My E30 Racecar

[Rockefella]

I get the feeling this may be Rob_Mann or whatever his name was.. nice car though.

[M3_E30]

Originally Posted by Rockefella

I get the feeling this may be Rob_Mann or whatever his name was.. nice car though.

you caught me it is me, the infamous rob_mann. However i am over my stupid antics from before and aim to be a proper member of UCP.

[my porsche]

who was robb_man werent you one of those bmwfan boys?

[lukeh]

Originally Posted by my porsche

who was robb_man werent you one of those bmwfan boys?

rob_mann is a ledgend....

[M3_E30]

Originally Posted by lukehow

rob_mann is a ledgend....

DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

anyway i will be doing some work on the racecar this weekend (i was in melbourne last weekend so nothing happened) the roll cage should be just about finished and the front suspension should be almost ready to go in.

Stay tuned more photos and info to come.

[Spastik_Roach]

Everyone lets forget about Robb man and remember M3_E30

[M3_E30]

Originally Posted by Spastik_Roach

Everyone lets forget about Robb man and remember M3_E30

Thats what i want to hear!

[Indyrs500]

The car is perfect for what you are going to do with it and as long as you can get a strong enough bmw diff you really will be efficient and smooth. the chassis is almost perfect too although the front end will only take so much wieght before increasing an otherwise rare understeer effect.
Your car uses chrome ally bumpers and is the earlier of the 3 styles the e30 used. A lot of this earlier one is built heavier but the chassis remains almost the same. That means that you can fit the later type plastic bumpers which themselves come apart into about 15 pieces each andso, with some thought can easily be lightened and re-fitted.
The idea of using later model parts and performance aftermarket parts is the best of all and brings the go-kart-like feel of an e30 up to proper race car standards. Worry about reliability and let the design of the car do the rest, you will not be disappointed. A well put together 318i will laugh at a standard 325is on a track no matter what the power difference, and in a rally situation it's never about sheer power and all about control. You can do almost anything to an e30 and as a rule of thumb:
1983-1986/7 - Mk1 with slim rear light clusters and chrome bumpers
1987 - 1988 - Mk2 'Euro-Spec' With new rear lights, new front grill and front valance, black plastic bumpers and mirrors with new painted-rubber rear boot spoiler.
1989 - 1991 - Mk3 same as Mk2 but with colour-coded bumpers and mirrors.
The parts from a mk2 and 3 will just bolt straight on but to fit later stuff onto the ealier car seems to be what you've done a lot of anyway so nothing will be past what your doing. I can't really be any more sold on the idea of using these forgotten go-karts for serious fun racing and defintely for rallying. Look at it this way, i love almost every mk2 escort i've ever seen but really, could you imagine a standard one trying to fly through the welsh forest at 90 mph? it will fly, into the nearest ditch. However if you play with one enough, the design of the car takes on a new dimension and it becomes a rally winning missile. The BMW e30 was a pretty good thing to start with and to take that and play specifically with the parts that upgrade it to walloping class in a competitive event, is to have a big head start on the whole mk2 escort thing. It is therefore a car that once finished, if driven correctly, will keep up with all of the naturally aspirated cars if not on straight line speed, then almost always in any cornering / bouncing around.
The best thing about these cars is the prices. You can get a Mk1 for no more than 400 quid and mk2's and 3's are anwhere from 500 to 800 depending how clean and servicable they are. Best to aim in the middle and have some usable spares knocking around but then start to look into how all BMW parts fit each other really, just with some minor changes here and there. As me and now others have found out, it's a bloody amazing way into racing with something that won't make you sell your house if you write it off. Buy 3 or so 'Spares-or-repair' variants of the your same year and then enjoy cheap re-shelling when you maybe roll down a hillside in rally mode, etc.
Best of luck with this and if you do run into any specific problems, give us a shout. I guess we've had BMW's now for 6 years as road cars and out of the 6 cars we had, 3 were e30's . One was then used for competition so as i have always been looking after and fixing this fleet of secondhand cars i got to know almost every inch of them. If i can help just let me know.
Good luck.

[lukeh]

Originally Posted by Indyrs500

The car is perfect for what you are going to do with it and as long as you can get a strong enough bmw diff you really will be efficient and smooth. the chassis is almost perfect too although the front end will only take so much wieght before increasing an otherwise rare understeer effect.
Your car uses chrome ally bumpers and is the earlier of the 3 styles the e30 used. A lot of this earlier one is built heavier but the chassis remains almost the same. That means that you can fit the later type plastic bumpers which themselves come apart into about 15 pieces each andso, with some thought can easily be lightened and re-fitted.
The idea of using later model parts and performance aftermarket parts is the best of all and brings the go-kart-like feel of an e30 up to proper race car standards. Worry about reliability and let the design of the car do the rest, you will not be disappointed. A well put together 318i will laugh at a standard 325is on a track no matter what the power difference, and in a rally situation it's never about sheer power and all about control. You can do almost anything to an e30 and as a rule of thumb:
1983-1986/7 - Mk1 with slim rear light clusters and chrome bumpers
1987 - 1988 - Mk2 'Euro-Spec' With new rear lights, new front grill and front valance, black plastic bumpers and mirrors with new painted-rubber rear boot spoiler.
1989 - 1991 - Mk3 same as Mk2 but with colour-coded bumpers and mirrors.
The parts from a mk2 and 3 will just bolt straight on but to fit later stuff onto the ealier car seems to be what you've done a lot of anyway so nothing will be past what your doing. I can't really be any more sold on the idea of using these forgotten go-karts for serious fun racing and defintely for rallying. Look at it this way, i love almost every mk2 escort i've ever seen but really, could you imagine a standard one trying to fly through the welsh forest at 90 mph? it will fly, into the nearest ditch. However if you play with one enough, the design of the car takes on a new dimension and it becomes a rally winning missile. The BMW e30 was a pretty good thing to start with and to take that and play specifically with the parts that upgrade it to walloping class in a competitive event, is to have a big head start on the whole mk2 escort thing. It is therefore a car that once finished, if driven correctly, will keep up with all of the naturally aspirated cars if not on straight line speed, then almost always in any cornering / bouncing around.
The best thing about these cars is the prices. You can get a Mk1 for no more than 400 quid and mk2's and 3's are anwhere from 500 to 800 depending how clean and servicable they are. Best to aim in the middle and have some usable spares knocking around but then start to look into how all BMW parts fit each other really, just with some minor changes here and there. As me and now others have found out, it's a bloody amazing way into racing with something that won't make you sell your house if you write it off. Buy 3 or so 'Spares-or-repair' variants of the your same year and then enjoy cheap re-shelling when you maybe roll down a hillside in rally mode, etc.
Best of luck with this and if you do run into any specific problems, give us a shout. I guess we've had BMW's now for 6 years as road cars and out of the 6 cars we had, 3 were e30's . One was then used for competition so as i have always been looking after and fixing this fleet of secondhand cars i got to know almost every inch of them. If i can help just let me know.
Good luck.

You put alot of effort into that post nahh.

[Kevin L]

What ever happened to the pics of the supension?
Have u finished the project?
If so show us some more pics.

[MR_SAZ]

please tell me more about the 5 stud conversion using E46 parts?~~~!!! id love to know