The E30 Modification Guide

[Mark 178]

When you spend a bit of time on here you start noticing a lot of people asking the same questions related to E30's. In particular members who join up having bought a bog-standard car and they want some advice on how to modify the car's appearance and performance.

I thought it would be a good idea to compile a post with advice / links / suppliers for all aspects of modifying an E30 so that when a newbie joins up we can point them to this thread and say "go nuts!" I know that there are already lists out there like this, but they're generally on American forums and I'd like to make this very "New Zealand-centric"

So, for those of you who have experience modifying E30's, please copy and paste the list below into a post (add to it too if I've missed something) and let us know your recommendations / ideas (include links to your own threads if you have documented your modifications). I'll then edit it into a pinned post that can sit in this forum and assist all new E30 owners with how to make their cars even better.

If this goes well we can move onto other popular models as well.

Engine Swaps

Auto to manual conversion

Suspension options (static / adjustable)

Bodykits / lips / spoilers

Interior swaps

Tinting taillights

Tinting headlights / smiley headlight conversion

Wheels and tyres (size / offset / replica or genuine)

Brake upgrades

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2122]

i got all excited and was going to start giving this keyboard a flogging.

then i remembered everything that fits into those categories is on R3vlimited (US based - by far the biggest E30 community) or E30Tech (UK based - more relevant to RHD Eurospec cars like ours)

As much as i would love to keep people here, is there any point recreating the wheel?

[antil33t 90]

Perhaps we need to create our own guides if there's any specific to rhd cars.. like modification of headers, what headers fit m5x swaps, how to do the RHD part of an E36 rack swap.

ect.

[B.M.W Ltd 950]

I agree Andy... and alot of the people that have the knowledge to do things properly and have the right advise no longer contribute here unfortunately

[Mark 178]

I was thinking more along the lines of what you can expect to pay for parts in New Zealand / What's available easily here versus what's not. Also, the American and UK forums often talk about products or parts brands that aren't easily available in New Zealand. We can list our equivalents and workarounds etc.

I will admit I thought about this hurriedly yesterday and I'll work on how I think things should look over the weekend, might give everyone else a better idea about what I'm attempting to create.

[_ethrty-Andy_ 2122]

sounds good.

Maybe a reconciliation sheet between the US and Euro cars would be able to solve this problem??

can think of quite a few differences i have found while on those US forums. but they are pretty well the same underneath

[Driftit 1962]

I agree Andy... and alot of the people that have the knowledge to do things properly and have the right advise no longer contribute here unfortunately

The people have just changed. Some people have moved on to other things and different brands. Others just don't have time anymore.

Though the forum still directs the people who need the help to the people with the knowledge which is good. When it stops doing that then it will die very quick.

Though if you are reading through other forums and you stumble across some good tips/info/builds please post them up.

Isn't there a published book about restoring and modding your E30?

Edit: Maybe we could start a section for external links. Builds, Parts, guides. Our community is pretty small. But sharing the info from other sources would help a lot.

Edited May 15, 2014 by driftit

[Mark 178]

Engine swaps:

Common question: "I want more power from my 318 auto, what engine can I swap in so I can destroy my mate's EK Civic VTEC at the lights?"

Common solutions (from mild to wild):

- M20B25 conversion

The 2.5 6 cylinder from the 325i is the most powerful stock engine that BMW released in your every day E30 3 series. It's also an incredibly common engine to find in New Zealand. Installing this engine into your E30 is easiest if you buy a donor 325i with the engine in place so you can simply swap everything over. Otherwise you can follow this guide for more advice. Engine swap - M20

- M20B27 conversion.

As above, except you're swapping the B25's bottom end for one from an E28 525e.There is a comprehensive write-up on how to do this conversion on UK forum E30 Zone. It can be found here. Building a 2.7 - E30 Zone

- "M20B28" conversion

This is the same basic conversion at the 2.7, except you're dropping in the 2.8 litre crank from the M52B28 engine.

Building a 2.8 E30 Zone

- M30B35 conversion

Another popular conversion is to swap in the 3.5 litre engine from the E34 5 series or E32 7 series. You'll need the engine loom, ECU and manual gearbox from the same model to make the conversion simple. E30 Zone - M30 Engine swap

- M50B25 conversion.

If you want to move on from iron blocks and tell your Honda mates that you rock 24 valves instead of their paltry 16, then you can swap in the 2.5 litre engine from the later model E36 or E34 cars.

The easiest way to get most of the parts you'll need for this swap is to buy an E34 525i with manual gearbox. If that's proving difficult there are plenty of workarounds and this is a very common swap so there's plenty of assistance just a visit to Google away.

E30 Zone M5x engine swap

- S50B32 (E36 M3) conversion

We're lucky here at Bimmersport that we have a super intelligent site admin "hybrid" (Josh) who has done this exact swap into his E30. But don't start spamming him with PM's like "Yo bro, I wanna drop in a M3 engine into my 318, I've got bout 2 grand which should be heaps eh, got any tips?" , check out his build thread first.

- M60B40 (B44) V8 conversion

If you want to twist the ignition on your E30 round to "start" and hear 8 angry cylinders fire into life then here's what you'll need to do: E30 Zone - M6x Engine Swap

Here is a link to a local Bimmersport V8 build thread with a lot of useful information. E30 SE V8 conversion

- Nissan SR20DET conversion

This is another conversion that has been successfully completed a few times on Bimmersport. Here is a link to a local writeup on how to successfully install the Nissan 4 cylinder turbocharged engine into your E30. How to: Nissan S13 SR20DET into a BMW E30

[hybrid 1039]

Will help where I can over PM & between Jamez and myself we think we have nailed the perfect combinations as far as handling and road and race use goes. There are a few v8 swaps going on at the moment. Once the kinks have been ironed out im sure they'll start posting about them. There is a big rush on to buy e39 v8s .. people are getting stuck on the auto/manual coding and electronics thing which brendon and I are working through at the moment and can offer a service here.

Nice guide Mark