Nothing disturbing has been done to the exterior look of the car, or the interior for that matter, yet I’m getting completely mixed feelings about this car.

Only one thing is responsible for this, and it’s not the new set of alloys that aren’t the first option to go to for a classic bimmer.

This car comes to us from the United States of America, namely from Columbus, Georgia, which is a bit of a hint as to what’s going on.

The original car was a 1987 BMW 325e sedan, which means it was powered by a creamy 2.7 liter straight six cylinder, naturally aspirated engine.

While old, it’s still an interesting powerplant. Except in this case, it was thrown out and replaced by a considerably larger engine.

It is actually a 302 cubic inch Ford engine. That’s a nearly twice as large 5.0 liter V8 unit which was sourced from a 1997 Mercury Mounaineer.

That shouldn’t be the first choice. Or the second. Or the third one, so why go for it? Simply put? Because of the budget.

When you fit an old car, with an engine that’s not quite so old yet still has 110.000 miles on it, it is obvious that you weren’t going to afford much more.

You can do the work, get a salvaged engine and have reliable wheels for a few years still to come. It also means it produces 260-280 rear-wheel horsepower and more than 300lb-ft of torque.

The post E30 BMW 3 Series tuning – or sacrilege? appeared first on BMW Car Tuning BLOG - BMW Car Modifications and Customization.

That little sedan is one seriously fast machine, but what happens when the 80’s powerplant is replaced by a current electric motor?

Can you ruin it completely or what happens with such an interesting decision? What are the real positives of what is going on with such an alternative solution?

Croatia’s Rimac Automobili set out to find out by creating this mean green electric machine. Unlike most eco-friendly folks, they didn’t opt for a small engine that’s worthy of a cruise around town.

Instead, they fitted a VST DC Motor which develops 600 horsepower and 663 lb-ft of torque. The torque offers up an instant kick as it’s available at 0 rpm.

That engine draws it’s power from a 24 kWh battery pack and it can propel the E30 BMW M3 from 0 to 60 in just 3.3 seconds or up to a top speed of 174 mph.

Those stats are what’s going on when talking about the spec sheet, what really happened when Rimac took the car to a runway and tested it spoke of new records.

Lining up for a straight line run, the E30 M3 EV managed to snag up five new world records for electric cars. The list includes:

Quickest 1/8 mile time of 7.549
Quickest 1/4 mile time of 11.808
Quickest 1/2 mile time of 13.714
Quickest 1 km time of 23.260
Quickest 1 mile time of 35.347

The first two of these records have already been certified by the FIA officials with the latter three still pending approval.

Maybe electric isn’t all that bad after all?

The post Rimac E30 BMW M3 sets a new pace for EVs appeared first on BMW Car Tuning BLOG - BMW Car Modifications and Customization.

They keep popping up like mushrooms after rain and there’s plenty of them that have mucked up the E30 BMW 3 Series along the way.

These guys however seem to be coming up with a puzzler. They are the Hungarians at TMCars and they came up with a project that’s all CG.

Maybe the showcase is not the best of choices but the project itself looks great. It really does look like a modernized version of the E30 that’s not stupid.

It’s not made out of cardboard and even though it is technically going to be a wide body kit, it still looks pretty good.

The only thing that’s annoying about the design is the rather low key version of the radiator grille. Forget the kidney grilles, it looks like the front of a Lancia in the 90s.

That’s not a lovable look and it’s certainly not worthy of a E30. Everything else seems like it though. TMCars speak nothing about the interior but they praise the engineering of their kit.

According to the Hungarian tuner (that’s a set of words that don’t come together often) they’ve designed it in such a way that you can fit any racing suspension components you may want.

After all, the popularity of the E30 comes from the M3 version being the most successful saloon car racer in history.

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E30 BMW M3 was one of the most popular models from BMW M Division and that’s why BMW became the most powerful brand in the world producing luxury and sports cars.

Our subject is about the 1988 BMW M3 E30 Matte DTM Race Car created by the folks at Precision Sport Industries using the 1:18 and 1:43 scale models as guides. This car is the replica of Kurt Thiim 1988 Race Car.

The people from PSI (Precision Sport Industries) have brought to reality this car and reaching one of the most beautiful E30 M3 ever modified. From the list of modifications we can include: S52 Swap w/ OBD 1 Conversion, a new custom full exhaust with RHD RD Sport Headers, Euro 3.5 injectors, 3M Matte Black for the whole exterior and 3M Yellow Striping, Custom AA tuning, Hartge rims, a new racing suspension kit and Recaro Pole Position Seat.

Thanks Garrett Wade and Justin Morrison for these beautiful images.

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The E30 and E36 are still the most crowd pleasing models they ever made. The first of which really suffers for its age due to a relatively small engine.

If you’re one to love styling and looks but don’t want to settle for measly power, you’re certainly going to be following this example of tuning from the Netherlands.

In keeping the sleeper feel, the exterior of the E30 3 Series remains almost untouched. The only thing they updated is the alloy wheel set.

The wheels appear to come from a E46 M3 but they are needed in order to cover the brakes of the E36 325i this car uses. More swapped bits come into the equation later on.

Nobody’s telling us where the upgraded rear differential came from but the radiator is also from the E36, albeit the 324td model and so do the leather seats.

All of these updates are there to prepare us from the main courses. The typical miniature four cylinder engine is replaced by a massive 4.4 liter V8 engine from the E39 BMW 540i.

The new engine swap in this interesting tuning example produces 286 horsepower and it uses a six speed manual gearbox, also from the E39 but this time it’s the 535i unit.

It may be a bit of a Frankenstein creation but as the bits come from some interesting BMW models and have been designed to easily take the stress.

As seen on autoblog.nl

The post E30 BMW 3 Series with a big engine swap appeared first on BMW Car Tuning BLOG - BMW Car Modifications and Customization.

While the body may come from an E30 BMW 3 Series Touring, the engine under the bonnet comes from a considerably more powerful M3.

And it’s the updated E36 version of the M3, the first such model to showcase the S50B30 3.0 liter straight six under its bonnet.

The new E30 BMW M3 Touring is actually made out of several donor cars, most of which where originally wrecked. The list includes an E30 3 Series Touring, an E30 M3 and the E36 M3 that gave up its engine.

There are plenty of E30 BMW M3 EVO II parts mixed in but there’s quite a few custom tuning bits as well such as carbon fiber and serious mods.

BBS brakes, AC Schnitzer tweaks for the interior and body kit as well as some factory M3 bits being used in the front and rear suspension.

In other words, this old school family car comes with a special 286 horsepower from its mighty smooth power delivery engine and it can properly handle it.

What I find remarkable is that this one off wasn’t built by some snotty tuning company or some expensive coachbuilder but by a bunch of passionate guys.

They went on to make the best of everything from three dying cars and produced something quite impressive.

Also worth noting is that the one off E30 BMW M3 Touring was then sold on eBay. The winning bid was just 45.000 USD.

The post Tuning Oldies – E30 BMW M3 Touring appeared first on BMW Car Tuning BLOG - BMW Car Modifications and Customization.