My S50B32 Race car conversion

[Jamez]

This is my project car that isn't finished just yet, electrics are nearly sorted and a few other odds and ends to do yet

Car Specs are

initial car, 1983 320i manual.

Car it is now consists of

Engine and driveline
S50B32 from a 97 M3 evo
6spd box
3.91 L.S.D.
328i half shafts
e36 M3 driveshaft modified to mate with e30 diff

Suspension and Brakes
318ti rear suspension
e36 M3 evo front hubs and brakes
e46 rear brakes
17 x 8.5 BBS RK003 with 15mm offset, with slicks
offset bushes
offset top mounts for the front struts
standard e30 control arms
eibach coilovers
Z3 front anti-roll bar

Bodywork
Genuine M3 Sideskirts
Genuine M3 front guards that have been flared to fit the wheels
Fiberglass M3 rear guards
Fiberglass M3 front bumper
Fiberglass MTech2 Rear bumper
Fiberglass Mtech2 Rear Wing

Pic's:

Car when I first got it

Naked car

Engine in

had to modify the manifold for the steering to still fit in

no brake booster

m3 kit on

Z3 front anti-roll bar mounts

Front struts

Back from paint

[E30Mark]

Nice! Where's about in NZ are you?

That Mk1 Escort looks nice too!

[Jamez]

Auckland

[Pal318is]

Very Nice Jamez...This should be a monster, once finished...keep the pic's coming!

The Mk1 does look the nuts

[ImysE30]

Awesome work so far, looks beastly

[Daf318is]

Looks awsome - nice set of workshops you have there too

[jmc330i]

Good work, it looks great Loving the Mk1 too, if only my bank balance would stretch that far

had to modify the manifold for the steering to still fit in

Thats pretty much how I did my DIY manifolds, although I was never happy with how the No.6 pipe joined up to the collector - it wasnt the best at all, but it looks like youve done a much better job than I did.


Keep the pics coming

[ThosO]

looks the tits man! i cant wait to do the same conversion on mine!

the m3 kit looks well without the boot and all! keep up the good work!

[gareth]

That Mk1 Escort looks nice too!

Alan Mann colours

tidy E30 too

[Jamez]

got the car to the dyno, is getting 330hp at the crack with Autronic ECU

also got the car to the track for a bit of a photoshoot and a good drive, sadly it was leaning out and causing it to overheat, so a swirl pot is being installed this week.

here are 1 pic with more too come.

[Baz666]

Man thats nice..also good work there guys.

also in the 3rd picture is that a GT500 ??

[Jim78]

That looks awesome - love the caged 'Stang in the background too!

[SUMPCRACKER]

At first i thought - another dreamer.

As i scrolled down i realised your nothing of the sought and infact very serious.

Then i realised you're not in England where the dreamers come from.

Well done chap, fantastic motor.

[m4xos]

let me know when you want to sell

nice work!!

[baptie0]

Looks nice,

did you cut away the rear arches before bonding the new ones?

[Jamez]

yeah

[Rav335uk]

Very nice work Jamez.
What engine rubber mounts have you used??

[Jamez]

we used custom ones from a local suspension shop so it could exactly where we wanted it

[Rav335uk]

What sort of set up can these give you, are they able to move in all directions to give you the exact angle set up for the engine??

[Jamez]

kind of, its not adjustible, but you have 2 pieces to the mount, one bolts to the car, the other the engine. The two pieces of the mount bolt together.

So you can mix and match till you have some mounts your happy with, currenlty it sits ~1cm off the firewall



Also must add, the engine blew up the 6spd on the dyno (long story short, one bit failed and went threw the entire box) so its now running a close ratio E36 touring car gearbox, its also a 5spd

[89-325i]

looks like a real beast. cant wait to see it in the flesh at some stage

[zaust]

Lot's of nice work gone on in that. Would it not be better off with a taller diff ?

[Jamez]

Currently the 3.91 hits redline (8000/154mph) at the end of the main straight, but in January the car will be racing at a faster track and a ~3.46 will probably be needed.

will be taking a video of it at practice this Saturday

[zaust]

Oh post it up asap....

[Jamez]

ok, gearbox was going well for a late afternoon drive before the practice day, then the gearbox fell apart when put in reverse

will be getting another gearbox this week

[Jamez]

this is getting so expensive, it ain't funny, budget is now 2-3 times what it was going to be originally.

Since the last update lots of stuff keeps breaking.

We rebuilt the gearbox as it seems M3 ZF box's (also late 328i) are rare as hen's teeth in NZ. Then my dad went out for practice before its first race and a Flywheel bolt snapped. Nothing was damaged but the car was out for the weekend

Then we got that fixed and also got a tilton setup installed which has made the brakes allot better.

I went out for a practice day and the clutch stopped working, turns out a bolt had come off the inside the bellhousing and jam'd the flywheel causing a catastrophic failure of the clutch and flywheel.

So at the moment were putting in a racing flywheel (which is 6kg compared to the previous 12kg one) and clutch.

I will be taking out for testing this Friday and my dad will be racing in the weekend, I'll try my best to get some in-car footage

here's another pic from the shoot we did a few weeks ago.

[feens]

Mad Car, I Love it Hope all goes to plan, I too have gone over budget with my s50b30 build but it will be worth it in the end, should drive like new

[FMH]

amazing project, top work

[Kos]

are you still using Vanos with the autronic ecu ? power's very good at 330bhp. there are a few 3,2's pushing 350bhp here, but with cams and carbon airboxes.

[Jamez]

yeah, still with vanos and autronic, it can almost keep up with a 500hp turbo porsche in a straight line, the porsche starts pulling away after reaching ~200km/h.

I was messing with the bias and didn't realize how sensitive it can be and accidentally put about 90% of brakes on the rear, went sideways at 150km/h and just kept going sideways for a bit, then it corrected itself. Its extremely well balanced.

[Dantistas]

wow!!dude!!! nice job mate! now i can say,that it is my ideal! it's super truper fantastic,love your car, but i wanna see how it looks in real ;P BRAVO!!!

[scottidog]

Awesome project.

[Jamez]

Wooo new stuff ^_^ well just e36 control arms, Still have the rebuilt diff/front lip and splitter/oil breather can/new slicks/front camber shims and a heap more to put on next weekend


Before with e30 arms

After with E36 M3 Evo arms

Next job is to add the front lip and splitter, havent done it yet so here's a pic of the other M3 in the garage.

Just some random pics I took once the control arms were in...






and to finish it off a random shot of a missing diff and the adapters that hold the e46 calipers on. Diff is being rebuilt at the moment but should be back in by next weekend.

[Jamez]

After all this work its a completely different car, is a dream to drive now and in some places its getting a whole extra gear round the track. Have done the following since last going on the track....

Revalved Rear shocks
Added rear sway bar
Rebuilt Diff
Added spacers to add front camber
Added E36 M3 evo Control arms
Fixed oil leaks
Fixed intake leaks
Spaced out rear swing to stop it slagging
Added front splitter
Added front lip
Fixed the play in shifter
Lowered the front

Also put the wets on just for the time being until the slicks are ready.

[staley_turbo]

Very smart. So what are the advantages to the e36 arms?