Video Series: E30 as fast as a modern G80 M3 CS?

[Reichart12]

I really wanted to see the 87 is get built in a way a like advanced DIYer could do at home and see how close it would get.

I mean sending a car to Castro and giving him a shitload of money is not as exciting

I'd say this is the issue with most major YT channels. Budget builds and stuff the average person can relate to is out the window for no budget over the top stuff that drives up the shock value and clicks.

[FredK]

I agree that sticking with the original plan would have been preferable. Somewhere on the spectrum between an M20 turbo made to complete a single hot lap and then immediately explode, throwing a rod, and creating an electrical fire because the Megasquirt was assembled using plumbing solder, and an E30 M3 with a $20,000 body and paint bill, a $20,000 engine build, and $30,000 of other modifications is a happy medium, where the shop making these videos can show their abilities off, but also rise to a challenge demonstrating ingenuity and knowledge of what actually makes speed.

I assume the channel will sell the car, because the car seems to be checking off the boxes for what someone would want for a restomod.

I do like watching the normal automotive influencers doing crazy builds every now and then but when it becomes the norm, as is the current zeitgeist, that's when it becomes tiresome. That's why I like Spanner Rash who is also on this forum. Just a solid, detail oriented E30 build that is just high quality and thoughtfully executed.

[litu]

part II

[varg]

Oh so there's going to be no build videos or DIY aspect here at all, just write a big check and have Castro Motorsport build the E30 M3 equivalent of a pro touring build, show a few clips and trap music backed cinematics of it along the way. Yawn.

[Northern]

I recall when my 2350# Aluminum Monster with its 225whp regularly surprised many cars that weighed significantly more but felt their horsepower would embarass my car... and didnt.

Sounds like it's time for Aluminum Monster 2: N52 Boogaloo

I look forward to a tast of his skills.

I appreciate this.


I think K-series turbo or B38/48 (for the purists/less mainstream) would be a solid power:weight contender. N52 would be a good budget/cost motor as well. Haven't watched the videos but I was kind of hoping for something along these lines just as something fairly new. Just meaning 24v(turbo), S54, and LS seem like the defaults these days.

Seems easy enough to shed a lot of weight and throw bushings/coilovers/wheels/tires at the problem and not come out that far behind.

[2mAn]

Sounds like it's time for Aluminum Monster 2: N52 Boogaloo

I've thought about this, but likely will just stick to the M20

[e30cs]

Hey guys! This is Sam - I'm the one who started Heritage Enthusiast Racing (HER). I thought I would jump in and contribute to the conversation.

First off, I gotta say - I really appreciate you guys even caring enough to start a conversation about the project. As you can imagine, or maybe some of you know, its challenging and a bit scary to start a project like this, let alone share it with your peers and friends. Its been cool to see the conversations, contributions, and perspectives flood in over the past couple weeks. So again, thank you.

Second, I wanted to just introduce myself and share why I did this and how this project has unfolded over the past couple years.

Quick background/intro: This all started from when I was a 6 year old kid, having conversations with my dad where he would share his love and enthusiasm for the BMW 507 and 2002 - this obviously also extended to the E30. Its an understatement to say that as a very young kid I became OBSESSED with those kidney grills and quad headlamps. I remember I had a little notebook/sketchbook and literally every other page had drawings of the iconic front kidneys and quad lamps. Early in the notebook the sketches were absolutely terrible, but as the pages progress, so did my ability to represent those iconic features. I'm sure a lot of you have similar backgrounds with either fathers, uncles, or friends introducing the spark to your passions on cars and the E30.

Fast forward 25 years and a couple Subaru and Mitsubishi builds later (cause that's all I could afford at the time) I finally bought my first E30 - the 325is you saw in Episode 1. Its an understatement to say that I was stoked. At around the same time by happenstance I had a chance to pick up a 2024 M3 CS and started to do some NASA track days and really fell in love with track driving. As you can imagine with the E30 and the CS in the garage the wild idea started to come to life - to see if I could build the OG 3 series to beat my M3 CS on track. I had known Chris (Castro) for a while, and started to chat with him a couple years ago about the idea. He was pretty pumped about it, so I got more and more pumped about it. I started to connect the pieces and was stoked to go on the journey with Chris. The idea took a little better form over a few months and then we actually filmed Episode 1 over a year ago. It was obviously our full intention to do this build with the 325is - and it was disappointing for me to when we changed directions, but also exciting in a different way. When Chris came to me with the idea to just go with a bare frame M3, I was pretty intimidated and definitely had to wrap my head around the change.

There's always countless paths these projects can take - its never easy to make the decisions, especially the big ones - but my whole intention on this project was to celebrate the incredible platform that is the E30 - and between Chris and I - we both felt having the OG M3 be the center of that celebration wouldn't be regrettable - but maybe even pretty special.

With all that said - I want y'all to know we are aware we didn't do this project/build perfect, and we messed up at times - and ultimately everyone is going to have a different perspective on how we "should have" or "could have" gone with it. And to be honest, I love that. I love that people have their knowledge and perspective on the build - and I definitely got a lot of input from people I trusted along the way. We tried to keep things as authentic to BMW and the M3 as possible, and we tried to film everything we could so we could share with our friends and fellow E30 lovers (we DEFINITELY made a lot of mistakes in what we filmed/didnt film, we are still newbies when it comes to documenting things perfectly etc.). Learning a lot through this process.

I welcome and would love to continue getting feedback on the project and future projects. I really appreciate all the feedback - good/bad/ugly.

Best,

Sam

[E30 Wagen]

I'm glad you're not gutting that 325is and ended up building that bare M3 shell. If the plan from the beginning is to gut the car for a track focused build then it makes no sense to me to start with a nice $9k survivor that will remain desireable as such for generations of enjoyment on the street.

After all these years I'm still learning things (or I'm just forgetful) - I knew the cabrios had more chassis reinforcement but didn't know about the extended frame rails and the thicker metal all around. Good idea to just swap the entire front clip over, would have never thought of that. It'd be interesting to know just how much could be taken from a cabrio to stiffen up a regular two door.

Interesting that you're leaving the sunroof skin, though I guess that isn't easy to properly delete on a M3. It's a shame that virtually every M3 delivered here has one. I'm impressed by what Redux did with their combined roof, A pillars, and cowl panel skin. https://www.instagram.com/p/ChMavfPI_Ki/ Looks like the best way to do a carbon roof, I just wonder just how strong those A pillars are in a crash.

If S14s weren't so expensive I'd love to see what a 2.7 could do. Another interesting NA engine might be a stroked N52 with some fancy induction and exhaust system. My dream build is an alloy s38 4.0 swapped into a fully reinforced carbon-bodied M3.

[Northern]

I'm also glad about not gutting the 325is. Not sure that you're going to get the full benefit of the M3 without the front suspension. That said there are more aftermarket options than ever. MRT DTM front setup looks especially nice...

I think we're all extremely curious about what your plans are for weight savings? carbon roof, hood, lean out some material forward of the strut towers, etc?