E30 Track car - Drag and Drift - Advice Welcome

[Sykopaf]

I'm picking up a 318i from my mate on my birthday next week, loading it on a trailer, along with an M30 engine and box in the back of the truck, and taking the lot straight round to my mates house for a transplant.

The idea is to use the car primarily on the track but if I can manage to keep it road legal too it'll be a bit of fun for the summer.

I've got some ideas on what I want to do to it as far as styling goes and obviously I want to get as much power out of it as I can get away with (and keep it reliable) so I'm asking for some advice from you guys.

This is the car at the moment:



The wheels and headlights weren't included in the deal so those will be gone when I pick her up.

For wheels, I love meaty old school rims you'd likely see on an American dragster. I love these and think they would look the nuts on an E30 but they're the wrong stud pattern etc.. Can anyone recommend some alternatives on this theme?


Also the bootlid, I'm getting it wrapped but haven't decided on what with yet. I'm thinking maybe something like a cartoon style pin-up, like they would paint on the side of bomber planes in WW2, but again any ideas and suggestions are welcome.

Last but not least is handling and performance. I've already got a cracking great NO2 system to fit but I might hold off on that for now. What can you do to an M30 engine to get the best out of it? And whats the best to do for suspension?

Cheers!

[billgatese30]

Ideally for track (circuit) work, then some coilovers and a lot of front camber are normally recommended, but make it a pain in the arse for road driving (wears front tires quickly on the inside edge) and ends up being unbearably hard to drive comfortably. You can compromise however .

As for the M30, read through some of the projects in the engine swap section as well as search for M30 + turbo or M30 + nitrous etc.

If you are going to track it then I would recommend replacing bushes, drop links etc first anyway.


If you just want a fast road car that does the odd trackday then you can get away with some Bilstein dampers and some stiffer springs with some roll bars and it should still offer some great fun on the track.

For drag racing, then softer suspension tends to be of benefit, however, unless it is to be a race only car, then this is the opposite of everything you want otherwise (for a fast road/track car), but again, if its just the odd RWYB day then it isn't worth worrying about, a fast road/track setup will still work, you only need to worry if you're chasing the last hundredth of a second.

Also, I hope you have a thick skin, the thoughts of pin-ups and bomber graphics will have some of the OEM crowd having a heart attack, but to hell with them, its your car.

[billgatese30]

Also, as well as the search function for the forum sections, there is also the Wiki. Have a quick flick through and see if anything catches you're eye, there are some great articles in there that you may find useful.

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... l:Allpages

[Sykopaf]

Cheers bud.

Yeah, I don't really give a flying **** what the purists want, they can do what they like with their own cars. My last track toy was an R33 Skyline so I imagine some of the die hard JDM lot will think going to an E30 is a traitorous move! Screw 'em! lol

It definitely won't be my daily drive, it's meant to be a track weapon but I go on a few days out with different car clubs so having it road legal for that would be good.

[billgatese30]

In that case then you can probably still go for coilovers so long as you can accept the ride will be harsh. A set of Bilstein dampers and stiffer springs gives the better compromise for longer road trips with still being suitable for track work (as per my sig pic), although you do need bigger roll bars which have their disadvantages on the track (I was starting to lift my inside front wheel at times )

Have a look through the motorsports section here for some ideas on suspension idea's and some of the larger build/project threads should give you a few days worth of reading as well as some idea as to the popular options/choices too.

We're a good bunch and it sounds like you can take some flak so you should fit right in.