E30 Zone

hey everyone...

just a query as to what reasonably priced modifications are available for M10 E30s...

chips?...hardware?...etc

Cheers

sell it? buy a 318is or a 325 or if body work exceptional (which will be fairly rare on a metal bumper car) swap the engines for an M40 or M20

not worth modifying IMO, but if your really keen they basically were the same blocks as the old F1 cars (Paramalat sponsored amongst others), they put out excess of 1000bhp with turbos etc etc!

but stick with my first solution

mrlee

It is not in the throw out category at all.

The M10 itself is unbreakable. The abuse my '85 318i has taken without skipping a beat is amazing. I have a pair of M20 2.5s in the form of an '89 and '90 E34 525is, and I don't like either of them.

I have done little to mine since I like my fuel economy, but here in Australia, there are alot of companies that will tune M10s to mild, moderate, and extreme levels.

Good luck finding anyone that will touch, let alone tune an M40.

Bavariacars here in Australia sell the entire range of M10 parts and performance bits for 2002s mainly, but it all applies to the E30 M10B18s as well.

Decide whether you want to go the turbo route, or the N/A tuned route.

Turbo route ends in this (given your wallet can take it): http://www.bavariacars.com.au/article/?id=42

N/A route ends in this (a fair bit cheaper): http://www.bavariacars.com.au/article/?id=55

Getting 150Bhp out of it with some work is cheaper than the engine swap here in Australia.

Some of my mates have reached 180+ in their 2002s with creatively bored and stroked M10s running the M10B18 (1985 318i) head. No turbos.

It doesnt take a chip, because its the old L-Jet tronic system.

The best value upgrade I've been told consists of a ignition system kit, with a new high performance distributor cap, leads, coil, and plugs. Doesn't sound like it would do much, but it actually makes the most noticeable difference for the least cash and effort.

Most of the M10 fanatics in Brisbane run 2002s or E21s, and alot are running the 2.2L conversion kit, which was recently imported in bulk by a local 2002 owner. I think its a korman kit, and comes with crank, heaps of bits, and this particular kit came with a 4 branch exhaust that doesnt fit on E30s properly.

never said they were a throw away engine, had one my self in an 1986 318i engine was as you say bullet proof until head gasket went then block was scrapped, but 150k miles!

i would imajine there are ways of tuning the M10 but reading the spec of the N/A 2002 he has done a hell of a lot of work and no doubt at great expense to make 165hp, a average 325 will make that standard and the engines can be found even here in Bahrain for a couple hundred aussie dollars, so i doubt finding them in aus will be too hard, but in reality it would probably be easier to sell it and buy a bigger engined E30 unless you tackle the swap yourself

the question was how to modify on a budget, my answer was easiest to change the engine rather than ported head, cams, flywheel, rebore, blanced con rod etc etc etc all for 165hp (and no doubt a rebuild every couple thoudsand k)

i personally thought my 318i was fast enough for what it was, a bullet proof economical car that could achieve illegal speeds and get there as fast as most modern cars less then half its age.

i now own and drive a E30 325 and a E30 320 and have found them to be excellent engines, hence why they really wern't superceded (with exception of the valves and valve system) up to the E46 and the 3.0 M54.

That was merely an example, and is a race car, not a road car.

It is limited to 2.0L because of the race series it runs in, and most of the modifications made to it are to conform to race requirements. Getting 170-180 can be done cheaply with a 2.2 conversion, and there is no need to do the suspension, flywheel, rebore, and more serious head work. A road car simply doesn't need the degree of modification that car has.

The price for a decent M10 without going race spec is very low compared to the price of an M20B25 and someone who knows BMWs well enough to convert an M10 to an M20, while doing a good job.

I found the M20B25 to be excelent as well. Until it needed a new head. And then another new head. And then the other one started overheating. One has 200k KMs on it, the other 230k KMs, both dealership serviced their whole lives.

The M10 has nearly 370k KMs, and at the current rate of rust growth, should outlive the shell by a good 15 years. Despite the fact that it isnt as powerfull as the M20 in stock form, it hasn't left me on the side of the road, ever.

Here is the ignition kit I mentioned earlier.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/BMW-M10-engine-H ... dZViewItem