6/83 grey market 323i.. mtech I S50 5-lug

[kronus]

- fun fact! my e30 is special and awesome and uses 39x72x37mm rear bearings instead of 42x75x37mm. Is 37 the ID of the bearing here, or the height?

I read more. 37mm is the height of the bearing, so it seems that I will also need new trailing arms and axles in order to fit the M3 hubs.

:c

[MR 325]

- fun fact! my e30 is special and awesome and uses 39x72x37mm rear bearings instead of 42x75x37mm. Is 37 the ID of the bearing here, or the height?

I read more. 37mm is the height of the bearing, so it seems that I will also need new trailing arms and axles in order to fit the M3 hubs.

:c

85 and older E30 used a smaller bearing than 86+ cars. The E30 M3 uses the same bearing as the 86+ cars. So yes, you'll need some 86+ trailing arms! Axles will interchange though.

[e30m3s54turbo]

So, I'd like to know more here, I did some reading and things are not lining up.. would love clarification.

- the e30 M and non-M rear wheel bearings are the same exact part #. I'm guessing everyone says you need to swap bearings because it comes apart when you pull it?

- fun fact! my e30 is special and awesome and uses 39x72x37mm rear bearings instead of 42x75x37mm. Is 37 the ID of the bearing here, or the height?

- I'm not sure which caliper carrier you're supposed to use with e30M3 hubs. This guy says you can use e32 carriers, but I haven't seen anyone else corroborate this. The question goes unresolved here. I'm going to be at the yard this weekend pulling parts, and am thinking that I'll pull a complete set of e32 calipers and carriers to size them up on my trailing arms.

- the e32 rear disc is 300x12, the e30m3 one 282x12. (the stock e30 one is 258x10) Is the hat height different enough that you can't use e32 rotors?

- with e32 rear calipers and e36 non-M front calipers (are they all the same size? looks like BMW used the same calipers on all e36, e46, z3 and z4 non-M..) and a factory non-ABS system, what will happen to my brake bias?

If you decide not use e30 m3 rear brake route. You could do what I am do on my clone Alpina B6 3.5 turbo project.
My rear is a e36 318ti rear. The stock 318ti 276x10. My fronts are e36 m3 brakes. I found a member using 300mm adapters on a vert project. I ordered Z4 3.0 rear rotors 294x19 vented, e36 m3 rear calipers and 300mm adapters.





About your smog. The state bar in the 80's did not know what size motors in these euro cars came with.. I would not take it to back to the bar. As long you have the original bar sticker you are good. As long you swap the 745i motor and smog parts that made it pass. It should pass with no problem. I have owned euro cars with bar sticker saying different motor sizes. You can email my friend Frank. He has a lot of euro cars that have swaps that pass smog. His email zittelfrank@gmail.com

[pandaboo911]

So, I'd like to know more here, I did some reading and things are not lining up.. would love clarification.

- the e30 M and non-M rear wheel bearings are the same exact part #. I'm guessing everyone says you need to swap bearings because it comes apart when you pull it?

- fun fact! my e30 is special and awesome and uses 39x72x37mm rear bearings instead of 42x75x37mm. Is 37 the ID of the bearing here, or the height?

- I'm not sure which caliper carrier you're supposed to use with e30M3 hubs. This guy says you can use e32 carriers, but I haven't seen anyone else corroborate this. The question goes unresolved here. I'm going to be at the yard this weekend pulling parts, and am thinking that I'll pull a complete set of e32 calipers and carriers to size them up on my trailing arms.

- the e32 rear disc is 300x12, the e30m3 one 282x12. (the stock e30 one is 258x10) Is the hat height different enough that you can't use e32 rotors?

- with e32 rear calipers and e36 non-M front calipers (are they all the same size? looks like BMW used the same calipers on all e36, e46, z3 and z4 non-M..) and a factory non-ABS system, what will happen to my brake bias?

Yes my e30 is also '84 318i. The e30s with drums in the rear have a smaller bearing. I had to pick up late model trailing arms for the swap to e30 m3 hubs.

AFAIK only e30 m3 rear carriers will work. I tried multiple carriers and caliper combos, including e32 750iL, e46, e36 and so on. the e32 rear calipers bolt spacing is too large to fit the e30 trailing arms and would require an adapter. I used e30 m3 rear carriers and e32 735i rear calipers (caliper is the same as e30 m3, carrier is NOT)

Brake bias will be offset. Not sure how badly. I would get an adjustable brake bias valve.

[CorvallisBMW]

Not sure how I missed this until now, but DDAAYYUUUMMMMMM!! Sub'd for more m30 turbo hotness :)

[kronus]

If you decide not use e30 m3 rear brake route. You could do what I am do on my clone Alpina B6 3.5 turbo project.
My rear is a e36 318ti rear. The stock 318ti 276x10. My fronts are e36 m3 brakes. I found a member using 300mm adapters on a vert project. I ordered Z4 3.0 rear rotors 294x19 vented, e36 m3 rear calipers and 300mm adapters.

where'd you get the adapters? what's your overall offset change in the rear?

About your smog. The state bar in the 80's did not know what size motors in these euro cars came with.. I would not take it to back to the bar. As long you have the original bar sticker you are good. As long you swap the 745i motor and smog parts that made it pass. It should pass with no problem. I have owned euro cars with bar sticker saying different motor sizes. You can email my friend Frank. He has a lot of euro cars that have swaps that pass smog. His email zittelfrank@gmail.com

right on, we talked about frank but I didn't get a chance to email him. Will do so.

Yes my e30 is also '84 318i. The e30s with drums in the rear have a smaller bearing. I had to pick up late model trailing arms for the swap to e30 m3 hubs.

AFAIK only e30 m3 rear carriers will work. I tried multiple carriers and caliper combos, including e32 750iL, e46, e36 and so on. the e32 rear calipers bolt spacing is too large to fit the e30 trailing arms and would require an adapter. I used e30 m3 rear carriers and e32 735i rear calipers (caliper is the same as e30 m3, carrier is NOT)

Brake bias will be offset. Not sure how badly. I would get an adjustable brake bias valve.

Interesting, thanks. Sad that the e32 carriers don't work.

Not sure how I missed this until now, but DDAAYYUUUMMMMMM!! Sub'd for more m30 turbo hotness :)

;D

[e30m3s54turbo]

[quote=kronus;3981103]where'd you get the adapters? what's your overall offset change in the rear?

Not sure on off set yet. I will back to you on off set. Here is a link to adapters.

http://300mm.de/294mm/294adapter.html

right on, we talked about frank but I didn't get a chance to email him. Will do so.

Told Frank you might email him.

[kronus]

Are those adapters for 318ti trailing arms? The e30 M3 hub setup still looks the most attractive for keeping the track width similar to before.

I've also done some research, and it looks like I should be able to make use of a e36 trick for bigger non-M front brakes, using 300mm rotors and caliper carriers from an e46 328 instead of e36 stuff. Here's the documentation for e36. This is also the biggest front brakes you can reasonably fit under 16" wheels, looks like.

[kronus]

Also, I've found that the e32 750i has 300x20 rear rotors and also thus probably has calipers that fit the e30 m3 carriers *and* vented rotors. Thoughts about this?

[kronus]

more facts emerge:

- e30 caliper carriers and e36 318ti caliper carriers have the same bolt pattern
- e32 735i calipers mount to e36 318ti caliper carriers, but they need some work to clear the e32 discs
- sizes of brake rotors is useful

from that list, and also from the 5-lug swap sticky of questionable truth, looks like the common e36 rear rotor (280x10) fits over the e30 m3 hub and can use the 318ti caliper carrier with no modifications.

side note, I really hate that the one way of figuring this out is reading 300 10 year old threads full of contradictory and outright wrong information.

[e30m3s54turbo]

Are those adapters for 318ti trailing arms? The e30 M3 hub setup still looks the most attractive for keeping the track width similar to before.

I've also done some research, and it looks like I should be able to make use of a e36 trick for bigger non-M front brakes, using 300mm rotors and caliper carriers from an e46 328 instead of e36 stuff. Here's the documentation for e36. This is also the biggest front brakes you can reasonably fit under 16" wheels, looks like.

Those 300mm adapters are for e30 m3 hub and e36 318i 5x120.

I translated from German to English from the link I sent you.

The E30 rear axle can quite easily be converted to 5x120mm bolt pattern wheel hub from the M3 E30 or E36 Compact.

When using the E30 M3 wheel hub, the brake discs of the E46 328i with the dimensions 294x19mm, together with the adapter 294-3 and the rear calipers from the E32 750i, E34 540i, E36 M3 are installed. It must be mounted 4mm washers between the adapter and saddle pickup (washers and Quick Start Guide are included).

When using the Compact hubs from the rotors can E85 Z4 2.5si with dimensions 294x19mm (Part Number: 34 21 6766219) to be installed together with the adapter 294-3 and the rear calipers from the E32 750i, E34 540i, E36 M3. It must be mounted 5mm washers between the adapter and saddle pickup (washers and Quick Start Guide are included).

[kronus]

Interesting. I was trying to poke that page with Google Translate but not getting too much sense out of it. Thank you for the translation. It sounds like a pretty worthwhile upgrade, I think I maybe want it.

Any idea of the caliper piston diameter in those calipers? I'd want the ones with an appropriate size to match the front 328i setup.

[e30m3s54turbo]

The rear calipers on the e36 m3 and e36 318ti they look like the same size and pads. The only advantage is the rear rotor is that it is vented and size 294x19. I would like do a similar set up for my black m3.

I can't wait to see what you do for you front brakes.

[DER E30]

Sub'd, can't wait for more pretty pictures of progress!

[318isbmw]

the 294mm kit from 300mm.de is a nice setup. I'm running it on my daily driver. Only bummer is you have to run the calipers upside down which makes bleeding a pain.