E30 Build Advice

[spidermanning]

I bought an E30 off of VW dealership unseen. Ya you know this is going to go well.

It is an 86 JDM import (I’m in Canada) marked as a 325I with the Mtech II body kit. I wanted a rust free four door which I found with this and it only cost me $750, Yay! And that’s where the good stuff ends.

I had to put it through an comprehensive out of state inspection which included timing belt & water pump replacements, some bushings on the front end, a lot of work around the drive shafts (u-joints), body work on both the front and rear and a lot of little things to get it through. $4,000 later!!!

Two months after buying it I finally got it home and couple things jumped out at me, first bad wobble at 35 – 50 mph still, feels like the drive shaft (maybe clocked wrong, either way still not fixed) second bad squeak from rear driver as well as the front passenger (might need some bushings I think), but most interesting to me was that the red line was showing around 4500 RPM… it is marked as a 325 i on the back... I'm new to E30’s and so a little research showed 86 325I’s aren’t a thing, but you know maybe it’s a JDM weird thing going on here. So I opened the hood looked for the markings and sure enough I have the damn 2.7 ETA…. dressed as a 325I.

So that’s where I’m sitting now. My plan WAS to manual swap this and upgrade all the bushings in the car and then start slowly upgrading the suspension components. But I have to be budget conscious and at this point of budget as the out of state (province for me) costed quite a bit more then planned, and you start adding up a manual swap, head or engine swap, fixing the current issues and suspension / chassis upgrades and well lets just say my wife is starting to love this car…

So I’m trying to come up with a plan of how do I approach this in a budget friendly way and, what do I do first, what’s my best bang for buck, I need a plan of attack and one that wont leave me divorced with a $20,000 E30 in the end. A lot of guys here know a lot more about these cars then me so if there any wise words any of you have I can very much use them.

Thanks for reading!

[e30fix]

you should probably post a picture of your car so we can actually see if its a I or an E car. As far as sourcing parts, look for a parts car thats in bad shape, i.e blown headgasket, small fender bender etc and take everything you need.

[spidermanning]

I've attached them, This was at time of purchase, (front bumper is fixed). Is this what you had in mind or were you thinking engine?

because yes it has this:

[MrBurgundy]

Post up a pic of the car!

I'm curious to see the mtech kit on it, because an early model is traditionally fitted with an mtech 1.

Also, you're right about 325i not being available that year.

So let me ask you a few questions; is this going to be your daily? Are you not content with an E motor? What's your budget? What would you want to swap in the car if you're going to ditch the motor in it? Are you capable of doing the work yourself?

My 2 cents would be, start with the suspension of the car first. Go with new OEM parts, which you can source from some of the forum sponsors.

[MR E30 325is]

Agree with Mr. Burg above.

What is preventing you from fixing the wobble issue (could be s easy as unbalanced tires) and enjoying the car as is, and then fixing/upgrading things as time goes on?

My last E30 was close to 30k all in, but it was spread over 9 years. It hurt when I sold it, but its all a part of the game.

[spidermanning]

I put attachments on that previous post, is it working for you? If not I’ll try to figure out how to get them up…. Forum newbie here. Anyways I’m pretty sure it’s an Mtech II but let me know, I’m getting everything else wrong so you never know.

To answer the questions:

I would like to at first use this as a daily in the summer. Down the road that might change but for the next year yes daily.

the E motor feels slow, and if I’m honest I’m not content but could live with it for a while.

My remaining Budget for this winter is around $4,000. Next winter I’ll have more money to sink into it but I’d like to drive it through next summer and not have it in the shop.

I know people swap heads to help it out, and then of course the engine. Right now I’m most interested in a M60 swap, but I have just started looking at this seriously for two days now.

Based on my experience and available time I can do basic stuff but nothing that requires real skill. But I do have a friend who is mechanic who works on old BMW's and has been doing the work for me up to this point.

Preventing me from fixing the wobble would be knowledge, wouldn’t even know where to start.

On enjoying the car as is, only thing I could say is drivetrain is a tough one, an auto with E motor is not a wonderful combination for me.

30K all in it must have been beautiful, the way things are going with mine I could see ending up there.

[MR E30 325is]

The auto is what kills it IMO.

Had an auto 325i and it was miserable. Have also owned a 5-speed ETA, and it was a hoot.

The pictures show us a grouping of body parts, it certainly isn't a full Mtech I or II kit.

It looks clean from the two pics you posted. 4k over a single winter is a decent budget, hell a kick ass budget, relative to many R3ver's.

I vote you work on the boring maintenance stuff first. Get the car ready for an M60 swap.

My 30k E30 was downright hideous actually, but it was an absolute monster. It ate E92 M3's for breakfast.

[spidermanning]

Thank you guys for the advice it is giving me some much needed clarity.

Now my thoughts for this winter are, and i'd love to have opinions on it and pick it apart:

1) Manual swap, I have most of the parts sourced already just a question about a DSSR & Z3 shifter, are these upgrades worth it?

2) Bushings: I found a a poly bushing kit from garagistic for $200 which include Front control, Diff, Rear subframe and trailing arm bushing. Would that cover me on bushings for the most part and how is that for price?

3) Steering rack upgrade - Z3 or E36 whatever I can get my hands on up here, just keep in mind it's harder for me to source parts up here then it is in the states. Any E30 is completely stripped by the time it hits the junkyard in my city.

If I still have room at that point I could look into sway bars and chassis reinforcement but that might be getting close to exhausting my budget when I factor in the cost of labor.

[MrBurgundy]

I think you'd be able to do all of those listed item with your budget.