E30 Zone

Evening chaps.

I joined in summer 2006 when I bought an old 316i as a beater. I turned out to love the car and was gutted to the bottom of my stomach when I crashed it in January 2007.

I currently have a '95 318is as a beater which I have spent time improving having got it in a dirty unloved state.

I have the chance to get another project car as I have got some land I can use. I desperately want another E30 to strip to bare shell and restore.

My plan is to pick up a 2 door 316i or something and put a bigger engine in it - how hard is this to do on these cars???

Cheers

Rob

Welcome back, Rob. It's probably not too difficult to convert a 316i with a larger engine, but why not buy a larger engined one, e.g. 325i to begin with? That way, you get the appropriate uprated suspension, rear disc brakes, etc.

Speedtouch wrote:Welcome back, Rob. It's probably not too difficult to convert a 316i with a larger engine, but why not buy a larger engined one, e.g. 325i to begin with? That way, you get the appropriate uprated suspension, rear disc brakes, etc.

I would love to but I need to get a cheap E30 to start with and it seems that the 316i/318i is the best bet without spending loads on a bigger engine to start with...

Ideally I want to drop an M42 in it.

dont you mean an m52?

in the long run it is going to make sense to go with a bigger engined car, as for the bigger engine it is adviseable to use the beefed up brakes/suspension, and buying all that is going to be costly

^ Nope - I have heard that the 318is M42 engined cars are a real drivers car.

I have the M42 in my E36 and it is too underpowered for the weight of the E36, but because it is 4 cylinder the balance of the car is the best of all the E36's apart from the M3.
In the E30, it will perform loads better and it is a very reliable and cheap to run engine.

Add to that the fact the engine is lighter and smaller I might have half a shout of getting it in and out without breaking myself!!!

If a 6 cylinder donor was available I would strongly consider it though....