E30 on the twisty roads

[Jonesy_325iS]

I bought my 325iS in October, and with the winter weather around the corner, and staring at 3k insurance quotes, I decided to put it straight into storage for the winter.

Got it back about 2 weeks ago, got it insured, mot'd, tax'd, fully serviced, and put it on the road. Ive been driving it quite gently bcoz I thought a 18 year old car with almost 150k miles on the clock might be a bit fragile under my very heavey foot (got the 9 points to prove it...... and 3 engine rebuild recepits and am only 20!!!)

As the days went by I started to relise it wasnt really a weak car at all, and I started pushing it harder and was very plesently surprised. its a very satisfying drive! But i was still taking it canny coz i thought rwd with no traction it would be very tail happy on the twists..........

......but tonight, ive had it out up the moors on the tight twisty country bends, and fcuk me it was fun! its the first time av really pushed it and i couldnt belive how well it handled! once i got used to it i found myself really hamering it thru the turns and it never flickerd once

before this i had a 250+ bhp mr2 turbo, also had a nissan 300zx (n/a auto, but still nice!), a celica gt, and drive me dads e39 525 (with t/c) alot, and I can honestly say this car feels the best when driving hard on the b roads! and the strongest considering the mr2 used to blow up for fun, and the nissan really was too tail happy to push hard.

I still miss the power of the mr2, I hate the fact its hard work keeping saxo vts and pug 106 gtis off my heels........so now i need advice how to improve the power (220bhp at least) without blowing the engine and ruining the handling of the car.....?



Long live the e30, truely an amazing car !

[nav786]

2.7 is the way forward.

[Jonesy_325iS]

How much am i looking at for that mate?

and what kinda power will that give me?

Cheers

[6potWil6pot]

A 2.7 can get 200+ bhp if done properly, im no expert on them! An engine swap gives more power for cheaper but you might upset the balance of the car if you dont look at the suspension also and you drive "that" hard.

I find all 6 cyl BMWs, including my own M50 conversion hold their line well at speeds and can be put into corners quite confidently.

[M5pilot]

Whats your budget? 2.7 and 220bhp is going to be very expensive unless you can do engine rebuilds yourself. even then your looking at Ԛ£3000.

Turbo charging is one way to get over 220bhp.

After that its E36 M3 engine swap. 300bhp.

if you decide 2.7 m20 upgrade and want a genuine 220+ BHP its going to cost Ԛ£5000 inc vat drive in drive out from bexley motor works.

before deciding read through this forum and get upto speed on the tech side of things. The M20 2.7 route gives fantastic torque very low down the rev range which makes for a bloody fast car as proven by my Alpina 2.7 and Karans 2.7

[Jonesy_325iS]

Cheers for all the info guys, plaenty to think about there!

Has anyone on here got the e36 m3 transplant?

Any idea how much this will cost ?

Thanks again for the info

[M5pilot]

Ԛ£5000 from Zoom motorsport.

[Jonesy_325iS]

Cheers mate

So its 5k for a 2.7 upgrade, and 5k for the m3 transplant.......1 gives 300 bhp and the other 220, surely the m3 transplant is the best idea then? Or am i missing something?

[M5pilot]

Thast what Zoom quote for an m3 conversion. I think you need to pay for adecent exhaust though on top.

The other thing is their intake plenum is a bit frowned upon.

But still, its a better conversion, you get 300bhp for the same money.

The 2.7 route costs alot because your spending money on lots of labour building an engine + lots of new engine parts + lots of time on rolling rd.

M3 conversion is simply a conversion.

I think Bexleys also do this conversion very very well.

If your going down the M3 route make sure you stick with the origuional intake plenum.