'Hello Love, I've bought another car...'
Of all the phrases most likely to liven up an ordinary weeknight in the Cameron household, I've bought another car is probably up there with the best of them. I'd probably better point out at the outset that my wife is an extraordinarily patient woman, but she had rightly pointed out that our 7 car household was incompatible with the New Year arrival of the firstborn. Over the last seven months since Tom's arrival, out has gone the RX7, the S8, the Mk 3 Cortina, the S13 200SX, and latterly (and most painfully) the FireBlade engined 7 Type. Smarting from the loss, I was therefore firmly occupying the moral high ground when I was asked to help a mate, Adam, to find the right car for him to do trackdays and weekends at the Nuerburgring.
I take requests to help with car purchases seriously, so I threw myself into the task. Nothing exotic, has to be cheap to fix, and the parts available in Germany. Lots of potential for tuning, and despite how good Mk2 Golfs and 205s can be, I'm sorry, but it's got to be rear-wheel drive. Ultimate speed is nice, but the car will have to hack being left outside, taking luggage, ferry crossings, and the France-Belgium-Holland-German dash with some sort of comfort. The search for the right E30 BMW began.
E30 was the code for the BMW '3 Series' platform produced between 1982 and 1992, and over 2 million were sold worldwide. More to the point, I'd had a passenger lap in a dedicated 'Ring car, a 318is that was just mind-blowingly quick.
The inspiration - Lasse's E30
I got on the phone to the Danish guy who prepared and ran the car as a syndicate and it quickly became apparent that it had been subjected to more than just a bit of stripping out! The search switched to cars that had already been track prepped.
Inevitably, onto PH classifieds, and into the motorsport - track cars section which yielded immediate results. 24 hours later, we found ourselves at A1 BMW Spares chatting to the owner Adil Loudari standing over what appeared to be the perfect car.
A1 BMW Spares handles all regular servicing and routine work on the marque, but over the last couple of years Adil, the owner, has increasingly indulged his motorsport interests by race preparing cars for the SELOC BMW championship and for BRITCAR. This particular car he's built for himself, but lack of spare time and pragmatism was forcing him to sell. It's clearly a decision made with the head and not the heart, which was great, because I wasn't using my head at all. I elbowed Adam out of the way and bought it.
Oh dear. This might be difficult to explain when I get home, but I clearly had absolutely no option but to buy it myself. The RingBeemer joined the household, and I could properly take stock of my purchase. The first thing to come off was the stickers!
Adil had found the ideal donor, a full service history, three owner, late model car. Over the years the 318iS has attracted a cult following as the 'poor man's M3' with a willing 4 pot and M-Tech suspension, but Adil had bigger plans for this particular car. The E30 model was host to BMW's ubiquitous six pot in the 325, but Adil had designs involving the BMW big block six, the 3.5 litre M30 engine. A low mileage 7 series was sourced as the donor, and it was goodbye 318iS, hello 335i.
The M30 block has a fabulous reputation, with well serviced examples routinely managing over 200,000 miles. The lure of effortless big six torque has resulted in the M30 transplant becoming increasingly popular, as the weight penalty of the bigger engine is more than offset by the additional grunt. This sounds good in theory, but I was concerned about the dynamic penalties that the lump may impose. A 20 minute test drive reassured me that - at least in the dry - this car has a lot of potential. I think that it also convinced Adil that I was a nutter.
The standard of the install is just superb. Bespoke Alpina mounts had been imported from Germany, allowing the big engine to be mounted as far back as possible against the bulkhead. Critically, these also allow a new, wider high flow radiator to be fitted, essential to offset the only real weakness of the big block - a reputation for getting too hot. Underbonnet airflow is further aided with ducting and by the removal of the centre lights.
A lot of work has been put into improving the car's stiffness - noticeable the instant that the car moves off. The shell is completely stripped and caged, with strut braces front and rear. There's a further cross brace under the front subframe, but the test drive revealed that it is low enough to ground in compressions. If the Essex back roads show that up, then I really can't see it making it round the Carrusel intact. In fact, I'm wondering if it'll make it on and off the ferry...
Adil hasn't skimped with any aspect of this car, and the dropped stance is due to H&R springs with Koni adjustable shocks, lowering the car by 40mm at the front and 60mm at the rear. H&R are a German company, and real Ring specialists, so with some reservations about the ride height, that all bodes really, really well. I'm itching to get the car on track, on the road it feels really sharp, planted.
A fancy looking carbon fibre intake draws cold air forward of the manifolds, aided by ducting and some rather attractive chrome piping and silicon hose. It all looks the part and does a fine job, but it hides the real party piece below. An Alpina equal length double exhaust manifold neatly dodges the steering rack, directing waste gases into a full length twin stainless system. Blip the throttle and it just sounds superb, blatting a throaty bellow before quickly settling back to a slick, refined idle. A lightened flywheel has sharpened the throttle response but the displacement is betrayed by the ease with which the 335 moves off. The combination of light weight, long gearing and big kahunas means that it is a challenge just keeping the RingBeemer faintly within the rules of the road. It just lopes along effortlessly, and I've got to exercise restraint to keep myself from extending its legs on the way home.
I check levels, pads, tread. Everything is spot on, and it's going to seriously need to be. The car is to be used as a test bed for tuning, all measured against PBox datalogging to really determine effectiveness of modifications made. There'll be no hiding from the truth here, as all benchmarking is to be carried out at the Ring.
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its scary when your facing a direction that you just came from lol. good luck with the car mate and lets hope you can get more power out of it.
