Hello guys! ive decided that i want to start doing track days at castle combe and i think a e30 is the best car for the job ( small, rear wheel drive and cheaper than lots of other rear wheel cars)
Now i have been reading a bit on here about the 325i m20 engine and from what i gather is not a very tunable engine? am i right in saying this? Having never driven a e30 325 i dont know what the steering a general handling is like.
My budget is quite high and i will be doing all of the maintenance myself.
cheers
Dan
track e30 advice
Moderator: martauto
i have just done that and it is a great car. My advice, buy one with the best bodywork you can. Lots of them have lots of rust and you can spend a lot of time and money putting it right. Try and get a 2 door if poss. Then come and do some racing mybe later...
You can get lots of parts and advice here, but be sure to use you own judgement too. Firstly give it a good service and make sure it goes and stops well. Then get it to a track and start adding/tacking off bits..
You can get lots of parts and advice here, but be sure to use you own judgement too. Firstly give it a good service and make sure it goes and stops well. Then get it to a track and start adding/tacking off bits..
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rix313
- E30 Zone Team Member
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- Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:00 pm
- Location: Silverstone
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I've preped my 318iS for track use, now super charging it, that'll be used at Combe too only down the road 
Ontop of the cost of the car, fairly decent roll cage would be near £600, bucket seat if you wanted it could be £150 absolute max if bought second hand and there are some bargains to be had out there. Then if you wanted to fit poly bushes add a couple of hundred to do the whole car, front strut brace to help stiffen the front £50. You should then have a good stiff fun chassis to have a giggle with. Look at maybe EBC (or similar) brake pads to help you stop, or there is a full 4 pot brake kit made by WMS (can be found on here) for £600 and they're brilliant. Obviously then go into the realms of maybe coil over suspension @ £600 odd again then get stuck in with that engine and do a turbo conversion.
E30's are epic blank sheets.
You'll have a hard time convincing people the 325's aren't tunable. Check out the projects section, there are turbo conversions by the plenty and a very interesting twin turbo which has some amazing engineering. I don't know exact figures off hand for them, but my 1.8 DOHC will easily see 200+ BHP (from 130 odd BHP) with an under sized (for capacity) Mini cooper charger. So don't you dare write it off as un-tunable
Ontop of the cost of the car, fairly decent roll cage would be near £600, bucket seat if you wanted it could be £150 absolute max if bought second hand and there are some bargains to be had out there. Then if you wanted to fit poly bushes add a couple of hundred to do the whole car, front strut brace to help stiffen the front £50. You should then have a good stiff fun chassis to have a giggle with. Look at maybe EBC (or similar) brake pads to help you stop, or there is a full 4 pot brake kit made by WMS (can be found on here) for £600 and they're brilliant. Obviously then go into the realms of maybe coil over suspension @ £600 odd again then get stuck in with that engine and do a turbo conversion.
E30's are epic blank sheets.
You'll have a hard time convincing people the 325's aren't tunable. Check out the projects section, there are turbo conversions by the plenty and a very interesting twin turbo which has some amazing engineering. I don't know exact figures off hand for them, but my 1.8 DOHC will easily see 200+ BHP (from 130 odd BHP) with an under sized (for capacity) Mini cooper charger. So don't you dare write it off as un-tunable
Rix thanks for the advice! really helpful. So you think that a 1.8 ltr instead of the 2.5 is a better engine for track use? ( just like the sound of the six) lol.
I cant wait to get started! just need to find a car! I dont care if its a 5 door or a touring, i actually like the look of the touring but i bet it weights more.
I cant wait to get started! just need to find a car! I dont care if its a 5 door or a touring, i actually like the look of the touring but i bet it weights more.
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GrindCulture
- E30 Zone Addict
- Posts: 2955
- Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:00 pm
- Location: Exeter
There are a few people who have stock M20 powered track cars. Splash the cash on suspension and brakes, strip it, cage it, make sure it's running sweet and as close to stock power as possible and that'll be plenty enough for a good hoon around Combe. The M30 option is there too if you want a cheap lump of grunt shoved under the hood.
Not in E30s any more 
no offence, but I thought you where talking of a "quite high" budget in your first post.ottoman wrote:yeh thats a little to high for me. im looking on spending 4k max.
4k is juuuust enough to get a decent 325 track ready without touching the engine at all.
just my opinion.
don't get caught in the "I buy the cheapest car around and convert it into a track day car" trap.ottoman wrote:oh right, ok. well its a progressive thing, i will buy the car first then sort the handling and stoping power out. Try it out on the track and see how rubbish i am! lol Then consider engine mods with more pennies at hand!
Cheap can work out very expensive sometimes. As previous poster said, buy the best body you can find. Sorting out major just = major headache.
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rix313
- E30 Zone Team Member
- Posts: 4966
- Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 11:00 pm
- Location: Silverstone
- Contact:
ottoman wrote:Rix thanks for the advice! really helpful. So you think that a 1.8 ltr instead of the 2.5 is a better engine for track use? ( just like the sound of the six) lol.
I cant wait to get started! just need to find a car! I dont care if its a 5 door or a touring, i actually like the look of the touring but i bet it weights more.
I was using my car as an example but if you go for a 1.8 you'll be after the 16v one found in the iS models which are fairly sought after and abit too nice to pull apart (
). Maybe go for a good shelled 1.8i or 1.6i (both 8v) and do the conversion to what ever engine you decide to get? the smaller engined ones will be cheaper and the extra cash could be spent doing the conversion if its something that'd interest you? or get a 1.8i and turbo if for the extra power, would also be a good project?Like I said, they're amazing blanks sheets
yeh i planned on spending good money on the car, i know that i want a good shell. Its only the engine size's available and the tuning potential for different engines that i would like advice on.
how much should i pay for a good e30?
how much should i pay for a good e30?
318iS vs 325i is pretty much a personal preference thing. Personally i have a 325 beacuse i have functioning ears.
M20 is fairly tuneable. Mine's showing potential for 200+bhp, with large cam it's running almost 190 with a terrible exhaust and standard AFM.
If you define "tuneable" in Supra or Skyline terms then yes, it's not very tuneable.
£4k should get you a very good track car if you spend carefully. The key is getting a good car in the first place. In all i've probably spent around that much in a few years, but i've had engine problems in that time though. Suspension change with accompanying full rebush would be my first step, i regret not doing this sooner.
M20 is fairly tuneable. Mine's showing potential for 200+bhp, with large cam it's running almost 190 with a terrible exhaust and standard AFM.
If you define "tuneable" in Supra or Skyline terms then yes, it's not very tuneable.
£4k should get you a very good track car if you spend carefully. The key is getting a good car in the first place. In all i've probably spent around that much in a few years, but i've had engine problems in that time though. Suspension change with accompanying full rebush would be my first step, i regret not doing this sooner.