stock E30 318i wagon project

[Darrell]

picked this car up few days ago. it's a euro spec 318i wagon with M40 engine in 5 speed RWD . 167K km.

to do list:

-M42 engine and trans swap (want to keep the running cost low as it would be my daily)
-slammed (open to suggestions , im not too sure what to slam it with. want to keep it cheap and trouble free. GC coilover looks good but a bit steep )
stretch tires. maybe 205/ 45 on 16X8s that i just bought. i would like to go 195 but i dont know... depends on what suspension i go with

***bit of an update. sold my mini cooper S so i have some money to spend on this. first thing i got was went baller on the brand new roof rack system. still looking for an old style thule faring. i like the old one piece of plastic one over the newer fancy one. sorry for shoes before legs. but i have ground controls coming in soon. will get those in just before august. tempting to drop a M52 engine from e36 328is. but that's 3800 bucks for the whole set up.


in stance works fashion,things attached to the car worth more than the car itself . 2500 worth of bikes and racks riding on a 2000 dollar car.

1983 momo indy that i found in my parts bin.

****




and these are the rims i just picked up for it

took it out for autoX fun the day after i got it. she beat one guy in his austin martin (altho it was his first run!)





so ya, not sure what i should do with the stance and that's why im here.

[Dolsson]

love it.
now go low!

[Matt James Nilles]

Wow , these are rare in the states . Your really lucky. Id go with some race coils . As far as
height goes , it's up to you. Do what you want . This is one hell of a blank canvas.

[Darrell]

ya Uber rare unmolested rust free solid base to spend money on. no accidents and original paint too. there are few tennis ball size dents and that's about it. but i do body work for living so that's the least of my worries.

as for lowering goes, i want the rear wheel tucked. i dont think H&R race springs alone is gonna cut it (1.5 drop front and back) i want to have it down to this:



well that might be too extreme, maybe the top of tire flush to the wheel well

[MikeG]

oh how I would love an E30 wagon

[schroedin]

Stock suspension + AutoX = WIN

[be-doubleyou]

Holy body roll lol. But damn you are lucky to come up on an e30 wagon like that. Looks like your already taking it in an awesome direction. GL with the build.

[610EURO]

auto-x with a car full of people and on stock suspension . i always felt like i was going to flip with a coupe and just me in the car. stock e30 suspension is horrible.

tourings are not rare over seas. here they are like diamonds, we pay way more for rusted out ones then you guys do for super minty ones with low miles. everytime i look through PBMW i see them for less then a 1/4 of the price they go for here. somebody should ship a boat full of tourings to the states

go with a GC conversion kit if your worried about cash. its a good setup for $400.

[Darrell]

ya doing autoX with 5 people in a 115 hp car was pretty epic.

bty, im from canada, and this car was imported from italy in around 05' and was sitting in the docks for 3 years before some one decided to register it and put it on the streets . e30 wagons here are far rarer than any thing else . ive only seen a hand full in person for the pass 10 years and i might come across 1 a year on local craigslist. so im gonna treat this like my own biological son.

[White325is]

Toss some bags on it. That will get you low.

[Checkerboard]

BIG fan of buying a 5th wheel for the spare tire . . .ALWAYS good

[NickBroderick]

The biological son statement had me dying.

Love wagons, been loving bmw's lately too. This is going to be good!

[vdubkid]

that's going to be a sick project

[simsima325]

oh man, autox taxi ftw! well done

such a nice car, i am jealous

[00bmw323]

fuuu clean i wish i can find one here