Year: 1987
Make: BMW
Model: 3-Series
Price: $21000
Mileage: 5000
Color: Gold
Private or Dealer Listing: Private Listing
Location (State): NY
Transmission: Manual
Drivetrain: Rear Wheel Drive

I've been out of the mindset of trying to sell this for a while. I had an old ad, but I recently took some new pictures and wrote up a much more descriptive text body, so I thought I'd relist, as opposed to bumping an old thread, I hope that's alright with the moderators.

The chassis began its life as a 1987 325is, was stripped to a bare chassis, sand blasted, seam welded, undercoated and reassembled with almost entirely new parts. Every single part that has been put on the car has been refurbished, repainted or replaced. All wear items were replaced: new suspension bushings, motor mounts, etc. All hardware was replaced, usually with stainless steel. All suspension members have been powdercoated. There is no rust on the car. A 10 point cage helps stiffen the chassis, tying into suspension members front and rear. An OEM MTech1 aero package has been installed. This is aero that is not available in the US and is very rare. OEM Euro bumpers complete the package. The aero package has been modified slightly for a more modern look: normally there are grooves that run around the edge of the aero, these have been removed. The result is a very clean, OEM appearance. At the bottom of the front valence, a custom aluminum splitter has been installed. I will include one spare with the sale, in case of any future damage. In addition to the OEM aero, I removed the door and side molding, this complements the overall look. Euro “smiley” style headlights have been installed with HID lights in the low and high beam locations. Euro grills complement this. A carbon fiber hood has been installed, as well as a carbon fiber insert in the rear trunk wing. A custom hybrid GTR/BMW badge sits on the hood, and is a subtle hint at what lies inside. Ireland Engineering fender flares have been fitted to allow a much wider than factory wheel to be mounted. The car is painted in a unique paint which appears very green in certain lights and very gold in others. The sunroof and fuel door have been removed and filled. There are some chips in the paint from use, but none detract from the overall appearance of the car. Rubber I leave on the rear bumper as a badge of honor will come off. The decals on the side of the car can be removed as well. I have some touchup paint available as well.

Certainly the most defining part of the car is the engine. Removed from a running R32 Nissan skyline, the RB26DETT it was nevertheless completely disassembled and rebuilt. Klispie Machine bored the block to 87mm to accept new Wiseco forged pistons. Eagle rods connect them to a reground OEM crank that also had an HPE oil pump drive collar installed to prevent potential damage to the new OEM oil pump. ACL calico race bearings are installed on both the rod end and main bearing locations. At the end of the crank sits an ATI Race Damper. Machine work to the head was again done by Klispie Machine; the work here being a 3 angle valve job and installation of new bronze valve guides and a full Ferrea heavy duty dual spring kit, complete with titanium seats, locks and retainers. The lifters were all re-shimmed and new buckets installed. All OEM gaskets were placed between mating surfaces, with the exception of the head and intake gaskets, where metal upgrades were used from Cometic and Trust, respectively. ARP high strength hardware holds the motor together in the following places: head studs, flywheel bolts, exhaust studs. Spitfire coil packs, a high strength trust timing belt and a new OEM metal impeller water pump and cooler Nismo thermostat complete the engine’s internal upgrades. On the exterior of the motor, the valve covers have been powdercoated, the custom high-flow fuel rail has been polished, as has the alternator. A carbon fiber spark plug cover is fitted, along with an OEM R34 engine ornament. A Bings oil cap seals the valve cover, which are modified to vent through braided lines into a Steph’s baffled oil catch can.

A Vipec ECU running via speed/density (no MAF) controls the spitfire coilpacks and 870cc Seimens flow calibrated injectors. The injectors are feed by a Bosch -044 fuel pump that is in turn fed by an 8 gallon fuel cell. An Aeromotive rising rate regulator controls fuel pressure and a Billet aluminum fuel filter makes sure the injectors stay clean. Stainless braided lines connect every portion of the fuel system together.

Feeding the Garrett GT35R ball bearing turbocharger (which has an A/R of .82) is a custom built stainless sch10 manifold. The manifold is well braced and was CAD designed and is equal length to within .125”. The induction and exhaust system are entirely custom, all built from stainless steel and aluminum. The 3 inch exhaust uses stainless v-band junctions and flex-sections. The Tial 38mm wastegate is recirculated into the downpipe and has its own flex section. The exhaust is routed over the transmission and to the rear before exiting through a hooker stainless muffler. The sound is perfect. Contrary to popular belief, the exhaust never runs through the cabin of the car. A second firewall is part of a custom-built, removable aluminum transmission tunnel. Stainless piping connects the turbo to the intake manifold, passing through a PWR 24 x 11 x 3 intercooler with custom end tanks. It should be noted that this is a high quality, name brand intercooler, not a generic eBay one. A tial 50mm blow-off valve is mounted just before the throttle body.

A custom built Moxies radiator cools the engine. A custom surge tank and catch can complete the package, which is joined with steel hardlines, and stainless braided hose, as opposed to rubber hoses. A Flex-a-Lite E-fan is mounted to the radiator and is operated by the ECU.

Power is transferred to the ground through an Exxedy 3 puck clutch attached to a nismo flywheel into a rear wheel drive R32 RB26DETT transmission. This is uncommon and achieved by removing the center dif from the car and replacing it with a closeoff plate. A custom Driveshaft Shop driveshaft connects the transmission to the BMW 4.11 LSD rear end. New OEM axles drive the wheels. The transmission shifts well. The clutch master cylinder, on a reinforced mount, and clutch slave cylinder are both brand-new, and are joined with a braided hardline.

The suspension, as mentioned before, has been fully updated. All suspension parts were powdercoated, many outright replaced with new, then powdercoated. New Ireland Engineering (IE) Road Race springs were installed along with Bilstein HD dampers. Swaybars were new IE 22/25mm units with brand new endlinks. Trailing arm bushings and subframe mounts were replaced with IE polyurethane pieces, while the wheel bearings and upper strut mounts were replaced with OEM parts, both front and rear. Suspension adjustment is made via IE camber and toe adjusters, integrated into the rear subframe.

The brakes on the car are huge and completely custom, but utilize off-the-shelf wear items. Wilwood Billet Forged Superlite Narrowbody calipers with differential bore pistons grip Willwood 13” GT48 rotors. In the rear, Wilwood Superlite 4 pisston calipers act on Wilwood 11.75” HD rotors. The rotor rings are attached to Custom rotor hats in the front, and Massive brand rotor hats and parking brake rings in the rear. Speaking of the parking brake, all components, from cables to springs and pads and clips and retainers were replaced with OEM components. The main brakes are fed by fully stainless lines. Rigid lines on the chassis and stainless flex hoses where applicable. A Wilwood brake proportioning valve is located next to the driver’s seat and is adjustable in-car. The car utilizes a power master cylinder that’s been polished and is fed from a custom billet reservoir that also feeds the clutch system.

The wheels are custom built Work VS-XX in 17x10 and 17x8.5 fitment. Falken Azenis tires are installed in the front and NT05R drag radials are installed in the rear. The car hooks great in every gear. Vorshlag extended wheel studs are installed with open ended lugnuts. The rims are in perfect shape and the tires have lots of life left.

Sitting in the Status Ring Kevlar seats, the driver is held in by genuine Takata racing harnesses. A Sparco 300mm steering wheel, which shows a slight amount of wear has a working horn and an NRG quick release wheel hub. From the driver’s seat you can monitor the engine via a RaceTech Dash2 digital dash, displaying speed, engine ROM, oil and coolant temp. An AEM Uego gauge monitors fuel mixture, while 4 greddy warning gauges allow you to monitor the boost, exhaust gas temperature, oil pressure and fuel pressure. It should be noted that while the car was tuned with the aid of the EGT gauge, the Greddy control unit has failed on that particular gauge. Despite lacking HVAC, the car does have a basic radio with four speakers and CD head unit. The entirety of the car has been rewired and updated with Molex connectors and a kwikwire fuse panel. Rare for a custom car is the inclusion of a CAD drawn complete wiring diagram. A few different shift ***** are available to choose from, including a few 3D printed one-off pieces and a JDM Yashio Factory unit. Front and rear striped carpets are custom fit to the interior, with all other surfaces painted body color or wrinkle black. Carbon fiber front door skins and rear closeoffs are installed, as well as a few custom aluminum closeoffs in the dash. The pedals are custom made and say E30GTR. The dead pedal is a Massive brand and is very nice. The windows are manually operated.

The car is an absolute blast to drive. It’s fun, fast, handles well, sounds great, turns heads and weighs very little. Running 93 Octane I made 500 whp with plenty of room left to go, but that was plenty fast for me. It always starts easily, never stalls and always pulls hard. All turn signals, exterior lights, hazard lights and horn function as intended with factory controls. Inspection has never been an issue for it and the car has been registered and inspected yearly as a 1987 BMW. That said it is not what I would consider a daily driver. It’s a very stiff car. Polyurethane bushings are prone to squeak, there is no power steering and the cage makes getting in and out less than simple, but these are compromises made for performance, and it shows. I’m not interested in trades unless you have an OEM Harley Knucklehead with paperwork. That’s it. Please do not ask me to trade. There are over 48,000 dollars invested in this car, and that’s not putting any price tag on the labor that I did myself, which totals in the range of thousands of hours.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me: ctnewman AT gmail.com or message me for a phone number, I'm happy to talk.

Here's a startup/walkaround video:


Here's a list of parts, no labor.



And here are some current and some not current pictures of the car, sorry for the weird formatting. Here's a link to an album if those don't work:
http://imgur.com/a/VOFiD

 

Wow! What a sweet ride! Where in NY I would like to come check it out

 

Holy Sh*t this is a badass e30! GLWS

 

Car & owner are located in Buffalo.

I have seen this car a few times. The owner (OP) is very skilled and the car is well put together.

GLWS

 

What Matt said. Car's in Buffalo, NY

 

Are the decals removable or is that paint? Particularly the skull and writing on the rims?
Can you send me a dyno chart and do you have the rest of the interior?
chaikovsky88 ----- gmail
thanks

 

Had the same questions.

 

i have known the OP for almost 2 decades...(scary to think huh...)

ive watched this car from its inception almost 8 years ago and have been in this car several times since its completion.

the new owner will not be disappointed.

that being said i do know that the graphics on the body and the wheels are just vinyl decals and can be removed without harming anything...

 

nice track ready toy that can be driven on the street, hello OP is your price fixed or flexible? have you taken her to the track? (drag/road course)

 

The decals are just vinyl, both the doors and wheels.

Car has never been tracked. A few burnouts and only a handful of roll races. I've always derived more value from creating things rather than using things.

I'll self promote for a second:

Lately I've been into building. Motorcycles. I built nearly every non-stock part of this 78 Harley, now I need money and room to build another.

 

wow. wow wow wow

 

Thanks for that. Still wondering about dyno and interior bits. Thanks

 

I have no other parts for the car, sorry.

Here's the current boost by gear dyno:



And the high boost pull:

 

this deserves a bump - incredible stuff.