I know nothing about E30s, I know nothing about building cars but I've been doing track days for years in various things so I know roughly what I want to build. One of the main criteria is that the car has to be usable on a motorway, I don't want the hassle of a trailer so the car will drive to and from track days and must be 100% reliable. Think of it as a E30 version of a GT3 RS or Megane R26.r.
All the work is being carried out by Spencer at BMP Conversions who is just brilliant.
Here's the plan so far:
- I was told to get the cleanest shell I could find. This resulted in me buying the (infamous?) "College Car" off eBay last year. The car had lived in a classroom its whole life and is basically as new.
- Out goes the interior and running gear. In goes a 53k mile S54, an E36 3.0 M3 5 speed box, an E36 prop. Custom fabricated engine mounts.
- Custom wiring loom.
- Rear suspension is going to be custom fabricated 1992 Prodrive DTM spec.
- Front suspension custom fabricated 1992 Prodrive DTM front struts with regular Lemforder arms. E46 purple tag steering rack with custom spline and E34 UJs.
- Rebuilt 210mm LSD from an E28, probably 3.7-ish ratio.
- Intrax dampers and AP brakes on all corners (no ABS), using Renault Clio master cylinder and servo.
- Front to back weld-in cage.
- Fuel cell and battery in the boot, custom side exit exhaust.
- Interior will have a pair of Recaro Profi SPGs and carpet (to tick the "habitable on motorway" box. Heated front screen and heater for cold days, vented DTM mirrors so I don't die of heat exhaustion on warm days.
Once the car is built, running and tested, phase 2 starts. The car will be stripped back to the bare metal and have bonnet, boot, C pillars, roof and 4 arches removed. It will then be sent for electroplating. We're fitting genuine BMW M3 rear quarters, carbon front arches, carbon boot, carbon roofskin, plastic rear quarter lights and rear screen. The front and rear screens will be properly bonded in, M3 style. Then the body will be sent for painting then it will be the final assembly job.
I'm hoping the final weight should be just over 1000kgs and the engine will be pushing about 350bhp with an airbox and remap.
The reason for assembling twice is to avoid having to do any cutting / welding after the electroplating and painting so the car will hopefully be 100% rust free for the rest of its life. Other details are still coming together but I'll try and keep a record on here as I go. I'm thinking it might be done by the end of 2017 but will see how it goes!
This is the car as I got it:
I knew nothing about E30s and then I found this forum, which has everything you need to know so you'll be fine 
Just look at my build here on on my website to see how far I've come with the help of the zone.
