E30 Zone

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Hey everyone, my first post, ive been looking for a site like this for ages, well about 6 months since i bought my dream car, a tasty little 316i tc baur, bright red; been on the garage by mine for 5 years!! ive been coveting it since i was 16 lol and 4 years later ive finally got it!

Anyway thats my life story done with, im thinking of relatively cheap ways to make her fly, ive been looking at a pipercross induction kit and thinking of some sort of full exhaust system to open her out a bit but other than that im stumped! you all seem knowlegable to a fault so help me out here? Is there anything else? is it worth it?

cheers!

m30?

Yup im sure it is, assuming thats the one with the auto adjusting valve clearances

i ment M30 it urs is a m10 i think

you will be wasting your money on a cone filter/exhaust,bmw systems are very good,both exhaust and air flow,
cheaper option is an engine swap.

Are you handy with the spanners?

I am indeed, im a fitter, engine swap seems a bit extreme?!

316i is no race engine.
Zaust and filter will be unnoticable.
Or maybe just a 318i engien and box that way it should be a straight fit

ive noticed that indeed, not exactly tail happy in the dry.. so u reckon its pointless? where on earth wud i get an engine like tht?

M30 or m40?
M40 be much easier to fit and cheap on the insuarance but not as fast as the m30 but still be enough to have some fun

ok so lets say hypothetically, a m40 318i engine, how much and where from? surely theres something less drastic i can do? surely?

IMO an engine swap is the best bang for buck you can get,

if you are doing a swap i wouldnt bother with an m40,all the work for little gains.

if i was in your shoes i would go with an m20/b25 (325i engine) its virtually plug and play,

you could get everything you need for sub £350

if your not a fan of ripping engines out,Nitrous?

lol im not tbh but if its the only way ill certainly put some thought into it...350 ay bad really for a whole new engine... wont nitrous tend to blow my already hassled engine to small pieces?

to go 2.5 the £350 should cover ecu and engine loom & box. you'll need to change the instrument clocks coding plug, your diff & exhaust. then with 170+ horses, you'll be needing to fit the larger 51mm front struts, dampers, springs and rear discs..

An easier option is to fit a decent M42 iS engine, you'll still need an exhaust ecu & the coil packs but then the suspension & rear discs are less of a concern & front spring rates will be 'ok'

As lee said, nitrous until you buy another engine

m20b25 swap.. for £350 you can get one with all ancillaries and a full loom and ecu..

I recently sold an m20/b25 with recon head,nearly new clutch,gearbox all ancillaries loom ecu etc for £275,i had other bits to throw in to complete a swap,ie downpipes coding plug etc but the buyer was going from 320i to 325i so not needed

Here was the link to it

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... c&t=138472

you can pick up an open 3.64/3.91 ratio diff for £40,used m20 exhaust for £30 and your away

you will want to change the front legs though as the extra weight of the 6pot on the front end will make the handling a bit

I bought a 6 with 4 pot suspension (iS 51mm) but I had a set of bills and eibachs for the job. Prior to the swap, handling was a joke & speed bumps meant almost bottoming out. no wonder he didn't like it & sold it cheap

wow lol well ill tell ya i wasnt expecting that haha ive come to the decision that i like it as it is if to make it quicker ive gotta basically replace the entire innards of the car, call me lazy but i need her for work and stuff so its not really on the cards to spend that much time on her, ah well thanks for your help anyway guys!!!