Christmas 2010 Update - A package from Thailand!

Nothing much has happened in the last couple of months. We're waiting for the custom engine/gearbox mounts to arrive from Thailand. As I type this, the Thai Post Office parcel tracker tells me that my mounts are sitting in the Suvarnabhumi Mailing Centre awaiting dispatch! It takes 5 days for mail to arrive from Thailand normally, but many British airports are shut due to the poor weather at the moment! It's anyone's guess when they might arrive:(

The 2011 Trident Welsh Sprint and Hillclimb Championship starts in April 2011, so it'll be a tight schedule to get everything done in time, but not impossible. As soon as there's any more progress, I'll do a proper update. Merry Christmas/Nadolig Llawen.

October 2010 Update

We plan to put this motor into this shell...

The car is now at A&P Services and work on the engine transplant has started. Out with the 140bhp BMW M42 engine and in with the Nissan SR20DET motor. This engine conversion is quite common in Australia and should double the car's power output. Notice the rear arches are now M3 Evo items.Here is the old BMW motor/box. The Nissan 200SX donor car is in the background.

Photos of project - July 2010

Rear arches cut off and inner arches tubbed and welded to the outer arch - now we're ready to bound the fibreglass M3 style rear arches over the top. There will be lots of room for some very wide rear wheels.

Seat rails welded into the floor ready to accept the seat mounts - after I've painted them.

Electronic ignition cut out device - thanks Wyn!

Two gallon fuel tank - which will probably give the car a tank range of about ten miles!

Restarting the project...

Since my daughter was born 4 months ago, very little has gone on in the garage and the E30 hasn't progressed at all. All I've really done is buy more parts ready to fit when I've got a little more time. Over the past few months, I've bought...

• 2 gallon alloy fuel tank
• Electronic ignition cut out device
• A set of 17X7 alloy wheels (that I don't like on the car and will go back on eBay)
• A tuned Nissan SR20DET 2 litre turbo charged engine and gearbox (as fitted to the 200SX/Nissan Sunny GTiR) for transplant into my E30 shell
• Intercooler/ECU/loom to match the above
• Complete set of 4mm Polycarbonate windows from Plastics for Performance

As I type this, the car is at http://www.oldskwlfords.com having the rear arches cut off and tubbed and rails welded into the floor to accept the racing bucket seat mounts. The car is due back from there at the beginning of July and will then be ready for the fitting of the new M3 style rear arches, external respray in BMW Alpine White and polycarbonate window fitting. Pictures to follow soon...

March 2010 - Engine plan hatched

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42079&highlight=sr20det

Project comes to temporary halt!

No tools or long nights in the garage for a little while... project E30 on hold. Can you guess why?

February 17th Update - New rear arches.

I've decided to cut off the rear wings I had made and fitted to the car. I'm going to fit these E30 M3 fibreglass replica wings in their place. There's something not quite right about the car's stance with the current flared rear wings - hopefully this will improve the look.

February 2010 - additional pictures

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. They were taken very late after I'd finished putting the new rear suspension on.

I'm beginning to have second thoughts about the look of the arches - especially the rear ones. I was hoping that when the car was lowered (as it is now), they would look better. Something isn't quite right about them. I'm seriously contemplating cutting them off and fitting fibreglass M3 replica ones instead.

This picture shows how the wiring has been tidied behind a stainless cowling I made. It now sits where the glovebox would be and hides loads of messy relays and wiring. An Escort Mk1 centre console has also been dummy fitted. I read in some car magazine that the Escort item fitted the E30 perfectly, and they do! The console will house light and electrical cut out switches, etc.

I have a matching pair of these side mounting Cobra bucket seats (thanks Santa). The driver's one is dummy fitted in this photo. I need to weld some mounting bars across the floor before it can go in for real. I need help here because:

a) I don't own a welder

b) Even if I did, I have no idea how to weld



330mm OMP steering wheel - again dummy fitted. I'm waiting for Screwfix direct to deliver the m5X20 bolts that were missing from the wheel/boss kit I bought. And yes, the horn button in on a squiff! :)

The clocks are the ones I salvaged from the car's original road dash. They plug straight into the existing loom. Now, I need to figure out how to mount them properly.

February Update

Having recently spent days and weeks preparing the inside of the car for painting, it is now returned from Kevin the Painters garage with a shiney top coat of BMW Alpine White. I'm now battling with the wiring loom. Cutting out what's not needed, tidying up the loom wrap and trying to figure out what the hell all the wires do. Truth be known, I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing so I'm being very cautious. A good sparky would probably be a lot more brutal with the snippers.

January 2010 - New Suspension

The 318is came with non-adjustable 51mm front struts. They were well past their sell by date and just not suitable for racing, so off they came.

New Year - New Spax Adjustable Coilover Suspension. Thanks to Richard at Vision Racing Developments for hooking me up with Spax.

It's blinking cold out in the garage at this time of year, but the new Spax Adjustable Coilovers went onto the front of the car today. I took the old suspension apart myself as I had to send the struts away to be turned into the bright yellow coilovers I received back for Spax. Gareth, my brother in law, helped me put them on. Now I can measure the distance between the hub face and the spring/wheel arch extensions and pass on the dimentions to Revolution Wheels who are going to make some wider wheels with the correct offsets. Hopefully we can get a suitable wide track for the car without putting too much strain on the wheel bearings.

Next up is fitting the new rear suspension - also by Spax. I also have two new Cobra Monacco Pro racing seats (that Santa brought) and a 330mm OMP racing steering wheel that need putting in. At last! Nice jobs!