Budget BMW track car
Discussion
Hi,
Has anyone hear got any experience of running an e30 or e34 track car on a tight budget?
The idea is to get something - and a 3 or 5 series sounds promising - for around £1,000, that I can use on a few track days and possibly as a daily driver, before doing the Scumball rally with it next year.
The main criteria is it has to be mechanically sound - having had two cars expire (one of them an e30 320i) in our attempt to complete Czech Wrecks, I'm determined that this time (2009) we will actually get to the end!
So, what are the options? I was thinking 325i versus 530 Sport?
Chris.
Has anyone hear got any experience of running an e30 or e34 track car on a tight budget?
The idea is to get something - and a 3 or 5 series sounds promising - for around £1,000, that I can use on a few track days and possibly as a daily driver, before doing the Scumball rally with it next year.
The main criteria is it has to be mechanically sound - having had two cars expire (one of them an e30 320i) in our attempt to complete Czech Wrecks, I'm determined that this time (2009) we will actually get to the end!
So, what are the options? I was thinking 325i versus 530 Sport?
Chris.
Old E36's are cheaper than acceptable E30's now. The E30 is benefitting from the halo effect of the godlike E30 M3 and prices are on the up.
My '95 328i coupe cost me £350. It is a touch leggy at 160k, but has a decent history and runs well. Rusty arches (surface) and some other little bits (water hose...) cost me about £60 to fix.
I've sold the interior and as much stuff as I can remove and made it all back bar £40.
My '95 328i coupe cost me £350. It is a touch leggy at 160k, but has a decent history and runs well. Rusty arches (surface) and some other little bits (water hose...) cost me about £60 to fix.
I've sold the interior and as much stuff as I can remove and made it all back bar £40.
The idea is something that will be '[just] quick enough to be fun', but fairly tough as a priority. A 530-engined 325 or something would be fun, but I imagine the standard car would be quick enough to be amusing on normal road tyres?
Subsequent running costs aren't a huge concern, as long as we can buy something half decent for around £1,0000 to comply with the Scumball regs. On those grounds I wondered if a (seemingly less prized) 5 series would be a better bet? Ditto an E36 as opposed to an E30, perhaps? But, while I know good E30s are starting to get quite rare (and valuable), I wasn't sure half decent E36s had become cheap enough to take their place yet?
I've just had a quick trawl of the PH classifieds:
LSD equipped 525i M-Sport £1000
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/525648.htm
E30 325i Tourer (maybe lose the air dam!) £895
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/547713.htm
E30 318iS £895
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/454078.htm
E36 318iS Coupe with 12 months MOT and lowish miles
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/549777.htm
Slightly 'developed' e30 325 Touring £1000
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/498196.htm
E36 325i saloon with M-tech suspension
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/469990.htm
(I hasten to add, we're just looking into the feasability of it at the moment, not looking to bbuy just yet.)
So, I guess the question is - which realistically £1k BMW would make the best track car in standard road form (allowing for new pads etc.)?
Subsequent running costs aren't a huge concern, as long as we can buy something half decent for around £1,0000 to comply with the Scumball regs. On those grounds I wondered if a (seemingly less prized) 5 series would be a better bet? Ditto an E36 as opposed to an E30, perhaps? But, while I know good E30s are starting to get quite rare (and valuable), I wasn't sure half decent E36s had become cheap enough to take their place yet?
I've just had a quick trawl of the PH classifieds:
LSD equipped 525i M-Sport £1000
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/525648.htm
E30 325i Tourer (maybe lose the air dam!) £895
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/547713.htm
E30 318iS £895
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/454078.htm
E36 318iS Coupe with 12 months MOT and lowish miles
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/549777.htm
Slightly 'developed' e30 325 Touring £1000
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/498196.htm
E36 325i saloon with M-tech suspension
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/469990.htm
(I hasten to add, we're just looking into the feasability of it at the moment, not looking to bbuy just yet.)
So, I guess the question is - which realistically £1k BMW would make the best track car in standard road form (allowing for new pads etc.)?
carlosvalderrama said:
Old E36's are cheaper than acceptable E30's now. The E30 is benefitting from the halo effect of the godlike E30 M3 and prices are on the up.
My '95 328i coupe cost me £350. It is a touch leggy at 160k, but has a decent history and runs well. Rusty arches (surface) and some other little bits (water hose...) cost me about £60 to fix.
I've sold the interior and as much stuff as I can remove and made it all back bar £40.
Sounds ideal.My '95 328i coupe cost me £350. It is a touch leggy at 160k, but has a decent history and runs well. Rusty arches (surface) and some other little bits (water hose...) cost me about £60 to fix.
I've sold the interior and as much stuff as I can remove and made it all back bar £40.
What - if anything - did you do to prepare it for track use?
Don't suppose you've looked into the MPG at all? (Just in case I used one as a daily driver!)
The idea is that it should still be quite a viable daily driver/long distance car (out to the 'ring for example!) so I don't plan to start ripping out the sound deadening or anything extreme. I suppose the rear seats could go (or I could fold them flat - we all know that's favoured by those in the know 
)
)I bought an E30 325i as a second car/cheap run around, and I have to say I am totally smitten with it, it is far more satisfying to drive than anything else I have owned apart from the CSL.
Only problem is I have got hooked on getting it just right, which is costing a few quid.
This week is new bushes all round, an I mean every bit of rubber on the car, with H&R roll bars back and front and an H&R cup kit suspension, shocks and springs. Then new discs and pads all round with new brake lines and fluid, new HT leads, plugs, distributor cap and arm and new timing belt, tensioner and power steering belt along with a full service.
I have never spent that sort of money on a car before, let alone one that only cost a grand in the first place!!
I would get a 4 door 325i, cheapest shape out there and just as good for the track as a coupe without the huge premium, don't worry about mileage but take a few out to get an idea of what a good'un should feel like.
Where are you located?
Try looking on www.e30zone.net as there are some bargin whole cars that come up.
Only problem is I have got hooked on getting it just right, which is costing a few quid.
This week is new bushes all round, an I mean every bit of rubber on the car, with H&R roll bars back and front and an H&R cup kit suspension, shocks and springs. Then new discs and pads all round with new brake lines and fluid, new HT leads, plugs, distributor cap and arm and new timing belt, tensioner and power steering belt along with a full service.
I have never spent that sort of money on a car before, let alone one that only cost a grand in the first place!!
I would get a 4 door 325i, cheapest shape out there and just as good for the track as a coupe without the huge premium, don't worry about mileage but take a few out to get an idea of what a good'un should feel like.
Where are you located?
Try looking on www.e30zone.net as there are some bargin whole cars that come up.
gizlaroc said:
I bought an E30 325i as a second car/cheap run around, and I have to say I am totally smitten with it, it is far more satisfying to drive than anything else I have owned apart from the CSL.
Only problem is I have got hooked on getting it just right, which is costing a few quid.
This week is new bushes all round, an I mean every bit of rubber on the car, with H&R roll bars back and front and an H&R cup kit suspension, shocks and springs. Then new discs and pads all round with new brake lines and fluid, new HT leads, plugs, distributor cap and arm and new timing belt, tensioner and power steering belt along with a full service.
I have never spent that sort of money on a car before, let alone one that only cost a grand in the first place!!
I would get a 4 door 325i, cheapest shape out there and just as good for the track as a coupe without the huge premium, don't worry about mileage but take a few out to get an idea of what a good'un should feel like.
Where are you located?
Try looking on www.e30zone.net as there are some bargin whole cars that come up.
Hi,Only problem is I have got hooked on getting it just right, which is costing a few quid.
This week is new bushes all round, an I mean every bit of rubber on the car, with H&R roll bars back and front and an H&R cup kit suspension, shocks and springs. Then new discs and pads all round with new brake lines and fluid, new HT leads, plugs, distributor cap and arm and new timing belt, tensioner and power steering belt along with a full service.
I have never spent that sort of money on a car before, let alone one that only cost a grand in the first place!!
I would get a 4 door 325i, cheapest shape out there and just as good for the track as a coupe without the huge premium, don't worry about mileage but take a few out to get an idea of what a good'un should feel like.
Where are you located?
Try looking on www.e30zone.net as there are some bargin whole cars that come up.
I'm in Enfield, North London.
I've actually owned an E30 briefly in the past and I rather liked it. My only worries are price (now good ones are getting harder to find) and durability. It would need to have a good few miles left in it and be capable of being used as a daily driver for reasonable distances (60 mile round trip on the motorway).
So, I guess the question is, can you still get a decent e30 for around a grand? I think I'd prefer one to an e36 (I've always had a hankering for a well-sorted e30 touring!) but I wasn't sure if I'd maybe be better off with an e36 for that money these days?
Gassing Station | BMW General | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff