Interchangable parts/shell differences

Post Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:52 pm

Hi all

Right im thinking about building a track car of my own and toying with the idea of an E30 3 seires with a Cosworth YB lump and running gear. Got a few questions for you lot.

What are the differences in shells/chassis within the range? i.e. 316,318....325i, Sport etc?
Im trying to work out if its cheaper to buy a fairly tidy Sport, break it and use the shell or buy a few hundred quid shitter and then buy the M tech kit, respray etc. obviusly a non sunroof model would be prefered but welding a sunroof up is no trouble

Wheres a good place to get second hand + new parts?
Does anyone manufacture rose jointed wishbones/allignment parts, mag/ali uprights etc?

I would be looking to increase the track on the car... are there any interchangable parts that could be sourced across the BMW model ranges? i.e E36 M3 componants etc?

cheers

Will

Post Thu Jun 28, 2007 7:57 pm

Buy the mintiest shell you can find you can get everything else after.

YB, here comes fuzzy.

Post Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:05 pm

yeh im still umming and arghing about the YB, Im not sure if turbo powers right for an E30 but the power i want would be mega money from a 4 pot nasp lump.

Im trying to come up with a compramise between Weight, size and power. Also need to think about cost of parts aswell. The YB engine has a huuge following and plenty of parts/upgrades available at a fairly good price. I was also toying with a Nissan 200sx S13 lump as they are so cheap and easy to tune + the fact they are small and light.

Post Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:08 pm

How much power are you looking for?

I'm kinda guessing the car will be used as a track car?

Post Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:31 pm

some where between 300 and 400 with minimal weight
the car will be a road legal track car.

Post Thu Jun 28, 2007 9:40 pm

will_c wrote:some where between 300 and 400 with minimal weight
the car will be a road legal track car.

YB sounds a perfect engine then. Or you could use an S14 ( E30 M3 engine with a turbo/supercharger) or build a thumping spec up to 300hp N/A, although that will be very expensive!

Post Fri Jun 29, 2007 6:41 pm

Yeh i think i ll go with the YB. I might try the scooby boxer engine i have sat in the shed for size first.. see how much of a mission that would be.

So does anybody know about the chassis/shell differences and the suspension components then then?

Post Fri Jun 29, 2007 7:20 pm

Tourings and sports both came with m-tech suspension and all round discs

anything with abs has rear discs

shells are all the same except the m3 (bar the obvious differences ie number of doors etc)

suspension is all the same really, m-tech suspension means 51mm front struts tho

318iS and 325i and all tourings came with a rear roll bar, others didnt but can be retrofitted in an hr

Post Fri Jun 29, 2007 8:11 pm

Cossie engine is getting old now. Don't get me wrong a good engine in its day but there is some newer technology out there now which I would have thought would be better suited.

Post Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:53 pm

have to agree. these days there are plenty of other engines that make cossie power more reliably and are more widely avaliable. the two that instatntly pop into my head are the vw group 1.8 20v turbo lump and the mitsi evo engine. maybe the s14 200sx lump.

Post Sat Jun 30, 2007 6:27 am

You can't buy much in the way of custom suspension arms, not that I've seen anyway. I'm going to have a go at making some wide track/increased caster/camber front arms with a bit of adjustability in the rear lollypop bush with a rosejoint. If I ever make them, then I'll be probably selling them on for essentially parts cost lol.