E30 Zone

I've decided to do make a 335i track car, I've gone for the kit that ed325i was selling which consists of an E34 3.5 M30 with manual gearbox, loom and ECU, E28 535i rad, E30 M3 prop, golf mk 1 brake servo, electric fan, engine mounts and exhaust system.

The plan is to put it in a tech 1 sport which I have sourced, fully strip it and fit poly bushes, uprated ARB's, shortshift, bucket & harnesses and a roll cage.

I have a few questions at this early stage though...

-Does the standard M30 manifold work in the e30 engine bay, or is a custom one needed?
-Is Power steering a must, I'm quite attached to my manual steering!
-What front springs are ok for the additional weight?
-What brake upgrades would you suggest for the car, its going to be used on track mainly, any experience of the 312mm discs/750 calipers/300mm.de adaptors? What about the rear?

No doubt I will have more questions, but thats just my initial queries!

Thanks,

Theo

-Does the standard M30 manifold work in the e30 engine bay, or is a custom one needed?

The standard one fits.

-What brake upgrades would you suggest for the car, its going to be used on track mainly, any experience of the 312mm discs/750 calipers/300mm.de adaptors? What about the rear?

I have just sold the 312mm set up to Ant. I would go for this set up at the front and e30 m3 cailpers with z1 discs at the back.

-What front springs are ok for the additional weight?

Alpina used the springs from a car fitted with air con.

Thanks for that Ed, they were just a couple of the many things that I was unsure of. Am I right in thinking that I need an M20 gear linkage and temp sensor?

Theo325 wrote:Thanks for that Ed, they were just a couple of the many things that I was unsure of. Am I right in thinking that I need an M20 gear linkage and temp sensor?

It comes with the gear linkage the right length.
And you will need the blue temp sensor.

ed325i wrote:

Theo325 wrote:Thanks for that Ed, they were just a couple of the many things that I was unsure of. Am I right in thinking that I need an M20 gear linkage and temp sensor?

It comes with the gear linkage the right length.
And you will need the blue temp sensor.

The blue temp sensor is the M30 one
The temp gauge sensor (brown)needs to be an M20 one!

Yes it is the brown one needs to be changed so the gauge works.

Thanks for the pointers, i've seen Z1 discs mentioned before, are they still available from BMW? Can you get them from a motorfactors cheaper? Ed, if you don't mind me asking, what was the cost for all the necessary parts for the 312mm conversion?

I've also just been looking about at various 335's on the zone, and so far all of them have been in facelift cars, so Im assuming I will need the expansion tank and various other bits from a later 325i. Any other bits you can think of which I need at this early stage?

Thanks again,

Theo

This is going to be a wicked conversion for a stripped out tech 1 racer

Cheers mate, looking forward to it alot, as soon as it's run in I'm off to the 'Ring - will be buying the biggest sticker available!!!

Haha, wicked. This sould be perfect for the ring, its gonna rip!

I'll be following this project Theo!

The M30 engine only weighs around 20-25 kg more than an M20 so with a few bits stripped out - especially all the soundproofing on both sides of the bulkhead, fog lamps etc. there shouldn't be much difference in weight at the front.
I went for lowering springs for a 325i and it sits and drives fine.

Standard manifolds might be ok with a standard steering set up (although I think Gareth can still get contact between his manifold and steering coupling on his 335i - I'm sure when he sees this thread he can confirm that!), if not the one with the longer outlet on it can be modified as it has a steel part attached so can be cut, extended and welded.
It makes the downpipes a bit of a pain to fabricate but it's easily do-able.

With E36 or Z3 racks things are a bit trickier - haven't sorted mine out yet!

I've heard the Audi TT brake conversion is good for the money but you will need bigger wheels, obviously!

There was a guy at Santa Pod on the Ultimate BMW day who was drifting a stripped 335i like a good'un, and he had no power steering so it may not be that bad! Apart from when you are parking it perhaps.

You will need an M30 throttle cable if you don't have one.

You can use a later 325i or an E34 M30 expansion tank - the triange shaped one that goes at the back of the engine bay - that's if your's does't work.

You also need either an E30 M3 propshaft or the front half of an E28 or E34 M30 one and get it shortened and balanced with the rear half of the E30 prop.

Good luck dude!

my manifold was hitting the steering linkage so i had to solidly mount the engine in place to stop it doing it, its a stripped out 5 studded track car so i didnt mind doing it

Cheers Martin, I skimmed through your whole 3.5 thread last night, didn't realise the trouble you had getting it going, I was well chuffed when you announced that you had sorted the timing at last!

I'm going for the full strip as well, losing the carpet is another big weight, as is all that bloody sounproofing in the bulkead area. Where did you get your roll cage from? What was the cost? Is it a weld in or bolt in type? I've only just seen that those 312mm brakes only fit under 17" wheels, so thats a no go, need something to go under 16" or 15" if possible.

I'm ideally located between yourself and Gareth, would be great to get the three cars together sometime (not that mine is going to get done anytime soon )

Ant2 you mention mounting the engine solidly, would polybushes sufficently prevent movement do you think?

Im assuming I will need the expansion tank

I have got one it will come with the engine.

my manifold was hitting the steering linkage

I used the mk1 golf servo so I could move the engine over a bit to give me 1/2" clearance between the manifold and steering. This is where the e30.de mounts are not good because they where designed for left hand drive, Thats why I made my own.

Thats excellent news Ed, I take it this has no adverse effects on the alignment of the prop?

Thanks for the expansion tanks as well!

need something to go under 16

They will go under 16" E Mail tino on the www.300mm.de site to see how much the adapters are.
The discs you can get from gsf car car parts of euro car parts. calipers from a braker.

Theo325 wrote:Thats excellent news Ed, I take it this has no adverse effects on the alignment of the prop?

Thanks for the expansion tanks as well!

The prop is still ok.

I will have to email Tino once i'm in the position to start doing the brakes, but looking at the website seems to suggest that the adaptors are bloody expensive, will also look into a Willwood 4 pot kit for the front, and the M3/Z1 combo on the back.

Theo325 wrote:Cheers Martin, I skimmed through your whole 3.5 thread last night, didn't realise the trouble you had getting it going, I was well chuffed when you announced that you had sorted the timing at last!

I'm ideally located between yourself and Gareth, would be great to get the three cars together sometime (not that mine is going to get done anytime soon )

Ant2 you mention mounting the engine solidly, would polybushes sufficently prevent movement do you think?

Most of my trouble getting it going was me being a twat!
It's still not quite right either!

Would be great to have a meet up with Gareth too if he's up for it!

I've been thinking about uprated engine mounts too, either poly ones or the ones that have been shown on here by Spooks (?).

Another thing, I've heard that the water pump is a weak point on the M30 engine so fitting a new one before the engine goes in would be advisable, they aren't expensive.

Martin.

i managed to snap 3 std mounts so poly ones would be a good idea, solid ones even better as it moves about alot

the adaptors are bloody expensive

I think they are around the £180 mark

i made a adapter plate to fit e36 m3 rear breaks on e30 m3 trailing arms so thats an easy option for the rear, and you can get 15" wheels over them

cool! the southeast 335i following is growing! we can have 335i only meets soon!

if you want to pop down the A21 one weekend and have a butchers / chat, feel free. mine is at present off the road but running and i'd happily host a mini 335i meet!

i am getting contact on the column (using e30.de mounts and a E32 manifold) but some juggling with the dowpipe clamps and an angle grinder would cure this with little effort. i have a lot of servo clearance so could slide the engine across a bit.

if you're looking at track use, the WMS brakes i'm running would be well worth looking into. they're going to be a vast amount lighter than the tank spec bmw calipers and 312mm disksc and at 280mm, will fit inside 15" BBS's. the unspring weight of a 15" BBS and light brakes over heavier wheel/brake combintations is well worthwhile. a few of us on here have these now (me and slartybartfast (?) + others but i can't remember who off the top of my head). they do work well, very well! i have tried my best to kill them while acting as test pilot and never suceeded! slartybartfast has had them on for a lot of track miles and also rates them (along with a WMS sponsored racing TVR with the same setup!!! )

pm keri-wms (my bro with the pervert lens on his camera if you remember him?!!!!) as he is the man to talk to regarding the truth about braking systems.

Theo -

I'll also gladly show you around / in / under my 335i.
And as mine is road legal you are welcome to come out for a spin (not literally I hope!)!

I've also got a pair of 740I front calipers which I'd sell.
I was going to go down the TT discs route but I've grown too fond of my 15" BBS wheels!

A 335i meeting round Gareths would be - he makes good tea!

If you are going for a striped out racer I wouldnt use the 312mm disc set up they are very heavy.
I would go for a willwood 4 pot set up.
Theo did you get the engine out of the van ok ?

why wilwood over WMS? WMS kit sales pass a commision onto the E30zone...

Ed, the engine came out of the van with very little drama actually, is a heavy lump though.

Do WMS have a website Gareth?

gareth wrote:why wilwood over WMS? WMS kit sales pass a commision onto the E30zone...

I am not saying wilwood over WMS but I would go for the wilwoods simply because they are a proven set up and used all over the world.

It may be a good idea if WMS put there kits up against other kits in a test and it was covered in a mag then people could see how good they are.

I may need uprated brakes soon and will be thinking about the WMS kit if they fit under my mims.

I've only just noticed the last two posts on the first page of this thread?!? Must have sounded well rude not acknowledging the offers! Sorry!

It would be great to have a look at both of your cars when time permits, once uni finishes in mid december I will be down and hopefully have a good look/chat with both of you.

I didn't realise that Keri-WMS was your brother Gareth! Will drop him a pm once the project is up and running. Touch wood, I can't envisage the conversion taking too long, I just need a space to work in, pull the M20 tat out of the sport and get cracking. Ed has saved me alot of time and hassle getting everything together.

Another question (you lot must be fed up with me already) but what mounts are used to attach the E28 rad? The thing is massive compared to the early 325i rad

Another question (you lot must be fed up with me already) but what mounts are used to attach the E28 rad? The thing is massive compared to the early 325i rad

It fits in the standard bottom mounts and then I fixed it at the top with the to mounts on the side of the rad.

my manifold was hitting the steering linkage

See lots of room. there is more then it looks.

Is that a facelift car? If so I think that they have different rad mounts to the early cars. But either way I have the other bits from a later 325i breaker so can just use those and mount in the same ways as you have done in the picture.

Is that a facelift car?

No it was a pre face cab.

mine is a facelift and i jsut got some of those clip in captive nut thingies from halfords and screwed the rad down. job done! my E28 rad didn't fit the bottom mounts so it's held firm with two heavy duty tie wraps (must sort it one day) but it's as solid as it needs to be! my rad is an auto one though so could be a bit different...