Bmw E30....Weight

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Nick Sheen

Box Assassin
Well, since i cant get insurance on s14, i thought id go after something cheaper and slightly more insurance friendly.

so i figured a nice e30 320,
not much power but hey ho

what i was wondering was how much do they weigh?

ive read 1232kg 1300kg and 1080kg

im not sure which to belive, if its the lower figure thats nice but i duno i thought it would be heavier than that

cos if i can get one id strip it out to be as light as possible, but just wonderin what weighty figure id have to start with?
 
I dont know, but id either go 325 or 318. The 320 doesnt seem that good to me but im sure the BMW guys will be along in a bit with loads of info.
 
well i think 325 might go out of my budget.

and 318is yeh i know you get all the sport stuff with that but, im not gona stick with the standard suspension and crap anyway so i figured why not go for 320 just cos get nice straight 6 sound :D

if more knowledgeable bmw people convince me otherwise then fair enough
 
Yeah its just the 320 doesnt have much power either, and what it does have is all really high up. I actaully prefered driving a 316 Touring to a 320 :wack:
 
This place is pretty good for E30 info:

http://com4.runboard.com/be30zoneforum

I would hazzard a guess that the first figure you put is most likely, but that is a complete guess. I think some of the racers have got them down very close to 1000kg, although again i don't know much about 320's. I do know that alot of people say they are the best sounding, better than the 325, although as far as drifting goes this obviously won't help. :wack:
 
2.0 engine is shite. It doesnt have enough power for drifting and its very lazy. I would even prefer 318i over 320, but IS or 325 would be best.
Or another option. Buy a 320 and swap engine for 2.5. Its almost identical engine on the outside. I dont know how strict your laws are and how well do MOT guys know cars, but i know some cars with 320 papers and 2.5 engine.

I dont know about weight. But 316i 3 door is around 960kg and 325 is just over 1200kg. So i guess its somewhere in beteween :)
 
ah fuck it il try get the 325 then....the plan was if i got the 320 would be to put together the 2.7 everyone on e30 zone goes on about apparently its relatively easy

but im very lazy so i duno how long itd take me to get round to doin that :wack:
 
Right thought i'd voice my opinion here :p
The 320 has a lot less electrics inside the car, compared to a 325 the brakes are the same as is the suspension, and also a 325 engine bolts straight in and the wiring plums straight up as long as the engines are from the same year if not you have to use the 320 engine wiring loom, as your stripping it for drifting i would 320 lowered 60 front 40 rear, welded diff or Good bmw LSD to start and a 325 engine swap (£100 quid from a scrappy!)

This is what i've just built for my spare car and my other half to drift next year. it goes well! and all finished with 2 sparco buckets in it, it weigh's 901 kg!

Hope this is some help,

John
 
Go for a 325, the 320 is shit for torque, I know I had one.

The iS can be a nice revvy 4 pot but is much rarer and not very tunable compared to the 325. Which has loads of potential, and there are loads of small parts bin mods that can make big improvements.

On a small 3 series you will also miss out on the rear disc brakes and the very important LSD.

Plenty of guys now are transplanting the 3.2 evo motor from the e36 late model M3. There were a couple at the BMW track day last July at Croft.

The e30 is a great choice as they are much stiffer chassis than the e36 but just like the Hachi its a little harder to find a really rust free one, but the 325 is usually the most looked after variant and nice ones can be found. :thumbs:

Good luck


e30zone, damn fine bimmer resource
 
cheers for the reply

I definately wouldnt be keeping the 2.0 in there for long,

what is drawing me towards something like what moffatt suggested, is that i seem to be able to find 320's much cheaper than a 325.

i duno to be honest, the car would not have any creature comfort crap in it cos i hate that, so anything that has less to start is always handy..

im not really sure, im not afraid of a bit of work either so dropping a 2.5 engine in wouldnt scare me off...i duno il work out the money and crap and then il decide

cheers for all the replys
 
ah good:) see thats what i like to hear. no stupid crap to go wrong with on older cars.. so far im kinda leanin to what you suggested doin to a 320
 
Just way up the cost of getting and swapping the brakes and diff first I'd say. If you are swapping the engine at a later date it could give you plenty of options, a cheap and toquey conversion is the 525e block(2.7) with the 325 head giving a cheap version of the alpina 2.7 in effect.

Don't quite see what the OBC being faulty would harm?? The 320se had OBC but its just a flashy trip computer really.
 
it would have to be in the region of 1300kgs surely?
and yea would drop 325i sport engine in the car would make life a lot easoer on yourself beleive me. :)
 
the wizard said:
it would have to be in the region of 1300kgs surely?
and yea would drop 325i sport engine in the car would make life a lot easoer on yourself beleive me. :)
Click to expand...

1300? Nah can't be that much, 1200 is more like it. My 528 is only ~1350 standard.
 
Rearwheel_Nick said:
Well, since i cant get insurance on s14, i thought id go after something cheaper and slightly more insurance friendly.

so i figured a nice e30 320,
not much power but hey ho

what i was wondering was how much do they weigh?

ive read 1232kg 1300kg and 1080kg

im not sure which to belive, if its the lower figure thats nice but i duno i thought it would be heavier than that

cos if i can get one id strip it out to be as light as possible, but just wonderin what weighty figure id have to start with?
Click to expand...

A 320i weighs 1160kg and could probably be stripped to around 1000kgs. As others have said the 2 litre is a little weak and as the 2.5 looks identical it could easily be retro fitted if insurance is a huge problem. (that would be illegal though :no: hehe!)

I think a cheap straight 320 without all the heavy electrics and air con etc, completely stripped with 2.5 would be fine. As opposed to what others have said, I think rear drums would be the most suitable, as then you will have a usefull handbrake. The mini drum on the rear discs is useless, unless your going hydraulic, then its not a problem. All you need then is an LSD from somewhere.
 
HAHA forgot i posted this,

funny how things work

a 320i with 2.5 and bmw lsd is exactly what i ended up with.

not sure if i will go ahead with stripping interior.. not just yet anyway
 
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