RE: Driven: Gama E30 V8-S

[Stevie Mojo]

GTRene said:

Nice

[Acquah]

Bencolem said:

Sorry to be pedantic but if "The 4.0-litre V8 - poached from an E39 5-series - nestles snugly beneath the nose-hinged bonnet with all the 'proper' plastic covers." then I'd be worried for its provenance as the M60 (B40) was only fitted to the E34 5 series and not the E39 (which only ever had the 4.4 litre V8 M62).

I'm glad you said it as I was about to say. I know the E38 7-series and E31 8-series had the 4-litre initially and the 4.4-litre later on...

[braddo]

573 said:

5678 said:

Love the concept. But £8k? Really? Eight THOUSAND pounds to fit a second hand engine and box?

I'd love to see how that breaks down.

Probably along the lines of:

"How much do you reckon we can charge for one of these?"

"Dunno, how about eight grand?"

I reckon they've easily got £5k profit in that including labour. Buy a 540, break the rest and do it yourself and it'd cost you about £1k (custom manifold etc).

Well if there's £5k profit in it and you're such an expert, offer the product yourself at half the price and cash in.

[Donkey62]

The article comes across as half baked owner trying to flog 50 conversions to claw back his investment, shame rest of us live in the real world might sell 5 maybe but 50 is a tall order. I can appreciate E39 M5 engine and bits are expensive second hand, time and effort to make it all work however this engine got a lottery of electrical gremlins so reliability and warranty honoured for the conversion is my biggest concern.

[Lord Flathead]

Max_Torque said:

If that E30 V8 weighs in at only 1000kg i'll eat my hat......... bearing in mind a std 325i is ~1250 kg

Exactly..and it has Riggers in it as well

[urquattro]

I will stick to 315 bhp from straight five RS2, it has the brakes, serve plus retro inside and fwd, plus it looks very understated. Most people dont know what it is when it goes by, some see the red brakes and assume I been to Halfords for the red paint.
PS, classic car insurance as well now, what a bargain.
Just my personal view.

[ivantate]

It does seem a bit half baked and the notion of selling 50 seems very strange. Why 50? its not a special edition of any sort as every car can be different and there is no brand to protect/devalue.


They would have done better buying 10 cars and coverting 1 properly as a demo and then selling them as a limitied edition with all the bells and whistled for 10-12K or more it than was needed to make it viable.

[sxturbo]

i like the idea behind it,

the conversion itself looks top qaulity, but i cant help but thinkit would have been cheaper and easier to do a turbo conversion kit for 325i where you can get as much if not more power and torque.

maybe even offer an engine refresh or something aswell

Edited by sxturbo on Friday 19th November 12:09

[GTRene]

cheaper yes...but you would miss the V8 sound and feeling...
me thinks thats worth some extra, you get some extra in return

also its a hell of a job...most old stuff has to come out then fiddle all the new stuff in, and i guess it comes with the right papers to aloud you on the road?

I remember some turbo or supercharger kits for some cars for about the same amount...and then you only have some goodies engineered on your car.
in that light, a complete conversion for 8k is not that high.

and here you get a V8 from BMW with gearbox and all stuff to get it in.

ofcorse when you can do it all yourself it can be a lot cheaper, but takes a lot of time and skills to.

we have some BMW dealers in the Netherlands were you pay about 100,-euro's per hour even when they just look at your car...not so funny
and then most only can work with a computer those days!

[snowwhitesleeper]

GJV8 said:

The brakes are not actually as bad as they sound, I've driven this car and it is easily one of the fastest and well balanced cars I have ever driven the quality of the conversion is also second to none and GAMA are so sure of it they offer a years warranty with all their work.
GAMA also offer some tasty AP racing brake upgrades that go hand in hand with their V8 conversion as well as a servo assisted option, I personally have opted for both.

If this is something you really like, and you actually have a realistic amount of money to throw at an old 3 series (£8000 is not a huge amount of money considering the amount and the quality of the work required to get that engine into that engine bay!)then give the guys at GAMA a call and go and have a test drive. You will find it very hard not to place order, I'll promise you that!!!

To add to GJV8's positive assessment, I am the owner of the E30 Touring which GAMA have fitted an M62B44 to and are now in the process of supercharging. I too have driven Gregg's demo car, in fact twice now. The first time I drove it the weather was similar to when Riggers drove it. With a little heat in the pads the brakes DO work and besides, Gregg has not hid anything from anyone and is well aware of what he'd like the demo car to have (PAS, servo brakes etc). As Riggers said, the demo car is very much in the spirit of PH. GAMA are not saying that each and every customer who spends £8k will get the demo car's brakes and wipers!

What needs to be remembered here is that GAMA are not trying to be anything other than honest and enthusiastic. They are very professional, knowledgeable and flexible, so if like me, you want a one-off E30 which may not be to everyone's tastes/ expectations, GAMA will oblige.

I spent months looking at GAMA's website and wondering how much it costs, what I'd like my E30 to be like and most importantly, if they'd be interested in taking on my project from scratch. I finally emailed GAMA, got a call from Gregg the next day, during which he sifted through my enthusiastic ramblings and got to the bottom of what I'd like and what GAMA could offer. Next stage was to have the test drive. As GJV8 says, with a realistic budget, driving the GAMA demo car (and meeting everyone else at GAMA), you WILL be placing an order.

For me personally, the fact that I was treated with respect from the start and have been able to direct the project down the road I desire (excuse the pun), with just the right amount of advice from Gregg and everyone else at GAMA, means that whatever money I am spending is well worth it because I won't be ending up with any car other than the one I asked for. I was worried that I would have to have a specific package according to my budget, but that isn't so. I can't recommend GAMA enough, but I suppose if you haven't driven their demo car and don't like E30s or V8s and can't see past the small matter of wipers and un-assisted brakes then you probably haven't even read this far anyway!!!!

Comparing the money being spent at GAMA to what you could do yourself is no good either! I have done a conversion on a MK3 Capri with a limited budget and equipment and ended up with a faster Capri than I started with, but with brakes that pulled and tyres that really didn't grip. Some may say that's a Capri all over (!) but actually it was my first attempt and I really should have spent my budget more wisely. What I'm trying to say is that things can nearly always be done cheaper, but unless you can find another company offering what GAMA can (both conversion-wise and personality-wise), then you'll find that £8k is money well spent, in my humble, but experienced, opinion.

[urquattro]

snowwhitesleeper said:

GJV8 said:

The brakes are not actually as bad as they sound, I've driven this car and it is easily one of the fastest and well balanced cars I have ever driven the quality of the conversion is also second to none and GAMA are so sure of it they offer a years warranty with all their work.
GAMA also offer some tasty AP racing brake upgrades that go hand in hand with their V8 conversion as well as a servo assisted option, I personally have opted for both.

If this is something you really like, and you actually have a realistic amount of money to throw at an old 3 series (£8000 is not a huge amount of money considering the amount and the quality of the work required to get that engine into that engine bay!)then give the guys at GAMA a call and go and have a test drive. You will find it very hard not to place order, I'll promise you that!!!

Good note, good work, I did similar task sometime ago, uprated V12 XJS with getrag 5 speed and other bits I liked, we do it because it seems like a good idea and we like being different and can achieve a result, thats why PH is for us.

Well done and really hope you enjoy it

[LS2 V8 Miata]

Opinionated folk always Snap at this kind of V8 project and are quick to offer Their Ideas Just WHY it won't work.

I can tell you based my own first hand experiences (40 years) of sticking V8s into small cars and making them handle & perform, this is a great direction to take for anyone looking to plaster that Iconic Silly Grin we All crave on your own face.

Screw the naysayers, cram that V8 in there and get ready to live in exciting times!

Edited by LS2 V8 Miata on Sunday 21st November 14:05

[jonnbb]

What a terrible way to advertise your product. Just seem like a real unprofessional bunch.

As for the wiper motor thing, the owner knows that it cannot now be replaced. The only way to removed the wiper motor on an e30 is through a removable panel on the bulkhead. There is now a much higher engine in the bay and while you can remove the panel still you will not be abill to remove the motor as i can see that from the pictures.

1000kg no way, maybe just under 1300kg's. E30's are not as light as you think they are. Im sure it goes well but it will be arse around the corners.

You would be a mug to pay 8k for this. 4k is nearer the mark...

[The real Apache]

LS2 V8 Miata said:

Opinionated folk always Snap at this kind of V8 project and are quick to offer Their Ideas Just WHY it won't work.

so it seems

[DaveM-sport]

For 8K, I'd want coilovers and decent brakes and quite a few other parts renewed on the car too.

The engines can cost as little as 400 euro and even my own one was alot less than that!

[Cotty]

As much as I love this idea and would love a V8 in my touring the the money is too much. For the price of the conversion (plus a grand or two) I could buy an Elise S1. Ok not as quick but to have two vehicles so opposed apeales to me.

[buggalugs]

Bumpski - this car is currently on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Finishes in an hour - How much??

[Lord Flathead]

£12k, reserve not met. I think it should fetch around £14k. It's still a lot of car for the money.

[m3jappa]

For the life of me i can't see why someone would pay 12k or more for what is essentially an old e30 with an old v8 chucked in.

No proper brakes, coilovers or any other nice bits, just madness imo but each to their own as they say.

[Cotty]

buggalugs said:

Bumpski - this car is currently on eBay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...

Finishes in an hour - How much??

"Model: 340I
Type: Standard Car "