E30 Zone

Well i should have kept a runnign diary but anyway ill try provide one now

Well story starts with suspension snapping on my alpina and consequently me flipping my car.


so new car was purchased. A mint close to standard 1990 318is for about 4 grand cheaper than a normal ione due to a pissed off wife selling her husbands car. I put some replica Alpinas on from my other car that afternoon


Old alpina engine went in along with haltech ECU and some other items




Next on the list was handling. I used bilsteins revalved to match king springs, spring rates.
Coilovers were made



I used Noltec camber and caster adjustable solid top mounts with rose joint mounts front and solid rose jointed for the back



rear shocks were bilsteins meant for a commodore (bigger diameter) re valved to suit rear springs


M3 offset control arm bush's


25mm whiteline adjustable swaybar. also had some some stainless steel sway bar links made up


TMS solid rear cross member mounts and diff mount


suspension allready to go in


Mtech 2 bodykit fitted and matched nicely to origional colour


a couple of times at the track in the new shell and i decided i wanted a bit more so i wouldnt have to push the corners so hard

so engine was sold with everything including ECU and exhaust etc...


so a new engine was decided on. i was going to go new engine with a rotrex unit. then a albrex unit. but finally decided on a M52B25tu
Work started


i used a Mk1 golf GTi brake booster which didnt feel very nice because it felt like i was pushing against a brick wall (this was fixed later on)
sorted through the wiring and plumbing thanks to the people on this site


Supercharger was next to go on






Holden Coil packs... Holden Delco ECU is being used with Kalmaker software

serperntine belt


One of the anoying parts for me was figuring out the coolent temp. not very well documented on the internet


pipeing was done
after not being able to fit my standard radiator or a nice E36 one i found i had to use a E21 series 1 radiator for now. a freind had a brand new one still in the box for me





for the exhaust i used the 5 series manifold (non cast iron) after Euro M3 proved to be too hard and group buy were proving to be too hard


Then it was time to drive it


M3 oil filter housing allowed better filtering and easier access
and oilcooler was fitted as can been seen in the bottom left of the pciture


after talking to Lee from massive brakes (top guy) i purchased the adaptor kit for the race kit. The rest i ordered here in australia

i have missplaced to picture of the new brake discs but they weigh 6KG







With some H&R 20mm spacers i got my alpinas to fit



interior was sourced from the alpina with the addition of brand new Black 3 piece carpet


This is my car as sits now










Thanks for looking
Josh

P.S. Ill try get a video up.

Looks FAMTASTIC .........................What does it go like

Goes well... plenty of torque. ill get a video up so people can see. just have to borrow someone with a video camera

That looks a really clean car. Would love to see some vids. bet it sounds good with the whine.

was it a genuine alpina

that is sweet mate.. cant wait to see the vids whats the bhp ?

Stunning! What front lip is that. I've been after something for a while now.

That looks stunning!

Phwoaaaaaaar. Sweet mota!

Nice read, like the gauges housed in the centre air vents, have you got a better picture

Terrible1 wrote:Nice read, like the gauges housed in the centre air vents, have you got a better picture

thats a genuine alpina gauge they retail for around £400 second hand

d6dph wrote:

Stunning! What front lip is that. I've been after something for a while now.

Iv noticed this done a few times and i think it would be fairly easy to make a homemade one out of some sort of plastic or metal. Would be cheap to do too as its flat. All you would need to do is cut it out and bolt it on.

Yeah but I'm a lazy sod

Lol, fair enough. What about the splitters for the M3? they might fit? get a nice carbon one.lol

Just looked at carbon ones..... Not cheap! Especially as they are quite vulnerable.

Very clean and good car, I'm waiting your video of your car running with new engine.

Wow!! Thats an impressive build! Lovely e30

Awesome dude.

tubby17s wrote:finally decided on a M52B25tu

Any reson you decided on a b25? Is it an iron or alu block (did tu mean technical upgrade to iron block or steel liner from Nikasil in OZ)?

serperntine belt

Are you using just idler pullies there or do you have more than one M52 type spring tensioner?

pipeing was done
after not being able to fit my standard radiator or a nice E36 one i found i had to use a E21 series 1 radiator for now. a freind had a brand new one still in the box for me

Where does the water hose from the thermostat that usually goes to the top of the n/s rad go? I've realised I'd need to rearrange my waterpipes into the rad but haven't worked out a neat solution yet.

Do you have pics of the inlet pipework too? By the look of things you have your airfilter on the near side still, into the intercooler, back along behind the intercooler into the sc and then snaking up to the throttle body. Any reason you didn't fit your airfilter on the offside and then take it straight through the intercooler? Do you have aircon in the way?

Cheers dude - it's an inspirational project.

thats the MAN!!! lot of good job done!!!

Quality

Looks like an alloy block to me Ste

Why loose the BMW coil packs?

One thing I would change, and thats f*ck that battery off into the boot and slap a nice M3 cover in its place

Great work though


P.S. - got any spare pina reps?

Dam thats a very very nice setup mate! most impressed. Did you notice a good difference with the whiteline swaybar? im ordering a front 24mm non adjustable and 16mm rear, $189 Ausy each

great car looks amazing nice one fella

was not a genuine alpina but had some genuine alpina stuff in it. there is a dodgy guy who makes replicas here in australia. the origional engine has been in 7 written off chassis so far.

I went to a sign wholesale seller and bought a 6m x 2m sheet of ABS plastic and just cut it up to suit. one of the main reasons i got it was to protect the paintwork. ABS is very strong plastic and you wot beable to break it.

yeah it is a genuine alpina guage. I have a closer pic at home that ill throw up for you.

Its an alloy block. the engine is very light. it weighs approx 140kg with all components (manifolds etc.) as opposed to the m20 which weighs 180kg.

There is only one spring tensioner the rest are just normal pulleys to gain grip on the main pulleys.

On the current radiator i have the thermostat going to the (australian drivers side) top outlet. the the bottom outlet on the radiator (passenger side) crosses over back alonge the radiator to the exhaust side of the engine

the inlet it in front of the passenger wheel. it goes up into the supercharger. then the supercharger push's the air though the intercooler and up to the alpina big throttle body.

I have no air con. i have a sunroof and two windows to do that.

I liek the battery up close. it weighs close to the same amont as the cable required to move it to the boot. and i dont increase resistance.

The ECU is cheap and easy to tune. So it requires the same ignition system

I do have a set of origional alpinas too that im saving.

Get the adjustabe front and dont worry about ordering the rear swaybar. People generally dont want to stiffen the rear end up too much.

'ste' i tried to put it on E3024v.net lat night but it keeps going to an error page

it should be working.. no probs for me..

tubby17s wrote:'ste' i tried to put it on E3024v.net lat night but it keeps going to an error page

Weird, I know DanThe can't post on there either and he's using a Mac, although I've tested it on a Mac and it was fine...

PM me please or mail me on ste@e3024v.com and I'll see if I can sort it for you, would love to have the car on there so I can pick your brains a bit more.

better picture of alpina guage as promised

I was just going to get the front adj swaybar but i want to flatten the rear out more as well. Get the drifts going better ;) I has to improve things a little, and help keep both wheels flat on the ground with the v8 tq

what kind of hp are you expecting at the wheels?

200kwatw

yeah sway bar will defintly send the rear end out for you

well installed a fuel swirl pot on sataday. bit of a pain trying to get it to fit under the car without having it close to the exhaust system. used a EFI swirl pot that i got from tweakit along with some new fuel lines, new efi hose clamps (they are slightly different), a walbro fuel pump and a volvo fuel filter.

tubby17s wrote:200kwatw

yeah sway bar will defintly send the rear end out for you

Bout the same as me almost. Man these sway bars are a bitch to fit!

I slide the sway bar into the swaybar arm after its bolted in with some rubber grease on them (stops the squeeks too)

tubby17s wrote:I slide the sway bar into the swaybar arm after its bolted in with some rubber grease on them (stops the squeeks too)

I really dont think thats possible with mine lol, ill try it though. Mines a 24mm bar so its alot fatter than factory

drifty have you done a full write up on your car yet? some guy on eurocca treid pointing people in this direction but i coulndt find your write up only your exhaust one.