325i track project ...kinda slow updates sometimes...

[t1502]

Hi everyone,

Just recently found this awesome site and have been spending big part of my freetime reading through the topics for the last few days.
Great looking cars and so much attention on detail that I'm a bit worried to put pictures of my project among all of Yours :D

Well here goes anyway...

I've been working on my project for the last 3 years mostly at night, don't have time to work on it any other times :( ...as I "warned" in the topic, updates can be a bit slow on the slow side once in awhile ;)

The base E30 for the project is a 1988 318i, with a broken engine.


Here shoveling the donor car with M20B25 from snow in winter 2006, this body was scrapped because it had way too much rust to deal with.

I'll put some build pics here later, for now I skip to current situation.


Taken at Ahvenisto race track about a month ago. Next to my E30 is my friend E46 M3, sweet machine 8-)




The project at this stage is "evo1" and this summer with it's trackdays are for having fun mostly, but also to get ideas to improve the car and iron out possible bugs in fabrication.
This is my first bigger project so my fabrication skills are not much to look at, but has been enough for my needs ...for now at least...

Modifications so far,
Body stripped and welded for extra strength
Roll cage
Powerflex bushings
Front control arms replaced with self made ones, totally adjustable
Fuel cell
Camberplates and Lesjöfors lowering springs with stock Sachs shocks
M20B25 engine with Enem Z58 cam,
Exhaust self made apart from manifold which is made by Martelius
LSD ~40% with 4.45 gearing

Currently working on changing Motronic 1.0 to Motronic 1.1 ...not much difference I know, but as the 1.1 has a higher rev limit, it serves my purpose better than the 1.0 which only revs to 6200rpm.

Suspension has also been removed and is upgrading to Bilsten Sprint(known in the us market as Sport?!) and Spax spring, coilovers in the front and "traditional" setup in the rear.

New tires have been ordered and the old one were sold with the wheels in the pictures. New tires are Toyo R888's so hoping for much improvement in grip compared to the old Hankook K104's.

[Greekstyles]

idk why but this pic looks badass

[t1502]

More pictures along the way starting with the oldest.


Body is attached to a "grill". Here test fitting everything.


Deeper pockets had to be made to the pistons as the new Enem Z58 cam has a bit more lift. Now clearance is 1,6mm.


Caveman tools used to deepen the valve pockets :D


Rebuilt M20B25 going back to engine bay, actually the first time in this body.


Upper is original 325i lever that gave room to Z3M lever.

[t1502]

Modifying the beam that goes under the engine for the new front control arms.


Painted beam


Front control arm in the making


Sorry about the flash making the pisture look weird, but you get the idea. Dash as it is today. E36 dash installed because I didn't want to cut up my orginal dash...

[mojorising]

So whats the deal with the LCA? Is that just a jig you are putting together or is that the actual piece. I only ask cause it looks a little scrawny.... What size rod-ends are those, they look about 3/8in or 10mm.

[asubimmer]

You have anymore pics of the dash? I really like it and need something for the track car. And like you my e30 dash is too nice to cut up.

Also more pics of the front bumper would be nice. I was thinking about using the same one for my car to match the m3 fenders.

[t1502]

This is what I worked on last night

So whats the deal with the LCA? Is that just a jig you are putting together or is that the actual piece. I only ask cause it looks a little scrawny.... What size rod-ends are those, they look about 3/8in or 10mm.

Had to look up the word scrawny ...sorry I'm finnish and don't have to use english too often... :D

Fitting in that picture is done to see if everything clears ok and to check adequate castor and camber adjustments. The bolts and mount for the stabilizers connecting end are the only things that have changed from this picture.
Rod ends are 1/2" on the rod connecting where the "lollipop" used to be and should be (at least they haven't broken on me yet ;)) more than capable taking the beating they need to. Rod end replacing the inner ball joint is 5/8" and outer ball joint is from a new Mini.
The point in making this kind of change is mainly the fun of it. I also get really easy camber and castor adjustments and raised mounting points compared to a ball joint. Rear mounting point is also adjustable which should make a difference in the cars "anti-dive" characteristics, though I haven't been able to test this one yet. Made a big difference in the track I use for testing and reference to adjust castor to M3 Evo specs. Frontwheels moved about 15mm forward.

Please feel free to correct if something I said doesn't make sense, these modifications are gathered from around the web and simple reasoning. This is my first bigger project and for the fun of just doing these mods I like to try to see do they make a difference. Slow testing though, I'm usually going to the track only 4-5 times a summer... :???:

You have anymore pics of the dash? I really like it and need something for the track car. And like you my e30 dash is too nice to cut up.

Also more pics of the front bumper would be nice. I was thinking about using the same one for my car to match the m3 fenders.

asubimmer, I'll post some pics here today after work.

[downernsp]

Nice work, are you dooing it all your self? the front adjustable control arms are like the one's AKG make keep us posted.

[mojorising]

Very cool project. I probably would have gone with a box tube on the lateral part of the LCA, it is better suited to handle the bending loads introduced by the rear link. The adjustability is cool as hell though. The double shear on the rear joint is a plus, I noticed the AKG kit only has a single shear rod end there. Keep up the good work man, and keep the pictures coming. Any ideas on improving the rear suspension? I have been contemplating a SLA setup with a custom subframe in the rear myself but getting everything to fit would be tricky.

[t1502]

Sorry asubimmer, thought I had more pics of the dash install and bumpers but only have these. None of the bumpers... I'll take a couple of pictures of the bumpers when I go to the garage, maybe tomorrow. Any particular part of the bumpers you want pictures taken? They're poo quality fiberglass bumpers and cracked in several places... :(


Dash sits on these and is secured with two screws




Managed to find picture of the starting point for my project... sad, isn't it?


This "beauty" had been rusting away here for over a year before I got it.


Before winter it was in my garage with a roll cage in it, put on a "grille"(what do you call this thing?) and pretty much stripped of everything.

[t1502]

downernsp: I do as much as I can of the work seen in these pictures. Can't do any machining or tig -welding yet, just don't have the equipment. Been focusing on functionality for now, it's good practise for fabrication skills to do these things rather than not doing anything "because I can't weld" or some reason like that (I was pretty good at this for a few years... :???:). Before this project I had welded last time almost 13 years ago in shop class. When I'm skilled enough and have found a working setup for my driving needs, I'll concentrate more on better quality and looks if possible.

Anyway, this is a picture of a car that has been a goal for my project.


I'd say that at this pace I'm pretty far from this outcome right now, but hey, I'm in no hurry :D This car (2,7L NA ~270bhp) runs Ahvenisto circuit 11s per lap faster times on street tires than I do. I'm aiming to improve my time about 3 seconds this summer


This is where I'm now with the engine, near stock.


I was testing the car in the garage neighborhood and the oilpan took a hit from a nice size stone and started leaking. Friend of mine fortunately has the skills and the equipment to do aluminium welding so got that reinforced.


Didn't take more than a week to get another oil leak. This time the almost new oil pressure sensor gave up and leaked all the straight through it! NOT original part ...should've known better...

[t1502]

Very cool project. I probably would have gone with a box tube on the lateral part of the LCA, it is better suited to handle the bending loads introduced by the rear link. The adjustability is cool as hell though. The double shear on the rear joint is a plus, I noticed the AKG kit only has a single shear rod end there. Keep up the good work man, and keep the pictures coming. Any ideas on improving the rear suspension? I have been contemplating a SLA setup with a custom subframe in the rear myself but getting everything to fit would be tricky.

It's nice to have some strenght in the LCA, have to look into that possibility, boxtube might even be easier to execute than the one I have now?

SLA is too complicated for me to do at this point. For now my plans are to explore couple of pictures of old E30 DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) M3 racecars subframe and suspension setup to see if there is something that serves my needs (and of something I could even fabricate myself ;)) Just seemes if you want to do some particular mod, it can't be done alone because it affects lots of other things (snowballing is it called?)

Would be really cool to do such a mod though, SLA I mean.

[ikkitousen]

Sorry to hear about the set backs man, Keep at it though!
Looking gooooood soo far!

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DAMN NICE!!!

[t1502]

Some updates... Finished the suspension work and the car is back on it's wheels ...wheels with winter tires on them that is, sold the ones I had in the earlier pictures. New tires are in denmark according to the tracking system so next week they should be here.


~627lbs rearspring


Studless winter tires

Also while crawling underneath the car I found a new oil leak. This time probably the transmission front seal?!? Normal place to get a leak from? Engine is dry and trans was dry when I took it for a spin last time...

[t1502]

asubimmer: some more pics for you're project. These bumpers that I got, were on one of the E30's that I took apart. They don't seem to stretch enough to fit the M3 fenders, or at least have to be modded to accept the wider fender? Also mine are in pretty bad shape, cracked in many places. Next winters project to fix these and get them repainted.





And dash pics from where I cut the E36 coupe dash to fit the rollcage. Needs much more work if you want to have something to show around.