E30 Zone

Hey guys,

A new member from the South West, very interested in all your builds and jealous of your e30s. I fell in love with an M3 while I was out shopping two years ago which I have a picture of below and wanted an e30 ever since (can’t afford an M3 ).

I own an m235i which is in the background below and am currently looking at buying an e30 with my savings and paying someone to engine swap it, so i’d like to gain knowledge from you all!

No doubt the username will be fitting...

Welcome, I was about to get jealous of your M3! Where in the SW are you?

Thanks for the welcome! I’m from Bristol. I wish that was my M3, saw this while I was out and was mesmerised so had to take photos while my Girlfriend was laughing at me for doing so haha

What engine swap are you planning for your future E30?

So, I will have a lot of questions to ask but not sure where to ask them!

My most desirable would be either the s65 (not sure if this is going “overboard”) or the n55 as I love the engine in my current car, something around the 300-400ish HP.

I would first have to buy a base car:

what are the best options? I think the best looking cars are the coupes or saloons.

How much should I budget?

Who could carry out this kind of work and how much is it likely to cost including the engine (can see engines from 3k+

Are these builds regular builds that won’t be too complex? I can see that it seems to he a rarer swap so that may answer my question.

Does the body of the car need to be reinforced to cope with the power?

This is just a dream of mine, sometimes I feel stupid for dreaming, but why not!?

I started looking into this only a week or so ago after seeing this e30 listed (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353072924836) however I thought it lacked power for my liking and after seeing other e30s on here not to sure whether I prefer it clean or widebody/pandem.

Sorry for being a newb!

I can't answer your questions as I know nothing about engine swaps apart from going M20b20 to M20b25. There are plenty here way more knowledgeable than me on this subject. What I can tell you is

a) BMW never made an E30 coupe.

b) The car in the ebay link is horrible!

Hi and welcome. Sorry I can't help with the technical stuff but buying a powerful engine is the easy bit. Getting a sound shell and interior is the hard bit. I agree entirely with Cloggy Saint - the ebay car has been for sale for ages and is horrible. The subtle body changes on a genuine M3 E30 are as wild as a design classic such as these should be. Get looking around for a good shell - there are some excellent rebuild threads on the Zone that will give you an idea of what is involved. Good luck.

Welcome to the zone mate, have you thought about supercharging ??

Mart.

Cloggy Saint wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 12:18 pm

b) The car in the ebay link is horrible!

There's no arguing with that! At least it doesn't have the single wiper conversion. There's a reason it's advertised as a show car - you certainly wouldn't want to drive it far without a pre booked chiropractor appointment.
Blue illumination on the radio and a bled out OBC screen!!!!!
The M3 that you saw is a completely different thing, though. Absolutely beautiful.

Brianmoooore wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 2:06 pm

The M3 that you saw is a completely different thing, though. Absolutely beautiful.

Although I do spot a dodgy grille/mirror combo'.

Cloggy Saint wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 2:26 pm

Although I do spot a dodgy grille/mirror combo'.

I could overlook that if offered it as a gift. Headlamp wipers are AWOL as well.

martauto wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 2:03 pm

Welcome to the zone mate, have you thought about supercharging ??

Mart.

I haven’t. I don’t know what the best options are in terms of engine combination and aspiration. Can you help?

I’d like to attempt to do some of the suspension, breaks and exterior myself as a learning process!

Brianmoooore wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 2:06 pm

Cloggy Saint wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 12:18 pm

b) The car in the ebay link is horrible!

There's no arguing with that! At least it doesn't have the single wiper conversion. There's a reason it's advertised as a show car - you certainly wouldn't want to drive it far without a pre booked chiropractor appointment.
Blue illumination on the radio and a bled out OBC screen!!!!!
The M3 that you saw is a completely different thing, though. Absolutely beautiful.

It does feel like ruining a classic. Looking at what other people have gone for I like the MTEC parts but i’m also a fan of rolled/flared arches.

I already feel like i’ve upset the forum haha.

I’ve also seen this for sale, but not sold on the colour and the alloys are..... vile. It seems to have sold 2 months ago for almost half the price too on eBay..

E30PocketsHurty wrote: ↑

Sat May 23, 2020 3:02 pm

It does feel like ruining a classic. Looking at what other people have gone for I like the MTEC parts but i’m also a fan of rolled/flared arches.
I already feel like i’ve upset the forum haha.
I’ve also seen this for sale, but not sold on the colour and the alloys are..... vile. It seems to have sold 2 months ago for almost half the price too on eBay..

Well I am quite a fan of originality, but I have long since come to the conclusion that originality often does not drive very well Striking the balance is about as personal as it gets.

I will join in with the upsetting and say that the Pandem kit has grown on me over the years and I think done well it can look good. But they are rarely genuine Pandem kits and rarely done well.