Anyone know about E30 M3's??

[StreetRacer16g]

Anyone got any useful info on them, or a site with history and such about them?? Thanks

[Kwando]

my friend know alot about them. do you own one?

[tellmem3]

Whats up kwando

Hey Darren

I own a E30 M3. What questions did you have about the car?

Chris

[LeonZ]

Whats up kwando

Hey Darren

I own a E30 M3. What questions did you have about the car?

Chris

wdup chris? :cool:

[StreetRacer16g]

Whats up kwando

Hey Darren

I own a E30 M3. What questions did you have about the car?

Chris



I was just looking for performance figures and such. Technical info as well. And maybe a *cough* ride *cough* to feel it. lol....im kinda in the market for one. Ive always loved them and wanted to get one and learn more about it!

[4BNGRBimmer]

US spec e30 M3s come with a 2.3 litre version of the awesome S14 4 cylinder motor making 197 hp at the crank. The S14 makes use of individual throttle bodies and a twin cam 16 valve head. Euro/"evo" versions of the motors were 2.5 litres and were tricked out to different degrees and made more like 240 hp. The DTM race cars were something like 480hp w/10-11,000 rpm redline.
The S14's block, shared with the lowly m10 motor found in 2002's and early 320i's, was used in it's stock form for F1 racing in the '80's turbo days- and was boosted to well above 1000hp, more like 1300-1500 for shorter duration races. BMW even broke their own dyno with one of the F1 m10 engines, a fact that most bimmer enthusiasts are eager to reference.
The e30 m3 is typically considered by most enthusiasts to be the "real m3", as the later e36 and now e46 variants are more hopped up luxury cars than they are track monsters.
They don't really make great drag racers, as the straight line performance is really not incredible (depending upon the motor's state of tune, obviously), due to a motor that really doesn't come alive until above about 5-6k rpms or so- but a bone stock e30 m3 won't have much trouble keeping up with seemingly greater cars on a road course where revs can be kept high and braking/cornering ability can be exercised.

If you are in the market for one, you should be warned of the "$15k rule". The idea is that a good e30 m3 will be about 15k- whether you buy one for $6k (and spend another 9k getting it into shape), or one for $15k (one that has been well cared for and documented). The s14 motor is very finnicky, and parts are mucho dinero- I believe heads are typically well above $1000, for example.

Check out http://www.s14.net (most popular) or http://www.bimmerforums.com (less e30s) or http://www.r3vlimited.com (all e30s, but a lot of punks).

[Kwando]

Hey chris!!!

Damn you leo! I can't get on HAI from work and today was sooo slow.