E30-323ti

If you're wanting something "tricky" Dan @ Diffsonline (USA) has modified centres that he sells (built to what ever specs you want). Most diff specialists in NZ will be able to swap out the centre and do all the preload/backlash crap. I don't think many would be up to modifying the centres though (extra clutches, changing ramps etc...), as it is pretty delicate machining work. What did andy want the diff for??

I enquired years ago, Palmside in Chch are the NZ distributors I believe. $1750 rings a bell. Why so interested in a Quaife Gusto?? From what I've heard they aren't that flash in an E30, and the stock LSD are pretty good when modded with extra clutches & modified ramps etc... (but all that costs of course). When I ran the torsen I wasn't impressed, was a bit unpredictable, and locked up tight pretty quick at times. Thats with running no rear sway bar so there is plently of meat on the road, as big rear bars = wheel unloading/lifting = quaife/torsen no good.

If it had to be an E30, I'd go and find a Ex Grp A or DTM M3!! And cause I'd have so much cash anyway, I'd buy another one too!! Done, just treat it how it deserves, thrash the f*#ker!!

I prefer the 3dr hatch in the diesel thread.

Might be running 0 preload on the clutches, relying only on the ramps to load them up.

Hey Riley, Sounds like things are comign alng well!! Are you running a W55?? When I first got mine on the road I had a 3.46 with tha W58 (0.78 5th IIRC) Was spinning ~2200rpm at 100kph, and would do 190 at the end of 3rd That was with 225/45 R16's The gearing was a bit tall, but perfectly acceptable. The 1JZ has a fatter torque curve (slightly lower peak) than the 1UZ (stock Vs stock) so the gearing isn't so important. I'm now running a 3.73 (toyota) with 245/40 R17's (about 1" taller), and the gearing is a little shorter than before. Can still use 3rd out of the hairpin at Manfield and have plenty of pull (2nd was tyre smoke central). I have also run a 3.91 (bmw & toyota) and a 4.11 (toyota), the 4.11 was way to short Chuck a few ratios in, open diffs are cheap and easy to put in, see if you like it before swappign the guts over. I have a PDF at home (NZ) with how to tear down & reassemble the BMW diffs, would be of use if you were to DIY it. I think I sent it to Andrew to put up somewhere?? Personally I'd pay someone, shouldn't take long/cost much for a diff guy to do. Let us know how you get on!!

Use the site Josh put up, has it all listed there. Your confused looks will be pretty normal when you start doing stuff like this, so get use to it. Even worse if the source is confused one... It is the E36 318ti trailing arms that you need, not a 318i, big difference!! You can also use Z3 or M Coupe/Roadster (rare & $$!!) trailing arms, but they don't have the rear brakes lines to suit a E30, so you will need to make them.

Welcome aboard. Nick isn't it?? I was meaning to come and check your E21 out while you were building it, saw it at Howats getting the rear end done, I was getting some thing done for my E30. I heard you have left Wgtn though, for Hamilton!?!

No sh*t, Thats my office door too, when I'm in Welly!! Where do you work? PM if you prefer. There is a much nicer Hartge E30 that lives out in petone, delphin greg IIRC

Looking good Josh, It's coming together well!! Is that one of Lee's (massive) BBK's?? You doing the rear too?? I thought you said some where the rear springs were "barrel"shaped!?! They don't look it. Just watch out for coilbind, cause in the stock location you may find the TA's go a bit "banana" after some decent pounding!! And the M-coupe bracing does not address this. Were those the LM's on tardme, from napier or hastings?? Keep the pic's coming!!!

Well don't go near 19's then, 1 rim would probably weigh as much as 2 14" baskets with tyres!!! 15 or 16" wheels with GOOD tyres will improve the handling and grip the most. I would go with something the 16x7.5" type 1 ACS wheels Mike and Drifty are using. 205/50 or 225/45's are a good size, possibly slighty "over" tyred for lower (or stock) hp'd E30's, but full the guards nicely! So there is no real need to do the E36 swap either!!

Offset wise for a 8" rim they are fine. Check and double check your friends car with the 215/35 18's as your's would be 1" taller again!!! It doesn't sound like much, but it is!! You do know it is is going to ride and drive like a POS, and it is purely bling factor!?!?! Just seem like a lot of work for no real gain, other than "bling" but that doesn't really count.

oops, got a bit off topic didn't it. So to clarify, you will have E36 front & E36 ti rear!?!?! If so, get all 19x8's the 8.5's won't let you run any more tyre and will be a pain when rotating them to optimise wear etc... What tyres are you going to run?? 225/35's, even that may be too tall for the E30?? What offset are the wheels??

The scrub radius (very crudely) is the distance from the CL of the wheel to the steering axis intersection with the ground. Adding spacers increases this (if the wheel is a similar offset to stock). In the E30 M3 case, you need ~12mm to get the E36 discs on (which is offset by the change in wheel offset), plus another 15-20mm is req'd to fit a BBK under M3 wheels. So by the end you have ~40mm of spacing from the hub, long bolts or studs, plus big loads on the wheel bearings. If these are close (ie small dist.) the the wheel will pivot within the tread, if they are further apart the wheel will "scrub" forward and back as it turns. This creates heavy steering, tramlining, excessive steering pull under hard braking (as the wheel moves or is pushed fore & aft), excessive wear on wheel bearings, and changes (softens) the wheel rate of the suspension. Add to this the tonnes of castor that E30's have, the wheel can go forward/back, up/down, whilst sitting on the spot. Have a search on the net, it should be described pretty accurately some where.

Bolting it all together is the easy part... And still only with selected wheels!! No deep dish style wheels will work without even more spacers, hello huge scrub radius (this is where the E36 frontend is superior to the E30 M3, and giving giving a better roll centre). making it "work" is the hard part. Plus when it's on a E30, the guards aren't nearly as generous as a E36 to accomodate big spacers for BBK's, so wheel selecton is important with BBK's.

There was a NZ new E36 325td 5spd on TM a while ago.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/S...on-92587580.htm

They are BMW style 5's. They come in a 3'er fitment but don't have a big dish like the 5'er Ash's M3 has the 17x8" 5'er style 5's IIRC

PM'd

I know what thats like!! Was just giving my 2c not having a go.

very tidy!! The super tucked skinny wheeled look is a bit ghey though. On a build as good as this, you could do a whole lot better!!!

The Koni's are shorter than stock and the bilsteins I understand. I (and now Carl) ran them with the jamex super dooper lows and they are captive, IIRC they were ~2" shorter in the front and back compared to Carls Boges. I would definitely recommend the Koni's!!!

Especially when you think about the little benefit (eg. Bolt-in) you get from it. At 500whp the M-Coupe backend will start feeling the pain, have a look at MrBlonde's M-Coupe!! I've spoken to the guy's in OZ that built his car, All the axles, CV's, Stub axles are all custom built. Realistically, if you have 500whp, you are going to be an animal to it, no question. And the E30 M3 front doesn't leave much scope for wheel choice if you are wanting a BBK (with 4pots). It is the E28 M5 backend they use (same trailing arms and sized diff as the E34 M5), which is the same as mine, however they use the type 210 BMW diff where as I use a Supra Diff. I gather this is in relation to the 318ti backend. If you were looking for one, I think Darren may look at selling his soon (my old one) to go down a similar path to me. All non-M E36 front knuckles and hubs are the same, so it doesn't matter what model you get them from unless you are keeping the stock E36 brakes, in which case don't use 318i or ti bits as they have solid discs. The 318ti backend is fine as stated above, and you can use your 325 axles as the CV's are thicker.

As Martyyn said, have a look at the link. That was when I first did the swap. It now has just under -4d up front, and haven't got the backend together yet, but was around -3.5d which was a bit too much. Now it's adjustable, back to 0d I'd say, for those drag events I'll attend, yeah right!! Caster is around 9d I run 1/8" total toe out on the front and in on the rear, very stable at speed and turn in is pretty crisp. The 318ti (or E30) axles/CV's are the only issue with that setup. Both darren and myself have put 300-350rwhp through them and not had any failures as such. Sure there has been some pretty manky looking outer CV's, but if your not giving it a hard time (launching it on slicks etc...) then they are pretty tough. The only reason I changed to the E28 backend was for future proofing, to run bigger brakes and better geometry, oh and coilovers.

Found these on TM, to suit a E36. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...on-88846113.htm Still not the best, but a good price, if the centres were black or a dark gun-metal, mmmm. I think the front would need spacers to clear the strut possibly, not sure as I have coilovers on the front and the adjusters sit where the tyre goes, which is not a prob on the stock struts, so maybe not?? The rear would need some definitely need some serious fender rolling to fit the 18x9.5's with a 255/35 but the offset looks about right.