completely stock, and burned quite a bit of oil so I knew I eventually wanted to do a stroker build with it.
I already had purchased a good eta block with the intention of doing a budget 323i head / eta block stroker build to trade up for more power and torque and a better ECU. But, it was feeling so great with my fancy ground controls, I put it on the back burner.
Unfortunately, less than a week later coming back from Alice’s, I overcooked it into a blind downward hairpin, and in a split second, my car was totaled. I was completely devastated.
I quickly began the hunt for an early model shell I could swap all my parts to. I figured that I could get on with that motor build I always wanted to do, and could come out pretty good seeing as I was trying to buy a non-running car and using a bunch of parts from my 323i.
My options were looking pretty bleak in a sea of bronzit, until one car came up locally in an burgundy color. It had like, two pictures that looked like crap, and there was no price on the car. Said it didn’t run because of a “blown head”. But I figured it’s down the street, so, what the hell.
Looked at it, liked the pop out windows and crank sunroof. Also, the paint was covered in dirt but I couldn’t see any clear coat failure or rust, but it did have a pretty substantial dent on the fender.
I was humming and hawing until the owner, a lanky skater kid, blurted out, “Dude look.. I just want some money to go to the beach with my friends, if you take it right now you can have it for $200”.
Uhhhhhhh...
Okay!
Fast Forward to November '17, I had the motor running and the car driving! But, it took a lot of fine tuning to get it where it is now, and I must say. It is 10x better than the 323i ever was.
I absolutely love this car. The rest is outlined in my build thread thats right here. :)
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