32. Production Vs. Race Car
• Electric windows
• Leather bolster seats
• Air conditioning
• Leather steering wheel
• Carpeting
• S14 2.3L, 4 cylinder, high compression engine
33. Uncle’s Modifications
• stainless steel Borla Exhaust
• UUC Short Shifter
• H and R coil over suspension system
• Dinan Chip
• Shock Tower Brace
• Aluminum Flywheel
• Adjustable Camber Plates
• A set of wheels
– Hoosier 90 compound tires
Editor's Notes
With a 24 year old car, gently driven on the highway and pushed to its mechanical limits in both an autocross and road racing type driving school. You are going to wear out certain parts. This is true with every car, but in a high performance car you need those parts to be fresh and like new. That being said, we undertook the project of rejuvenating some of the parts on my uncle’s 1988 BMW M3 E30. We replaced the pilot bearing clutch and pressure plate which helps with the shifting of the car. And also, some of the bushings and ball joints were worn out in the front suspension so we went ahead replacing the control arms, control arm bushings, and tie rods. We also replaced the rotors and the brake pads, which are typical maintenance items, but on a high performance vehicle, when you are stopping at a much faster and harder rate, you tend to burn these parts out quicker.
The BMW M3 E30 model was made as a production car for three years only, from 1988-1991. The main reason this car was made as a production car, meaning that people can buy and keep one on the street, is that BMW made this car initially to be raced in the GT series. But, to fulfill the requirements to race in the GT series, each car must actually be a production model. So, BMW did something very rare and turned their E30 M3 from a race car into a production car, putting a car on the street that was race worthy and extremely high performance.
Now my Uncle has been racing BMW for years now, and he has given me a list of additional modifications he has placed on his E30. He has installed a stainless steel Borla Exhaust, which gives it a really nice sound and increases the hp; a UUC Short shifter, which allows for shifting gears at a much faster rate; an H and R coil over suspension system that is composed of sport shocks, struts, and harder springs, for a stiffer ride. This allows the car to handle much tighter in the turns; also, a Dinan chip which goes in the ECU, electric control unit, the brain of the car, which increases hp by 20% and torque by 40%, greatest performance addition; Shock tower brace, which is basically a hardened piece of metal that goes from the left strut tower to the right strut tower. This stiffens the car up even more, making it a better performing car in the turns; anAluminum fly wheel. This allows the rpm’s to rise and decrease much faster, giving it a much quicker response when you’re starting and downshifting; Adjustable camber plates. Plates that are on top of the front struts that allows negative camber to be increased. If you imagine turning the top of the front tires inwards. This allows an aggressive stance that burns the tires faster but allows the car to handle and turn much more aggressively; and finally, aset of wheels with hoosier 90 compound tires on them, which are basically race tires. These provide much stickier handling on turns.
