interchangability of e30 parts to e21

[grungeisdead]

Hi guys,

Coming from the VAG world, they share alot of parts throughout the range, and therefore upgrades from later vehicles can retrofitted, such as bigger brakes, suspension, engines etc.

My housemate has an E30 cabriolet (325i) which he is converting to a V8 with M3 running gear, so alot of his parts will be surplus.

This is where my questions come in.

1) The brakes on my e21 are awful, the front discs are warped, and the brake fluid needs renewing. Will the e30 325i calipers bolt straight on to the e21 hubs? Are the hub mounting points the same?

2) Rear brakes - I had read for disc conversions, people use the 323i rear trailing arms complete, now I can imagine this is sought after upgrade, and therefore the trailing arms are probably in short supply. Can the e30 rear brakes be bolted to the stock e21 316 trailing arms, or can the complete trailing arms from an e30 be used.

3) The original solex is due a strip-down and clean, I would rather keep the original 318 1.8 m10 engine, but unsure whether to bolt some bike carbs on (done a couple of conversions on my poloes in the past with much success at minimal cost) or is there an OEM route to convert to fuel injection?

If anyone has any threads bookmarked that covers these, please let me know.

Failing that, once I have finished doing some jobs on my mk1 golf, and can get it back into daily action, I will start having a play with the e21, and will try, by trial and error to see what fits and what doesnt - I will document anything that works, for future reference.

Thanks
Saf

[Kedge]

There is a fuel injected version of the M10 in the E30 range, not sure what would be involved in the conversion though.

I'd very much doubt the E30 arms would fit the E21, a quick hunt for pics of both would confirm that. You wouldn't be able to fit E30 rear disc brakes to the E21 316 arms, you can't even do this on E30s, the hub area is totally different.

[teamalsoran]

unfortunatly practically nothing will interchange between e21 and e30

[Rav335uk]

You can swap the rerar beam from the E30 to the E21, but it'll need to be cut and rewelded to fit.

Volvo calipers are an upgrade on the E21.

[capnmchl]

The rear arms are completely different. No idea about the brakes. Best thing you can do is see if they do fit.

As for the carb, is it a twin barrell or single? If it's a twin barrell then it won't take a lot to get a Weber DGV 32/36 to fit on there. With a little tuning should get another 10-15 HP out of it. Or if you're feeling rich, then twin 40's. Weber make inlet manifolds to mount them. Early 318i E30's came with fuel injection, but it'll require the whole engine, and loom etc. I think some E21's came with Kugelfischer or K Jetronic injection, so that could be a route to go down.