E30-323ti

You must be reading the wrong information then. There are plenty of race proven e36 5lug'd E30 to prove otherwise. And my wheel alignment for example (refer sig.link below). Use E28 front hubs, same part essentially, only difference is the ABS ring has different no. of teeth. Which doesn't matter if you don't have ABS, otherwise the rings can be removed & swapped over. Back on topic. Love to see some pics!! I was running 245/40 on the ti rear on 17x8" et38 wheels and they fit nicely with a gentle roll. You must have mothered the guards to fit 255/40's on 5er wheels!!! Also, with not using the correct arms up front, I think you will still find the wheel is not far enough forward to use in the interim, but see how you go. Pics Pics Pics !!!!

It is more of a heat management issue on FI engines. The coils break down with the heat (very common on RB's). Leads are cheaper and serviceable. Do the BMW coils have the ignitor on top of each coil? Or separate/in the DME? Using a aftermarket CDI or high power ignitor often mean OEM coils can't be used, and generic twin post bosch coils are often used. Upgraded ignitors are often needed to get a strong spark with a decent plug gap & cold plugs when running higher boost (+20psi). I wouldn't go down the path unless you really needed to!!

Looking good Nelson. Looks like you could fit 2 of them in there compared to the E30 engine bay!!

Are those the ones Brian Howat had forsale?? There is a really good wheel repair place just out of P.North I have used, can't remember the name of it though sorry. Looks like you will need to read those links I gave you to fit the RC on!!

The E30 Chassis has more racing pedigree than all the VR-4 chassis's added together... regardless of how slow the production model was/is. Seeing as this is a BMW forum, you can't expect much sympathy/cred for modded jap. family wagons. I wouldn't expect that for a BMW in a Mitsi forum. OT. It doesn't look too bad, other than having the bumper chopped, but I can hardly talk LOL.

I'd go with the Plenum first. 1. If you think it will benefit from a retune now (stock) then it will still with the Plenum installed, so do it later. 2. If you retune now, then get the plenum later, you will need to retune it again. More $$$ The question is: Will there be a disbenefit (over stock) in running the plenum without a retune? How much are we talking here? Will I even notice with my butt-dyno? Driveablility? Fuel Consumption? My 2c

There is a NEO on trademe at the moment ~$550 IIRC Have you had a look at the MAP-ECU yet??

They do indeed!! But the book say 60x60mm plate on the backside for sheet metal mounts doesn't it?? Can just imagine how far those long belts + the sheet metal will stretch in a decent impact..... I wouldn't say that. On an E30, just about any "standard" 6 point cage won't pick up the suspension load points/paths. Front & rear sub-frame mounts, front towers & above the rear springs (or tower if you have coilovers). Out of those, most will only go to the strut towers, and then only provide frontal impact strength and not the vertical load from the suspension. Is it a budget install that meets the minimum requirement, for sure.

I like the E36 340i idea! If you get stuck, there is a guy here in Lower Hutt that does it all the time. His latest was his 4x4 competition truck, which runs a mid mounted M70 mated to a MR2 Turbo Gearbox with a twin plate clutch.

You only swap over the trailing arms, not the whole subframe. Leave the E30 hand brake cables attached to the chassis etc... and connect them into the E36 TA's

If they were perfect fitment, then you would have no excuse!!! But as they are you'll need ~20mm spacer up front & the back may ~10mm. Not really ideal.

Looks a little pinched, but I'm sure it will work and be great fun. Just be careful if you haven't driven hard on slicks before, when they get to the limit they let go fast, not nice and gradual like your road tyres. Now you will find your suspension is way too soft and don't have enough camber, so watch the outside edges on the front as they will get nice and hot when the tyre rolls on the rim + the body roll. Speaking from experience. I'd expect camber to be +3.5degrees and springs at least 600lbs/in on the front (Plus a fat roll bar) for slicks on an E30. I don't suppose you want to comment on that Conrad in reference to your M3?? That is close what I am running now with 240/625 R17 Slicks (8.5 & 9" rims).

About perfect for the E46 M3 I think you will find.

The ECU is expecting the airflow to be within a specific range supplied from the MAF. Whether it is a frequency or voltage etc... The same flow through a smaller (cross sectional area) meter (ie your 320 MAF) will give a higher reading than the larger 325 MAF, thus the ECU will get a reading "out of range" at a lower flow. If anything you want a larger meter from say a 540 (3.5" IIRC) to bring the readings down into the range the ECU expects. The only thing to watch is that the low flow (ie off boost) readings aren't too low and off the bottom of the ECU's map (opposite problem to too much air flow out the top of the map). The other sensor will be for IAT's (Intake Air Temperature), the ECU uses this to determine the density of the MAF being measured. Can discuss more with you tomorrow if you like.

IIRC you can use a M47 crank (diesel motor) + re-bore and you are around 2.1l, not sure what rods (S50B32 rings a bell, but that might be the pistons??), but you would prob. want some H-beams to go with the forged pistons if you are going turbo and then balance the whole thing up.

Sounds turbo friendly to me

As my Nan always said "Blue & Green should never be seen and don't get caught in Pink & red!!" N.A.S.T.Y. But as Penry said, easy fixed in the scheme of things.

Fixing the door springs to my mind!?!?! My cat insists on pissing on one of the wheels when ever it goes into the garage. Grabbing it by the scruff of it's neck and rubbing it's face in it soon fixed that!!! Now it is sh*t scared of the garage.

Sorry to bag on your sale thread, but all 5 are copies, NOT Genuine. E39 M5's have 18" wheels and are staggered width (8" & 9.5"). Might pay to amend your ad.

I saw a very neat one years ago. It was a dodge conquest IC (Starion to us) core, which is essentially the same size as a VR-4 one. Sat behind the kidneys & the piping 2" snuck between the high beams & the front panel/frame. I think there is also a 500mm wide chinese one that works well if you remove the high beams.

What rate are the E30 series springs (progressive of course)?? IIRC the are Kings 'Super Lows' aren't they??

A rear 'strut' brace won't do anything other than adding a bit of reinforcement where it bolts on. But Z3 reinforcement plates will do the same. For the front of the cage, you aren't providing much additional rigidity unless you are triangulating the towers, both vertically (down to the base of the A-pillar) & laterally (to the mid of the dash bar or better to the windscreen bend in the A-pillar). And strut top to the opposite A-Pillar base a-la E30 M3 DTM cars, but that is pretty extreme. The single bar to the strut top, as described in the motorsport manual, provides mainly frontal impact protection. E30's to tend to 'banana' as you say, typically at the firewall, the more attention to this area will see the greatest improvements to chassis stiffness. E30 DTM car: Triangulated Towers & subframe: From in the car: For the rear of the cage, if you are not planning to go to the shock towers, are you going to the boot floor? Directly above the springs? E90 cage for reference:

Reminds me of that vidi when the guy runs himself over LOL

That is true, but as I stated above, the need to have a high static camber to over come the Roll is what gives you even tyre temps. I have no doubt driving style played some roll in the problem, but the simple change to matching front & rear widths resolved the issue, moreso than any driver improvement LOL I find it a lot more stable than moderate camber & stock 'toe-in' especially under brakes. I run 1/16" toe-out on the front, so not huge, and have plenty of HP/TQ to push it, which is where some run 0 toe and deal with less stability. It did indeed and we have rambled OT on a suspension geometry session LOL, Knowing he is running a pretty 'complete' track suspension setup, some small alignment changes the day before will make more difference than a staggered Vs Non-Staggered setup. I which case, it's best to become familiar with doing his on "string" alignments. But these are whole other threads by themselves. Just go with what you can afford, and think through all the possible scenario's that may cost you time & $$$

The contact patch should not move from one side to the other, that would mean the camber has gone from +ve to -ve. Which may well happen in a road car with low static camber, but E36 racecars generally run in excessive of -3.5d so this does not happen. As the chassis roll into the corner and the suspension compresses more of the tyres width becomes presented to the road surface elongating the contact patch increasing the lateral grip, this is true no matter the tyre width, and is verified by taking the tyre temp across the width. If the temps are uneven them you have too much or too little camber. A wider tyre will handle temperature better due to the simple fact there is more tyre. The rate the E36 geometry gains camber under compression is less than the rate it looses it due to the roll characteristics, thus the comparatively high static camber required. The car will not "walk all over the track" unless you have incorrect toe settings, not tyre width. Stock is to have the front 'toe-ing in' with low static camber which under compression trends towards toe-out making it feel less stable if you just "chuck some fat tyres on". A proper race/track alignment should have the front with slight toe-out and a lot of camber to eliminate that area of instability during suspension compression. A car with stock alignment settings will 'tram line" with wide tyres!! Remember we are talking about a Track car setup here, which to me means "you need the braking and high speed corner stick" Thats all well and good for a road car, I used to run the same 225 45 / 245 40 combo, which felt great on the road, but was terrible on the track, esp. Manfield, which cooks front lefts. Switching to 245's all round made a world of difference even on street tyres (now on semi slicks). SweetM3: At the end of the day it all come back to $$$. If you can afford to maintain a staggered setup and are happy with the way it "works" then go for it, as I said earlier. You're running the GC track/school kit aren't you?? I would be looking to what the majority of the guys in the US are using, I'd bet you will find most are on a square setup on 235 or 255/40 17x8.5" or 9" (which are very cheap for them, lucky buggers) On a typical track day I take 6 wheels/tyres (all the same), there is nothing worse than flat-spotting a front in the first session and not having the ability to swap front to back (which is easy to do when you have 'moments'), or grab a spare for that side (thus the 2 spares), chances are it will ruin your day, or you continue and not learn anything and destroy a tyre.