Stroker Ace - 318iS to 327iS.

[Hooffenstein HD]

323i is now a designated weekend/track car, so I picked up this 318iS with a blown engine for a new daily.

The plan is for a mild daily friendly 2.7, coil overs, 15x8's with 205/55, 4.10 LSD etc. Will update this post with a full specs list as it happens.





Engine
Basic semi rebuild. Rings, rod bearings, ARP rod bolts, freeze plugs, elring headgasket+VR VRS.
1985 325e 9:1 bottom end
1988 320i #731 head. Refreshed with valve guides, valve stem seals, hot tanked and machined etc.
1988 320i Cam
Standard dual valve springs.
320i #731 intake manifold, modified for 325i TB
325i Throttle body
#19lb EV6 Mustang injectors
Miller Gen III MAF
Miller 7000RPM chip
Carbon enclosed CAI
M42 Radiator
16" pusher fan, wired up to original auxiliary fan wiring with a 318ti 80/88C switch.

Driveline
Getrag 260
Dibed DTM shifter
UUC DSSR
320i single mass flywheel. Machined/lightened.
New OE Sachs clutch.
3.73 LSD, medium case from 325i.

Suspension.
Front:
German Engineering coilovers 450lb/in - 8KG/MM
Bilstein Sport
Whiteline 24mm Swaybar

Rear
German Engineering Coilover 650 lb/in - 12KG/MM
Bilstein Sport
Whiteline 16mm Rear Swaybar

Steering
50mm E46 steering rack.
E36 tie rod ends. For anybody that wants to know; E30 - 220mm, E36 - 230mm and E46 - 260mm.
Condor Speed Shop power steering delete.
Vauxhall Corsa C steering linkage. - Cheap alternative to a flaming river setup for RHD E30's.

http://ns1.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Corsa_Steering_Linkage

Wheels
Daily:15x8 et15 "nemoto RS" - 205/55/15.
Track/Hillclimb: 15x8 -4 Performance Superlites - 205/50r15 Kumho KU36.

[Hooffenstein HD]

Engine
The M42B18 was “blown” and partly pulled down when I bought the car, so I chose to go the with a relatively easy 2.7i swap.

[Hooffenstein HD]

Steering.
The long steering ratio is one of the less than ideal characteristics of the E30, so upgrading the rack was always the plan. An E46 rack was located at the wreckers for a good price so that's the direction I steered. Vauxhall Corsa C/Holden Barina steering column swap to make it fit.

http://ns1.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/index.php/Corsa_Steering_Linkage

[Hooffenstein HD]

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[Hooffenstein HD]

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[Hooffenstein HD]

Interior.
The car came with a pretty good condition beige tartan interior but unfortunately it only has comfort seats. Beige Recaros are hard to come by and since my brother gave me this seat he picked up at an auction; I'm going to try building an interior around it.

Unfortunately there is only one and it's the left hand side/passenger seat. It looks to be a proper euro optional Recaro LS(a step above the typical "sports seats") but I'm not sure of what origin. Maybe optional for a four door E30, E28 M5, or 535i since it doesn't have forwards tilt function.

[Ray Smoodiver]

[Cabriolet]

as a word to the wise, dont use the VR headgasket or bolts. else you will be refreshing again, very soon.
for bolts only use BMW or ARP studs.
for the HG use only BMW or Goetze.
you will also need a harmonic balancer from a 325i, along with cooling system parts.

[Hooffenstein HD]

I thought it was only the VR head gaskets that suck. I've read that everything else from VR is fine and that the Elring Headgaskets are the best of the non genuine OE brands?

If the Elring are no good, I guess I can get a Goatze.


Fortunately the 320i parts car is a late model, Motronic 1.1/1.3 version so I can use everything from that car. The entire loom, sensors etc are essentially the same as a 325i just with a 2.5 bar FPR. Will be using the M42 radiator with a 16" pusher fan, so I'm not 100% positive on what will be needed in regards to hoses. The water pump I bought is the late model style one though.

[Wschnitz]

Elring are better then Goetze iirc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Cabriolet]

If the Elring are no good, I guess I can get a Goatze.

Elring is ok if you spray it. but i would really try to get the real BMW one if you can.

but i can tell you for certian that the only VR stuff i will use on my next build is the exhaust manifold gaskets. everything else of theirs seems to fail in 30k-mi or less.


Wschnitz fyi: BMW>Goetze>Elring>else, dont use.

[Massimo]

What ever did you do with that M42 ;)

Looking good cant wait for it to be complete I want to know what the rack feels like.

[MkII]

Where did you get this from? It looks like its in much better condition than my 318is that I also bought with a blown head gasket. I'm always trolling gumtree and eBay for this sort of stuff

[Hooffenstein HD]

What ever did you do with that M42 ;)

Looking good cant wait for it to be complete I want to know what the rack feels like.

Sold it some guy that plans on pulling M20 power from a little 1.8. I think he's dreaming ;)

It will be together soon. Mostly waiting on international shipping and slow customs processing. Waiting on lots of little things that are unexciting but can't do much without them. Things like 3.0 bar FPR, UUC DSSR, Dibed DTM style shifter, 16" pusher fan. Then I'll get busy throwing the M20 in and sorting out the coolant hoses for the M42 radiator.

[kronus]

Nice seat. That is a Recaro LS-B. Most likely not e30 native, but it can be made to bolt up. Ebay.de is probably your best bet of finding a matching one, unfortunately.