Clarkyboy's E30 - an Introduction to my on-going BMW Addiction!!

[Clarkyboy]

Hi All,

Just signed up - lurked around here for quite some time,

I bough my 1st E30 M42 318is when I was 19, some 10 years ago, it was lasurblau, 2 owners, stunning, I put in through a fence driving it home, being my 1st RWD car and me thinking I was a hero.

anyway, I repaired it as soon as I got it home, I worked in a garage as a painter panel beater at the time, so I was handy enough and had everything at my hands to do the job!

I cant find any pictures of it then, but it was very pretty in standard form.

Then the car lay dormant for about 5 or 6 years after blowing up a couple of diffs, cracking a head with water-pump failure and my generally just giving up on it, - thought that new shiny cars were the way forwards,  I then decided I wanted to start racing cars, by this point I had done a lot of trackdays in an Elise I had, so I sold it, and turned my attention to the old E30 I had sitting in my driveway, threw a battery on it, turned it over and away it went!

So I figured that if it started after that long it was worth spending some time on!

as you can see it was a long road....

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

but I got there in the end....

DSC_0050 by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

I then pulled the engine out, rebuilt it, apart from cams and a chip it was OEM,

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

and here on my 1st ever day of racing, Doune Hillclimb 2011 :-)

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

had a great season, I went on to take a record at forrestburn hillclimb, win the newcomers championship and the class A2 (up to 2l road going) championship.

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

Since then I have owned a lot of BMW's,

E36 M3, E92 M3, Z4MC, E39 M5 to name a few.

I have even race a S54 powered E36 M3 for a few years in the sports and saloon championship at knockhill

race 2 d by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

Now my attention has turned back to another E30 that I bought after a motorbike accident I had last summer,  yet another E30 318is, I had a friend take me down to dunfermline to see it, as both of my legs were still in casts!

More M42 antics for me - here it is - the day we took it home :-)

DSC_0477 by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

and after I gave it a tidy up..

DSC_0487 by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

DSC_0490 by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

so basically now its in lots of bits,

I have the engine completely stripped, started to build it back up again, so far I have just painted the block, cleaned everything up and made it ready for assembly, this one will be pretty much as it left the factory engine wise,

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

the engine has covered a little under 150k, the big ends are just starting to show a little bronze, but generally the car ran well when I drove it to the workshop.

Untitled by clarkyboySE, on Flickr

so,

ill keep this thread up to date,

I have some nice bots for this car, BBS Motorsport wheels from a tech 2 'vert,  H+R springs, Koni Shocks, CL RC6 brake pads, a nice subtle tubular exhaust, tech 1 skirts and rear spoiler, nice new 'IS' front spoiler.

[deansweet]

Welcome!?

Wish I had the time and ambition to pull and rebuild motors.

[keflaman]

You should have done less lurking and more posting!! Nice beginning on what I expect to be an interesting member profile!

[FlyBMW]

Absolutely gorgeous! Keep up with more stories

[Darky]

Welcome

+1 to Keith
Less lurking more posting.

Brilliant work by the way.

What did you do to your original m42?
And what are the plans for the new one?

Cheers Rohan