I think he's probably thinking of a) making it handle better and b) making the ride stiff enough that his mom stops stealing his car for her daily driver. 
Margie
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Jan. 26, 2009 8:54 a.m. Marjorie Suddard General Manager
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Jan. 26, 2009 10:54 a.m. wcelliot New Reader
My wife (likely near the same age as his Mom!) has been daily commuting in E30 verts (about 3 hours daily) for 6 years.
The mods on both: H&R springs (the Sport springs were better for a driver than the lowering springs), Bilstein sports, subframe and suspension bushings, 15x7 rims with sticky tires (dedicated snows for summer), braded brake lines and Axxis Ultimate pads on stock rotors, and IE exhaust (too quiet if anything).
The old E30 I added a Dinan chip to (not really worth the need to run 93 octane), an M30 AFM and 19# Mustang injectors (really woke up the top end and made the chip more worth it)... but did little for normal driving. I added a ported and polished head and Schrick cam which added significant power, but really hurt drivability. We ended up going back stock with it.
The newer E30 has the addition of a shock tower brace in front... really tightened up the car. IAt some point, 'll likely add Mustang injectors and an M30 AFM at some point because they didn't hurt driveability and did help the top end...
Bill
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Jan. 26, 2009 11:51 a.m. miatame2 New Reader
Refresh the bushings, shocks, tires, and try to pull some weight out. If you don't mind increasing interior noise a little you can find 100 lbs easy to remove from the car. Finding a big case 4:10 makes a huge increase in acceleration too.
An E30 really wakes up with gearing and a diet.
Stock air box is best, just replace the filter with a new paper one, chip helps a little as do M50 injectors, but not much on a street car.
Not sure what the whole thing with the clutch stop is but I hate those things. Seems to be a big E30/E36 thing I don't get.
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Jan. 26, 2009 12:57 p.m. njansenv New Reader
The PO of my M3 thought the trans might be on it's way out, since shifting into first was difficult at times.
I waited until he was out of sight before I removed the (misadjusted) clutch stop.
Fixed.
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Jan. 26, 2009 4:31 p.m. belteshazzar Dork
chip
you removed all the concrete out of the trunk already right?
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Jan. 26, 2009 8:51 p.m. Tim Suddard Publisher
Per, what class should he run? I assumed street tires and that probably means 15" wheels. I told Tommy to dot eh research and I would help him score the parts. Maybe we can price stuff out new, and on eBay etc. Trying to put a nice, practical, young person friendly story together.
Probably everyone will bitch that it is on a BMW, but we have this thing restored for way less than $2009 Challenge money, and the car drives like a dream.
I want to let the kid modify it, but don't want things getting carried away. He needs to be able to drive it to and from school.
Right now, our biggest battle is keeping mom from scamming the car, as it turned out so nice, she wants to drive it.
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Jan. 26, 2009 10:07 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork
with a little more money, you can swap the suspension from an E36 318ti or Z3 in... both use the same basic rear suspension. This will give you better brakes, bigger selection of wheels, and a better suspension
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Jan. 27, 2009 1:28 p.m. z31maniac HalfDork
Tim Suddard wrote:
Per, what class should he run? I assumed street tires and that probably means 15" wheels. I told Tommy to dot eh research and I would help him score the parts. Maybe we can price stuff out new, and on eBay etc. Trying to put a nice, practical, young person friendly story together.
Probably everyone will bitch that it is on a BMW, but we have this thing restored for way less than $2009 Challenge money, and the car drives like a dream.
I want to let the kid modify it, but don't want things getting carried away. He needs to be able to drive it to and from school.
Right now, our biggest battle is keeping mom from scamming the car, as it turned out so nice, she wants to drive it.
If he builds the car to run STX, you aren't going to be able to get much meat on the ground with anything less than a 17". Unfortunately all the new bad boy sticky tires aren't wider than 205/215 in anything less than a 17" diameter.
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Jan. 29, 2009 6:17 p.m. Per Schroeder Technical Editor/Advertising Director
There is a 225/45R15 in the Toyo R1R and presumably the new Hankook. They would work well on a 15x8 later.
Per
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Jan. 29, 2009 8:09 p.m. Autolex Reader
z31maniac wrote:
If he builds the car to run STX, you aren't going to be able to get much meat on the ground with anything less than a 17". Unfortunately all the new bad boy sticky tires aren't wider than 205/215 in anything less than a 17" diameter.
The Kumho Ecsta XS comes in 205/50/15 (although looking at pictures of it mounted up, it's actually quite a bit wider than the number stamped on the sidewall) and is VERY sticky
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Jan. 31, 2009 8:33 a.m. speedblind New Reader
15x8s are also becoming common in E30-specific offsets and hub bores. Tire Rack and 949 have new designs out, whereas before it was just Rota.
Tire Rack:
949:
My car with 15x8 Rotas and Advan take-off AO48s - 225/50/15.
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Jan. 31, 2009 9:46 a.m. dyintorace HalfDork
Tim Suddard wrote:
Probably everyone will bitch that it is on a BMW, but we have this thing restored for way less than $2009 Challenge money, and the car drives like a dream.
Then those folks are morons. Around here, the e30 is one of the three required grassroots cars! I regret selling my e30 M3 all the time.
I, for one, would love to see the article, as I have a (young) son with whom I hope to do just this sort of thing one day. That issue will be a keeper!
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Jan. 31, 2009 9:50 a.m. pres589 New Reader
speedblind: I love the stance of your e30, what springs are you using? Was the ride compromised much by the 50 series tire?
This discussion thread keeps me wanting a 318is!
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Feb. 2, 2009 8:29 p.m. speedblind New Reader
Those shots were on HR Sport springs (widely available used for 100-150 shipped) and Bilstein sports. Also had GC SE30 camber plates, but hadn't had the alignment done, so it was only about 1 degree neg. camber.
Car rode great on that setup, though the tires themselves were loud - noticeable roar when driving about 45 mph.
Actually, looking at those pics, I kind of wish I'd left it that way. As the car sits now, it's gutted and the sunroof has been removed. Much lighter, and a fun experience driving around, but much less of an all-weather car now. Either way, it's been a fun car and has taken a lot of abuse.
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Feb. 2, 2009 10:42 p.m. Apexcarver SuperDork
So i get in the BMW today to drive home from school, it had started raining after i went to class. As I make the turn out of the parking lot I get a small stream of water from around the sunroof directly on my head.
Any tips? I had checked out the drain lines before and they seemed fine (will recheck and adjust the sunroof panel again)
with the trouble with the crank and all that I am starting to consider using silicone to just seal the motha.
at some point i need to figure out how to get the inner headliner panel back on the sunroof (it wasnt on when i got the car) I hope if i can do that it will cut down on windnoise.
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Feb. 3, 2009 9:02 a.m. z31maniac HalfDork
Per Schroeder wrote:
There is a 225/45R15 in the Toyo R1R and presumably the new Hankook. They would work well on a 15x8 later.
Per
A 225/45/16 would be good (factory OD), the 15 would shorten the gearing a bit. I guess it just depends on how "fast" your local tracks are.
