This is a little thread to document the trials and tribulations of making a historic/targa rally car from a rather decrepit 1990 318IS rolling shell.
I bought a cheap MG ZR160 at the end of last year with the aim of using it on a broad variety of budget production-car motorsport throughout 2020 (targa rallies, hillclimb/sprinting, autotests, etc). The ZR is a pretty good little car as it is very quick and is actually quite a good steer, albeit FWD. We did the Mull Classic Rally in March and that was great fun, but also the last event of any kind in the UK prior to lockdown. The ZR recently got an MOT extension until November, but it is looking a bit crusty underneath and I think I'll get rid of it before next year. It was always my plan to get a different car for 2021, but as it now looks unlikely there is going to be any motorsport before then I figured it was time to look for a long-term project!
The criteria for the replacement car was 1) RWD, 2) Cheapish, 3) Character, 4) Parts Availability & 5) Historic Papers. The most competitive RWD cars on the targa rally scene are the MX5s and MR2 Mk3s but neither really appealed to me, nor do they fit into the historic categories. Then I was looking at Talbot Sunbeams and Vauxhall Chevettes, all of which looked like a world of rust & hard to find parts & enormous expense! So I had a look at the FIA website and saw that the E30 318IS was homologated in Group N for 1990 and as luck would have it the FIA have just extended class 4B historic rally cars to include up to end-1990. Therefore these cars are eligible to go up against the Audi Quattros, Lancia Stratos and 037s, Escorts, Mantas, 131s, etc. Should hopefully make for a few fun jaunts next year hopefully, although as the build progresses I will have to make some decisions about what sort of events I want to prepare it for.
So on to the car... As we know prices for E30s have been on the rise for some time now, especially the two door cars. In fact the crazy prices being asked (and achieved?) for 325iS in recent months have really pushed the prices of 318iS up considerably. I did think about getting a 318iS back in 2012 or so and at that time £3-4k would get you a reasonable car that wasn't completely wrecked, but by no means a perfect example. Fast forward to 2020 and £6-8k seems to be the starting point for a reasonable car, one which would require substantial servicing and upgrading to ready it for basic targa rallying, let alone historic stage rallying. Therefore when I saw a cheap rolling shell I figured it would be worth a go - the shell is reasonable and I surmised it would be a fairly simple task to transplant a drivetrain from a 318TI or similar into the E30 shell. The car was advertised as complete except for engine, box and seats - well, on initial inspection this looked to be the case but as I dig further there is lots of stuff missing and lots of repairs/upgrades needed. Well I suppose I did want a project car!
dc2100k's Budget Rally Car Build
Moderator: martauto
Welcome aboard! Sounds like a great project, would love to see some pics and hear how you get on - have wanted to do this for a looong time and never really got round to it. Is it the 318iS specifically or any E30 that was homologated for Group N? Do you have any links to the events you do?
Cheers,
Gus
Cheers,
Gus
Hi Gus, I am hopeful that it will be a fun project and that I should get some good outings in the car. It was specifically the 318iS that was homologated in Group N (Production Cars) presumably for use in touring cars in the early 90s. Here's a link to the FIA papers for the car:JungleGus wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 2:58 pmWelcome aboard! Sounds like a great project, would love to see some pics and hear how you get on - have wanted to do this for a looong time and never really got round to it. Is it the 318iS specifically or any E30 that was homologated for Group N? Do you have any links to the events you do?
https://historicdb.fia.com/car/bmw-318
There are loads of different competitive event categories you can enter with this car. Targa rallies in the UK are grass roots events that you can enter in standard/lightly modified road cars, and which follow the Historic rallying format. They are usually a mixture of on road regularity sections and off-road test sections, basically there is lots of fast driving around airfields, forestry tracks, farms, MOD bases, etc. However, you are limited to four cylinder cars with factory fuel injection setups, interior present, etc. in order to keep it slow/affordable. Historic rallying allows for bigger engines on older cars, but often these are a bit too heavy for the type of events & surfaces. Historic Stage rallying is for full on ex-works and replica rally cars of the 60s to the 80s. The 318iS would be eligible for this but I'm not sure if I can afford to prepare a car to this level, and then it might not be eligible for the targa events. I figure I should be able to straddle a line though and try to keep the car eligible for as many events as possible.
If you want to see some more info about these events have a look at the Mull Car Club, Saltire Rally Club, Berwick & District Motor Club websites.
