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Rob, you have free licence to plagiarise all you like brother

I will accept my license! I'm still debating engine choices, I have a lead on an E34 Alpina B10 M30 3.5 engine circa 255bhp for £1K, I already have an E34 M30 box so that's going to be miles easiest/cheapest of any engine I'm contemplating. I still have an M60 wedged in the engine bay of mine which is nowhere near fitting (to be fair I didnt remove any of the ancillaries/engine mounts), but I think this swap would be too hard and won't be an enjoyable process! That said it should fit... https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum ... 748/page1/

Then again I also have a spare M70 V12 laying around which I could drop in and mockup It came with the 6 speed manual V12 box that's going in my E32 750i, so I'd have to adapter plate a box onto it.

if it was up to me id have gone for the e34 m5 engine any day of the week. life would have been simple but then again what im doing here is a bit more trick more modern and with a 6 speed box makes the car a much better all rounder.

The v8 is a massive engine and im not surprised it doesnt fit very well. the v12 is a monster but i think you should bag that m30 alpina engine if you can, you wont have problems with anti roll bars and its pretty much a bolt in affair.

nas80 wrote:if it was up to me id have gone for the e34 m5 engine any day of the week. life would have been simple but then again what im doing here is a bit more trick more modern and with a 6 speed box makes the car a much better all rounder.

The v8 is a massive engine and im not surprised it doesnt fit very well. the v12 is a monster but i think you should bag that m30 alpina engine if you can, you wont have problems with anti roll bars and its pretty much a bolt in affair.

Hey Rob,

please feel free to copy with pride. I've keeping an eye on the few updates you've made on Facebook to your E3. I was being a bit of a stick in the mud with Nas with engine choice, because I basically liked the idea of a modern E3 Alpina-esque car.

The M5 Nas mentions really should be all the engine anyone would need - I just didn't want anything M-Sport in an Alpina style car. The M30 you mention sounds like a great upgrade, the only two minor negatives I can see are age (perhaps) and weight (perhaps again). I've been told that it's a really good combination by someone who has gone and done it though and like Nas mentioned will cause you a lot less angst, by using the same mounts, worries with wiring and gearbox.

The V12 to me is overkill, but if you're not planning on it being a daily, why not.

I hadn't really considered an S38 for a few reasons I think. I get the impression they all need £££ rebuilds by this age and they seem very expensive in the first place. Buying an engine for £2.5K and then rebuilding doesn't really meet the budget. Also aren't S38s noticably heavier than M30s? If I had unlimited cash then S38B38 would be top of the list.

I'm not really sold on the S50 either, I've driven an E36 M3 and was left very underwhelmed, I really had to rev it! I'm then worried if anything ever happened to an M engine then I'm going to go bankrupt, whereas something like a V12 is cheap to replace

Talking of mine... I'm not sure when I'll get some actual progress done! I'm weighing up rebuilding my original black E21 316 or the E3.... after the 750i...

I'm still tempted to drop the spare V12 into the bay in the meantime

I'm on the Alpina forum as well and while they're clearly biased towards their cars, the general consensus is that most M cars need to be revved to get the full returns, while the power for Alpinas is available lower down the rev range and therefore make it more of a better driving experience overall.

I remember someone saying to me that you want an engine in a car that when you pull up to shows will make people ask how the f£&@ing hell did you manage to get that in?! A V12 would definitely tick that box and if you have one spare then definitely give it a punt.

m30b35 turbo, not that I am biased or anything.

pandemonium001 wrote:m30b35 turbo, not that I am biased or anything.

I actually think that would be a great choice too

We're clogging up this awesome E3's build thread I'll say one last thing, I was hoping to stay NA or a pre-turbo'd engine ideally. I've costed up M30 turbos in the past and I can't get the figure below £3.5-4K to do it properly.

Nas
See Link:
http://www.classicdaily.net/2012/10/24/sway-bar/

may be some pics and info of use.

he missed out something pretty vital like where he got the ARB from!

That's a really interesting blog One part states using E28 steering components/linkages which I didn't know was possible.

That ARB is mentioned again here as an "ST" ARB
http://www.classicdaily.net/2012/09/21/engine-back-in/

I guess ST is suspension technics a U.S. company

Hello All,
It's been a fair while since an update, so I thought I'd give a little report. Nas has been working away hard and in true Mike Brewer style I've been sourcing any parts that are needed. I've had mixed feelings about these car stripping and dipping places. Initially I loved the idea of every bit of rust being stripped thoroughly and areas that needed remedy becoming immediately obvious, but I also heard some negative comments about difficulties with painting the car afterwards, as the chemicals used can apparently affect the ability for paint to etch afterwards. After some toing and frowing, we decided to go for it and Nas sent it off post stripping to a shell to a place in Birmingham – envirostrip - http://www.envirostripukltd.com/.








Some better photos to follow as work progresses, but very excited but hoping there is something left of the car post treatment!
The other area we were struggling with was choice of side mirrors. I looked far and wide for some period genuine E3 electric mirrors, but they are a bit on the ugly side. Plus it’s difficult to get hold of any replacement rubber mounts and glass too. I really wanted the convenience of electric mirrors, but not if they spoiled the lines of the car.
Looking at another nice E3 restoration, I really liked the look of these smaller, manual mirrors on this black UK car. I’ll probably snag the idea for Osram H4 bulbs too in this car as they’ll improve the lighting, without looking too out of place.


We managed to track down a new pair on ebay Germany and they were duly ordered.





Still nowhere near halfway through the build yet, but I’m really pleased so far with the progress.

Nice progress, love the shiny mirrors!

Greetz,
Walter.