My 7 year E30 M3 restoration,
Discussion
I will start at the beginning, I bought the car in 2004 as a track car with a bolted in cage and a standard 2.3 engine. I then had the Warsteiner livery put on the car and off I went on track days including 2 trips to the Nurburgring. Although not much in the way of power I and everyone who drove it were amazed at the way it handled it was a joy to drive especially on tight circuits. Then one sunny day at Oulton Park it blew up without any warning!
So I set about looking for a new engine and I heard about a guy on the S14 owners forum called Adrian who was selling a brand new all singing dancing 2.5. At the time I thought it was way too much until I did my homework and looked at all his posts on the forum where he dealt with John from Germany who is one of the foremost specialists on E30 M3 engines. He had advised Adrian on exactly how to build a really special engine that could be used on the road as well as a track. Once Adrian finished the build he unfortunately lost his job and he had to sell his car as a rolling shell and the engine separately. Once I rang BMW to price the parts I was in shock plus the 2.5 blocks are classed as NLA. So I bought the engine plus he'd had a special exhaust built to suit and a lower final drive diff that I also bought. I have a rolling rd of printout of the original 2.3 engine showing 207 BHP at the flywheel, I have another of the new engine showing 315 BHP at 7500 RPM. Here is the spec....
It is a new 2.5 with group A spec, with Arrow rods and group A spec pistons. Motorsport head gasket it has 38.5/32.5 MS sodium filled exhaust valves, 62g each with 29.5 ports, SRD7 springs with shim under tappets, 312/292 MS cams, 48mm throttle bodies with a 50/55 4 into 2 Evo 3 manifold new timing chain.
Bottom end is new genuine BMW 2.5 block with the extra webbing for strength with oil squirters. Standard BMW 2.5 crank but it has been lightened and balanced along with an Evo flywheel and new clutch, the compression ratio is 12.0:1. It is using the 18cm runner Carbon Fiber air box with alpha N.
Shortly after I got the engine I took the major step of taking the car back to a shell putting it on a spit sand blasting and seam welding the floor. The cars only tiny bit of rust was just under the front screen the size of a 50p coin. As the car was factory fitted with a sunroof I had the roof skin removed and replaced with a non sunroof to get rid of any unwanted weight so up high. I bought a pair of fibreglass bumpers which is a huge weight saving, if you have ever lifted a front bumper you will know what I mean. Once it was stripped I had a full roll cage welded in and as it was originally white I wanted it painting in the brightest white possible which turned out to be a Vauxhall colour. I decided to have the M stripes painted on the car instead of decals.
I bought from Markus in Germany (another well known member on the S14 forum) a gorgeous polished carbon dash, door trims, rear side panels and rear parcel shelf. I had axles and some running gear painted red or black the car underneath is better looking than when it was new. I bought a set of Porsche GT3 seats that cost a fortune but I think they are copies and it was 18 months after I bought them when I came to fit them! I had the seats covered in leather to match the body stripes.
Then the rebuild came to a standstill as everything else that needed doing required a specialist and I didn't know one that I could trust or wanted to work on my "baby" so it stood for a couple of years tucked away in my garage.
I then got motivated again and started a complete new rebuild I decided I wanted the car to be usable on the road and if I had wanted to drive it to track days or just on a nice day out so I had it fitted with a sat nav, bluetooth speaker front and rear facing cameras, a decent heater etc, It really is a car you could drive at weekends or drive it to a track spend the day having fun then drive it back home.
So I fitted new Coilover Leda Shocks and lowered springs group A AP brakes fitted front and rear.
New alloy fuel tank fitted in the spare wheel well in the boot with twin fuel pumps.
All new fuel and brake lines ran throughout the inside of the car.
A completely new (specially made for my car) expensive wiring loom covered in Raychem DR-25 chassis and ECU with labels on every wire.
A purpose built fuse box under carbon dash.
Alpha N Plus fitted to remove the airflow meter plus Carbon airbox.
Stack dash that reads over 10k as the engine is said to rev to that but not in my hands I've had a limiter fitted at 7.5K. Rocker switches for ancillaries including electric windows and push buttons for changing the dash screen etc.
New carbon dashboard fitted but then removed to be flocked as it gave too much glare in the screen from the carbon.
New light weight heater fitted and plumbed in a short shift gear lever and linkage from the States. Momo steering wheel with horn, flash and starter button.
Kill switch fitted on the dash and under front screen on the outside.
Bucket seats fitted with new harnesses lightweight carpets throughout the interior.
New water and screen washer tanks a Garmin Sat Nav unit fitted to the dash. Bose bluetooth speaker a
new pedal box fitted and foot rest plate. Mishimoto radiator and red hoses and a wide band Lambda sensor unit with read outs for fuelling control fitted in the dash, which was bought from Australia front and rear tow straps.
New bonnet locks fitted to the front of the bonnet. A rear view mirror complete with front and rear fitted cameras working off a memory card.
Carbon Evo rear spoiler and carbon front.
Single wiper conversion from USA.
4 new Nankang AR-1 Semi Slick Track Race Racing Car Tyres
Odyssey Extreme Racing 30 / PC950 Battery -fitted behind the passenger seat.
I bought a set of specially made 18 inch Compomotive Motorsport Wheels
Cam cover crinkle finished in Ferrari red and carbon door mirrors with turn signals.
The engine sounds incredible yet is so tractable it pulls from no revs and I am told can be revved to 10k but as it's so new I have the limiter set at 7500 RPM.
Here is a link to loads of pics from when I had the car originally at places like the Nurburgring and pics of the the engine that went bang, plus every stage of the rebuild... https://s44.photobucket.com/user/v10nob/library?pa...
So I set about looking for a new engine and I heard about a guy on the S14 owners forum called Adrian who was selling a brand new all singing dancing 2.5. At the time I thought it was way too much until I did my homework and looked at all his posts on the forum where he dealt with John from Germany who is one of the foremost specialists on E30 M3 engines. He had advised Adrian on exactly how to build a really special engine that could be used on the road as well as a track. Once Adrian finished the build he unfortunately lost his job and he had to sell his car as a rolling shell and the engine separately. Once I rang BMW to price the parts I was in shock plus the 2.5 blocks are classed as NLA. So I bought the engine plus he'd had a special exhaust built to suit and a lower final drive diff that I also bought. I have a rolling rd of printout of the original 2.3 engine showing 207 BHP at the flywheel, I have another of the new engine showing 315 BHP at 7500 RPM. Here is the spec....
It is a new 2.5 with group A spec, with Arrow rods and group A spec pistons. Motorsport head gasket it has 38.5/32.5 MS sodium filled exhaust valves, 62g each with 29.5 ports, SRD7 springs with shim under tappets, 312/292 MS cams, 48mm throttle bodies with a 50/55 4 into 2 Evo 3 manifold new timing chain.
Bottom end is new genuine BMW 2.5 block with the extra webbing for strength with oil squirters. Standard BMW 2.5 crank but it has been lightened and balanced along with an Evo flywheel and new clutch, the compression ratio is 12.0:1. It is using the 18cm runner Carbon Fiber air box with alpha N.
Shortly after I got the engine I took the major step of taking the car back to a shell putting it on a spit sand blasting and seam welding the floor. The cars only tiny bit of rust was just under the front screen the size of a 50p coin. As the car was factory fitted with a sunroof I had the roof skin removed and replaced with a non sunroof to get rid of any unwanted weight so up high. I bought a pair of fibreglass bumpers which is a huge weight saving, if you have ever lifted a front bumper you will know what I mean. Once it was stripped I had a full roll cage welded in and as it was originally white I wanted it painting in the brightest white possible which turned out to be a Vauxhall colour. I decided to have the M stripes painted on the car instead of decals.
I bought from Markus in Germany (another well known member on the S14 forum) a gorgeous polished carbon dash, door trims, rear side panels and rear parcel shelf. I had axles and some running gear painted red or black the car underneath is better looking than when it was new. I bought a set of Porsche GT3 seats that cost a fortune but I think they are copies and it was 18 months after I bought them when I came to fit them! I had the seats covered in leather to match the body stripes.
Then the rebuild came to a standstill as everything else that needed doing required a specialist and I didn't know one that I could trust or wanted to work on my "baby" so it stood for a couple of years tucked away in my garage.
I then got motivated again and started a complete new rebuild I decided I wanted the car to be usable on the road and if I had wanted to drive it to track days or just on a nice day out so I had it fitted with a sat nav, bluetooth speaker front and rear facing cameras, a decent heater etc, It really is a car you could drive at weekends or drive it to a track spend the day having fun then drive it back home.
So I fitted new Coilover Leda Shocks and lowered springs group A AP brakes fitted front and rear.
New alloy fuel tank fitted in the spare wheel well in the boot with twin fuel pumps.
All new fuel and brake lines ran throughout the inside of the car.
A completely new (specially made for my car) expensive wiring loom covered in Raychem DR-25 chassis and ECU with labels on every wire.
A purpose built fuse box under carbon dash.
Alpha N Plus fitted to remove the airflow meter plus Carbon airbox.
Stack dash that reads over 10k as the engine is said to rev to that but not in my hands I've had a limiter fitted at 7.5K. Rocker switches for ancillaries including electric windows and push buttons for changing the dash screen etc.
New carbon dashboard fitted but then removed to be flocked as it gave too much glare in the screen from the carbon.
New light weight heater fitted and plumbed in a short shift gear lever and linkage from the States. Momo steering wheel with horn, flash and starter button.
Kill switch fitted on the dash and under front screen on the outside.
Bucket seats fitted with new harnesses lightweight carpets throughout the interior.
New water and screen washer tanks a Garmin Sat Nav unit fitted to the dash. Bose bluetooth speaker a
new pedal box fitted and foot rest plate. Mishimoto radiator and red hoses and a wide band Lambda sensor unit with read outs for fuelling control fitted in the dash, which was bought from Australia front and rear tow straps.
New bonnet locks fitted to the front of the bonnet. A rear view mirror complete with front and rear fitted cameras working off a memory card.
Carbon Evo rear spoiler and carbon front.
Single wiper conversion from USA.
4 new Nankang AR-1 Semi Slick Track Race Racing Car Tyres
Odyssey Extreme Racing 30 / PC950 Battery -fitted behind the passenger seat.
I bought a set of specially made 18 inch Compomotive Motorsport Wheels
Cam cover crinkle finished in Ferrari red and carbon door mirrors with turn signals.
The engine sounds incredible yet is so tractable it pulls from no revs and I am told can be revved to 10k but as it's so new I have the limiter set at 7500 RPM.
Here is a link to loads of pics from when I had the car originally at places like the Nurburgring and pics of the the engine that went bang, plus every stage of the rebuild... https://s44.photobucket.com/user/v10nob/library?pa...
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