Meet my winter project.
I'm kind of at "major work" stopping point with most of my other project cars with nothing all that interesting going on, and I wanted something to work on for the winter so I'm not bored. So I called up a rallycross friend who has had this thing sitting in his yard for a couple years and we came to an agreement on a 3-digit price for his 1984 318i. This is a true base-model car with the M10, manual transmission, manual windows and sunroof, drum brakes in the rear, etc. IIRC 1984 was the first year the e30 came to the US. This one is a year older than the rally car (if you're looking for that very, very long build, it's here: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/1985-bmw-318-stage-rally-build-1988-porsche-924s-s/40440/page1/ . That build (and others in that thread) are 129 pages long so figured I'd start a new thread for this one.
I have kind of a non-specific plan for this one, and not sure exactly what direction I'll take it, but there are few things I had in mind:
1) It had to be cheap. Really cheap. Even ratty e30s these days are going for a few thousand but the early M10 cars are pretty unloved so I was able to pick this one up for cheap ($700).
2) The build itself will be on a low budget. Obviously I'll have to buy some new parts (especially things like tires, brake stuff, and bushings), but overall the plan is to get as much stuff secondhand, used, or junkyard as possible to keep the budget down. I'm going to try to document what I spend, just for the hell of it.
3) Those who know me know I always say "I build my cars for specific purposes." The Sequoia is for towing/hauling. The Raider is for off-roading. The Porsche is for long-distance road trips. The rally car is obviously for rally . And the GTI (mostly stock) is just my commuter. I hadn't planned to do another e30, but my general plan for the "purpose" of this one is rally-related, but not competition-related directly. First, it will be a rolling parts car for the rally car. I'll build this with basically all my rally car spares that I already have. Second, it will be a recce car for rally - so the idea is it will drive to rallies along with the tow rig/rally car and be the source for spare parts AND for recce - because using a loaded-up Sequoia for recce, while comfortable, isn't ideal. Third, I'd like to do some "course car" duties at rallies I'm not competing in. Course cars can't be caged, and are used to open the course, run sweep, etc. I've wanted to be able to do that but don't really have a car suitable for it (Porsche too low, GTI too "daily driver"), So the idea is to build this car well enough that it can move quickly (but below competition pace), safely, and reliably on a rally stage.
4) It will have full interior, air conditioning, etc. Something comfortable enough for me or one of my crew guys to drive it on long hauls to rallies (5-10 hours, usually)
So that's the kinda-sorta plan right now, though TBD what things I'll do to it to make it meet these requirements, but hopefully you'll follow along.