E30 drift&track car project

[DaveM-sport]

So…. From spending a lot of time at drift events, practice days etc and helping out with building the cars with a few of the lads, I was getting back into competitive drifting very quickly again after a few years of being bored of watching it when we used have to pay the guts of 20-30 quid or more for a day out if I didn't want to get food poisoning there... or maybe 50 if I did


So, there I was mad for skidding once more…
I was getting frustrated with not really having a go on track myself and the iS was getting all sorts of abuse when conditions allowed to get my fix


I needed my own drift car sooner than later......

[DaveM-sport]

Engine wise...I had an M50 from an E34 albeit it needed abit of work to put right so I decided it would be best to just cannibalize it for all the useful bits in doing an M52 conversion of which I'd source from Ben as it would be relatively cheap power if I got the few mods (i.e 220-250bhp for sub 1K) as well as weighing fookall. The lads were saying just wait and get an S50 but I knew a 1500-2K engine plus all the other bits was more or less too costly for the time being and S14 engined E30s all over youtube drift beautifully which the M52 would as near as makes no difference the same power and weight but a wider torque band so in theory it would be even better.

Rest of the bits I'd get through Barrysmotorsport so I needed a shell to put it all into now!!!
Have a 318iS shell but its just too good in terms of no rust and everything is perfectly straight apart from a few bolt on bits having a dent or two. Would only be a waste to end up bending it drifting which will inevitibly happen.
Much better off getting one that is near death and fixing it up!


As I'm a fussy prick and want everything perfect to the point it sometimes never ends up getting done I spent ages looking for a shell...

Criteria was in order of importance...

1. Solid but maybe alittle tatty so I wouldn't be taking another good one off the road
2. non-sunroof model as its just less hassle for fitting the cage and obviously alot lighter and less chance of rust up there.
3. Affordable as me being in college I needed to get the bits that hadn't a set price such as new bits as cheap as possible.
4. Had as much useful parts on it as possible such maybe an engine, 318iS/325 suspension and brakes to avoid having to look and buy for more and possibly allow me to sell off a few bits to fund shiny bits
5. A red car would be nice too as Finny had a white E30, Mikes M3 Evo was blue, John Paul's M3 was yellow etc so red was the only one left other than black but John O'Connel had that base covered with his black 332iS

[DaveM-sport]

Walton Smith had a lovely Zinnober red... Well Zinnober pink really non sunroof shell in the shape of an engineless & interiorless 316i that was 99% rust free other than altittle surface rust on the front cross member under than the rad which wouldn't be a problem.
That was the best option for a while and still something to keep in mind if I bend of the one I found later.
Only thing was, it was just a solid shell and thats all with nothing less useful or valuable which was fine considering its a solid car but made it alittle expensive for a student like myself

I'll probably still take this at some stage down along the line if I catch him drunk on some Redbull


Was offered a few free and cheap shells but each was more worthless with either being rotten or too bare than the one before it.




Then I found something else...



A 316i non-sunroof Zinnober red shell that was being restored by a 15 year-old to put on the road when he was 17.

His plan was 325i engine, Mixture of Sport and 325i touring running gear, black leather, XXR wheels, iS lip and a re-spray in a deep custom red which was more or less between Zinnober and Calyspo in BMW terms.


Had everything bought even down to the paint before he realised he didn't really have the money to finish painting it, getting the engine running and suspension sorted and possibly the biggest stumbling block...

It would be uninsureable

so all the leather, wheels, paint and few other bits for flogged on and car was half forgotten about until I heard about it from his older brother one evening.



Out I went, quick look at it and I had my shell


More or less ticked all the boxes.

• Solid but tatty in places,

• Most of the work done in stripping it for paint so my job was easy to bring it down more for prepping for the track.

• Had all the suspensions and brake basic parts I needed and even the back axle was just barely bolted on to get it rolling for paint before off again for new bushes etc so I didn't have to spend a day trying to pull the fooking subframe off the thing!!!

• Full shadowline trim and all the lights and almost everything to put it back together if it was a road car

• Leather door-cards that would be useful in the iS if I wanted (seats were sold)

• Brand new iS lip in primer

• Auto 325i engine and Sport box but alot of it had to be put back together and needed a serious service.

• 4.1 welded diff.... which would probably work well with the 2.8 and 15" XXR 002s I decided on

[DaveM-sport]

First thing to do was get the car home and make a start on stripping the rest of it and then start buying the fancy bits and maybe put the engine running to sell it on to help pay for the M52.



Then the iS breaking a gearbox, getting an Evo box and then looking for an E46 box threw a spanner in the works of the drift car with all the time running around and pulling gearboxes in and out of that thing

And to add insult to injury... getting the iS running threw a mighty big spanner in the works of trying to keep it a competitive car but built on a budget...

This is the size of the Spanner...





Or.... what it actually took the form of...







Yeah... to get a good E46 M3 gearbox you have to buy a whole fooking E46 M3 engine, loom and gearbox to get anywhere near value for your money.

Imagine the frustration having to buy this lump of fecking metal and bits when all you want is a few cogs in good condition....
I swear I was deeply upset.........................

For about 2 seconds when handing over the money




So plans now were...

• Strip and prep the shell with a CustomCages cage that we have used a few of already,
• BC racing coilovers,
• Custom front suspension geometry for significantly increased lock and castor
• custom steering column and 2 turns lock to lock steering conversion, PAS cooler and extra lock spacers[*/*]
• Full polybush with Powerflex and AGK bushes
• Adjustable rear camber and toe conversion
• Hydraulic handbrake and possibly pedalbox
• S54 engine and DTA S100 ECU
• E36 M3 5 speed gearbox as engine was now gearboxless after the iS took its cut from the deal
• 3.73, 3.91, 4.1 and 4.27 welded diffs
• single mass flywheel and clutch of some sort.... really wanted a Exedy clutch and flywheel but didn't think I'd ever afford one of the b@st@rds
• Not over the top body styling... maybe some sort of euro-look as it might look cooler.......................... and it costs much less than fancy wide-arches and kits
• XXR 002 15" or 16" wheels with granite or black centers (haven't really decided yet as I keep changing my mind when new ones are in stock!) 15s have cheaper tyres and offer more lock but 16s look so much better and slightly more grip.

[DaveM-sport]

So back to this shell then as nothing is going to happen without making a start on it!


Here it is, on a rare Irish sunny day landed back at one of the yards on my farm... excuse all the shite littered around the place... I blame my dad for hoarding all that and all the sh!te around the car is what gathers inside when it was forgotten about at its previous home.

If it was my fault though, it would probably be just tractors that work and just aload of cars that don't work....... oh wait.... hold on a second.

Actually, yeah the Volvo 760Ti is mine and yep... it doesn't work at the moment but its day will come again I'm sure

At least it only has one bloody Burger King rep and its even cracked too so into the skip it will go :dance:

Looks like there is a dent on the wing in that picture but its actually abit of black paint.


My lovely 760Ti there in the back ground... 170bhp of shopping trolleyesque Swedish barge Mighty fun though before I got a notion to take the turbo off for my iS... must fix that sometime too



Right back to looking at the shell.
Fook this spoilerless bootlid lark... how about no boot at all:laughing:


It does actually have a spoilerless bootlid though and thats the way I'm going with it

Not sure why it has a Calyspo red wing on it but its there anyway... now if you think of a mixture of the wing and the front valance (in their un-rubbed down state) and add a bucketload of laqure, you'll have the colour the car was going to be painted.... I think I'll just go safe and a shiny coat of zinnober red again though


Dirty.... but Very solid pockets on both sides.
Surprising as the car sat outside for nearly a year, trust my luck if I left it outside for a week it would be Freddy Flinstones chariot of choice



Good rear panel apart from those few holes along the bottom that will need filling up if I'm to avoid having a smoke filled car.



99% straight front panel with no real rust issues... be a shame to crunch this in the door of abit of jap scrap!!!



Time already spent getting any dents out of the rear panel and ready for paint... better try to keep it away from the walls for as long as I can



Inner arches, tiny bit of rust possibly starting although more than likely discoloured sealer



Scuttle, probably the worst panel on the car


The main reason why I took the shell really...


Either that or the brand new iS lip that was going with it:dance:


Good job I don't like M20s or I'd have the bother of getting this sorry looking thing going! Was told it was a good engine before it was taken out of the original car but I'm on the fence I think ever since I picked it up


Although, the head looks very clean and not covered in black gunk like you normally do so possibly might be worth a look into fixing it up at some stage but until then its going to be ripped out and thrown into the corner of the garage and forgotten about like any other old prehistoric lump of metal!

[DaveM-sport]

Since acquiring the shell and engine I've got a 5 speed ZF box from Ben off a 328 or 3L M3 and Mike also gave me a Exedy Hyper single Flywheel and clutch kit... at a price that he basically owns all the sponsor and advertising space on the car when its finished!!!

Here's a picture of the Clutch and flywheel kits look like

I'm looking into a transparent bellhousing and transmission tunnel... until then I've decided to just leave it in the shop as a display item as I'm not sure if my 11 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback is a good enough guard dog yet for it to be under my bed

Although he's quite abit bigger now since that picture!!!

So more than likely, that'll be about as far as the project will go until Next May when I finally finish college (wasn't sure if I was going to do the add on year or not but now its settled) as I didn't get as much done this summer due to having that fight with the lathe

Well it would if it wasn't for the old M50 lump I have in the garage that cracked a head getting a second chance in life...
Ben dropped a full perfect M50 head down to me when he was delivering the 328 engine for putting into a friends E30 abit back even though all I wanted were some cam trays for another mad little idea I have so I decided I may as well make us of it the other day.

So Once I have alittle bit more of the cheaper bits done to the shell and a few other projects finished I'll start rebuilding that if its not in complete shite but will be a complete and utter budget rebuild to stay going for a year or so as your not even at the races unless you have over 200bhp these days and then hopefully get back on the S54

[podge]

het a move on wit the front suspension biatch before i s13 it:P
good luck wit the project