From Germany with Love SLCE30318is

[SLCE30318is]

Hi Everybody,

I recently purchased a 1991 E30 318is from its 3rd owner. I actually didn't have any real intention of buying an E30 (I love Subarus), but since I had the day off, I decided to just give this one on CL a look-see and test drive. Despite the rough shape it is in, I absolutely fell in love with this car after test driving it! It was so solid and I felt so connected to the road. The high revving nature of the engine won me over, too.

What I thought was really cool (might not be unique at all) is that the car was bought by the original owner in Germany (Lessmeister dealer decal on the trunk and maintenance records in Germany), who eventually brought it over to the U.S. I imagine it was a service member that was stationed in Germany at the time, given that it was bought and serviced in Landstuhl. I actually passed through Germany twice last year and loved what I saw from my limited two days of exploration. I definitely will be checking Germany out on vacation one of these days.

Anywhos, the car came with an extra transmission and three wheels/tires. I ended up driving it from Utah back to Texas and it ran pretty well, even with 253,000+ miles and counting on it.

I'm now planning on slowly restoring it with these ideas in mind:
-get exterior dents, dings, and rust spots fixed
-respray factory Alpine White or repaint whole thing Sterling Silver
-MTech2 body kit
-Recaro seats (preferably lightest and made of cloth)
-MA Shaw fiberglass hood
-Refit/replace rusted/old suspension parts with performance parts
-Replace rusted out exhaust
-Install A/C (previous owner took it out intending to use it as a track car)

The biggest move and decision point (when I eventually get to it) is whether to go with an MM 2100 M42 engine or an F22C swap. From what I read on the forums and quotes I have been getting from a shop (CA Tuned Motorsports/Auto Heaven), they are about comparable in price, with the F22C swap looking a bit less expensive. I'm still on the fence with this decision, but it's not something I plan on tackling soon or before I handle the above-mentioned fixes.

My intent with this car is to be a super fun daily driver (it already is one!) that can be taken to recreational track events. I'm not particularly mechanically inclined, so building the engine myself is off the table right now.

I would be very interested in others to weigh in on this future engine/drivetrain decision as I continue to read up on the wealth of information on this awesome forum!

[Darky]

Nice start there!
Leather interior is not that common. Those seats just need retrimming.
Front spoiler is missing, but they all handle well! So much fun.

I think everybody here will say stay with m42 there is just so much you can do with it!
And it will still be rev happy.

Cheers Rohan

[SLCE30318is]

Thanks Rohan,

I love the comfort of the seats, it's just the combination of no A/C and the leather that make it really hot (I always end up with the back of my shirt coated in sweat). The lever is missing from the driver's seat too.

From everything I'm reading, it is pretty expensive to get A/C re-installed...

[Darky]

Hi
Surely you should be able to find 2nd hand e30 parts in Germany? For your air con.
While your there find a m47 d20 crankshaft for yourself as well.
Cheers

[SLCE30318is]

Thanks for the tip Darky.

Looks like I'm going to try and embark on that F22C swap in the next few months. The tentative plan will be:

1) Take out M42 and Getrag 240
2) Repaint engine bay and body (with addition of some M Tech II body panels w/taurus sideskirts, maybe a Racing Dynamics rear spoiler)
3) Source F22C with transmission (plus accessories and harness)
4) Order E30 F20C kit from CATuned
5) Install F20C with transmission into E30 with kit
6) Send car to local shop to wire and get everything running using a standalone setup (including A/C)

Over the next few months I'm going to focus on smaller projects for the car (i.e. installing lsd diff, maintenance of suspension, exhaust, etc) in anticipation of the upcoming swap.

Here is a reference for the CATuned kit: http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=261498&highlight=CATuned

[SLCE30318is]

Just for clarification, I'm going to try and do the engine/transmission removal and installation of F22C/transmission in my garage.

[Darky]

Hi
Your in Germany, all the parts in the world are readily available and your going japanese!
Sorry don't get it!
Cheers Rohan

[keflaman]

He's not located in Germany...he's in the U.S. The car was apparently bought in Germany by a military member and then shipped here when said military member returned to the States.

As far as engine choices...well, it's his car.

[DesktopDave]

I love the story behind this car...Subarus are fine cars, but they're not an E30, that's for sure. If only the BMW had the same longevity in items like trim & radiators...but I digress...

I'd be inclined to do a 5-lug swap with coilovers for maximum flexibility in suspension, brakes and wheel choices. A post-'96 E36 M3 donor will build your front suspension. Of course, it'll add a lot of sprung weight, so plan appropriately.

I'd recommend re-covering the BMW sport seats too. They're not that heavy (only about 40# each) and are more comfortable than the Recaros I've had. The vinyl always seems to crack in the same places on every set of seats. BMW OEM fabric is still available in a few colors the last time I checked. My personal favorite is houndstooth. I'd suspect fabric was much more commonly optioned in Europe. Here's an example over at R3V.

I also like the idea of a Honda swap. If this was my build, I'd be sure it was somewhat reversible. The F20 is an outstanding motor, much in line with the original M42. Just a lot more powerful and a lot more robust, LOL. It doesn't seem too far different in terms of power, weight or size from the BMW S42.

Your car also has ellipsoids...but they look like the North American type. Is that something you did? If not, any details on that?

[SLCE30318is]

I appreciate all of the feedback. I am indeed in the states (Texas), but I did pass through Germany a couple of times on a deployment to Afghanistan last year. Absolutely loved the country. Pretty sure I'm repeating myself, but what the heck - Germany was awesome!

One of the things I made sure to ask CATuned was that if I hypothetically wanted to swap back in the M42 and Getrag 240 (along with everything else), that I could just "slap it back in". The only modification apparently is with a new modified subframe (included in the kit) that I could take off and put the original subframe back in (along with the motor mounts of course). Apparently no cutting or welding done to the firewall or any other portion of the car. I'll have to double check on that before ordering.

I believe that the car wasn't a grey market car. I am inclined to believe that it was one made to American specs and sold to military personnel near Landstuhl (large military medical presence there). I did see some Harley motorcycle dealers in the PX in Ramstein, so I figure BMW had something like that for service members back in the 80s and 90s - offering American spec cars that they could eventually take home with them once their tour was complete.

As with the seats, I will look into the houndstooth. The price is a bit high once I factor in getting them installed onto the seats. I absolutely loved the EVO X cloth recaros when I test drove an EVO X. I may want to put them in my E30 like this guy did with his M3 using custom brackers from Wedge Engineering or have them custom made locally (http://www.speedhunters.com/2012/06/the-ultimate-driving-machine-driven/).

I'm sure I'll need some help once I get cracking on taking the engine and transmission out. I have ordered the E30 and E36 Bentley manuals and got an air compressor with an impact wrench.

[SLCE30318is]

Dave,

I looked into a 5-lug swap recently. I was actually going to pull the trigger on a complete E30 M3 five lug setup but decided it wasn't a big enough upgrade to justify the cost. A custom or E36 method is still in the books, but it seems that the 5x120 options are more limited in terms of less expensive light-weight wheels?

I was going to go for the OZ ultraleggera 16" ones down the road. Intending on looking into some of the BBKs out there for the stock 4 lug setup (like Lee's Massive Brakes).

As for sourcing an F22c, I have come to find it's either one of these three options:
1) local salvage yard that I was referred to by my body shop guy (trustworthy from past work) that can source me the engine, transmission, and accessory harness for $5K - I can do a compression test upon it getting to his yard, but after that there is not warranty or anything
2) Ebay - found a couple of places sourcing them and one in Florida has a few (http://stores.ebay.com/TAE-USED-AUTO-PARTS/ENGINE-/_i.html?_fsub=3341388018&_sid=621039328&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322) -  the have horrible reviews online and plenty of horror stories on other forums. Plus an "F" for their BBB rating. Their Ebay score seems decent (whatever that is worth), and they have a complicated warranty policy that is disadvantageous to me, but it's better than nothing I suppose.
3) Try to find one locally from private seller who wrecked his car - most unlikely due to small numbers of 04/05 F22Cs (need cable-driven one), especially locally

With the Ebay stores, if I plan on going with them, I would ship them to a shop out here an have them run a diagnostic and tear the engine apart to look things over. It could be anywhere from $250-550 dollars for a full inspection of the entire engine and its internals (labor). Worth it in the end in my opinion for piece of mind. At least then I have somewhat of a chance to get an exchange/return if the engine is defective.

Any suggestions on the sourcing aspect?

[Darky]

Ah
Fair enough Dave, but when in Rome!
Cheers

[keflaman]

I appreciate all of the feedback. I am indeed in the states (Texas), but I did pass through Germany a couple of times on a deployment to Afghanistan last year. Absolutely loved the country. Pretty sure I'm repeating myself, but what the heck - Germany was awesome!

I believe that the car wasn't a grey market car. I am inclined to believe that it was one made to American specs and sold to military personnel near Landstuhl (large military medical presence there). I did see some Harley motorcycle dealers in the PX in Ramstein, so I figure BMW had something like that for service members back in the 80s and 90s - offering American spec cars that they could eventually take home with them once their tour was complete.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but overseas military car and motorcycle sales is alive and doing well. I spent a few months in Landstuhl and stopped by the BMW sales office several times to sit in a Z4 Coupe and dream about owning it. I picked up a '91 318is parts car two years ago that was bought by a Canadian officer serving with NATO in Germany. Service stickers indicated that she purchased and drove the vehicle in Germany for a few years before bringing it back to the States with her.

I like the idea that the engine swap kit you're looking at is fairly non-invasive. That'll make it easier to go back to the M42!

P.S.
Thank you for serving!

[SLCE30318is]

Thanks for the kind words, Keflaman. What were you doing in Landstuhl by the way?

Interesting to hear that the overseas sales are doing well. If I hadn't joined the military, I probably wouldn't have been bitten by this car bug! Haha.

[SLCE30318is]

After a lengthy discussion with Dax (who built the S2000 swap on his own), I may be flipping a 180 on my plans for the car. It just seems like way more work than I thought and the prices/information from a shop out in Cali seems dubious at best.

Talked to the local S2000 shop (where just about all of the S2000 owners take their cars to) and he did mention think about the availability of parts 3-4 years from now on the S2000's limited run.

So looking to keeping the M42 in the car.

My original plan was to build it, but then it switched over to going with a Metric Mechanic built engine.

I'll focus on a lot of the other parts of the restoration before deciding what to do with the engine - as it's still running strong 250,000 miles plus into its life (not burning any oil).

I think I got sidetracked and too excited over the prospect of the F22C in my car. Looks like I may just "keep it BMW".