Finally bought an E30...now what?

Finally after months of searching, I finally found the e30 I've been looking for. It's a 1991 318i. Odometer gears broke at 158k so guessing from how much the guy drove it I would say its up to maybe 170+. But interior is VERY nice aside from cracked dash pad and clear is pealing on the hood. Now for the slightly bad. Ran into a brake problem as soon as I put a tag on it so it's down . But I am working on it now. Replaced master cylinder and in the process of that the intake boot and the hose that comes off the boot pretty much fell to pieces, so waiting on the boot to come in. But I raise the question, what should I do? I have been wanting this car to do rally cross for so long but I also want to lower it. So was thinking maybe swap suspension eveytime I do a rallyx (which wouldn't be too often)? Idk, I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do, so any of you e30 gurus, please learn me.

You fix it and drive the E36 M3 out of it. That's now what!!!

WTF kind of question is that?

I'd think you either rallycross the car or lower it. Trying to do both would be a lot of work.

First thing is to buy an e30 Bentley repair manual, they're very good.

That's pretty much the answer I was looking for Flight. And I shall invest in the Bentleys manual as well. I was leaning more towards just rallyx it but want sure if swapping around was an option.

Garagistic sells the replacement gears for the odometer repair, cheap too. Lots of other E30 parts too.

You may want to find a skid plate to protect your oil pan whichever way you go. I bought the Red46 plate. Cheap for as beefy as it is.

Here's what you should do, other than replacement items don't mod it for a few months until you learn what you want to do with it, sounds to me that your not certain. Obviously there's exceptions like shocks are blown so might as well put in bilstein hd/Koni/ whatever and the skid plate but leave stock springs. That way you know what you want out of it but most importantly you can drive the car better when you know it better in its stock form. That and you can rallyx/autox/daily it stock and be okay at all instead of just decent at one.

So fix it and drive the piss out of it. Then mod it to what it needs for your driving style or racing of choice.

I've looked into garagistic and plan on giving them a little business. And skid plate is a must. Was thinking of the HIK skid plate but its kinda up in the air. I don't really want to skimp out of a preventative measure like that. And that sounds like a good plan chiodos, since that's pretty much where I'm at. I'll just see where the wind takes me with it and go from there. Thanks for the help guys.

skid, e36/46 rack, go find a rallyx. keep going. upgrade as stuff breaks.

Z3 shift lever. Don't spend more on fancier stuff.

Sticky tires and autocross! At least thats what I did with mine

Is the e36 rack the same as the z3? And I completely forgot about the z3 shifter. Thanks!

Bearded.Bird wrote: Is the e36 rack the same as the z3? And I completely forgot about the z3 shifter. Thanks!

No, there are various racks with various ratios that can be put into an E30. The basic E36 rack is still a decent upgrade and should be cheap and easy to find. I put an E36 M3 rack in mine because that's what I had. I think the Z3 (and maybe the E46 ZHP) racks are the quickest-ratio ones that fit.

Bearded.Bird wrote: Is the e36 rack the same as the z3? And I completely forgot about the z3 shifter. Thanks!

e36 is a good upgrade, e46 is better (quicker). a z3 one isn't worth the effort or $ over an e46 rack. I went looking for an e46, but grabbed an e36 since I saw a good condition one in the yard and the only e46 one was busted.

Okay, thanks for clearing that up for me guys. I'll see what I can run across when the time comes.

The steering rack is one of those "why didn't I do this sooner" upgrades. Big improvement.

ross2004 wrote: The steering rack is one of those "why didn't I do this sooner" upgrades. Big improvement.

Indeed. I went from my rallyx e30 being the only e30 I'd driven, to driving my friends w/ a rack swap and it was night and day.

I'm sure I'll agree if/when I ever drive my car.

Just out of curiosity, how much of a pita is it to swap them out assuming you have everything?

Bearded.Bird wrote: Just out of curiosity, how much of a pita is it to swap them out assuming you have everything?

It's a decent PITA, not completely horrible, but takes a while and is kind of fiddly. This is the guide I followed: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=66247

I figured as much. But it seems to be worth it so it will be done.

Spec E30 suspension, then this: Randy Pobst E30 vs F30

So another thing I thought of. Since I have the basic taxi cab like seats, should I look into other seat options as well to keep from sliding around? If so, what kind should I look into?

stuart in mn wrote: I'd think you either rallycross the car or lower it. Trying to do both would be a lot of work. First thing is to buy an e30 Bentley repair manual, they're very good.

Yep. I would do one or the other. Lowering the e30 requires offset bushings if you want to correct camber. Swapping heights would mean some pretty intense alignment mojo to get it right each time.

When you start realizing that the shifter is loose and floppy, prepare for a tough job. Bimmer used a strut kinda thing between the body and transmission to hold the shifter pivot. Everything is in rubber bushings that wear out.

If you choose to upgrade/replace that stuff, it can be a royal pain reaching up around the tailhousing to get to it. You will find out why e-rings are casually called "bitch clips" or "Jesus clips."

On the Bentley manual, you'll have to buy two to cover everything. The m42 engine is not covered in the e30 Bentley. It's only covered in the e36 Bentley.