Martin's E30 335i Turbo

Martin Griffith's E30 335i Turbo

MAJOR/ MINOR ONGOING SPONSORSHIP WANTED FOR THE 2010/ 2011 BRITISH DRIFT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASONS

NATIONAL BMW MAGAZINE FEATURES ON THE WAY!

Bought as a standard (and red) 318is, this car has had one of the biggest transformations in TD history.

The progress from a standard 318is to the harcore nutter 335i Turbo it is now follows, taken from Martin's project thread.

Picture above is hooking up 4th gear at Silverstone.

Race clothing kindly supplied by kinzuru.co.uk, Megasquirt 2 expertly fitted and tuned by Dale at baileyperformance.co.uk

Tech spec:

E30 335i turbo
M30B35 E34 535i engine and gearbox
E36 328i propshaft
Modified Honda CRX quickshift gear lever and mount

Turbo - Holset HX35 copy
Home made manifold and heat lagged side exit exhaust system (Evo/Skyline combo!)
eBay special intercooler and pipework

Plumbed in fire extinquisher
FIA battery cut off
FIA sparco bucket seat
Luke FIA harness

3.73 welded diff
Koni red rear shocks
eBay special front shocks
Coilover conversion to standard front struts
Coilover springs fitted in stock rear spring locations
E36 steering rack and spacers

Alloy engine and gearbox mounts
Alloy fuel tank and swirl pot located in boot
Alloy fire wall

OMP style dished steering wheel

Battery repositioned to rear seat bench in fibre glass box
Hydraulic hand brake
Full weld-in roll cage with reinforced rear strut tops
Space framed slam panel radiator mounts

Removed fuel tank,spare wheel well, standard rear seat back and shelf/firewall, interior, front inner arches, front slam panel cross member, left over brackets etc, etc.

Power figures: 329bhp and 299ftlbs @ flywheel.

The story... taken from Martin's project build thread.

I messed around in a few Volvos and the like, until I did some O's in Trigs E30, compared to the Volvo it felt the bollocks!

I instantly set about selling my 240 which I had at the time and I came accros an E30 318is which I purchased for very cheapness! Well, cheap considiring it was a tyte yo is model with full test (cost less than I sold my 240 for).

It was my first E30, so naturally I was out every night keeping it real on disused airfields and the like untill 7 days later when crazy 2nd gear shiftlock turned into understeery gayness. 2 seconds later half my engine was laying on the curb!

On a quick inspection I found it had taken the sump clean off along with a fair portion of the block! After realising I had no towing eye, I drove it the 5 miles home - yes with no sump - and what ever else was chucked over the hedge!

I scanned the web looking for the best sollution for my lack of engine! And of course I stumbled accross the old m30 3.5, with heart set on ye olde boat anchor, I found myself an E34 535 with t+t for £260, which I used as a daily for a few months while stripping all the old four pot parts from the E30, which after some hardcore ebay action paid for the car eventually! Then obviously I scrapped the 5 series, fitted the m30 to the E30 and made my cash back on the left overs, don't you just love ebay!

One mod which can't be forgot!

Well thats the start of it, Ive done so much to the car since then it's impossible to log it all! I've broken virtually every bit of it one way or another! It's all stripped at the mo waiting for its cage (which arrived today!) ££££££££ I know but I gained a BDC semi-pro licence last month and am trying my best to get it up to spec! I will get some photo's of it over the weekend, Its changing fast!

I'm going to be a lazy bastard now! Or else im never going to catch up! This is where it might get a bit out of synch

Random pics of various stages

Bit of a jump, but basically went to Llandow, gave the wall of death a good nudge in practice. But I came away with my bdc semi-pro licence!

So time to sort it out and get it up to spec!

Big jump!

Yup, after hooning about with a 220bhp-ish 3.5, I bought a Turbo. Made myself inlet and exhaust manifolds and slammed it on there. With the addition of megasquirt injection (which was finished off by Bailey Performance - http://www.baileyperformance.co.uk/ ) I had my actual power figures: 329bhp and 299ftlbs at the flywheel. Not a bad effort.

Now it's properly capable of dishing out fat smokes!

Just got to get used to it now, I've got a fair bit of lag but its still totally useable, boost bangs in at 4000rpm all the way to 6600rpm, straight lining on full throttle it lights them up in 4th the instant it hits boost, and bounces of the limiter in seconds!

I think I may have to think about bigger tyres! Or a shitload more seat time!

Originally Posted by mike@tdsw

What have you done to it then Mart? Lowered compression, different head gasket etc or just all stock?
Does it still have the awesome torques at low rpms that M30b35s have anyway or is that lost?

All stock engine - standard compression.

Exactly the same as it was but when you hit about 4k it goes supersonic!

Silverstone was my test drive - I did about 5 runs and a boost pipe popped off, so I did a lap with no boost and it was just like the old days!

It's running nice and rich to save any nasty holes in the engine, I suspect the head gasket will go first, but I'll wait and see.

I've read that people have run 4-450bhp with the standard head gasket but with ARP head stud, so that might be on the cards.

Martin is currently running in the BDC semi-pro class, and achieved 4th place in Round 1 at Silverstone, having qualified in 2nd.