E36 to E30

Decided to let the E36 go and find a nice E30 for a DD. Any body want to talk me out of it?

How about getting that nekkid guy out of your avatar. That's my first bit of advice.

What! You got a thing against Aborigional wood? Wasn't that a Beatles tune?

I don't think he's completely naked...

alleykat wrote: What! You got a thing against Aborigional wood? Wasn't that a Beatles tune?

Norwegian. Norway. Its cold there.

nope... ain't going to do it

The E30 is God's Chariot, therefore:

E30s > *

z31maniac wrote: The E30 is God's Chariot, therefore: E30s > *

+1

Good In a e30 the interior wont fall apart.

Its lighter- cheaper parts. And you can find the Auto versions at the U pull junkyards. So really cheap parts.

Bad Not as many rim - wheel choices.

I am still going to push the E36 Ti here... almost the same weight as the E30. more robust interior (than the other E36s), and more suspension and wheel choices.

How are people saying there are more wheel choices for the E36? The E30 is a 4x100 bolt pattern, which is shared with half the popular tuner cars out there.

E36s and on use that funky pattern that is unique to BMW.

If the E36 interior is cheaper than the one in the E30, I feel for you. The cracking dash pads (I make good money getting them from the U Pull It), shredding leather, breaking seat backs etc do not impress me. I think the interior is the worst part of the E30. However, when driving one in anger, one does not really care about such annoyances.

E30 offset is different than ALL the front wheel drive cars. THe VWs Honda and even Miata wheels need spacers to work. And Unless you get hubcentric well built spacers youll get a vibration in the front end.

The 318ti is a great car. Perfectly Balanced. But low hp. Im getting a M52 swap done to mine. So it will have the power it deserves.

Salanis wrote: How are people saying there are more wheel choices for the E36? The E30 is a 4x100 bolt pattern, which is shared with half the popular tuner cars out there. E36s and on use that funky pattern that is unique to BMW.

If you want wheels that are wider than 7", being stuck with a mid-offset 4 x 100 bolt pattern makes it nigh impossible.

My 17 x 8 ET 25 4 x 100, were custom made, and I think I have one of around 4-5 sets in the country.

Although, if I really dig the Auto-X/HPDE stuff when the S52 swap is done, and I suspect I will, I will order a set of Team Dynamics 17 x 9 to slap 255/40s on the car.

I just did this as an exercise to reduce costs at the racetrack... so this has no direct bearing on the DD part but...

The E30 is slightly harder than the E36 to work on - the front suspension is packaged so you have to knock the ball joints out to remove the strut housing for instance. The 4x100 setup runs out of brakes pretty quickly when you add a very sticky tire - the E36 had plenty. The rear geometry needs adjustibility to run low CG and its quite a bit of work to get it to behave under bump at high speeds. Wheel options are limited for fat rubber.

I remedied this by installing the entire suspension from a wrecked Z3 M Coupe to get 5 lugs, bigger brakes and converted to a true coilover rear (Ground Control inverted untis from a 944 kit), carved up the pickup points to make the rear fully adjustable for camber, toe and wheelbase. I gutted it down to 2000lbs and I'll be putting a stroked and cammed M50 motor in it this summer....

...so... basically I've turned it into a slower version of the M3 I already had just so I could get cheaper tires. It is lighter - so they should last longer too. If you aren't insane and completely devoid of reason like me - keep the E36 and spend some money to clean it up.

The E36 is better and faster in every way than the E30

It seems to me if you are just planning on using the E30 as a daily driver, there is no reason not to get it.

My wife and I have 2 e30's and the e36 M3 between us. She LOVES her e30, and I couldn't convince her to get an E36 or E39 if I tried. (I have). The e36 is way, WAY quicker in every respect, but there is something to be said about the "modern classic" appeal of the e30, and it's fantastic seating position. (IMHO).

Nathan

Salanis wrote: How are people saying there are more wheel choices for the E36? The E30 is a 4x100 bolt pattern, which is shared with half the popular tuner cars out there. E36s and on use that funky pattern that is unique to BMW.

E30s are a more common bolt pattern but require an uncommon offset. E36s on the other hand, have a ton of nice OEM wheel choices, as well as a good selection of aftermarket stuff since pretty much all the BMWs from the last 15 years can swap wheels with each other.

walterj wrote: The E30 is slightly harder than the E36 to work on - the front suspension is packaged so you have to knock the ball joints out to remove the strut housing for instance. The 4x100 setup runs out of brakes pretty quickly when you add a very sticky tire - the E36 had plenty.

Perhaps you built more car than I, but I disagree with the brakes comment. I've been as hard on my E30 brakes as anyone, and have yet to have a fade problem. Solid rotors, Hawk pads.

Xceler8x wrote: How about getting that nekkid guy out of your avatar. That's my first bit of advice.

How you like me now?

best bet would be to get an e30 and upgrade it to the suspension on the z3 or 318ti. the fronts from any e36 can be adapted to fit, but the rear will need the suspension from those two cars only.

I am assuming if you are using it as your daily driver you won't be upgrading it to much and since most of the bad points here are talking about upgrading, I think if your heart says E30 go for it.

mad_machine wrote: best bet would be to get an e30 and upgrade it to the suspension on the z3 or 318ti. the fronts from any e36 can be adapted to fit, but the rear will need the suspension from those two cars only.

That's exactly what was said before. But there are quite a few ways guys upgrade their brakes with out going 5 lug.

Use older 7 series calipers with machined Audi rotors, UUC and MassiveBrakes (has three front E30 kits alone) both make nice kits with Wilwood calipers and 2 piece discs, lots of guys use RX7 calipers with Corrado rotors......

seems like more work than just upgrading to stock BMW parts

How does upgrading the brakes, especially with the kits that come with everything you need (calipers, locating brackets, pads, rotors/hats, hydraulic fittings) seem harder than replacing the entire front and rear suspension?

Doing a BBK on the front isn't any more difficult than changing pads/rotors/lines. I'm just not following you on this one.