irish44j wrote:
curtis73 wrote:
Rotary?
small children may be reading this forum. Please stop it with the profanity...
but seriously, IDK why you guys are all up on the high-power swaps. The M42 is a great engine (with forged internals from the factory), and the 318is has excellent balance. I've had many opportunities to swap something bigger into mine, but every time I think about it, I realize that losing the great balance wouldn't be worth the extra power...
even the 1.9 M44 is a great engine if you are not interested in high boost.
irish44j wrote:
but seriously, IDK why you guys are all up on the high-power swaps. The M42 is a great engine (with forged internals from the factory), and the 318is has excellent balance. I've had many opportunities to swap something bigger into mine, but every time I think about it, I realize that losing the great balance wouldn't be worth the extra power...
https://www.youtube.com/embed/YkYx3mHSR5Y
You can do a lot with four cylinders and only 250hp or so.
The six cylinder cars were for the street, when BMW went racing, they went with fours. There's a lesson there.
(It's not a displacement thing, the S14 engine was 2.3-2.5l, about the same size as the sixes they used)
I'd love to hear that you were able to fix and run the stock motor. It's the easy button and then, if you decide to swap something else in, you can sell a running motor instead of an anchor
Knurled wrote:
irish44j wrote:
but seriously, IDK why you guys are all up on the high-power swaps. The M42 is a great engine (with forged internals from the factory), and the 318is has excellent balance. I've had many opportunities to swap something bigger into mine, but every time I think about it, I realize that losing the great balance wouldn't be worth the extra power...
https://www.youtube.com/embed/YkYx3mHSR5Y
You can do a lot with four cylinders and only 250hp or so.
The six cylinder cars were for the street, when BMW went racing, they went with fours. There's a lesson there.
(It's not a displacement thing, the S14 engine was 2.3-2.5l, about the same size as the sixes they used)
I must have watched that vid 100 times over the years. "Forceful driving"
Is there a path toward enhancing the whole package? The cars were nice to drive as road cars. Quiet and comfortable for their day while retaining their athleticism. Not that I don't appreciate E30 race cars, but I think that takes something away from what made them popular.
What about getting them to reissue the Downing Supercharger?
jr02518 wrote:
What about getting them to reissue the Downing Supercharger?
There is a nice turbo kit for "stock built" engines made by a member on r3vlimited forums....gets the car up to a bit under 200whp with stock head gasket, internals, etc, for like $1500....
jr02518 wrote:
What about getting them to reissue the Downing Supercharger?
As I recall, Tim put one on an e30 project car some years ago.
Slicktop E30 w/ good body is a rare, desirable car. Reversible modifications only, IMO.
c0rbin9 wrote:
Slicktop E30 w/ good body is a rare, desirable car. Reversible modifications only, IMO.
I bought a slicktop 318is (running and driving) for $1000 about 18 months ago. The engine from it is still in my garage (spare for the rally car). The 100% rust-free and damage-free shell is now caged with an M50 in it, and will hit the stages later this year (Ozgur Simsek). Yeah, I could have immediately flipped it for maybe double or triple that, but it's not an e30 M3....it's just an e30 with an engine that most people don't want (except people like me) because it only has 4 cylinders.
As to rare and desirable..... only matters if one's goal with cars is to sell them for a profit rather than get them to do what you want with them. A rust-free slicktop is desirable as a rally/race car too. Seeing as he already has it in his possession for $400....forget about keeping it stock. Mod it, drive it, race it, rally it, enjoy it. It will enjoy it's life much more than being a stanced-out parking lot show queen.....
The E30 318is has a following so it must have some attractions that aren't horsepower. Get it running and figure out what what makes the car desirable as it is. Then figure out how to retain and reinforce that.
Maybe that means a small, revvy motor with more horsepower to wake it up.. Maybe it means a light-pressure turbo to add torque to make it more enjoyable in traffic. But don't modify away what made the car desirable to begin with.
Chip, lightweight flywheel, intake/exhaust...makes a peppy little ride.
I very seriously regret selling my slicktop 318is 7 years ago. 
irish44j wrote:
curtis73 wrote:
Rotary?
small children may be reading this forum. Please stop it with the profanity...
but seriously, IDK why you guys are all up on the high-power swaps. The M42 is a great engine (with forged internals from the factory), and the 318is has excellent balance. I've had many opportunities to swap something bigger into mine, but every time I think about it, I realize that losing the great balance wouldn't be worth the extra power...
Different schools of thought. I was raised on classic muscle cars. Zero handling, big torques.
But you have to admit that the 318's little 4 is not what you would call adequate. I'm saying it could use more without being too much.
curtis73 wrote:
irish44j wrote:
curtis73 wrote:
Rotary?
small children may be reading this forum. Please stop it with the profanity...
but seriously, IDK why you guys are all up on the high-power swaps. The M42 is a great engine (with forged internals from the factory), and the 318is has excellent balance. I've had many opportunities to swap something bigger into mine, but every time I think about it, I realize that losing the great balance wouldn't be worth the extra power...
Different schools of thought. I was raised on classic muscle cars. Zero handling, big torques.
But you have to admit that the 318's little 4 is not what you would call adequate. I'm saying it could use more without being too much.
adequate for what? Of all my cars, I still enjoy driving the 318 (with M42) the best. No, it'll get smoked in a drag race with a minivan, but who cares? So will my Porsche for that matter.
Meanwhile, my daily driver is a 280whp WRX with great suspension, brakes, seats, and tuned. It does everything I want it to do, well, and does it fast and rock-solid. But it's not nearly as much fun to drive as the 318.
That said, my 318 weighs in at around 2300lbs....so it pretty much has the same power-to-weight as a BRZ does (or a Miata, for that matter). And a minivan will smoke both of those cars too. I've driven plenty of M20 and M52/2 e30s and while they're certainly faster they just don't have the great balance and light-footed-ness (is that a word) that the 318 has, and are not as much fun to drive. Even on the track. I'd rather take the M42 rally car than our M20B25 e30 track car if fun is the goal....
Also keep in mind that my car was originally M10 (100hp). So 140hp it has now is like a rocketship in comparison.
We all have our opinions though. I have little to no interest in driving any kind of big-block muscle car. I like turns and don't much care about stoplight racing ;)
EDIT: by all this I mean if I could get more power without adding weight (or breaking the bank), sure I'd take that. But I have no interest in putting something heavy up there (or, really, even the weight of a turbo/SC setup). The thought of a modern lightweight 4-cyl engine (hell, even a N/A Subaru boxer) is appealing, but I'm not much of a fabricator and doesn't seem like many people have gone that route to create parts/precedent at a reasonable price.
I am all for keeping a BMW motor under the hood but isn't someone making adapters to run BMW transmissions behind K series Honda motors now? Could be fun.
Adam
dyintorace wrote:
z31maniac wrote:
Chip, lightweight flywheel, intake/exhaust...makes a peppy little ride.
I very seriously regret selling my slicktop 318is 7 years ago.
Quoting with the picture because, damn, that is a good looking e30! 
And that was still before the black kidneys and Euro trim on the bumpers. And those were real SSRs :)
If you guys have seen the mangled E30 from a track wreck?
http://jalopnik.com/bmw-driver-survives-nightmare-crash-when-his-e30-loses-1795500447
Same car, the car had a really cool history in the E30 community. At least it died on track.
adam525i wrote:
I am all for keeping a BMW motor under the hood but isn't someone making adapters to run BMW transmissions behind K series Honda motors now? Could be fun.
Adam
Yes, because the Getrags in the E30/E36 are pretty damn stout!
Just shed a tear for my long gone E30 M3.
If it's really that clean... Fix, Freshen & Flip on BaT
Use profits to find an undesirable model and fund a fun swap. Sounds like an article to me
They're great cars. I've been pushing 8 psi through mine for 50k miles, with the stock trans. The engine was adequate stock, but with ~200 hp and a lot more midrange torque, it is a ton of fun. Lots of little things you can do to really improve them as driver's cars, and I think a faster steering rack is at the top of that list. I have a standard E36 rack in mine.
Fun fact: E30 M42s came with tubular headers and a forged crankshaft. Kind of cool.
NickD
SuperDork
6/20/17 2:15 p.m.
z31maniac wrote:
adam525i wrote:
I am all for keeping a BMW motor under the hood but isn't someone making adapters to run BMW transmissions behind K series Honda motors now? Could be fun.
Adam
Yes, because the Getrags in the E30/E36 are pretty damn stout!
Yeah, K Miata is making the kit to put E30/E36/E46 Getrags and ZFs behind Mazda BPs and Honda Ks in Miatas. In theory, you could use the engine-to-trans adapter kit to put a K-series in a BMW (Or a Mazda BP) and toss out the rest of the kit.
