E30 Zone

So it's been a little while since I have been lurking on the site and I have finally got myself an e30 m3 shell. This is what the car use to look like:





It is now fairly bare as all the DTM pieces did not come with the shell. However it still comes with some good bits:
- poly carb windows
- heated front screen
- Carbon boot, bonnet and wings (20mm wider then standard)
- Carbon door cars
- full Carbon under tray
- Carbon diffuser
- Z3 M rear axle
- bilstein 2 way coilovers
- 18kgmm front and 14kgmm rear springs
- front inner arches raised 20mm
- Z4 manual rack

So I hope to build this up over the coming months.

Here are some pics of the shell as it is:

Full FIA certified cage


fuel Cell


Engine bay ready for an engine

I am not doing this build myself but more to come later on who is going to be helping me with it.

Today's update is that I have bought a 2004 E46 S54 with all ancillaries, loom, ECU etc...

For the front end I have decided to use E46 non-M3 control arms in order to get a slightly wider track. Main problem I've heard with this is that the castor will get messed up as part of this conversion but I've opted for the AKG adjustable control arm bushes to make sure geometry is adjustable and able to be set properly:

Bought some ARBs today also. Given the use of the S54 and the sump the front ARB will need to be flipped and go in front of the cross member so I want to keep weight in front of the cross member to a minimum. I've therefore opted for Ireland Engineering hollow ARB. 25mm front and 22mm rear:



I've decided on a e36 328 or m3 5 speed box and a 3.64 ratio diff - spec yet to be decided.

Superleggera wrote:Here are some pics of the shell as it is:

Full FIA certified cage


fuel Cell


Engine bay ready for an engine

nice!!
whats the merc 190 in the background?

Danny Stevens old car

alpina123 wrote:Danny Stevens old car

That's the one.

So you bit the bullet Nice car! Will go very well with the S54. What do you expect with regards to timescale for getting it track worthy?

Motorhole wrote:So you bit the bullet Nice car! Will go very well with the S54. What do you expect with regards to timescale for getting it track worthy?

I think 2-3 months is being realistic given that Ive already started accumulating all the key parts - just need to finalise diff spec and start researching brake kits and rim/tyre combo. The rest is then just putting the car together and some fabrication (says the guy who sits behind an office desk).

I do want the car ready to make use of the summer track day sessions.

2-3 months is a very short timescale... I'd be wary of pushing to get it done quickly as corners will be cut and this deserves to be a very thorough job!

Good things come to those who wait, and that's not just an attempt to buy more time on my bit!

I do not intend to rush the build at all, in fact I want to do a proper job and there is no room for shortcuts as the car has to have a high level of reliability. Acquiring all the parts doesnt need to take long so we can spend more time putting the car together correctly.

No pressure Gareth - diff is only the last key mechanical part left

This turned up yesterday

Oooh, shiny bits!

Looks good, keep the updates coming!

Looks fantastic - great to see some excellent cars being built on here!!

Not much to report this week unfortunately but I've been doing a lot of research in wheel tyre and brake combos.

I think I've decided on a set of these


The alternative are the volks if I can get the right size and offsets - so lite:


Will be looking to run 265/35/18 rear and 235/40/18 front - A048s

I've also been playing around with the cluster tach so it is a bit more user friendly and has a suitable redline:
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Thanks to Gareth my diff is now spec'd and built.

Are they Ford atlas cluches in the diff????

Yep The atlas axle is actually also a ZF LSD unit, same as some porsches too.

Superleggera wrote:

alpina123 wrote:Danny Stevens old car

That's the one.

Just twigged that its Dannys car too !

How is he, not spoken to him for a while

Nice build.

Will be a real weapon on the track when it's finished.

Kos wrote:

Superleggera wrote:

alpina123 wrote:Danny Stevens old car

That's the one.

Just twigged that its Dannys car too !

How is he, not spoken to him for a while

Danny is good. Not known him for a very long time but he is knowledgeable and very helpful.

Superleggera wrote:

Kos wrote:

Superleggera wrote: That's the one.

Just twigged that its Dannys car too !

How is he, not spoken to him for a while

Danny is good. Not known him for a very long time but he is knowledgeable and very helpful.

the build of that car when he had it was pretty much spot on. he still got the "shed" CSL ?

I dont think he has CSL anymore.

Slow progress at the moment but all the parts are accumulating.

I did manage to fit my service inidcator shift lights and my custom tach though

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I fixed your post above to show the video.

S54 tacho output is slow and not very accurate, are you able to fine tune with this modification?

I cant change the output speed but the mod does allow you to calibrate for accuaracy.

Some slow progress but now that the engine is back from being rebuild/freshened up things should be moving along much quicker now.

Engine is being test fitted - the bulkhead on this shell has been slightly modified which allows the S54 to sit back 60mm than normal.

Its not looking pretty but I guess it has to look worse before it starts looking better...plan is to tidy up and repaint the bay in BMW atacama yellow.

Still not much more progress. Pushing the engine back 60mm has helped with weight distribution but also no modications are now needed to the s54 sump in order to clear the sub frame - big bonus, although i will need to run the ARB around the front.



Here are the mock up engine mounts in preparation for proper mounts to be made by an engineer

Nice project and shell! looking forward to updates

Suspension is slowly being looked at now. Have used E36M Evo control arms to make sure castor position is maintained - used AKG adjustable rear bushes and Ground Control roll centre correction...

New wheels arrived yesterday too - im quite pleased as to how they came out.

some more updates:

Are they E46 struts and hubs?

Yes they are