My fast road / m52 build

[Jonny6]

Hi guys , well I'm new to the forum and to e30s for that matter , my background is all things fast road / track orientated , couple of my previous cars being a 205 mi16 and a mk2 golf 16v on jenvey throttle bodies .. The e30 had been on the bucket list for as long as I can remember and the itch for somthing rear wheel drive wasn't going away so it was a no brainer really .

So the hunt began .. I didn't have a mega budget as I'm getting married and buying houses etc etc so a 325 sport was out of the question , the main concern was a structurally sound chassis with minimal rust and rot .

I eventually found a nice little sterling silver 320 , on first glance it was a bit "Boyd up" for my liking with the window tints , eBay Coilovers , bbs replica wheels and all the smoked front end etc but cosmetics can be addressed , the chassis however was spot on ! Sills floor and bootoms of the boot corners were mint .. So I snapped it up .. I had bought the base for my project .
A pic of the car when I first bought it .



So the plan for it is to build a useable daily driver set up for fast road with the ability to do some light track work .. All the interior will remain intact , all be it slightly different , but it will remain ..
Suspension wise , I'm going to opt for a shock and spring set up as I think will suit the type driving / roads that the car will be used on ..
Engine wise . Got to be the 2.8 from the e36 .. But time tell .. My main concern on getting a decent chassis suspension set up ..

More updates to follow soon ....

[Jonny6]

Right .. So up first on the to do list was the suspension .. The eBay Coilovers wernt really cutting the mustard on the b-road stuff . Springs felt far to soft and the car felt nervous when pressing on .. Time for somthing a bit more appropriate ..
With the car being a 320 it was on 45mm struts , and with the m52 conversion on the horizon it seemed the ideal time to switch to the 51mm struts ..
I managed to source a set via eBay , they were a bit mucky snd and had some surface scabs but nothing major ..



I couldnt fit them to the car looking like that so had to give them a little refurb , plus I couldn't bare to slide a brand spanking new shock insert into a tatty old strut ..

[Jonny6]

So the refurb began . I attacked them
With an underseal grinder , designed to take the paint off but minimal amounts of metal ..

Lick of paint..




Token bilstein sticker .. ☺ï¸a all ready for there new inserts ..

[magpie]

subscribed

[jimbom30cab]

Subscribed, where did you get those struts from ??

[Jonny6]

Goodies have arrived ☺ï¸a☺ï¸a




Bilstein b8's and h&r spring kit , head lots of good things about these .. Can't wait to get them on .

[Jonny6]

The struts I got from a chap called Pete down uxbridge way , I actually think the pic I uploaded was the wrong struts .. They were basically the same condition though lol ..

[magpie]

get the adjustable arb kit if you can .

[Jonny6]

get the adjustable arb kit if you can .

Make much difference magpie ?

[JungleGus]

I do like my Eibach sway bars - really tightens up handling and balance. Not crazy expensive and helps it corner a lot flatter. Less whaling is nice...

[Jonny6]

Anyone doing good deals on the arb kits ?

[Jonny6]

So a little update guys .. Managed to get my new inserts into my refurbed struts . They turned out really good . So I'm well chuffed with that ..

New and old .. The bilstein setup looks far superior .



Got a set of the e30 m3 front bushes to go on aswell .. Extra castor = win !

[ACJJ619]

Dead interested in this! I'm in an identical situation - new to E30's and going for a fast road/occasional track setup, on a fairly lower end budget.

I've stuck an M52 2.5 in mine. I originally intended on the 2.8 but the one I bought was ruined and due to time constraints, I went for the first available engine. It's a little more revvy than the 2.8 and by the time I've stuck an M50 manifold on with a remapped ECU, it ought to match the 2.8 in performance anyway.

So I've done the engine and am about to start on suspension so will be following this thread closely! Loving what you did with the struts! What was the process and what paint did you use? The finish looks so smooth.

Let me know what you do regarding bushes!

[Jonny6]

Updates .... So been quite busy the last few weekends with kids and awesome Motorsport events and general awesomeness .. However , I did manage to source some bits and bobs and get Some stuff done on the old girl.

So with this build the plan is to do all of the chassis , suspension , brakes etc before I make it faster , that's just generally how I like to do things . So sourcing the replacement engine was at the bottom of the list of things to source . But.... A friend of mine put me onto a guy who was selling his spare race engine as he was leaving the 328 class he currently races In and moving up to m3's . The engine is a low mileage 2.8 with m50 inlet , throttle body, aws delete and the ecu has been mapped . The owner "claimed" it made 228 bhp on the rollers . The engine also came with gearbox . Race loom and full loom , 2 x ecu's , prop , radiator and lots of various spares .
After a good chinwag with the guy about his race car and my "project " a deal was struck and I ended up buying the thing id vouched not to...

Engine in question


The engine will be getting a refresh consisting of a service , gaskets and various seals that just makes sence to do while it's out .. But that will be over the next few months .

Also removed the ghastly window tints and removed the bbs style replica wheels for somthing a bit more fitting . So found some second hand compomotive th's that fit the bill quite well .. Not sure if I'll keep them black but they are fine for now ..

Rubbish pic but you get the idea ..



Opted for some new rubber in the way of federals RSR's



And lastly in the lust of updates and probably my favourite , my new diff . Sourced from the zones for sale section .. A Gareth built 3:91 medium case viscous torsen LSD .. I cannot stress how awfull the welded diff was that the car came with .. God awfull thing ! The car is so much nicer to drive now .. It has a front end !!!

New unit being installed



More updates on the cards so stay tuned ..

[oomz1975]

I will be keeping an eye on this, nice work.

[DanThe]

Proper diff!

[Jonny6]

Cheers guys , got a few more updates to post up when I get some time ..