Track car + DD question
 

Hey guys,
New guy here *wave*, and I have a question. I've been looking to buy an e30. The main purpose is to build a track car but keep it street legal for DD duties for now. Down the road I do intend on swapping out the engine for a more powerful engine. I've been looking for one for a while and finally narrowed it down to two 318is which are very similar apart from some key differences:

Car 1: Has a replaced engine, recently went through a rebuild by the owner who is a mechanic. Engine currently has 40k km on it after rebuild. But has the stock suspension and mostly everything else is OE. Car 1 asking price is $800 cheaper than car 2.

Car 2: Stock engine with around 250k km but has quality aftermarket springs/ shocks but owned by an enthusiast who has changed a lot of things including but not limited to subframe bushings, upgraded brakes and radiator.

Which one would you guys recommend? Which would make a better base to start? Appreciate any advice

Welcome to maX!

Your car #2 looks to be a great steal for that price. You'd have to check it out, especially underneath because its a winter DD right now but I had my eyes on that one. If I had space for another e30, I would have probably bought it already.

You want to make it a full track car? Or just swap the motor?

Thanks for the reply. Funny how you know exactly which car i was referring to lol

At present the intention is to just keep it as a DD but go to a few track events this year, and do some light mods and keep it in the T1 class. If I end up liking it perhaps down the road I may consider an engine swap and make it a full track car, but not right now.

Well especially if that's your plan I would buy that car. It looks mad clean. Almost a shame to rip it apart as soon as you buy...

Cars that nice looking are hard to find in that price range. Again, depends on what you can't see from those pictures...

Your biggest concern should be rust at this point. Everything else can be replaced, but rust is a hard one to repair (properly). Get whichever car is more solid.

go for a 325. 318 wouldn't be as much fun on the track with stock motor

Motors can be easily changed, go with the best shell and take it from there.

The m42 can be just as quick as an m20 car around a track, and neither is exactly high power these days.

This.

He said he wasn't swapping motor right away, and it is cheaper/easier to swap in an m20 car than an m42 car (driveshaft/trans can be reused for ms5x swaps)

Just my opinion anyway

M42 trans and drive shaft can be used on an m5x swap

M50 swap is a waste of money

M52 swap with m3 cams, starting to get some power

S50/s52 swap is decent power

S54 swap, good power

Domestic small block swap - now your talking

With the good swaps I wouldn't even value the stock 260 getrag or drive shaft as useable

Getrag 260's are cheap and plentiful if you want to go from a getrag 240

You can get a full m20 swap for $700-$1000 motor to driveshaft, and readily found if the m42 isn't your thing

Now starting with a solid shell with good floors and frame rails, that's priceless

Just wondering how a m50 is a waste of money?

He's referring to the minimal power gain for the effort of swapping that motor in

Exactly. Lot of work for +10 to 15 gains, for the extra hundred or two hundred bucks at least put an m52 in and then at least you can get some s52 cams and have decent power.

Many people swap m5x motors for reasons including but not limited to a power gain.

I agree the scope should be to find the least distressed shell available as any bmw 6 cyl swap pieces are readily available, aside from an s54 which I doubt would be done anyways.

I recall differences in the drive trains between 318 and 325, but I don't know what. Is there anything the OP should know about in that category that would pose issue's in the future with swap/more power?

Not that I remember coming across... Maybe little things but I swapped from an early model m10 and that had only a few minor differences. Late model m42 should have even less