Preparing an E30 as a track car

So you've been doing driving schools for a couple of seasons and
you've been bitten by the bug big time. You'd like to have a dedicated
track car but you don't quite have the budget for an E46 M3 just
yet. One possibility is an E30, the 1984 through 1991 3 series. They
were available with 1.8L 4 cylinder motors, 2.7L 6 cylinder motors,
2.5L 6 cylinder motors and in the final years 16 valve 1.8L 4 cylinder
motors. Any of them will make a fun track car but my experience is
with the 6 cylinder versions so I will concentrate on those.

Chances are that you will be buying your project car from someone who
is not a BMW enthusiast. In that case you can expect the car to have
been at least somewhat neglected. The first thing to do when preparing
an older car for track duty is to catch up on all the defered
maintenance.

If the timing belt and tensioner has not been replaced in the last
60,000 miles replace them now. While you have it apart you will
probably want to replace the water pump, hoses, V-belts, distributor
cap and rotor too. You may want to replace the spark plug wires as
well. They last a long time but if they are the original wires they
are probably overdue for replacement. Replace the sparkplugs. They
cost almost nothing (OEM Bosch plugs are $0.99 each at Trak Auto) and
you want to take the old ones out to look them over anyway. Study
their condition as they can tell you a lot about how the motor is
running. Consult your Bentley shop manual or an expert for help on
reading the plugs. If it turns out that there is a problem, now is the
time to fix it, not in the paddock on a Saturday afternoon at Summit
Point while all your friends are out turning hot laps.

If you have acquired a 325i with 100,000 miles or more you may want to
consider replacing the rocker arms. While problems with broken rocker
arms are pretty much unheard of with the low rev-ing 2.7L "eta"
motor, broken rocker arms on the higher rev-ing 2.5L "i" motor are not
unheard of, especially if you use a chip that raises the stock rev
limit and you push the car up to that limit a lot. The Febi brand
rocker arm which is widely available is a little thicker than the
original arm in the area where they commonly break.

There's a good chance that your E30 is dripping oil from various
locations. Be a friend and get the leaks taken care of so you don't
oil the track. Common leak areas are the oil pan gasket and the
selector shaft seal on the gearbox. There are plenty of other places
that can leak but my experience is that almost all E30s are leaking
from those two places, unless they've been owned by fanatics like us.

If the front control arms are original you should replace them. The
ball joints are known to fail and their failure will result in loss of
control. You should also plan on replacing them every couple of years
if the car sees a lot of track duty. There are a few other weak areas
in the E30 that you should consider beefing up. The motor mounts are
too flexible and allow the power steering pulley to cut the lower
radiator hose on the 87 and earlier cars. The fix is to replace them
with mounts from the E12 (first 5 series). The front subframe is known
to crack at the motor mounts and the rear anti-roll bar mounts are
known to break. Weld-in reinforcements for these areas are available
from Turner Motorsports.

Change all the fluids unless you have reason to believe it's been done
recently. Crankcase, gearbox and differential oil should all be
changed. Consider using synthetic oil, especially in the gearbox where
Redline MTL has been known to work wonders with worn synchros. It
wouldn't hurt to change the power steering fluid too. The E30s use
Dexron ATF in the power steering system.

You'll want to make sure the brakes are in top shape. Since you've
been doing this for a while you'll already be familiar with the
various high performance brake pads and rotors that are available.
I've settled on Performance Friction 90 pads and ATE Powerslot rotors
in the front as the best bang for my bucks. Unfortunately the
selection of pads that are available for the rear of the E30 is
somewhat limited so I am still experimenting with different ones
there. Inspect the rubber brake lines and if they are the least bit
questionable, replace them. The inner rear rubber brake lines are a
real pain to replace! Change the brake fluid, even if it has been
changed recently. Use a really high quality fluid such as ATE Super
Blue or AP 550.

Some other parts of the car may be worn out. Shocks and rubber
suspension bushings are likely to need replacement. Rear shock mount
bushings are a prime candidate. Unless they are worn to the point that
they are unsafe you may want to defer replacing them until you have
some experience with the car as you may want to replace them with
higher performance aftermarket parts, of which there is a wide variety
to choose from.

Before you make any performance modifications to the car its a really
good idea to install safety equipment. This means a roll bar or cage
and 5 or 6 point harnesses. You may want other items like a kill
switch or fire supression system, but they are not as critical in my
opinion.

As far as roll-over protection goes, you have two major ways to go,
bolt-in off the shelf and custom welded-in. There are various designs
in between but these are the two basic flavors.  Bolt-in roll bars for
the E30 are available from Autopower, Kirk Racing and TC Kline. The
Autopower bar is reasonably priced and functional but not a work of
art. The TC Kline bar is a work of art and the price reflects
that. The Kirk Racing bar is priced between the Autopower and TC Kline
units and is quite nice looking. Vintage Sports and Racing has
advertised bolt-in bars for E30s but I haven't seen one myself
yet. The other option is a custom welded-in bar or cage. The only
limit here is your wallet.  In either case you may want to have a
removable cross-bar so that you can carry tires or other equipment in
the back seat. Carrying passengers in the back seat of a car with a
roll bar, even with padding on it, is not advised.

There are lots of different styles of harnesses and I am not familiar
with the pros and cons of each. For my car I went with a 5 point
system with a cam-lock buckle, pull-down lap belts and wrap-around
shoulder belts. Harnesses are available from many sources. OG Racing
in Manassas has very good prices on all safety equipment and is a
supporter of our chapter, so you might consider them.  The shop you
buy yours from should be able to help you pick out which options best
suit you. If they can't you probably ought to buy them from a shop
that can! Make sure that you follow the instructions included with the
harnesses when you install them as your safety depends on it. Remember
that you need the same harnesses for the passenger as you have for the
driver.

In summary, an E30 can make a fun and economical track toy if prepared
well. The relatively unsophisticated chassis really rewards smooth
driving. The 6 cylinder models are fast enough to be fun and the 4
cylinder models will really teach you how to conserve momentum!