New To Spec E30

#1

Hello to everyone in the Spec E30 community! My name is Damien, and I plan to start racing an E30 in some capacity in 2011. I am coming from a 6 year stint cutting my teeth in various karting classes on the local, regional, and national level, so I am just looking to gather as much information as I can from the regulars about making the transition to these cars. Thanks in advance for everyone’s help and information!

#2

Welcome! Will you be running with us here in the Southeast?

As a rookie this year myself I say with confidence that you’ll have a great time. This has been an eye opening experience, great racing, and a great group of people to compete with.

#3

I am leaving my options open. Depending on how smooth the transition is we will most likely attempt to run most of the tracks in the Southeast. A friend of mine helps out regularly at BMWCCA events at VIR and told me this was a great group of people and a great string of tracks to race with.

#4

Find an E30 mentor.Ours is a very helpful group.
Where do you live?.

Regards,Robert [been doing this in the SE for the longest(since 2004)] Patton

#5

Welcome to wild and wonderful world of Spec E30. Your BMW CCA friend is wise and trustworthy, as both the tracks and drivers are top notch.

#6

Welcome, great group of racers willing to help with a wealth of knowledge with E30’s. Come on down to Roebling to meet us.

#7

I reside in Charlotte County, FL. The closest competitors that I have found so far are about 100 miles away from me.

#8

There is some lawyer type dude down there in FLa who is rumored to have an spec e30, DO NOT LISTEN TO ANYTHING HE SAYS! He races against octogenarians in kit car replica cobra’s. There are a few spec e30 folks in FL, have you posted on their board?

Al

#9

I have posted on the FL board. One member suggested I post here as well due to the lack of activity compared to the Southeast schedule. I plan to run a lot at Homestead and Sebring at first, but would love to follow the Southeast schedule.

#10

Does anybody know how hard it is to swap an E30 from an automatic to a manual transmission? Advice from anyone who has done this before would be greatly appreciated.

#11

You can get good info on this at bf.c and e30tech. I’ve never done it myself. The model car you have is an issue because there are sheetmetal differences on the tunnel. From what I understand it’s do-able if you have a manual donor car to get all the little bits from, but still a pita.

#12

WinnMotorsports wrote:

It took me - and a guy who knows what he is doing - an entire long weekend to do an auto-to-manual swap. The automatic motors tend to live an easier life, but unless you find a blown-motor manual eta (and save all the body parts for spares) it is hard to make financial sense out of it. You are better off being picky and finding a manual 325is donor. Most junkyards that sell the swap kit price it about the same as an eta with a blown head gasket.

My swap was a bit of a pain because I put an early model trans into a late model car (different center support bearings, shifter mechanisms, crank sensors, etc.).

I wanted to do it as a “wonder if I can…” thing, but in hindsight I should have waited for a manual car.