BMW 318is project car

With the Lotus done for Classic Motorsports, I have begun to clean up the 1991 318is I dragged out of a towing lot in Highlands NC last summer. We have made a tentaive decision that the car is a bit new for Classic Motorsports, but a perfect old school project car for GRM. 

What we know is that every panel on the car is origonal. And except for a spot the size of a dime, by the left tailight, there is no rust on the car. The car has never been hit. It is all original and other than the bumpers, the paint even seems all original. It cleaned up really, really well last Friday.

The interior needs driver's and rear seats. The dash is cracked badly, The rest of the interior is in real good shape. The car has no sunroof (slick top). Presumably, there is some type on an engine issue. The radiator, power steering pump and much of the front of the engine is missing. We put a battery in it and it does turn over. I am doing compression and leak down tests next.

There has been much discussion internally over what to do with this car. The discussion has ranged from restore it to concours condtiion and make the nicest one in the country to gut it and make a race car, or do and S54 swap.

I feel the car is too nice and the cars are getting too rare and valuable to just cut up a perfect one and make a race car. I talked at length with Chris Cobetto at NASA, who told me to make a 318is a legal Spec E30 (becuase it did not start life as  six cylinder variant), would not be worth the trouble. Tom Suddard looked the car over Saturdy a.m. and agreed it really is too nice to cut up.

I am leaning towards making a nice looking, but not concours, modern classic and then hopping it up a little, with springs, shocks and bars and some engine upgrades, potentially all the way to forced induction. I think I could make a really great little E30 for well under $10,000 and teach you guys about how to clean up and improve a cool odl car on the cheap. While this might not be the sexiest project idea, it is what I have the time and money to do and it probably fist most readers relity better than an LS or S54 swap.

So, what should we do and what you want to read about?d

More pics

What it looked like when we found it.

The baby m3. I say rolling restore/ mild tweaks so it spanks most 6 cylinders.

Robbie, kind of what I was thinking. I know with a potentially bad motor and interior the obvious answer might be gut it and engine swap it, but the interiors are simple on these and I am not sure there is anything really wrong with the engine. And times have changed and these are now considered baby M3s and have the most modern of all the E30 engines.

And I just love the look and feel of any E30!

So clean, so simple, so not like a new car in a good way.

I'm with Robbie on this provided the motor in it can be saved. If the motor is trash then maybe an M54B30 could be fun and easy, or if you want a challenge and stay with BMW an N52 (lighter, more powerful, just have to solve the electronics and oil pan issues). Another option staying with the 4-cylinder would be to drop a Honda K motor in with K miata adapters to use the BMW transmission, that would really be an M3 light.

Adam

Chip, header and exhaust, lightweight flywheel, short throw. 

I'd post pics of the one I used to have put Photobucket ruined that for me. Put in my refurb'd black sports with rear pass through and Houndstooth door cars. Had the aforementioned engine mods + Ground Control coilovers, 17x7.5 SSR Comp Type C with 215/40 Rt-615s

I dearly regret selling it back in 2010. 

Oh I also did the Euro trim on the bumpers to eliminate the side marker lights, results in a much cleaner look.

I toyed with an N20 swap, but my buddy, James Clay, who races one told me I don't have enough time or money to figure out the electronics on that swap!

The head of the M42 actually flows pretty well, I'd be tempted turbo + E85. 

I'm sure you guys remember reading this:

https://jalopnik.com/bmw-driver-survives-nightmare-crash-when-his-e30-loses-1795500447

That was my old 318is. :(

z31maniac,

I was thinking budget turbo and Megasquirt. Ouch on your old car!

I'm in for reading about sourcing and fixing old interior bits and plastic and rubber on the car. The hardest part about cars this age (for me) is dealing with unavailable parts that break when you touch them. 

Tim Suddard said:

z31maniac,

 

I was thinking budget turbo and Megasquirt. Ouch on your old car!

 

I think that sounds awesome!

mazdeuce - Seth said:

I'm in for reading about sourcing and fixing old interior bits and plastic and rubber on the car. The hardest part about cars this age (for me) is dealing with unavailable parts that break when you touch them. 

BMW is really good at supplying parts for older vehicles. You can still brand a new dash for E30s, for example. They aren't cheap, but they are available.

Robbie said:

The baby m3. I say rolling restore/ mild tweaks so it spanks most 6 cylinders.

I have an M42 318.....there is not much on the "mild" side you can do to get a lot of power out of the engine N/A. Turner/Conforti chip is good for 5-7hp, but without doing internals you're not gonna get much more than that. It already has a nice tubular header stock, some forged internals, and decent flowing head. I love the buzzy M42 and it loves to rev, but you'd have to do quite a bit to spank any 6cy e30 other than an ETA lol...well, at least in a drag race. The light weight makes it doable if it gets really curvy :)

On the e30 forums there is a member (jakeb) who has built a budget turbo kit for the engine (using all stock everything/HG/etc) that puts out 8psi without hurting reliability, for about 200hp. I think his entire kit (using a Chinese turbo) is about $1500 and everyone who has done it has good results so far as I can see. Here's a link to the development thread... https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=259174

Front of the engine might have been apart due to timing rail disintegration. The oriiginal rail for the chain was plastic on metal and "delamininates" and messes up stuff in there. There is an updated piece available from BMW now, so that should definitely be a "to-do" if keeping the M42.

if the engine is shot, M42s are a dime a dozen. I've bought three of them for about $300 each with transmission. If GRM wants to drive to DC, I'll sell one even cheaper than that (with some of the timing stuff not updated). My parts shell for the rally car ('91 318is) has an almost complete interior in very nice shape, so LMK if you need anything...I don't need interior stuff....I have the spare care for body panels and glass in case we hit any trees in a rally lol.

Tim Suddard said:

I toyed with an N20 swap, but my buddy, James Clay, who races one told me I don't have enough time or money to figure out the electronics on that swap!

 

M50/M52 is generally the go-to swap just because you can find them all day long at a junkyard in a 5-series. They require a few special things to get them to fit and work right, but the swaps are well-documented. If I ever blow up the M42s rallying (I keep trying and failing to do so), M52 is the way i'll go...

Let the jokes begin. 

In reply to irish44j :

I guess I didn't mean in a drag race, I meant at an autox or track event. But I hear ya na power-wise. M42/44 was the runner up in the engine selection choice for my mgb gt, so I antagonized over it quite a bit. Finally decided to go Miata though.

I have about 2 years worth of research I did before starting the M52b28 swap in my E30. if you decide to go that direction I can throw up some links. everything from how to make AC work to which PS pumps need which hoses.

E36 (and E46) swaps are WELL DOCUMENTED in multiple locations. 

I did an S52 (that we converted to OBD-I with TMS headers, Porsche MAF) into my E30 in 2009.........and even then, very well documented. 

If I were ever going to have an E30 and swap something in, it would be an S54. Hands down.

In reply to z31maniac :

If only I had the money for such an amazing motor..............

currently my dreams involve a frankenstein motor made from a m52 block and head with m54b30 internals and a m54 intake manifold with m52 ecu

I harbored impure fantasies of stuffing an S54 into my old E39, but that was a larger and heavier car. I think an M52 or M52TU would be the most balanced fit for this car, combined with light suspension and brake improvements (M54 is a bit more problematic unless you're planning to rebuild the bottom end with better rings). That said, I'd love to see the M42 built up with ITBs.

Maybe find some inspiration here, these guys did a pretty good job with theirs

mtn said:

Maybe find some inspiration here, these guys did a pretty good job with theirs

I was thinking I've heard this story before....

This one does look really nice after you cleaned it up (full disclosure, I have a white 325ix so I am biased.)