E30 Drift beater.

[starksan]

Picked this 325e up from Craigslist last Friday for Lemons car pricing.
Fairly clean, shock towers gone, fuel tank fill neck rotted, and a little bit of rust around the rear arches. Could definitely be saved but... Missile.


Decent paint and clean interior, so I had to get rid of it.
During the process of doing so we thought, "I wonder if it'll do a burn out?"
So then this happened.

https://vimeo.com/134132396

Noticed it had a nice eBay header, looked under the car to see it was nearly straight piped minus the muffler, so that got sawzalled off.
Plan to do a manual swap next month, weld the diff, patch and reinforce the strut towers ASAP, and slay a few set of tires at the next Test n Tune.



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[BECKSTER]

Cool e30! Looking forward to seeing pics of it Slideways !

[jalopi]

bare minimum e30 drift mods:

*replace all cooling system stuff. overheating / having to wait 5-10 minutes while you cool down between runs sucks
*looks like your car might be an 88, if so you can get a big mishimotor e36 radiator. like before, overheating sucks
*oil cooler (a real one, not one of the OE ones)
*accusump (kinda optional really but could save your ass)
*hydraulic ebrake (not necessary, but will leave you significantly less fatigued at the end of the day)
*e36/46/z3 steering rack (fatigue/don'tsuck mod)

optional stuff:
*putting some ground control springs + koni yellows will make it not handle like a boat
*SLR full or half kit (just don't use e46 control arms)
*3.73 (better option) or 4.10 diff swap
*holset for dat drift powah
*cage

and that's really all you need to get out there, have fun and fuckin kill it


just please don't v8 swap the car. v8 swapping an e30 is nothing but compromise after compromise after fucking compromise, regardless of whether you do a LS/302/M60. you will do nothing but hate your manual (or shitty boosted) brakes (unless you spend a few grand on a BBK), overheat, panic about oil starvation and break driveline parts

[starksan]

Lots of good info jalopi.
I know the e30 has crap steering angle and rack ratio so I already planned on doing e46 LCA's, with e92 inner TR, e36 outter TR, z3 1.9l rack, 60mm bushings and cut/shorten/welded TR on spindle.
Total cost runs $436 for new everything, but I plan to get most components at JY or used. Hopefully under $200
As for oil starvation/slosh, will probably hammerhead oil pan and add piano hinges with baffling welded inside oil pan. Definitely need an oil cooler.

Didn't consider the over heating issue, but since you brought it up, I'll run high CFM electric fan with a 80/20 water-wetter mix.
Stock rado should be good enough for my purpose.

There's usually 5-10 cars at the track so time between runs is in the half hour range, with only about 3-5 mins on track per run.
Ample time for cool down, tire swaps, BS'ing.

I'm gonna weld the 2.93 and run that until I rebuild the 3.73 LSD.

Caging is a ways away. Will probably get to it early next year when I get a tube bender.

Unfortunately I did consider v8 swap. I know a guy with a 4.6 and manual for $500.
Double power/torque, only add 40lbs to front, and possibly lower COG and place engine further back for better weight distribution. But would require tons of fabrication and bespoke parts.


What's the reasoning behind not using the e46 LCA's?








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[starksan]

Ah, just read that linky.
Those e46 LCA's could pose a problem, don't plan on running that much -chamber. At what steering angle does wheel hit LCA?
I might be able to notch and box the outer BJ, prefer to modify e46 arms than extend e30-e36. Wouldn't have to make a jig.
I'll only be running 16x7's in the front. Have nearly unlimited free tire access to 16's. Lol, gotta love stealer ships.




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[jalopi]

are you sure your diff isn't a limited slip? could've sworn i saw both tires spinning in your burnout video

are you talking about doing a ford 4.6 swap? as far as i know that doesn't work. google pictures of 302 swapped engine bays (my car was a 302 swap) or LS engine bays. notice how tight the clearance is? the ford SOHC is 7 inches wider. you'd probably also need a cowl hood. the e36 in this thread could barely fit a modular ford in the engine bay and theirs are much roomier than the e30's

if you're concerned about weight gain and insist on doing a v8 swap, i suggest you read this thread. people assume the 302 is super heavy because it's an iron block, but they forget that ford practically made them out of paper mache. tis why they tend to break around 450-500 wheel whore power

but seriously if you v8 swap an e30 you will have nothing but overheating problems at track days, they just don't get enough airflow through the radiator. if i had to do it all over again i'd do an m30 swap, only thing that seems to suck about them is the pricey and limited clutch options

you don't need e46 control arms for drifting. they reduce your caster/wheel clearance and give you an unnecessary amount of negative camber. the only reason you see drift e30's with full-retard levels of negative camber is because they needed extra wheel clearance so they installed longer control arms that don't reduce clearance, something the e46 arms do not do.

can't say for sure when they start to rub as i installed my e46 arms with the SLR kit, but with stock steering angle + rack spacers you'll be fine with the stock arms and most wheels. might have to use wheel spacers if their offset is too positive. if you want some negative camber, buy camber plates. you'll have to get plates anyway if you put e46 arms on, the arms will give you like -5~6* of camber

[starksan]

Ah. I goofed when I read ppl done 5.0 swaps in the e30, thinking that they meant the coyote motor. Assuming if they were able to get a 28" wide motor in, I could get a 26" one in no problem. Bubble busted...
Now have my eye on a 4 cylinder swap.


If I do steering arm mod, factory inner/outer TR's will work still, just need to be shortened correct?

Diff is definitely open.

Lol. Old dry rot tires ftw.

I'm welding diff, repairing/reinforcing shock towers, cutting spare tire well out and most likely installing an auto power 4-point race roll bar this weekend.

Fuel tank is rusted around the fuel fill neck. Apparently leaks past half full., so I might drop that and install a 12 gallon fuel cell I have laying around.

https://vimeo.com/134378999

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[jalopi]

at first i was like, what's that shit on his RR wheel well? and then i realized it was a gaping hole showing me the tire :D

by 4 cylinder swap i hope you don't mean sr20.. those things are garbage. things were different 5-10 years ago when you could actually get one that wouldn't blow up in your face or give you massive headaches

i had a friend visit japan recently and while he was at a few tracks he found out how most of these imported engines get here

*not from wrecked cars anymore. it's been almost 15 years since the last SR powered car was made. the imports like this are very few and far between
*ever heard of drift car rental agencies? apparently it's a somewhat popular tourist attraction in japan. it's just like it sounds - you go to a track and rent a drift car to beat the shit out of
*these cars are usually on their second or third engines, all sourced from regular junkyards
*once the rental agency starts having too many issues with the drivetrain, they rip it out and swap in something from a junkyard again
*normal junkyards refuse to take the engine they removed
*they send the problematic drivetrain to an exporters' junkyard
*then the problematic drivetrain is bought by an importer and delivered to your friendly local JDM engine supplier

basically the SR has gone the way of the CA. there's a good reason you don't see them very much any more (at least from what i've seen in the mid-atlantic, though it's my understanding that it's that way everywhere now)

this is also why i vehemently tell people i meet not to get a "jdm" engine, as most of them have lived rough lives

in any case, good luck with the project OP, looks like you really got your job cut out for you :D

[starksan]

Well, I was thinking KaT, but if they aren't tuned right they like to grenade, which is what everyone I know who had a KaT did. Only considered Ka because full motor swaps with trans and harness go for relatively cheap, $350-$500.

Then I started searching CL around my area and found an M42 with trans, 4.10 LSD, clutch and pedal box for $250.

Agree about SR's. Drift tax junk. Was part of a forum of MisawaAB stationed guys who joked about renting cars from local garages.
Like blowing turbo seals and head gaskets at MSP, taking back to garage and seeing said car parked and stripped by end of week. Most likely found its way at upgarage. Lol

Ha, like that factory strut weight reduction? That rear passenger wheel will do some crazy things when it hits a bump or pot hole.

During the weekend while I helped a friend put a new clutch and 3.73 LSD in his e30, that sucked. I also repaired the shock tower and installed the autopower 4 point cage while we were at the shop.

Half-ass-hatery.

All I had was a jeep bumper core laying around, so yeah...

Cage came from a junked e36. Had to cut the main hoop down 3/4" and weld new base plates onto it. Fits like a glove.


The next day I put about 6 gallons in to confirm from PO that tank leaks at a half tank, it did. So now I'm gonna install my spare 12 gallon fuel cell.






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[jalopi]

just a fyi that 4.10 LSD won't bolt in to your car. the m42 cars came with smaller diffs with different mounts

your quip about the e36 main hoop pleases me; this solidifies my idea that the e30 cage i bought a year ago will work with my new e36

[starksan]

Yeah, a friend told me last night that the 318 diff won't fit, needs the 318 rear subframe.
Also said 318 uses a small case diff that are supposedly weaker than the medium case diff. I can probably get away with swapping rear subframe when I do fuel cell, but it sounds like a down grade, and I don't want to do that until I get a bushing kit anyway.

The e30 cage should fit nicely with plinth boxes to elevate main hoop.
I lucked out with the install, have about a 3/8" of roof to main hoop clearance and about 1/4" of b pillar clearance.

Gonna weld a magnaflow muffler on today, fix the exhaust leak at 3 bolt flange and swap voltage regulator on alternator.


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[jalopi]

yeah, the small case diff is a downgrade, especially considering you're drifting the car