Munich Motorsport Meets Motown Muscle - V8-powered E30 M3

"A filthy swine from across the pond has put a boat anchor of a Chevy in a BMW M3, the best -handling BMW ever!" is one way you could look at the car we're featuring today, but I prefer to say "Munich legend gets Motown refresh".
The car in question is owned by Kevin Byrd, co-host of a show in America called Two Guys Garage and an R&D engineer for Ford Powertrain by day. I'm guessing the latest Ford V8 engines were too tight a fit in the petite E30 bay, so he's used a 'crate' GM LS3 engine, which fits with millimetres to spare. The Getrag 'box has been given the boot in favour of a Tremec TR-6060 gearbox to help control the 510bhp this engine is pumping out. Now it may seem incredible to some but the rear diff is still essentially an M3 LSD item, albeit with carbon clutches and a 3.73 gearset.
I'm betting the handling hasn't been affected much either; the LS3 weighs 415lbs vs the S14 engine's 375lbs, not a weight you would want sitting on your chest for sure, but then again not one that will do too much to the handling balance. And no your eye do not deceive you, the famous blister arches are 2 inches wider than standard, necessary to cover the 8.5x18 and 10x18 BBS wheels.
Not so much an M3 evolution, more an M3 revolution; more in-depth info here.


- Amazosan

Top Trumps Car Of The Day - BMW E30 325i Cabriolet

BMW Celebrates 40 Years Of The 3 Series

I have an admission to make, and it may sounds a little like an alcoholic admitting to his addiction, but here goes.
I own a BMW. To be more specific, I've owned five and still own three.
But don't worry, sport fans; I'm not one of those sales reps buzzing up and down the motorways in a late-model 318, barging slower cars out of the overtaking lane while paying only lip service to the indicator stalk. I'm talking about the E21 and E30 models; I still have two E21 projects and an E30 awaiting my love. The earlier models were always great cars to own and drive, and now people are cottoning on to that; prices of even the unloved E21 are on the rise and it surely won't be long before the E36 joins them. And while I haven't driven any variant of the latest F30 yet, I can say that having spent some considerable time behind the wheel of an E90 320d a while back, BMW have not lost their knack of creating a great driver's chassis.
And to celebrate 40 years of the 3er, BMW have made this little tribute video to their sporting saloon that could. While it is a little mawkish in the way in-house promotional videos usually are, its well worth watching for the gorgeous footage of the E21 and E30. Enjoy.

- Amazosan

What Do You Get When You Cross An E30 with an 8-Series? Er...

After the subtly sublime E30 the other day, a slightly bonkers one to test your sanity.
As any keen follower of new car news will know, BMW will be releasing a 4-Series in 2014. It's basically the replacement for the E92 3-series coupé (ergo no more two-door 3er, an end of an era), and while it's the kissing cousin of the latest F30 range, but is now being pushed as a model in it's own right. It's probably something BMW should have done years ago, after all, the 5er has the 6er, the 7er the 8er. Well one German owner decided to make a little 'phantom' model of his own; he took a 1989 325i convertible and fused the front end of an 850i coupé onto it..
Now, it may seem that he's one Schottenhamel short of an Oktoberfest for performing such an act but read on; it does make a tad more sense the deeper you delve...
While there's only a single digit gap between the E30 and E31 models, in reality, these two BMW models of course couldn't be more different from each other. There was a slight problem as the 8-series is a fair bit wider than the E30, which was solved by... removing one of the BMW kidney grilles. Not the best nor wisest way to narrow the nose, as the result is... well, have you seen a serial cocaine abuser with a collapsed septum? Go on, Google it, we'll wait. See what we mean?Ouch.
Aside from the wild front end, it gets a lot milder further back; flared wheel arches cover 8x15 Shaper Camp 2000 wheels and Pirelli rubber, a different rear bumper of unknown origin and a Momo steering wheel.
Engine-wise, it's a bit more mundane; the familiar M20 2.5 six is standard, which means 170 gee-gees, but as anyone who has experienced these engines, thats not a bad thing. We'd slot an M52 to bring it into line with the front end though; the M20 is so 1970's, dahling.
Even if do you find the... um, er, 825i's looks alluring, the €6,990 price tag on Autohaus Bryjak seems less than tempting as it is a bit too close for comfort to the lower-end prices (€10k or thereabouts) for a real, early 1990s 8-Series model in Germany. It still sold though, so someone found the oddball looks appealing.
Having said that, we think the idea was sound, just based on the wrong 3-series; imagine this front end treatment on an E36 coupé. Now THAT would have made sense as a production model and a car fitting of a 4-series moniker.

Slammed BMW E30 - Autumn Lows

It's busy, busy, busy, busy at Amazo Towers right now, lots of features on the bubble that we're sure you'll like, lots of people buying interesting cars and not enough time to get through it all (looks at Wheels day pictures with fist in mouth).
So what does that have to do with this fine example of a BMW E30? Well not much, but we don't have any info to give on the car, so some filler material about an unrelated subject works wonders...
But seriously, it's always annoying when we find nice pictures of a car with absolutely no info. But look on the bright side: all the more time to admire the photos and less time reading our drivel...

BMW 1602 EV - Neue Klasse Elektrowagen

BMW is a company known for its performance cars, its racing cars, it's M cars. But its...electric cars? Talk about a best kept secret.
2012 marked the 40th anniversary of the first all-electric BMW. To celebrate the fact and to help promote the contemporary "Project i" cars, BMW put out a brief press release on its EV efforts, starting way back in 1972 at the Olympics games in Munich.
Although the Paul Bracq-designed E25 Turbo concept car was set to steal the show at the Games of the XX Olympiad, BMW also wanted one of their road cars to lead the opening ceremonies that year. But the Olympic committee wisely demanded that it be modified to prevent the athletes from inhaling the car's exhaust fumes. The would also have to serve as a means of transport for the Olympic organising committee members, and also act as a camera car for certain events.
BMW's answer was an electric one.
They began development of two examples of the electric 02; it also afforded them a chance to see if a electric power sytem was adequate to the demands of daily driving. In the 1602 EV, the M10 engine and four-speed manual transmission were replaced by a Bosch DC electric motor with maximum power of 32 kW (43.5 bhp). The motor fed into an intermediate transmission (basically a heavy-duty forward/reverse switch) and rear wheel drive was retained as on the standard petrol model. The electric motor itself weighed 85 kg, but it was nothing close to the 350 kg of the 12 lead-acid Varta batteries housed in the engine bay. With a top speed of 62mph and a mere 19 mile range which even with their limited Olympic use pushed the boundaries of their limits, probably explains BMW why built two cars. So while the car was never going to be a production reality with the battery technology available, let alone the fact that petrol was generally cheaper then electricity in the 70's, it did give BMW the courage to develop a second electric vehicle (based on an old 700 model) in 1975 to test a new charging system.
While BMW's development of the electric car has been rather sporadic over 40 years, it seems they're now serious with pushing the EV ideal forward; the i3 & i8 concepts are proof of that.
More pictures here.

A normal 2002, right? Until you notice the script on the doors and the lack of an exhaust pipe...

Alright, who said flux capacitor?

Vorwärts to go foward, rückwärts to go backwards...

L-R: 1602, E30, E1 concept cars from 1991, E36 saloon & coupé, Mini and E82 1-series coupé