E30 M52 -- Porsche brakes

[Darrenr]

Looks like a very clean motor!

[redcar]

Been a while but the car has had a few new bits recently. Started of as a 316i.

Suspension and Steering:

BC Racing coil-overs front & rear
New Lemforder control arms
New Lemforder tie rod assemblys
E46 '067' rack with hard line power steering pipes
OEM E30 M3 eccentric control arm bushes

Disc braked trailing arms with new wheel bearings
Ertalon solid subframe and final-drive bushings
12mm raised rear subframe to correct the excessive camber and toe
Hard polyurethane trailing arm bushes
New ARB drop-links
3.91 LSD

Brakes:

Disc rear trailing arms
325i front calipers and vented discs
325i brake master cylinder
Renault Clio brake servo
EBC pads
Goodridge braided brake lines (6 lines)
New hard lines from BMW

Engine:

105k M52B28 from an auto e36. (New steel liner short block at 68k miles in 2003)
Scorpion twin 50mm rear exhaust section
Standard E30 325i centre section
DanThe exhaust manifolds and remapped ECU
M50 inlet manifold

Plans for the near future:
4x federal semi-slick tyres
25mm front and 22mm rear ARB
Upgrade LSD to 4 clutch plates and modified ramp angles

Here are just a few pictures of what it looks like now. I changed the rear tyre size to a 205/50/15 as opposed to the 195/50/15 which was on there when i got the car. As the old 195 tyre rubbed against the arches (even more evident when the m52 went in) I have removed the rear 25mm spacer. The car is now unstanced.

[tuna]

stunning looking car dude congrats on the buy! loving the wheels

[redcar]

stunning looking car dude congrats on the buy! loving the wheels

Cheers tuna

[Fal_325i]

I bet it really motors now, the difference must be night and day, has the power caught you out yet?

[redcar]

I bet it really motors now, the difference must be night and day, has the power caught you out yet?

lol, it does move now. With the m40 and then the m42 I had after that, the car was quite slow. It's got a bit more oomph and torque now.

Not what I'd call super quick by any standards, but it is good fun for what it is. It is quite dangerous in the wet though, in second gear it will just spin the wheels. Clutch kick in third will spin them up as well.

[Demlotcrew]

Phat Range Rover!

[redcar]

Phat Range Rover!

towing beast

[Duke137]

Harj what ARB's are you going for? Ireland Engineering or UUC something like that?

Is it a fast-road car and how come you are going for the large 22mm rear?

BTW, it's a nice looking machine fella

[Demlotcrew]

It sure is!

Nice M52 Hap.

[Demlotcrew]

Is it a fast-road car and how come you are going for the large 22mm rear?

Bigger is better Ferg ;)

[redcar]

Cheers for the compliments guys.

Ferg, yes you're right I'm going for the Ireland engineering 25f and 22r kit. I've decided to go for the biggest I can get because I've sat in numerous cars set up like this (high spring rates and large front AND rear ARB) and they're always the fastest cars at track days.
Also, as Andrew is aware of, bigger is better.

I suppose it is a fast road car, but I don't really know what's planned for it. I don't think I'll be using it on the road because it has started to get a bit more track orientated now. I will be doing track days in it though.

[Duke137]

I was going to buy some IE sways but Demlot offered me his H&R kit at a good price complete with all the bushes so had them instead. Mine isn't a track car though but I too have spent far too much money

Get yourself some better brakes, I have WMS all round, far too good for the road and I reckon you would appreciate those (or an equivalent motorsport type set-up).

Keep up the good work mate, get some vids uploaded with some track abuse

[Kedge]

Like this a lot!

[redcar]

I was going to buy some IE sways but Demlot offered me his H&R kit at a good price complete with all the bushes so had them instead. Mine isn't a track car though but I too have spent far too much money

Get yourself some better brakes, I have WMS all round, far too good for the road and I reckon you would appreciate those (or an equivalent motorsport type set-up).

Keep up the good work mate, get some vids uploaded with some track abuse

h&r kit is good for the road. My dad has it on his 5 series and he said it way way better

Would you ever be looking to upgrade to the ie sways? The kit is quite good because it comes with all the reinforcement gear and everything you need.

The brakes on my car are definitely on thing that needs some attention. It's just standard with grooved discs and ebc green stuff. Then there's the braided lines. I was looking at skyline gtr32 4 pot front and 2 pot rear, with a 300mm disc that may fit under 15s. My brother had them on his v8 ps13 and they happily stopped the car at rockingham all day. Just had ebc yellows on it as well.

I was looking at the wms kit as well. Is it noticeably better? What about your rears, wouldn't they need upgrading as well?

Cheers

[Kedge]

I've been in Fergs car (have the same brakes on mine but my car isn't ready for the road ) and the brakes are immense. Running the WMS rears as well, twin pot pistons and vented discs. They are a world apart from the standard brakes.

[redcar]

I've been in Fergs car (have the same brakes on mine but my car isn't ready for the road ) and the brakes are immense. Running the WMS rears as well, twin pot pistons and vented discs. They are a world apart from the standard brakes.

hi, cheers.

that sounds good. Have you had any experience of the kit on track? Do they cope well bringing the car to a stop corner after corner?

How's the feel also?

[Kedge]

Not been on track with them myself but plenty of people have them on track cars and the rear setup was designed on track using a zoners track car. They are effectively motorsport items really so should cope with plenty of continuous abuse.

Ferg will have to answer regarding the feel as he's gay and not let me drive his car yet

[redcar]

Yeh I've sat in Theo's car a few times which has the wms gear on it and awesome pads and they seemed good.

[Duke137]

WMS's are worlds apart as kedge said. They give you so much confidence in knowing you can get it stopped with a bit of spirited driving! I run the same suspension as DanThe's Chromie all new bushes (some polybushes where I felt it would be better to upgrade from standard) Bush void fillers etc etc the handling is also too good for road use. I should have gone M52 instead of M50 but I bought the engine some time ago and I think natural progression for me now is a M50b30 (with a bit of help from Dan)

But back to your car mate, yeah get the brakes sorted! Bonus of WMS is it all fitting under 15" BBS so you can get your wheels and tyres cheap enough (I use the term loosely) for track use. I think your car would make an awesome track car in all fairness with the set up you have and what you are planning!

Great job dude

[tonybtonyb]

Very slick!

[redcar]

Cheers, I'll look in to the brakes, but for now I need the tyre, arbs and diff rebuild

Some upgraded pads will have to do for now.

[Dave_M3]

Very cool car! You need to chop off the old M42 Coilpack brackets though

How are you finding the BCs since you fitted them?

[redcar]

Yeh coilpack mounts need to be carefully removed.

BCs are good, maybe a little soft for road. Will definitely be too soft for track use so will think about some harder springs.

Got Porsche boxster 300mm front 4 pots brembo calipers and boxster 294mm rear 4 pots brembo calipers to fit as well. They fit under the 15'' as well which is a bonus. Should be fine for track use, I hope.
Will get some pics up once they're fitted.

Decided to buy full dunlop slicks 15'' for the car aswell.

[Dave_M3]

Yeah, I'm hoping to find sme boxter calipers for one of my E30s too.

Yep, standard springs are way too soft for track use... just nice and comfy for road use.

I have 6s and 8s and 10s and 12s for my E30s and 12s all round on the E36 track car. I'm going to work on a coilover rear conversion for them soon though as its very hard to get my E36 sitting low enough at the back with conventional springs and it'll give much better damping and spring control in the E30s too

[redcar]

Yeah, I'm hoping to find sme boxter calipers for one of my E30s too.

Yep, standard springs are way too soft for track use... just nice and comfy for road use.

I have 6s and 8s and 10s and 12s for my E30s and 12s all round on the E36 track car. I'm going to work on a coilover rear conversion for them soon though as its very hard to get my E36 sitting low enough at the back with conventional springs and it'll give much better damping and spring control in the E30s too

been looking at custom cages multipoint weld in cage which has a couple of bars going to each rear turret. When that's done may be looking to convert the rears to a true coilover rather than an inboard spring. Looks easy with the rear bc unit as its threaded anyway.

Have you run the bc on track? The 6/6 rate will be too soft I think, so with a true coilover on the rear, may get 10/7 for it.

Got a 4 clutch 30 degree ramp angle diff built up for the car, with the help of a friend so that should make a good difference from the open diff that was on the car before.

[G-Bear]

Got a good bit of work done in a year. Good work redcar.

[redcar]

Got a good bit of work done in a year. Good work redcar.

yep! Poor car has had 3 different engines in it in the space of a year

Whereabouts in Hertfordshire are you?

[redcar]

UPDATE:

Had a bit of fun the past few days collecting the bits needed to stick the front and rear brakes from a Porsche boxster 986 on to the car.

I had a lot of thinking regarding the brakes. I wanted to keep 15'' wheels on the car. I also wanted the brake kit to be good for the next engine conversion which may be around 350bhp. Having seen a lot of other brake kits unable to tame full on track cars, I had to hunt around for a while.

Stumbled on a solution that allows me to fit;
Front: 300x24 disc, brembo 4 pot calipers
Rear: 294x19 disc, brembo 4 pot calipers

I was quite surprised when I received the calipers from the porsche breaker. They are fairly large. Especially the rears.
This picture shows the 4 calipers side by side:


The standard brake discs are a measly 260mm, and are far too thin for a powerful track car. Also, the feel of the standard brake calipers are horrendous. I've always had fear driving the car on the road regarding the feel of the brakes. Most likely down to the pad/disc choice though. This brake kit is also far lighter than the standard brake setup.


I've only had a chance to put the fronts on due to the cold weather, but this is what they look like:



As you can see, the pad contact area is great, and hopefully these should perform nicely.
Need to fit the rears, which are a similar size as the front.
I shall be eliminating all of the standard handbrake mechanisms, and simply be fitting a hydraulic handbrake with a brake proportioning valve if I find that the rears are locking up before the fronts.

Have purchased a set of standard 15'' bbs wheels for track use. Been waiting for a nice pair of bucket seats and harnesses to come up for sale, and then hopefully do a first track day in the car. Still lots to do.

[ross_jsy]

Looking good.

Are you intending to drive the car on the road at all? As you need a mechanical handbrake to get through an MOT

[jmc330i]

Looks very good

Will those brakes definitely fit under the standard BMW 15" BBS wheels?

Have you driven it much with the M52? Was just wondering how it compared to the M42 in terms of everyday use, fuel etc etc.

[redcar]

Looks very good

Will those brakes definitely fit under the standard BMW 15" BBS wheels?

Have you driven it much with the M52? Was just wondering how it compared to the M42 in terms of everyday use, fuel etc etc.

yep standard bbs fits.

The m52 was great. Not as good in terms of fuel. A lot more powerful and torquey than the m42, but I had no complaints about the m42. Did have a lot of fun with the m42

[maxfield]

I have a set of Porsche calipers at work. The fronts are huge though and considered fitting them to my e30 but think i would need 18s to fit over them. But I have considered finding a set of calipers like you have and mounting them, be interesting to see how they cope on track.

How are you finding the BCs? I've fitted a few sets and found them pretty good but not fitted a set to an e30.

[redcar]

I'm surprised these fit under the 15s actually.

BCs are good, car came with them and I haven't driven any other e30s so can't compare.

[jmc330i]

Looks very good

Will those brakes definitely fit under the standard BMW 15" BBS wheels?

Have you driven it much with the M52? Was just wondering how it compared to the M42 in terms of everyday use, fuel etc etc.

yep standard bbs fits.

The m52 was great. Not as good in terms of fuel. A lot more powerful and torquey than the m42, but I had no complaints about the m42. Did have a lot of fun with the m42

Didn't think it would be as good on fuel, although I expect if driven sensibly it won't be all bad - my S50 was surprisingly good on fuel when cruising around under 3k rpm using the torque... but shocking when the loud pedal was buried in the carpet

Anymore info on the brakes? What were the discs from etc? Looks like it could be a very good set up