Everything in its Right Place

TAG E30 M3

Looks like a good place to do work

And a damn good song of the same title, from Radiohead, from their seminal album Kid A (and also found in “Vanilla Sky”, where the video clips are from….a damn good movie).

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Bilstein Sport Suspension Kit BMW 3 Series

If you’re after a cost effective way to lower your E30 look no further! Kit contains 4 Bilstein Sport Shocks and matched lowering springs. Drops the car about an inch up front and .75 inches out back

Contact z1sales@z1auto.com to order your kit!

A Sea of E30’s

The E30 M3 is an iconic, cult status type car that many of us have listed at and admired from afar. They weren’t made in quite the robust numbers of later M3’s though, so finding one is always part of the challenge. I remember in high school in the early 90’s, 2 friends of mine had them – one in a funky orangey-red color, the other black. But seeing one now isn’t all that common. Whereas the later E46 and E92 are all over the place here in NY.

There was no shortage of E30 M3’s here. I don’t follow much of the BMW side of things but it appears the inline 6 S series engine swap is more and more common. Would love to drive one; on paper it seems like a winning combo. Anyone reading have direct experience they can share?

The white one with the gold BBS was probably my favorite looking overall. But they really all look great, with their boxy fenders and various classic BBS wheels. They look like a race car. And even by modern standards it’s not lost any of it’s curb appeal. Sure, I love the Japanese stuff and the rare, esoteric JDM parts, but I equally love learning about new stuff. There is as much cool, rare and interesting BMW stuff as there is JDM stuff. And of course, their owners are no less passionate than the hardest core BMW guys

Gotta keep things water tight – necessity is the mother of invention!

Powergrid Endlinks for your Porsche, BMW, Corvette, and More!

We’ve been offering the Powergrid endlinks for the 350Z and G35 for years. Google it, you’ll find out what everyone else already knows. That if you want the best endlink on the market, you found ’em. Well, we’re now carrying them for your Porsche as well.

This is why they are important, what they do, and why you want ’em:

The endlinks connect your swaybar to your the rest of your suspension. As the swaybar moves during a turn (or technically, resists moving), the endlinks job is to keep the bar parallel to the ground. Whether you have stock swaybars or aftermarket, the harder you push your car, the more prone your stock links are towards snapping, or breaking. Many modern day cars use links that are made of cheap stamped steel, and many are even plastic! They are designed to be used with softer stock spring rates, and less grippy tires than true enthusiasts tend to use. As you increase the grip of the car, the endlink is placed under greater strain to control that swaybar. The same holds true when you’re fitting larger diameter, and adjustable swaybars. These stiffer bars place greater load on the endlink and those stock endlinks were never designed with that force in mind. The second thing to consider is when fitting lowering springs or aftermarket coilovers. As you adjust the height of your car, you can often cause your swaybar to change position. That means during the compression stroke of the suspension, the stock swaybar can be limited in its movement (aka binding), which vastly reduces the ability of the bar to do it’s job. For those with coilovers, this becomes even more important if you’re looking to cornerweight your car. Having an adjustable endlink such as this allows you to adjust swaybar preload, and that translates into more effective cornerbalancing results and more effective swaybar tuning.

Applications – tons! If you’ve got a performance car, we probably have an application for you.

Porsche:

BMW: E30 (M3), E24, E28, E34, E39, E46 M3, E90, E60
Acura TSX
Audi TT
Cadillac CTS
Cadillac XLR
Corvette
Cobalt
Dodge Charger
Infiniti G35
Mini Cooper
Mazda 3, 6, Miata
Mazdaspeed 3 and 6
Mazda RX8
Nissan 350Z
Porsche 911, Boxster and Cayman
Scion TC
Toyota Supra
Toyota Celica
Toyota Corolla
VW GTI
VW Eos
VW Jetta

And we’re always looking to add more! These endlinks aren’t cheap to buy because they aren’t cheap to make. They use genuine THK components (THK is an OEM automotive supplier to tons of manufacturers). They don’t use hardware store heim joints like so many others out there. Those start out great and in short order tend to get very noisy as they are exposed to the elements, and accumulate dirt, sand, moisture, salt, etc. These endinks are different. They offer the articulation (ability for the endlink head to rotate, thus keeping the swaybar in the correct position), but are fully sealed. Never will require any maintenance – no grease, no cleaning, nothing!

Simply Amazing

Was at a local book store yesterday and came across an all BMW magazine that featured this amazing E30 M3 by Piper Motorsports. I know it’s been featured before in other publications, but since I don’t really travel in the Euro scene, this was news to me. This is a car I’d love to have in the stable. The level of work is right up my alley. The classic lines of the E30 coupled with the modernity and silky smoothness of the V10 from a late model M5. There is just too much work done to this thing to describe

Another Clean E30 M3

I love these cars…

Pactole E30 M3…

Rear wing and front splitter aside this is a pretty cool E30 M3.

I’d also ditch the excessive amount of red tow hooks if it were my car, but I’m LOVING that engine bay!

A Japanese BMW tuning firm. Check out their website: Pactole

On Rails…

Thought I’d post of some photos and a short clip of one of our track cars. This is our E30 BMW (the white one in the pictures) driven by our resident “product tester” Mike Sabatello. If it can be broken Mike will break it but the good thing is somehow he will also fix it. Mike is one of our mechanics at the shop and has had a hand in every one of our shop builds and then some.

I will post more pics up of the car in another post. Also if anyone is interested, its for sale.

A little Limerock action for your view pleasure.